Lara was furious with Coleman for fobbing her off. She said it was important and yet heard real irritation in his voice when he asked her to come back in an hour. Who the hell did he think he was? After all that lovey-dovey stuff earlier.

The exchange through his closed door had just confirmed her worst fear – that Handsome had been telling the truth about Chevron. They were all liars and cheats in here. She thought Coleman was different, but it seemed he was worse than the lot of them put together. He had taken an independent, career-minded, creative woman and was trying to trick her into becoming his gangster’s moll. Indulge the little woman by telling her she owns a shop, wait for her to get fed up, then move her into a nice flat and wait for her to settle into a lifetime of cooking, cleaning and looking pretty.

Well, he had better think again.

In the meantime, she had to get Handsome off the premises.

‘Where’s Arthur?’ she said to Noreen as she was marching past the bar.

‘I think I saw him go into the office,’ Noreen said.

Lara’s fury rose to its full height. What on earth could Coleman be talking to Ironing Board about that was more important than her?

Noreen could see Lara was agitated. ‘What’s the matter?’

‘Urgh. That useless article, Handsome. I tried to sack him and now he won’t get out of the shop. I need Arthur to remove him.’

Lara realised how pathetic it sounded but Noreen nodded. ‘I’ll go and get him.’

As she was going Lara realised that, actually, she did not want to take help from either Coleman or his sidekick. She headed for the stairs then dilly-dallied for a moment at the foot, remembering that Handsome was a nasty piece of work. She was about to go back when she heard a bang coming from the centre of the club. A fight breaking out or some kind of man-aggro and Lara did not want to get caught up in the frame – it made the decision for her. She had her own drama to contend with.

As she walked back to the shop, Lara gave herself a good talking to. These gangster types, all of them, were only bullying men. What they needed was a piece of her mind. There was no point in being cowed, especially if you were a woman. You had to stand up to them and show them they couldn’t walk all over you. She was going to start with that guttersnipe, Handsome, then work her way back to the other two ‘in an hour’, as Coleman had said. And what a going over she would give him! Move into a flat with him? Not a hope. And when she had finished she would approach Chevron herself and do some kind of deal with him on the shop. At the end of the day, Bobby Chevron was a businessman. She vaguely remembered promising Coleman to make Chevron’s wife some gear and as she reached the shop, she thought, maybe now was the time to make good on that promise.

When she put her hand on the door of the shop she found it locked. She was relieved. It meant that Handsome had left and locked up. Nonetheless, it meant he had a key, which she would have to get back off him. Also, it was a working day and, as she opened the door and stepped inside, she saw that the door still had its OPEN sign up. The idiot couldn’t even turn a sign. What the hell had she been afraid of? She reached over to turn on the lights at the door when he emerged from the shadows and put his hand over the light switch to stop her.

‘Hello, boss.’

Lara nearly jumped out of her skin. Her heart thumped but she must not show him she was afraid. The key was still in her hand and the door open behind her.

‘What the hell are you still doing here? And why didn’t you turn the sign?’

She tried to keep her voice hard but her body felt weak and shaky. In the moment that it took her to get the words out, Handsome quickly snatched the key out of her hand and went to lock the door behind her. He had done this before.

She dropped her handbag and the edge of her scarf got caught in the door.

‘What the hell are you doing?’

This time the words came out high-pitched and afraid.

‘I thought we’d have some fun, boss. Take it nice and slow.’

‘Get out of my shop,’ she said in a terrified whisper.

But he was already moving towards her.

❊

It took Coleman no more than two minutes from running up the stairs of Chevrons to the door of That Girl, but it felt like an age. His brain had switched off as his body engaged. Lara might be in danger. And if she might be in danger, the need was as urgent as if it were a certainty. The possibility of her being hurt or upset by that creep Devers, in any way, was an anathema. It simply could not happen.

When he got to the shop, it was locked. A split second of relief turned when he noticed a piece of fabric halfway down the edge of the door. He pulled at it and the fine silk came easily towards him. It was the scarf Lara had been wearing earlier.

She was in there.

He began banging on the door furiously shouting, ‘Open the door.’ When nobody came immediately, he knew there was trouble.

He had to get in but there was no back door to this building. No delivery door, only high windows at the back. There was only one way. Brute force.

He had to stay calm. If he lost it he’d end up taking a run at it and dislocating a shoulder.

Coleman quickly looked to see which way the door opened by checking its hinges. He breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw that the door opened inwards, then gave a forceful and well placed kick to the side where the lock was mounted, near the keyhole. Using a long front kick, he drove the heel of his foot into the door, keeping his standing foot balanced by driving the heel of it into the ground. He was careful not to kick the lock itself and break his foot.

The wood began to splinter and Coleman kept repeating to himself, stay calm, keep on kicking. After half a dozen kicks, the door gave way and he ran in.

The shop was empty.

‘Hello?’ he shouted. Silence. There was nothing untoward, no fallen clothes racks, no sign of a fight. The shop was as neat as ever. Spotless. There was nobody here. Maybe he had knocked the door down for nothing. The beginnings of relief as he thought he might have acted rashly. He looked back towards the door and saw Lara’s handbag on the floor, the contents spilling out of it. The beginnings of a sick feeling as he reached into his pocket for the cartridge and loaded the gun. Then he heard a small muffled noise. Barely discernible, like a dog yelping in a neighbouring street.

He called out, ‘Lara? You in here?’

Another tiny yelp. It was coming from the direction of the changing room.

Slowly and with great care so that the cartridge did not make a snapping sound he loaded the Walther. Then he took off his shoes and began to walk towards the curtained area.

His heart was pounding; he was almost dizzy with adrenalin. If that creep had harmed a hair on Lara’s head – but he couldn’t think about that now. He went to the edge of the curtain and carefully snuck behind so as not to make any noise. Inside the dressing room there were four curtained areas, two of them with lavish, full-length curtains drawn across so that he could not see if anyone was behind them.

He put the gun to the edge of the first one and peeked in. Empty.

They were in the next one. Or not there at all.

But when Coleman quickly pushed back the curtain, he was ready for whatever was there.

At least he thought he was ready.

Lara was gagged, stripped down to her underwear with her hands tied behind her back. Her eyes looked at him, gargantuan and terrified. Handsome was behind her, naked. His eyes were darting with fear, indicating he was high, and he had a knife held to the side of Lara’s neck.

‘I’ll cut her,’ he said. ‘I’ll cut her throat.’

‘Mate,’ Coleman said, ‘come on. How about sharing it around a bit?’

Lara’s eyes widened and she made a guttural noise.

‘She’s a pretty girl. I get it…’

‘You’re fucking with me…’

‘No, no, I’m not. I swear.’ Coleman lowered his right hand as if putting the gun on the ground.

Handsome smiled and relaxed his hand.

As he did Coleman shot him in the leg and Handsome fell screaming on his side to the ground. Then, before Lara could stop him, Coleman pointed the Walther at Handsome’s head and drilled two more into his skull.