‘Eh?’

‘You look distracted. Is everything okay?’

The past week or so, Bailey had been preoccupied with Mister Snigiss almost twenty-four hours a day, unable to sleep, unable to concentrate on almost anything else. But of course she couldn’t mention that to Frank.

‘My green cashmere scarf,’ she said, hurriedly pulling up a suitable excuse. ‘I mislaid it recently. It’s kind of annoying because it’s been pretty chilly the past week. I’m trying to think where I left it. Have you seen it around?’

Frank shrugged and shook his head. He looked at Dale who also shrugged.

It was technically true. She had actually lost her scarf. She could swear she’d left it draped over the back of one of the chairs in her apartment. But maybe she’d lost it before that. Maybe she’d left it in that vegan restaurant she’d gone to with Dale. For the life of her, she couldn’t recall. There were too many things on her mind and she was starting to make mistakes. And mistakes could be dangerous. She needed to stay on the ball.

Her undercover phone suddenly started to ring in her pocket. She took it out and looked at it. The screen said ‘No caller ID’.

‘Hello,’ she said carefully.

‘Bailey Morgan?’ A woman’s hard steely voice.

With a flash of horror, Bailey realised that the woman had called her on her undercover phone yet was addressing her by her real name. That meant that operational security had somehow been breached. Bailey’s stomach turned over in anxiety. She hesitated whether to answer in the affirmative.

‘Who is this?’ she whispered.

There was a pregnant pause on the line.

‘Mister Snigiss will meet you,’ said the woman.

Bailey’s breath caught in her throat and for a moment she was lost for words. Frank and Dale were now both staring at her, intrigued. They could see that something was up.

Bailey hurriedly got to her feet and made her way out of the front room into the poky bathroom at the back and locked the door behind her.

She swallowed nervously, her mind racing. Now it made sense why the caller knew her real name. She’d told Claudia her real name, had flashed her warrant card, and had given her the number to her undercover phone. That meant that Claudia must have conveyed her message to Mister Snigiss about wanting to meet. Bailey guessed that the woman she was now speaking to was some kind of intermediary operating on his behalf.

‘That’s all I’m asking for,’ she said, trying to keep her voice steady. ‘To meet Mister Snigiss.’

‘Mister Snigiss knows about your sister, Bailey,’ said the woman matter-of-factly. ‘Mister Snigiss knows all about Jennifer. Mister Snigiss knows that’s the reason you want to talk.’

Bailey felt dizzy, the walls of the cramped bathroom pressing in on her. She hadn’t mentioned Jennifer in anything she’d said to Claudia. That meant Mister Snigiss must have conducted some serious background intel on Bailey. She realised that she was dealing with someone with a very long and dangerous reach. And that scared her.