Donna dried herself off and dressed hastily, chiding herself the whole while. She had to get out of Alan’s flat and back on to her own territory as soon as possible. She’d been too long on her own, that’s what was wrong.

Once Georgio was home everything would go back to normal.

She was so busy with these thoughts, she didn’t notice Big Paddy parked outside.

Alan was listening to the early-morning news on Radio 4 when his buzzer sounded. Frowning, he pressed the intercom switch. ‘Who is it?’

He was relieved to hear Big Paddy’s voice.

‘It’s me, Alan, open the door.’

Two minutes later, Paddy was standing in Alan’s hallway, an anxious smile on his face. He took in the dressing gown and recently washed hair.

‘I was hoping to hear from you, Paddy,’ Alan said. ‘I just assumed it would be at a normal time of the day or night.’

Paddy followed Alan through to the kitchen.

‘Coffee or tea?’

Paddy shrugged. ‘Whatever you’re having.’ He sat at the kitchen table and glanced over the newspaper headlines.

Alan placed a cup of coffee in front of him and said tersely, ‘So? What do you want?’

Paddy eyed him for a moment. ‘I just saw Donna leaving, I was under the impression that Donna’s only to be the messenger, nothing else. Wonder what Georgio will have to say about her leaving with wet hair? I know he wasn’t that impressed with her going off for the weekend with you in the first place.’

Taking his time, Alan lit himself a large cigar. Blowing the smoke across the table into Paddy’s face, he said viciously, ‘You tell fucking Georgio that his wife is in this up to her neck. She took him at face value and now she wants to organise everything with me. If he don’t like it, then that’s tough shit. I am doing him a right favour and he’d do well to remember that. And before you open your trap, Paddy, remember just who you’re talking to.’

Alan sipped his coffee, a vision of Donna still before his eyes, and then he said in a low voice: ‘I don’t believe what I’m hearing. You have the fucking gall to sit there and tell me that Georgio is still calling the shots from Parkhurst? He involved her in all this himself - I never wanted it from the off. I even sent a message in telling him I wanted another number two. But no, I got sex on legs, whether I wanted her or not.