Suddenly snapping himself out of his thoughts, Vaughn answered Alfie, ‘Like I said before, I don’t know exactly what she’s up to, but I do know that the books aren’t balancing. She’s spending money like water.’

Trying to play it down, Alfie shrugged. ‘She’s a woman ain’t she. They love shopping and all that shit.’

‘Come off it, Alf, this is Franny we’re talking about. When was the last time you saw her tottering along the street in a pair of Louboutins, carrying shopping bags? That ain’t her style. You know that, and I know that. She might have a beautiful face and – no disrespect here – a banging body, but she’s more fucking geezer than most geezers I know. She’s weird. She’s different to any woman I’ve ever met, but she’s clever; fuck me isn’t she just? Ruthless as well, which in my mind means she’s fucking dangerous.’

Alfie waved Vaughn away, dismissing what he saw as melodrama, though he still felt a nagging doubt, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. ‘Turn it in, you sound like a pussy boy. This is Fran, she ain’t the eighth battalion you know.’

Looking serious, Vaughn leant in. ‘Have you never heard of a silent assassin? That’s who we’re dealing with.’

Pouring another shot of whiskey and knocking it back as quickly as he had done the first one, Alfie roared with laughter. ‘You need to have a word with yourself, Vaughnie. Silent assassin. Jesus Christ, what TV show have you stepped out of?’

Not to be cut off, Vaughn continued, ‘Maybe I’m not putting it right, but what I’m saying is, whilst we’re looking at Charlie and keeping our eyes out front, and whether you believe it or not, Alf, if we’re not careful, one way or another when we’re not looking, we’re going to get stabbed in the back by your missus. Again.’

Rubbing his head, Alfie, not feeling great, said, ‘Listen, I know you won’t ever be able to trust her after what she did with our money. I get it, but this obsession you’ve got with her has to stop. You’re creating something that’s not there. Every time you’re in the room together, I’m having to referee you both. It’s Charlie we need to be thinking about.’

‘You’re right we do, and that’s the point – we can’t have anybody that ain’t trustworthy in our fold. That’s the last thing we need. Keeping it tight and all together is difficult enough without having to look over our shoulders.’

Thinking that a line of cocaine might be more helpful than the whiskey, Alfie pulled a face, feeling the stress beginning to build. ‘I dunno, it’s not like you’ve got anything concrete to base it on.’