She’s seen Alan39’s face and it’s not the face of reason. Something is eating him. Mr Tredizzick is right, she really doesn’t want to know any more about Alan39. Now the editor asks her to go and see Mr MacCleod again to find out anything she can about his cash. He wants to know what conditions were attached.

‘Can’t I phone him?’

‘No, you need to see the whites of his eyes.’

‘They are kind of yellow.’

‘Go and see him. But you can’t mention your source or anything.’

‘Wouldn’t it mean we’d be using him for our own purposes?’

‘No, no, it would mean we don’t want him shouting his mouth off all over the place before we have the facts. He’s got many talents but sadly discretion isn’t one of them.’

‘Oh, OK.’

‘Before you go, get your source to send stage two to me and then we can reasonably break it in your blog, in a very low-key way if it stands up. And then I can write an editorial saying that if there is any truth in this it’s a national scandal . . . and so on.’

‘I’m off. Can I have some exes? My mother’s already complaining that she’s subsidising the paper.’

After a little fumbling in his pockets, the editor finds his battered wallet and takes out £100.

‘OK, Melissa, see you later.’

‘Are you sure this is right, Mr Tredizzick? I hate to ask again, but I’m worried.’

‘Do you think it’s right for a bank to steal its customers’ money, and to pad out its balance sheet fraudulently, whatever the reason?’

‘Well, obviously not, if you put it like that, but . . .’

‘There’s the answer then. The great smokescreen these people have put up is that they are doing something immensely important, way beyond the understanding of mere mortals. It turns out they didn’t know what they were doing and that they have been playing fast and loose with other people’s money, often only marginally legally. In this case the grand Tubal and Co. seems to have been doing something totally illegal. They have fucked up but their pride doesn’t allow them to fail. Too proud to fail, could be their motto. So they steal from their customers. Of course they are proposing to pay it back. So was Leeson. They are not crooks after all. No, no, not at all. But whatever their game is, Melissa, if it goes wrong, pensions, medical research, academic institutions, you name it, all these innocent people and causes supported by the charitable trusts will go down the pan. Do you understand? Do you understand what you have stumbled on, Melissa? Not only is it journalistic gold, it’s doing the country a service.’