‘Don’t tell him anything. It’s not really about him. This has all the makings of a very big story and the last thing we need is the Celtic bard blundering about. We should leave him out, as far as possible. What we have to nail down is the fraud at Tubal’s, if it exists. If it does it’s huge. Tubal’s has been in business since the time of Queen Anne or maybe earlier. The family is the absolute cream of banking. Almost the last of the private banks and very much of the old school and, thanks to you, this newspaper is going to expose what’s going on. We have had nothing like it since we broke the Cornish pasty scandal.’

She wonders if he is being ironic about the Cornish pasty scandal. Probably not, she thinks. She remembers it: the EU ruled that there was no such thing as a unique Cornish pasty which could be granted protected status, like Camembert or champagne. ‘Cornish pasty’ was a generic term. European gastronomic snobbery was suspected, particularly by the newspaper, which ran a long campaign. There’s an appeal in process in Brussels.

‘Also, Melissa, do not use the paper’s phones for any of this and do not at any cost tell our colleagues anything at all. You and I will handle this completely alone, at least in the early stages.’

‘Is it dangerous?’

‘I don’t think so. But when a story like this arrives you can’t afford to get a single thing wrong. And here’s some petty cash for a new phone for you and for transport. OK, get the phone, text your source when he gives you the number and tell him to ring me tonight. And let’s see what happens. I haven’t had so much fun since –’

‘Would that be since the Cornish pasty scandal, Mr Tredizzick?’

‘No, that was good, but not as good as when a crew member told me that Robert Maxwell had jumped off his boat the Lady Ghislaine. Nobody believed me, but it turned out to be true.’

‘Why did he jump?’

‘Well, Melissa, it’s a long story, but let’s just say he wasn’t going for a midnight dip. He had stolen the Daily Mirror’s pension fund. Funny how these things come round. I wonder just what Julian Trevelyan-Tubal has been up to.’