Tommy lit up a cigarette and held it in his mouth before searching the clothing I was wearing. I got the feeling that he was deliberately allowing the smoke to infect my eyes and taking pleasure in keeping the hot end of it dangerously close to my forehead. He then allowed me to join McCoy on the walkway, leaving him free to search my place alone. Almost immediately, Grace emerged from her flat.

‘Hiya, Grace, you feeling better?’ I asked.

‘No, not really. I still can’t find the thing and the computer shop has phoned up to say a new screen will cost two hundred quid.’

McCoy butted in:

‘Oh, hello, Grace. My name is Brendan. I’m the chap who gave Gary the dongle to look after. He was just telling me that you have mislaid it.’

‘Oh, yes I have, Brendan, I’m so so sorry. I’ve turned my place upside down but I just can’t find it. I had it yesterday. Honestly, I’m getting so useless these days. Do you need it urgently? I’m still looking. You can help me if you want? You’ve probably got better eyes than me…’

‘Yeah, that’s a good idea, and Gary can help as well. Listen, Grace, don’t you worry. It might not be the end of the world.’

Under the supervision of Grace, McCoy and I went through her flat with a fine-tooth comb. Eventually he seemed satisfied that the dongle was not to be found. Before he left, he got her to confirm again that she had not been able to open the files on the dongle and as a parting shot pulled a wad of notes out of his pocket and gave Grace two hundred pounds ‘for her troubles’. She made a fuss of rejecting it but caved in more easily than I would have thought.

We returned to my flat and Tommy confirmed that the dongle was nowhere to be found in there either. McCoy asked Tommy to go back to the car and he addressed me with his steely eyes fixed on mine.

‘Listen, Gary, that dongle is very important to me and therefore, by default, very important to you. If you should find it, you will immediately hand it over to me. If you mention it to the police, I will find out and you will regret it. We wouldn’t want Grace or little Emily to suffer, would we?’

‘No, of course not.’

‘Take care, and might I suggest you clean that dirty mess off the front of your trousers? It’s very off-putting.’

As soon as he left, I felt physically sick. I had been in the presence of a potential murderer and the thought really shook me up. I was scared, and the fear was tingling throughout my body. To be honest, all I wanted at that moment was a hug off my mum.