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haven’t come up with any of the damn money. Not one single lousy cent.’
    ‘But –’
    ‘Three million dollars just can’t go missing like that.’ Her eyebrows knitted together in frustration. ‘If we can’t find it, we will have to make that money good – cover the loss from out of own pockets. Otherwise, someone like your new boy here will be coming for us.’ She shot Fei an enquiring look. ‘Have you got a spare three million in your pocket, plus interest?’
    Fei stared at his shoes.
    I bet you don’t even have three marks in your pocket, Barbolini mused. None of these boys could ever hold on to any money. They would happily commit all manner of crimes to acquire it and then it would slip through their fingers like water. Brainless.
    ‘We are still looking.’
    ‘Well, look harder.’
    Fei gestured towards the trembling accountant. ‘Even Bodo doesn’t know where the cash is,’ he protested. At the mention of his name, Grozer let out a strangled whimper. ‘We’re sure of that. We’re still looking for it.’
    ‘You’d better get it back,’ Barbolini snapped, ‘or it will be you on that chair with a noose round your neck.’
    ‘Don’t worry, we’ll find it.’
    ‘Good,’ Barbolini said evenly. ‘Let me help you out, then. I want you to take Stefan for a while.’
    ‘That won’t be necessary,’ Fei replied quickly.
    ‘You take Stefan and you can keep the new boy.’
    ‘I don’t –’
    Barbolini carefully stepped down to the step where Fei was standing, and looked him straight in the eye. He could breathe her perfume, mingled with sweat and felt a tingling in his loins as he breathed it in surreptitiously. ‘I simply don’t have time for this, Dante,’ she hissed. ‘It is a distraction. A waste of time. You are running around in circles, like a little boy playing cops and robbers.’
    Puttana. Vedere ciò che questo bambino potrebbe fare per voi. He inched closer towards her.
    Barbolini stepped back up onto the platform and looked down on her underling. ‘Stefan will work for you – with you – until this is sorted out.’
    Fei shrugged. ‘Okay, boss. Whatever you say.’
    ‘That’s right, whatever I say. That’s how we work. What I say goes.’ Why do I have to spell it out every time? Why is it always a battle? Fuming, Barbolini began walking towards her soon to be ex-accountant. ‘Now, enough of the talking. Let’s address the matter in hand.’
    As he saw Carolina Barbolini step on to the platform in front of him, Bodo Grozer began crying. For a few seconds, he tried to speak, without success.
    ‘Oh God.’ Large salty tears rolled down his cheeks, splashing into the dust.
    ‘Shut up, Bodo,’ Fei shouted.
    ‘Carolina,’ the condemned man whimpered as his ex-employer inspected the nasty bruises evident on Grozer’s face. The accountant didn’t smell too good and there were some nasty-looking stains on his trousers. His shirt had been torn and he had lost his shoes. He looked worse than pathetic. But he was lucky, really. He was getting off easy.
    ‘Sssh,’ Barbolini put a finger to her lips. ‘Be quiet now. Don’t say anything, Bodo. It’s too late for talking.’ Sickened by the sight in front of her, she was seriously tempted to cut the guy down just to watch him take another beating. But time was against her. There was other business to attend to. ‘You know why I’m here, don’t you?’
    The accountant nodded through his tears and sniffed.
    ‘This is a very serious matter,’ Barbolini continued, ‘very serious indeed.’ She turned away from her victim, staring at her patent leather shoes as if lost in thought. ‘Which is why,’ she said quietly, ‘I’m going to kill you myself.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Yes, Bodo. I want my face to be the last thing you see before you start on your journey to hell.’
    ‘Oh Jesus,’ Grozer wailed, ‘please.’ He started pissing himself again.
    ‘Bodo.’ Barbolini grimaced as she stared at the broken man, ‘I