‘Try it again and you get the barrel end of the gun,’ Lloyd said, pressing a firm hand on Naomi’s shoulder as he and Joanne forced them back to back on to the chairs.

Wheezing, Naomi struggled for breath. Head bowed, Morgan whimpered as she begged for their release. ‘We won’t tell a soul,’ she said, her words interspersed with sobs. ‘Please . . . let us go.’

But her pleading was wasted on Lloyd as he pushed their hands through the rungs of each chair and pressed the police-issue handcuffs against their wrists. Naomi clenched her hands into fists, but Lloyd barely gave her time to draw breath as he grabbed her by the jaw. He leaned into her face, the stench of whisky carrying on his breath.

‘Open your mouth to me again and I’ll blow both your fucking heads off, right here and now.’ Releasing his grip, he staggered slightly on his feet before cocking his gun and aiming for Naomi’s head.

‘Please, don’t hurt her!’ Morgan sniffled, plump tears making a trail down her cheeks. ‘We’ll do whatever you want!’

‘My husband will be back any minute . . .’ Naomi managed to gasp. ‘With the police.’

‘Really? ’Cos according to your mobile, he’s an hour away.’ Lloyd grinned. ‘Bit careless, leaving your phone behind like that. You’ve lots of missed calls.’ A small part of him was enjoying this. The part that told him to take another drink. ‘Take her phone,’ he instructed Joanne, tipping his head towards Morgan.

‘What do we do now?’ Joanne said, pocketing Morgan’s mobile phone. Her face was trusting but terrified. She shouldn’t be here, Lloyd thought. ‘Go back to the coffee shop.’ He spoke in a tone that was not to be argued with. ‘That’ll be your alibi.’

‘But . . .’ she began to protest.

‘I mean it, Joanne, I don’t want you involved in this. There’s plenty who will vouch for you. You’ve not been gone long. Just go in the back entrance and try not to be seen.’ He eyed her uncertainly. ‘You left the café open, didn’t you?’

She nodded in response, breathy with anxiety. ‘I said I was doing a stock-check. Dawn’s manning the till.’

‘In that case, you were never here.’

‘Don’t leave us with him!’ Naomi wriggled in her chair. ‘Please. Morgan’s just a kid. She won’t say anything. Let her go.’

‘Will you be all right?’ Joanne said, but she was talking to Lloyd, not the women handcuffed to the chairs.

‘Sure. Just go,’ Lloyd said. This was the end of the road, and he was willing to walk it, but he would not bring his wife down with him. This wasn’t going to end well, but it would end today. A strange sense of déjà vu swept over him as the past reared its ugly head.