‘What’s the matter?’ Geraldine asked. ‘I didn’t hurt you, did I?’

‘No, it’s fine.’ He walked across the room, opened the door and went out into the hall. When he reappeared, he’d donned an anorak over his suit. ‘I’m going for a drive.’

‘Joe, what’s the matter?’ she pleaded. ‘Tell me what’s bothering you.’

‘It’s nothing … it’s really nothing. There are some things I need to work out, and to do that I need to get some peace and quiet. Okay?’

She regarded him worriedly. ‘Do you want me to get Mrs Gallagher to sit in, so I can come with you? We can talk about it.’

‘For Christ’s sake, no … it’s fine!’

As he climbed into his Galaxy on the drive, he realised that that parting shot had been far sharper than he’d intended it to be. He loved Geraldine and the kids. He loved everything about his family. They were the ones he was doing this for. He wanted them to share in the dream, even if they didn’t know about it. And by the look on Geraldine’s face after he’d snapped at her, he’d upset her, which he regretted – but that couldn’t be helped at present.

As he drove out of Coxcombe Avenue and onto Mulberry Crescent, and then onto Leatherton Lane, the main thoroughfare connecting Cotely Barn with central Crowley, he wondered if he was now about to do something he’d come to regret even more.

Only slowly, after driving a mile or so, did he finally conclude that he probably wasn’t.

The Crew hadn’t become who they were through cowboy antics. Okay, working on the basis they already knew everything there was to know about his operation, it was safe to assume they would soon twig what he was up to now – if not tonight, probably as soon as tomorrow. And they wouldn’t like it; it would certainly inconvenience them, but perhaps, being arch-professionals, they’d expect nothing less. Surely, they’d anticipate that he’d try to protect his own corner at least a little bit? It might even impress them, and from his own point of view, though it would be no more than a gesture – as effective an act of defiance as flipping them a V-sign – he might even feel that he’d regained a little bit of what he’d lost.

In truth, he might regain even more than that.

He and McCracken had been talking in round numbers earlier on. The Crew might know an awful lot, but it wasn’t as if they had access to his secret accounts, for God’s sake.

Unless they’d hacked him.