‘Yes, I am on a contract, although not staff. Staff jobs are more or less gone in the newspaper world because everyone’s getting their information –’

‘Yes, I know. My point is, if I tell you why Tubal’s haven’t paid your man, I need a guarantee that it will be printed. I’m taking a risk.’

‘What’s the risk?’

He has a thin face, appropriate for a source. He looks around briefly.

‘My job prospects. For starters. So I don’t want some freelancer hopefully punting this information about.’

‘No, no. The editor himself sent me to meet you. Mr Tredizzick.’

‘Will he vouch for you?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘OK. This is how it works. I give you some information, you publish, and then you make sure it’s uploaded on to the net, or picked up by bigger newspapers than the Globe, no offence.’

‘Can you give me the outline of what’s happened with the bank and the money for Mr MacCleod?’

‘OK, Melissa, I am going to have to trust you. Tubal’s is basically bust. The hedge fund went tits up – belly up – and they are trying to cover themselves so that they can sell. All the philanthropic trusts – charity –’

‘I know what “philanthropic” means.’

‘All the grants have been cut, assets sold, money moved around the world to hide the fact that the bank’s value has fallen. They want to avoid a run before they sell.’

‘Can I ask you a question?’

‘What?’

‘Why are you telling me this?’

‘I have my reasons. The less you know about me the better for us both. But I can steer you in the right direction.’

He looks around again and glances at his watch.

‘As I said, they are padding the assets. When you come to sell something like this you don’t want the purchaser to think there are all sorts of vanity payments and projects and nasty surprises on the books. You cut them. You try to improve the asset ratio. Tubal’s is still owned by the family trust and it has some amazing clients. But they fucked up big time when they stepped out of their comfort zone. The son of the old boy is a real upper-class twit. He lost a bundle of their clients’ and their own money. Now they plan to sell, but they want the bank to look like a going concern. Follow me?’

‘Yes, I think so. What I don’t understand is why you are telling me this.’

‘You’ll have to trust me. What I am telling you is all absolutely true, but you don’t need to know anything about me, or why. I will give you proof that they are moving money around fraudulently. It’s huge.’

‘What am I supposed to do now?’

‘Here’s the deal.’