‘Okay, so much for the small talk. I want to know why you abducted Kelvin Arrowsmith.’

‘No comment.’

‘Do you deny abducting him?’

‘No comment.’

A further half dozen questions were answered the same way. Gillard had prepared for this and looked to his right to Shireen, who asked the next question. ‘Mr Tickett, your family company has been quite active over the years, hasn’t it? Was it just work for water companies that you did?’

His gaze softened a little. ‘No, lots of general contracting.’

‘And what about Buckingham Pallets Ltd? It hasn’t reported any accounts to Companies House since inception.’

‘Well, paperwork was never my strong point. I’d have caught up with it by now if you hadn’t locked me up.’

‘If you were to tell us a little bit more about the fraud, we would put in a good word on the sentence for the abduction,’ she said.

Tickett squeezed out a half smile. ‘Butter wouldn’t melt in that pretty mouth, would it? That kind of patter might sway someone who doesn’t know the legal system. If I go down for the abduction, the fraud wouldn’t be here nor there in terms of sentence.’

‘A guilty plea is always something we can work with,’ she said, giving her most winning smile.

Tickett rolled his eyes at Gillard. ‘You must think I’m a complete eejit to fall for this. There was no fraud. You just can’t prove something that doesn’t exist.’

‘Your son Aidan admitted it,’ Shireen said. ‘So why don’t you?’

‘Liar!’ Christopher Tickett’s explosion of anger was immediate. He lunged over the table and Shireen screamed. Gillard intercepted Tickett’s open right hand just before it closed around her throat. Tickett was a big man, but straining across the table put him off balance. Gillard seized the wrist, and rounding the table, forced it behind Tickett’s back. With the other hand on the scruff of Tickett’s neck he rammed him face-first into the wall.

‘Okay, okay,’ Tickett said, as Gillard pulled back, readying him for a second charge. By the time two prison officers arrived, Tickett was back on his chair, arms handcuffed behind him. They took a look at Gillard, and the bloody smear on the wall from the prisoner’s nose and mouth.

‘Just look at the CCTV,’ Gillard said, in response to their suspicious glances. ‘I dealt with an attack on my colleague.’

The brief was cowering in the corner, speechless.

Tickett was quickly manhandled out, but not before bellowing: ‘The Ticketts are not grasses; Aidan would not say a thing. You hear me?’

Gillard turned to Shireen and asked if she was okay. ‘I am, thanks to you. That was a very quick reaction you had.’