Gina laughed long and loud, remembering Mrs Thwaite’s bitter and envious face when she had been deposed as housekeeper and exposed as the thief she was, and what she and Gina had said to each other.

It takes one to know one.

Exactly!

Gina stopped laughing and they continued home in companionable silence, the tension and Gina’s bad mood dissipated.

‘So what are you going to do about it – about the money I admit I took?’ she asked eventually.

‘I’ve been wondering,’ said James. ‘I could, of course, tell my parents and have you dismissed …’

‘But you’re not going to do that, are you, James?’

‘No. What would be the point? It would only stir things up and I like things to be settled; I like to know just what to expect, though you’re a little unexpected, Gina. Whatever else I thought to find on this visit, it certainly wasn’t someone quite so interesting. You and I, we’re from the same mould, Gina. It’s my amazing good fortune to have met someone who is like me in so many ways, but so lovely, too.’

‘Like you? I don’t understand.’

‘Yes, you do. You’ve already shown me how you and I are of one mind. We can do very well together, Gina, very well indeed. What I do takes me away from London sometimes, so if you’re here, seeing to a few things for me, it’ll save me that long, long journey up north a time or two, for which I would be very grateful to you, Gina.’

‘James, stop the car!’ said Gina. ‘Stop here, right now.’

‘What?’

‘I said stop the car.’

He pulled over to the side but kept the engine running. They seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, not a light visible in any direction.

‘Gina?’ He looked worried. Maybe he’d misjudged everything.

Gina shifted round in the uncomfortable seat so that she could look straight at him. ‘First of all, James, I don’t think you can just assume I’ll help you out of the goodness of my heart, and secondly, if I’m to be a part of whatever your business is – take any role in it at all, however small – then I need to know exactly what it is that you do. No pulling the wool with vague explanations and the like. No pretending summat’s a treat or a nice evening out when it’s all about this business of yours. No treating me like a green lass who’ll wait about while the grown-ups get on with it.’

‘So you’re saying, if you’re in, you’re all in?’

‘You’ve got it, lad. And that means I’m to be paid for owt I do, too. As I say, you can’t assume I’ll be doing owt ’cos I’m nice. I’m not that nice.’