Just when everything was going so well, this had to happen. Well, he hoped Donna was moving to be nearer the prison, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. It was if she was moving away before the bomb was dropped that was worrying him.

He made a mental note to get Bunty to go round there, all sweetness and light, and try to patch up their rather curtailed friendship. He heard his outer door slam and bit on his thumbnail. Sally was more upset than he’d realised.

Picking up the phone, he prepared himself for Bunty’s strident voice and guaranteed rage when he told her what he wanted her to do. In a lot of respects he had envied Georgio his meek little wife; now he was positively green.

Bunty was not a woman you told to do things, not if you knew what was good for you.

Taking a deep breath, he dialled his home number.

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Bunty Robertson was fit to be tied. She stood in the centre of her dining room and scowled at her husband as he tried to pacify her.

‘Bunty, darling.’ His eyes were beseeching her.

‘Shut your stupid fat mouth, Harry. I will not, I repeat, will not go round to that bitch’s house for love nor money. Get it? Or do you want me to tattoo it on your forehead?’

Harry felt his heart sinking below his navel.

‘Bunty, listen to me, for God’s sake. You have to do this. If Georgio opened his mouth we would all be in it up to our necks. You and your father included.’

Bunty’s long horsy face was fixed in a sneer. She made an unladylike snorting noise through large nostrils.

‘Forgive me if I seem a bit dense, Harry darling, but if Georgio was going to open his mouth I would have thought he’d have done so by now. What on earth would it gain him to tell all now? He’s already doing eighteen years. I would have thought even you could have grasped something that simple.’

His wife’s high-pitched voice finally broke through his fear of her and Harry Robertson shouted for the first time ever at his long skinny wife.