Liselle nodded, trying to take in what her aunt was saying, trying to decipher her true feelings from amongst the sadness and shock that was enveloping her. Her aunt made it all sound so nice, so romantic. Her mother wanted the brilliant black man who could play the piano. Now, all these years later, Liselle was to be saddled with a man who’d been crippled because her aunt thought that getting rid of him was the best thing at the time.

‘Shall I take you home?’

Liselle shook her head. ‘Can I stay with you, please? I don’t want to see me mum. Not for a while.’

Briony smiled and put her arm around the girl’s slim shoulders. ‘You can stay as long as you like, my darlin’. You know that.’

The twins had arrived at the club just after one-thirty. Briony had sent Liselle home with Tommy to look after her. She herself was determined to find Kerry. She was not at home, Briony had been ringing in ten-minute intervals, so they made their way to Rillington Place.

The twins had listened to Briony’s explanation of the night’s events in silence. Boysie shook his head in disbelief. His Aunt Kerry was a fruitcake. Poor old Liselle! They knew that their own mother hadn’t been all the ticket, and now by all accounts Aunt Kerry was tipping herself over the edge. Well, they were finally going to meet the soot who had caused all this hag. They hoped for his sake he wasn’t here to try and cause trouble.

Briony had voiced the opinion that it seemed funny, on reflection, for a man to turn up all these years later and rent a house. A tourist went to a hotel. Suddenly, it seemed very suspicious. Getting in touch with Kerry whose number wasn’t listed ... Who did he get it from? Who else knew he was here?

‘Don’t worry, Mum. If necessary we’ll blast off every front door in the road but we’ll find the right house. Stop letting it bug you.’

Boysie caressed a Beretta he kept with him at all times. Daniel smiled as he drove. In the boot was a shotgun that could kill a marauding elephant at a hundred paces. They’d find out the score all right.

In fact, he was quite looking forward to it.

After Liselle had left the house, Kerry got up to follow her. Then three men walked into the room. Kerry, in her usual drunken state, barely noticed. But when one man, whom Evander addressed as Mr Skip, pushed her back into her seat, it dawned on her that here was big trouble.

She looked at Evander with frightened eyes. ‘What’s going on here? Who are this lot?’

Skip laughed out loud.

‘We are your biggest nightmare. Pour the lady a drink, Marty.’