She took another deep breath. ‘Georgio said that you would help him. There’s something important he needs . . .’ Her voice trailed off.

Alan held out his arms, waving the cigar around, its thick blue smoke spiralling all over the place.

‘Well? What’s he want then?’

Donna stared at the big amiable man in front of her, remembering that he was a murderer. She leaned forward and stubbed out her cigarette.

‘He said before I asked you, to remind you that you and him went back a long time together. That you ran the streets as children, that you were very close.’

Alan grinned. ‘We were. Me and Georgio were like that.’ He crossed his fingers to emphasise the point. ‘He did me a very big favour once, a long time ago. I will never forget that.’

He smiled at her in a friendly way before speaking again. ‘Look, can I ask you something?’

Donna nodded.

‘Do I make you nervous?’

She shook her head and said in a strong voice, ‘No, Mr Cox, you don’t make me nervous at all, why?’

Alan smirked as he pointed out, ‘You just put your cigarette out in my bowl of peanuts.’

Donna looked into the small ceramic bowl and felt her heart sink down to her boots. Among the cashews and other nuts was the glowing ember of her St Moritz cigarette.

She stared at the bowl, her face scarlet with embarrassment. ‘I am so sorry.’

Alan realised that she was near to tears and felt sympathy wash over him. He had assumed she would see the funny side of what she had done. Instead she was lighting yet another cigarette with shaking hands.

He watched her tightly drawn face as she pulled the smoke into her lungs, saw the faint circles under her eyes and the chipped nail varnish on the third finger of her right hand.

He saw the way she was sitting bolt upright in the seat, as if she had a poker stuffed down the back of her very expensive suit, and the way her left eye twitched at the corner every now and then.

This was one very uptight lady, yet he had heard through the grapevine that she was running the whole shooting match for Georgio while he was banged up and, more startling, that she was making a bloody good job of it.

She was an anomaly all right, and he decided that he liked her a lot. She was too good for Georgio, he knew that. Much as he liked Georgio, he also knew him very well and this little lady was probably unaware of the half of it where her husband was concerned.