'She owes and she's trying to pay it off without her man finding out. Do you mind if I smoke?'

'I'd rather you didn't. How much are we talking about?'

'Abagail? Twenty grand. Plus interest.'

'And the interest probably isn't what the Nationwide is currently offering.'

'You know how these things work, you build up the addiction, give lots of credit, then you call it in, except the interest is such that she will never be able to pay it off piecemeal. She makes token payments, but she knows what the real deal is.'

And so did I, suddenly.

'Political influence,' I said.

'She has a certain amount of her own clout,' said Derek, 'but mostly I think it's the husband. Everyone knows that for all his big talk, he's putty in her hands.'

'That's why the Millers waltz around free and you can go on collecting your direct debits.'

He said, 'I really need that cigarette.'

'No,' I said. 'Have a HobNob.'

I showed him. He demurred.

'As a last request,' he said, 'it doesn't quite have the same effect.'

'Well that's a matter of opinion. If I let you live, will you . . .'

'Yes.'

'. . . give up smoking?'

'Yes.'

'Go from coke to Diet Coke.'

'Yes. One million per cent.'

I nodded, and tried to look thoughtful.

He reached into his jacket.

'Easy,' I said.

He stopped. 'It's just my phone.'

I kept the gun on him and gave a short nod. He produced his iPhone.

'I have that model,' I said.

'If you let me live, you can have it. Everyone we deal with is on here, contacts, amounts, dates, times, even the direct debit details.'

'I could just shoot you dead and take it.'

'You don't know the password.'

'Tell me the password or I'll shoot you.'

He sighed. 'I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't.'

'That you are.'

He handed me the phone. 'There you go,' he said. 'Please let me live.'

'Why don't you just send the info to my phone, then you can hold on to it?'

'No. It's my work phone. Their phone. If you don't kill me, they certainly will. No point in hanging on to it.'

'Password?'

'I don't have one.'

'You were bluffing me.'

'Yes, sorry.'

I said, 'You have no password for your phone? You've no security on your car park, and you don't use half the functions on the safe in your office. If you don't mind me saying, you're fucking useless at security.'

'I know,' he said, nodding mournfully, 'but as it turns out, I'm a fantastic drug dealer. Go figure.'

I felt sorry for him, just a little tiny bit. We both knew that if I didn't kill him then the Millers would, although not before they'd wrung every last tiny bit of information out of him. You don't lose your employers the best part of two million pounds and get a written warning.

I told him to wait for a moment, then got out and opened the boot. I took three thousand in twenties out of the stash. When I dropped it into his lap, he looked surprised.

'Take it,' I said. 'Go and get your wife and kids and disappear. Different country. Start over. Put your house up, but don't come back to show people round.'

He looked at the money. He shook his head. 'I can't,' he said. 'If I run, they'll think I'm in on it.'

'And if you stay?'

'They'll think I'm in on it.'

'So run and stand a chance, or stay and get shot.'

'You're not shooting me?'

'Nope.'

'Not even a flesh wound.'

'Nope.'

'Could you just hit me with your gun then, make it look like I didn't give it up without a fight?'

'No can do,' I said.

He looked down at the money in his lap. 'I've no choice, then. The wife's going to be furious. We've just paid for Sky HD. It's a one-year contract. We'll never get out of it.'

I had sympathy in that direction.

'The fuckers will get you every which way,' I said.

41.

There were lights on in Jack's house, and four cars in the drive. So they were home alone. It was a little after ten p.m. and I was aching from my various beatings, but rich beyond my wildest dreams. I had driven with meticulous care the mile across town to Malone, thinking the whole way that if I just withdrew from the case right now I could retire and paaaaaaarty for the rest of my life. It would be a short life, but glorious. But even while I was thinking it, I kept driving, safe in the knowledge that I had enough problems mainlining Harp.

I pulled into their drive, with my lights already off, and sat there in the dark. I tapped Derek Beattie's screen, and studied the names and addresses again, just to be absolutely sure there were one hundred and sixty properties in the greater Malone area that were served by his company; those with an asterisk were those that received a little extra sense of security for their monthly payment.

There was no asterisk beside Jack Caramac's name.

I checked my watch, and then ducked down lower in my seat. Forty-five seconds later, only a little bit late, a Malone Security car cruised slowly past. When I was sure they were gone, I got out of the car and walked up to the front door. When I rang the bell, Tracey answered. She had a silk dressing gown on and a glass of wine in her hand. She looked me up and down and said, 'Holy fuck.'

A moment later Jack was at her shoulder. He also had a glass of wine. He pointed it at me, but extended one finger.

'You were fucking told, Dan! What the hell's wrong with you?'

I said, 'We need to talk.'

I took a step forward.

They formed a united front, blocking me.

'You need to bugger off,' said Tracey.

'Ten minutes. You just need-'

'We don't need to do anything, Dan,' said Jack.

'Call them,' Tracey hissed at her husband. 'That's what we bloody pay them for.'

'Dan . . . please . . .'

'Oh for Jesus . . .' She started to turn.

'No,' I said.

She twirled back, exploding into: 'Who the fuck do you think . . .?' before she saw that I had removed the gun from my jacket and was pointing it at her. And then she laughed. 'You've got to be fucking kidding me.'

She turned again. Jack tried to haul her back, but she slapped his hand away and picked up the house phone. Jack gave me a helpless shrug.

I said, 'If she's calling Malone, that's why I'm here.'

'It's ringing,' said Tracey.

'Malone is owned by the Miller brothers.'

'Still ringing.'

'They use it to distribute cocaine to your friends and neighbours.'

'Being transferred to their out-of-hour service.'

'And I have a list of them all here.'

I held up the iPhone. While Tracey called, Jack's eyes had been widening further with each revelation.

He finally said, 'You're serious?'

I just kept holding it up. He turned and tried to pull the phone out of Tracey's hand. She struggled. He let her go. She stumbled back and fell on to the stairs behind her, spilling her wine over herself in the process. I knew her of old. Tracey would not take falling down lying down. Her mouth twisted up into a hate-fuelled scowl, and she was preparing to hurl herself at her husband when she was stopped by three little words.

'Mummy what's wrong?'

Tracey brushed down the front of her dressing gown and twisted from her position sitting on the third step. She beamed up at little Jimmy at the top of the stairs.

'Nothing, darling,' she purred. 'Mummy and Daddy are just playing.'

'Who dat?'

He was looking at me. He looked angelic in his Ben 10 pyjamas. The sort of kid you'd want to whack with a silver spoon.

'I'm a friend of your mummy's,' I said, stepping into the hall, smiling at him too, 'a really good friend.'

I gave Tracey a wink that said there were things I could tell Jack about our past she would not like me to tell Jack about our past. He couldn't see the wink. Little Jimmy could. But he was too dumb to know what it meant.

'Dan we're seriously concerned for your mental health,' said Jack, pouring himself a Jack Daniel's, and then one for me. He brought them across. Tracey was scowling at me one moment, grinning at Jimmy on her knee the next. 'We're used to obsessive fans, but for Christ's sake, we've known you since your cider days. Let go of it, man.'

'You bring a gun into our house.' She covered her child's ears. 'Our fucking house.'

'But I can't say I'm not intrigued by the Millers.' Jack settled in the chair opposite. 'So I'll listen to what you have to say.'

Tracey had removed her hands from Jimmy's ears. Now she replaced them. 'And then we'll fuck you out.'