‘Sounds like a professional,’ said Bailey. She paused and frowned. ‘So what does this have to do with me? Why the need for undercover?’

Frank swapped glances briefly with Dale and then turned his attention back to Bailey. ‘Do you know much about the Molloy crime family?’

‘Well, apart from their general bad reputation, I know they’re a pretty heavyweight OCG.’

OCG stood for organised crime group.

Frank nodded. ‘You’re definitely right about that. The best way to think of them is as a multinational corporation whose business portfolio includes extortion, gun-running, drug trafficking, prostitution, hijacking, kidnapping, money laundering, bribery, fraud, counterfeiting, armed robbery, large-scale car theft and contract killing… amongst other things.’

Bailey smiled as she watched Frank run out of fingers as he counted off their crimes.

‘Their assets are rumoured to run into the hundreds of millions,’ he continued, ‘and they use every trick in the book to launder their illicit cash. In order to conceal their criminal enterprises, they operate a whole host of front companies, as well as a variety of legitimate businesses. They have hundreds, if not thousands, of people working for them, and most of those people probably have no idea that they’re actually really working for the Molloys.’

‘Impressive,’ said Bailey. ‘Where exactly are they based?’

‘Well, they’re headquartered mainly in the East London–Essex area, legacy of the previous generation, but they’re not territorial in the traditional sense, and they don’t control a “manor” as such. Like I said, they’re multinational in nature and they run a sophisticated global operation with links to organised crime groups on just about every continent to facilitate their illicit activities.’

‘They sound like major players,’ Bailey acknowledged. She tilted her head pensively. ‘Molloy’s an Irish name, isn’t it?’

Frank nodded. ‘That’s right. The Molloy family are of Irish origin, although they’ve been living here in London for several generations.’ He paused thoughtfully. ‘Molloy means “proud chieftain” in Gaelic apparently.’

Bailey smiled. ‘Didn’t know you had an interest in etymology, Frank.’ She paused. ‘Talking of chieftains, remind me again who runs this outfit.’

‘A very pertinent question,’ he said. ‘These days, the Molloy crime empire is run by Rick Molloy. He’s Adrian’s younger brother. He’s a premier-league gangster, although he tells people he’s just an innocent property developer. Takes the business side of things very seriously apparently, which probably goes some way to explaining the success of their organisation. But although he may act like the proverbial businessman, he’s a ruthless thug and a villain at the end of the day, who maintains his position, and that of his organisation, just like any other gangster – by the calculated use of violence. The Molloys have been linked to at least twenty-one murders, and that’s just in the UK, and those are just the ones we know about.’

‘Sounds like a dangerous character,’ said Bailey. She paused. ‘You said this job needed a woman’s touch. Why? In fact, come to think of it, you haven’t told me what the job is yet.’