Smiling evilly Bunty spat out: ‘All right, Harry, if you insist. But I warn you now - one snide remark from her and that’s that. Let them do their worst. I’ll not be held over a barrel by that skinny bitch or her thug of a husband.’

Harry gave a great sigh of relief.

Leave it to the women. He was a great believer in passing the buck. Whatever happened now was down to Bunty, and for all her hard talk and crassness, she knew better than to push Donna Brunos too far. Bunty could grovel for England when the fancy took her. He smiled to himself. He was half-sorry he would miss the performance.

Harry had panicked the night of Georgio’s arrest and had completely blanked out the couple from his life. Feigning surprise, then pretending he had had his suspicions all along about Georgio, he had agreed with the opinion of whoever he was talking to. Deep inside, he had had to convince himself that Georgio opening his mouth about the deals in Sri Lanka and Bangkok would only land him in more trouble. The idea that he might eventually use them as a way to gain a lighter sentence had occasionally filtered into his mind in the dead of night, just after Georgio had been given eighteen years. Knowing that he himself would have sold anyone down the river in those circumstances had made him aware of the precarious position he was in.

However, knowing that Donna was nearby had given Harry a false sense of security. While he could still pass Georgio’s house, see the familiar car in the drive, he had convinced himself that Georgio was still holding out for them all. Now Donna was leaving, Harry was worried. Once she was gone, he had no way of finding out anything, until the knock came on his front door as it had on Georgio’s. He felt himself break out in a sweat just thinking about it. Harry Robertson, planning officer, pillar of the community, actually being arrested. It didn’t bear thinking about.

Especially when the reason for the arrest would be enough not only to shock his contemporaries, but also disgust them.