But she knew exactly what they were looking for. They were looking for anything out of place, anything that might suggest that she wasn’t who she claimed to be.

‘Like I said, you don’t have a lot of belongings,’ remarked Stephen, turning around to fix her with his disconcertingly intense stare. ‘Why is that?’

It was true. Your average person tended to build up a good deal of detritus over the course of their life. But as an undercover operative, Bailey was living a skeleton existence, having stripped away any possessions that might potentially contradict her cover story.

‘In fact,’ he continued, ‘it looks like you’ve just moved in.’

All four of them observed her dispassionately, awaiting an explanation.

Thinking on her feet, she searched her mind for an appropriate response.

‘I like to travel light,’ she said. ‘Clutter’s bad for the mind. Simplicity. It’s a Japanese thing. It’s all the rage these days.’

‘A Japanese thing?’ sneered Stephen sceptically.

Bailey nodded enthusiastically. ‘Yeah, I watched a show about it recently on Netflix. You chuck out anything that doesn’t make you happy. The less stuff you’ve got, the happier you are. I just did a blitz and got rid of loads of stuff.’

‘I think I caught that show one time,’ murmured Shane from his position by the window.

Rick’s gaze settled on the porcelain jaguar by the fireplace. A slightly perturbed frown crossed his face as if it offended him in some way.

‘Well, if you’re looking to declutter, I’d start by getting rid of that.’

Bailey had to agree with him. It was in exceedingly poor taste, but it was here in her apartment and she had to explain it somehow.

‘I mean, what on earth possessed you to buy it in the first place?’ he asked.

‘I like wild cats,’ she said. ‘Predators. I love the way they hunt down and kill their prey. So graceful. So deadly. Someday I’ll own a real one.’

He raised his eyebrows and nodded, conceding her point.

Shane had wandered over to her TV and was leafing through her DVD selection. He pulled one out and held it up for them all to look at.

‘Scarface?’ said Rick.

‘One of my favourite films,’ Bailey replied.

‘What do you think of the ending?’ asked Shane.

Bailey cursed inwardly. She hadn’t got around to watching it yet so she didn’t know what happened at the end. They were all looking at her, waiting for her response. Then she remembered what Frank had said about it.

‘I like the bit where he shoots everybody,’ she said.

Rick sighed. ‘I’ve never been into gangster films myself. They never seem to get it right. Most of them are way too over the top. Wall Street. Now there’s a good film. Gordon Gekko. You could learn a lot from him.’

She eyed Stephen with concern as he wandered off into the bathroom. She prayed that he didn’t find the secret compartment. He would no doubt be rooting through the contents of the bathroom cabinet. He re-emerged a short while later, holding something in his hand. He held it up for them all to see. It was her packet of beta blockers.