Once she had bolted the door after Nathan, Grace poured herself a large brandy and phoned Patrick.

‘Nathan knows,’ she said. ‘About the insurance, the cargo from France, and who most of our dealers are.’

‘Is that all?’ Patrick asked.

‘Yep, but for now that’s enough to cause me problems.’

‘Hmm, meeting tomorrow then?’

‘Yeah, I want everyone there, Pat. It’s non-negotiable.’

‘I’ll get on it, boss.’

‘Thanks,’ she sighed.

‘Try not to worry about him. We’ll figure it out. And at least he doesn’t know about the deal with Sol, or about Mitchell working for you.’

‘Yeah, I know. He could really screw those up for us. Night, Pat.’

‘Night, boss.’

Grace smiled as she saw the line of expensive cars parked up outside the Rose and Crown. Everyone had turned up, as instructed. As she let herself in through the side door, she saw Patrick had already assembled the chairs and tables for her meeting. The chef had come in early and was working overtime to keep them all fed and watered. The room, full of powerful men, became quiet as she entered. She smiled at them all as they nodded or mumbled a greeting. They were smartly dressed in suits. She liked to see a man in a suit.

‘Thanks for making it at short notice, lads,’ she said.

‘Thanks for the coffee and sausage butties,’ Raving Ronnie shouted.

‘Yeah thanks, Grace,’ they all chorused.

She took her seat at the head of the table. ‘It’s the least I could do after dragging you all out of bed at this ungodly hour. Now let’s get to work.’

Grace told the assembled men about Nathan’s revelations of the previous night and warned them all to be on their guard. ‘If you have any aggro with him at all, then let Pat or Michael know,’ she said. ‘We need to keep on top of him as much as possible. The less he knows about our operations, the better.’

They all nodded their agreement.

After the meeting was over and Grace had seen the last of the lads out, with the exception of Michael and Patrick, she bolted the doors. The pub wasn’t due to open for another hour.

The three of them sat at one of the tables with a fresh coffee each.

‘Anything else you need me to do, Grace?’ Michael asked.

She shook her head. ‘Not for now. But I need you with me to meet Sol tomorrow. And are you still okay for the trip to Spain next week? Alejandro is expecting you on the fourteenth. He knows we’ll be needing more of his product. Make sure you drive a hard bargain.’

‘Of course,’ he said as he took a sip of his coffee.

‘What about Nathan?’ Patrick asked.

‘Let me handle Nathan,’ Grace said. ‘It’s what I do best.’

Chapter Thirty