‘Very soon, an unfortunate accidental fire is going to break out in here. You, being so wasted, will light a cigarette before falling asleep. That cigarette will then fall onto the pile of newspapers which are conveniently placed next to the sofa. Because of the bottle of whisky you’ve spilled on the floor, I imagine it will all go up pretty quickly.’

His eyes widened. ‘What? Bitch!’ he spat. ‘You wouldn’t dare. They’ll know it was you.’

‘Oh, I don’t think they will. How could they prove anything? My prints will be all over the whisky bottle. All over this place. But of course they would be. This is my pub! And, I won’t even be here when the fire starts. Someone else will take care of that for me. He’ll be wearing gloves though, he’s not stupid. I’ll be safely at home when the blaze takes hold of my beloved pub. And just in case there’s any suspicion this is an insurance scam, I logged a call with police a few weeks ago to tell them someone had been coming into the flat and helping themselves to the whisky. I also called your probation officer, Rebecca. She seems nice. I told her how concerned I was about your drinking and drug-taking. And everyone’s seen you these past few weeks. Almost permanently drunk or off your face on God knows what. Everything will point to you being a sad, alcoholic junkie, who burned himself to death.’ She smiled.

‘Fucking, fucking bitch.’ His face was so red that for a moment she thought he may spontaneously combust and save her a job. He attempted to stand, but despite his efforts he was barely able to move more than an inch. ‘You wouldn’t,’ he said again, as though he was trying to convince them both of that fact.

She laughed. ‘Wouldn’t I? You have no idea what I’m capable of. Who do you think tipped off the police about your lock-up, Nathan? Who do you think took the money you had squirrelled away in there?’

He looked at her with a mixture of anger and hatred. ‘No,’ he snapped and closed his eyes as if it might shield him from her words.

‘That’s not the worst of it though,’ she laughed. ‘The Carter twins tried to shoot you because they work for me. Stupid little bastards screwed up though, didn’t they? So, that’s why I decided to take care of you myself.’

He stared at her, his mouth hanging open.