‘I wish you didn’t work for him,’ said Jill for about the thousandth time. Charlie was a beast. He was so flashy, so false. Everything was about creating a big impression – the wrong one. Because he was a bastard rapist really, and nobody knew. He was always flaunting his wealth. Laughing at the coppers. Pedalling his fucking drugs. Keeping his dirty secrets well hidden.

‘Well, I do work for him. And it pays. We live like princes, don’t we. So why complain?’

‘I’m not complaining.’

‘Sounds like it.’

Jill heard the warning in Terry’s voice. No one criticized Charlie in his hearing. She shrugged and straightened. ‘Nah, take no notice of me. It’s gonna be great.’

‘He’s flying in from the yacht, they’re down on the Beaulieu River. Making a grand entrance for the big occasion. You know Charlie.’

‘I’m surprised he didn’t want you with him.’ Yeah, she knew Charlie all right. More than she wanted to.

‘Listen, I don’t question what Charlie wants. I told him I’d be happier if I was with him this trip, but he said to chill out and that he’d see us at the party.’

Belle came hurrying down the stairs. She was wearing a midnight-blue silk gown and full make-up. She’d bouffed up her tangled blonde tiger-striped hair and made up her dark brown eyes smokily with grey shadow.

Jill looked at her and could hardly believe it. Belle was turning into a beautiful woman and she felt such pride in her gorgeous daughter, such love for her.

‘Don’t you look great,’ said Jill. ‘Don’t she, Terry?’

‘She does,’ said Terry, giving Belle and then Jill a hug. ‘You both do. My two glamorous girls.’

He was smiling at them both, feeling the need to shield them, keep them safe.

Then into Terry’s mind, uncomfortably, came Harlan on that day when he’d caught him terrorizing Belle in the garage, sneering at him, calling him the help when he gave him a slap and told him to stay away from his daughter. That little cunt was starting to really worry him, and it wasn’t only to do with Belle, although that was a big part of it. He thought of Nula’s warning that Harlan was a danger to Charlie and himself. How he’d dismissed it, thinking it was just crazy Nula spouting off again. But then there was Beezer’s death, with only Harlan there as a witness. And Harlan poking his nose into every aspect of the business, taking a strong grip on things in town, things that had always been Charlie’s preserve and were now – most definitely – Harlan’s.