She took a deep breath and said in her strongest voice, ‘I don’t want this place used for stolen property ever again, and I mean that, Davey. We’ve too much to lose if we get caught out, especially with the insurance people crawling all over us. They’re already suspicious because I insured this place up to the hilt just before the ram raid. So think about it in the future. Your livelihood and Carol’s and the kids’ depends on this place.’

Davey nodded, then went back to finish making the coffee.

The prison wing was quiet. Timmy’s death had affected them all in one way or another.

As they trooped from their cells for their morning shower, the general mood in A Wing was subdued. Even the Wing’s joker Benjamin Dawes was quiet. The two new inmates showered side by side. Georgio watched them as they chatted quietly to each other, relishing the knowledge that he would soon smash their world wide open.

The prospect eased his grief over Timmy. Sadie was still being supplied with Valium to calm her nerves. Even the screws were saddened by her abject misery over Timmy, bringing her cups of tea and cigarettes, never forgetting for one moment that she was the property of Donald Lewis and until he dumped her she was to be afforded a measure of respect.

Georgio washed himself absentmindedly. Timmy’s large lumbering presence was more of a loss than he’d ever have suspected. His death had brought home to Georgio just what a precarious position he himself was in. He knew in his heart that at a whim of Lewis’s he could die in the same way, and Lewis would never be brought to book over it. Nor would he lose any sleep either. To Donald Lewis, people were as expendable as elastic bands or condoms. You used them, then threw them away. It was a frightening thought.

Tying his towel around his waist, Georgio walked from the showers. As he reached his cell a new screw was standing by his window. Sadie was nowhere to be seen.

‘Where’s Sadie?’

The man smiled pleasantly. ‘The quack wanted to see her. Shut the door, Brunos, and shove in the wedge, we need to talk.’

Georgio stared at him for a few long moments, sizing up whether he should listen to him or throw him out. Lewis wasn’t above setting him up and Georgio was aware of it.

The screw seemed to read his mind. He shut the door himself, forcing the wedge into place with his booted foot.