Reggie really didn’t know what to say to that and they drank in silence for a few moments.

Then Jack said sadly, ‘I do feel sorry for Sharon. That girl has had no luck with the men in her life, has she?’

Reggie nodded. He knew that Jack wasn’t berating him. He was just stating a fact, and a true fact at that.

‘You and Lenny were very close, weren’t you?’

Reggie nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

‘Shame you had to live a lie, the two of you. Nowadays no one bats a fucking eyelid. I don’t pretend to understand it myself, mind.’

That was the nearest Jack would ever get to saying he didn’t mind Reggie’s sexual preference and Reggie felt a real affection for the old man.

‘Got them on the telly and everything now.’

Reggie had to stifle a laugh. ‘So I hear!’

They were both laughing now and, when Reggie replenished their glasses, Jack said seriously, ‘I will miss me old drop of gold watch, I know that.’

‘I’ll slip a bottle in with you, mate. I will do you a bet, and all. A hundred-to-one outsider!’

It was an old Irish custom and they both laughed as Jack said jovially, ‘If the fucking horse comes in, I will be disinterred the next day! So, what’s the state of play with Happy Harold then?’

Reggie shrugged. ‘Ray is Ray, and he won’t change while he has a hole in his arse.’

‘He’s a fucker, that’s what he is. Now, I am going to tell you something else and you can do what you like with this information after I am dead and gone, OK?’

Reggie nodded and that’s when Jack told him the story of the Wheelans and of Ray being their hired torturer. He also told him that he was his broker as Ray still liked to keep his hand in. Once he had finished his tale, Reggie was quiet for long moment. Then he said viciously, ‘The snidey cunt. The Wheelans? Are you sure?’

Jack nodded and he looked suitably serious, even though he knew he had given potentially explosive material to a man who would not hesitate to use it.

He watched as the colour slowly drained from Reggie’s face.

Jack sat back in his chair, satisfied he had done what he had set out to do: bring down Ray Donovan. He had lit the blue touchpaper. Now all there was to look out for was the explosion. And this particular explosion would be earth-shattering for a lot of the people involved.

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Four