‘Jake, can you just . . . take her to the kitchen.’ I stumbled past him to the bathroom. I just made it to the loo and threw up.

I collapsed to the floor.

Never again.

Never again could I let Gigi get caught up in my work.

I walked into the kitchen and Jake handed me a glass of water. I drank it in one and put it back on the table. My hands were still shaking.

‘Frederick knows something’s up. But he’s not sure what. If he was I wouldn’t have walked out of there.’ I went to the fridge and pulled out a loaf of bread and some cheese and made Gigi a sandwich.

She was playing in the corner with her toy kitchen.

‘Lunch, sweetheart.’ I put it down on the table in front of me and she came over and sat on my lap.

‘Sangwitch. Yum.’

I held her close as she ate.

‘We need to move on him now. Just because he didn’t’ – Jake looked down at Gigi – ‘k-i-l-l you, it doesn’t mean he’s not going to run.’

‘You’re right. Taking her was a test. I may have held it together enough to get us out of there but he knows something is wrong.’

‘I’ll call Hattie.’ Jake walked into the hallway.

‘Is that good, darling?’

She nodded. I stroked her hair and kissed her head. She was safe. That was all that mattered.

Jake came back into the kitchen. ‘Hattie’s meeting me at Frederick’s house. We’re going to bring him in. Time’s running out. If he is the Snake we need to use him to get to whoever is running Tenebris. Interrogating him will get us the answers we need. You stay here and I’ll call you with an update.’

I nodded. ‘Be careful – his daughter is with him. He said that his wife and son were out but I can’t be sure. Remember he’s a fudging sociopath who’s capable of fudging anything and as much I want him fudging ended we need to know what he knows.’

‘Understood.’

My front door slammed and we both froze.

‘Don’t worry, I’m here!’ called Gillian from the hallway.

‘We’re in here, Gillian.’

I pulled out my phone to text a friend who now worked in the private sector. Gillian might be here to look after Gigi but an ex-Special Forces commando would be looking after both of them.

She bustled through into the kitchen holding a Sainsbury’s bag. ‘Hello, Jake. Found yourself a nice girl yet?’

‘Sadly not. Just lots of very, very naughty ones.’