They wound their way through the traffic to the Budget Gym, with the little key burning a hole in Priest’s inside pocket. At last, he could sense they were getting somewhere.

‘Well,’ he sighed, pushing back against the car seat to stretch his aching back, ‘I suspect Dominique won’t want to give up the fight easily.’

‘But now both sides have lost their main witnesses. Surely a fair trial isn’t possible.’

‘Perhaps, but I don’t fancy running a human rights argument in front of Peters. For one thing, I suspect she’s not actually human.’

‘The executors might think twice if they think that the estate includes dirty money,’ Georgie speculated.

‘That’s assuming The Real Byte article was actually true,’ Priest pointed out.

‘And what do you believe?’

Priest smiled and pulled past a set of roadworks before offering her an answer: ‘I think you should never let the truth get in the way of a decent libel trial.’

*

The Budget Gym on Grace Street was aptly named. The front comprised two enormous windows either side of a revolving door plastered with signs indicating monthly membership fees as low as nine pounds.

Access to the gym was offered by way of the revolving door but, once inside, there seemed to be no clocking-in system. They were presented with a large room, a concrete floor and a mirror that ran the length of one wall. There were three men at the back gathered around a bench press. They had been discussing something but looked up at Priest and Georgie as they entered.

‘Do you go to the gym?’ Georgie asked. Priest sensed she was nervous.

‘Nope. Hate the damn places.’

‘How do you stay so . . . big?’

‘I eat a lot of red meat,’ he said, watching as a young girl with a pierced nose and blue hair appeared from behind a counter at the back.

Priest walked towards her, Georgie sticking close, aware that the three men had stopped what they were doing and were watching them with interest. The tallest man was white, the other two were black. All three looked like gym regulars.

‘Can I help you?’ asked the blue-haired girl, crossing her arms. She looked at Georgie and fixed her with a hostile stare.

‘Do you have any lockers?’ said Priest.

The blue-haired girl looked puzzled. ‘Yeah, we got lockers. I’ve never seen you in here before, though.’

‘Friend of mine is a member. He gave me his key to retrieve something from his locker. I’d like to get it, please.’

There was a moment’s silence before the blue-haired girl started to laugh. ‘What the fuck? Why doesn’t your friend just come and get it himself?’

He leant across the counter. ‘He’s indisposed.’

‘Hey!’ one of the men in the corner shouted. ‘This guy causing you problems, Mims?’