Alan nodded. ‘Don’t worry. If push comes to shove, love, I’ll get you driven home by one of my lads. They’ll deliver your car for you at the same time. I do it for a lot of my customers. Why does Georgio want out so badly? I mean, he ain’t asking me a small favour, is he? He’s asking me to risk everything for him.’

Donna shrugged. ‘All I can say is, Georgio said to remind you exactly what he did for you, though I can’t because I don’t know what it was.’

Alan smiled faintly. ‘Then I’ll tell you, shall I?’

He relit his cigar and settled himself once more in his seat. ‘Your husband and I grew up together in Canning Town. Unlike Georgio’s, my family weren’t exactly respectable. My old man was a drunk, spent more time in the pub than he did in the house. I don’t have to paint a picture, you look the type to watch Channel Four!’ He smiled at her again. ‘Well, old Pa Brunos, he took me under his wing, like. He used to take me and Georgio boxing together. I could have gone professional, but I didn’t. Instead I became a street-fighter. A bareknuckle man. I’m a big bloke and I attracted a good crowd of people. You’d be amazed at the types who turn up to see two blokes punching the fuck out of each other.

‘Well, me and Georgio, we still kept in touch. He got into his building lark and I got into the boxing scene. So professionally we were worlds apart, though Georgio used to come and see me fight, and we’d have the odd drink together in The Bridge House. Twelve years ago, I beat a man to death not five minutes from where we’re sitting now. It was in Chinatown, actually. I did it in full view of a lot of people and I got life imprisonment. I am not going to tell you why I did it, that’s a secret known only to me and a couple of other people.