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sample,” Stabb said. “We can’t risk losing that, and Chance could have hidden it anywhere. The only way to be sure is to get to Chance as he hands it over. He must still have it or there would have been some fallout by now.”
    â€œI agree. And so does Viktor.”
    Stabb scowled. “Glad to hear you both approve.”
    â€œOh, don’t misunderstand me,” she said, smiling. She brushed her hair away from her face as she got into the car. “You are in charge here.”
    Stabb looked at her, then started the engine and pulled out of the parking space.
    â€œSo what do you want me to do?” she asked.
    â€œNothing for now. We’re watching Chance, and so far he’s not made contact with anyone. But the children may provide an opportunity.”
    The woman smiled, watching out of the car window as a huge 747 took off into the cloudy sky. “I like children,” she said.
    â€œJade won’t like that,” Rich warned Chance.
    Chance lit the cigarette anyway. He put the packet and his silver lighter down on the coffee table beside his mobile phone. Rich could see there was a heart engraved on the lighter.
    Chance blew out a long breath of smoke and Rich winced, trying not to cough. He hated the smell of cigarettes, hated the way the smoke got into your mouth and the stale smell of it lingering on your clothes.
    â€œI’ve had a really long day,” Chance said.
    At that moment, Jade appeared in the doorway to the living room. Rich recognised the expression on Jade’s face and from experience he knew it was not good news.
    She walked over to Chance and plucked the cigarette from his mouth. Then she ground it out in the ashtray.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Chance asked.
    â€œYou’re not smoking that,” Jade told him.
    â€œYou can’t order me about in my own flat.”
    â€œIt might be your flat,” Jade said, “but we all have to live here.”
    â€œSometimes I just have to have one.” He opened the cigarette packet again.
    â€œYou’re killing us as well as yourself,” Jade told him. “Killing your own children.”
    Chance was on his feet. He pushed the lighter into the space inside the cigarette packet, then closed the packet and tossed it down on to the table beside his mobile phone. “I’m sorry, but I can’t deal with this right now. I’ll phone schools and you should be somewhere more pleasant by the weekend. Things are not easy for me at the moment – not easy at all.”
    He turned and walked quickly from the room.
    As soon as the study door slammed shut, Jade scooped up the cigarettes from the coffee table. “Confiscated,” she said. “Since we’re all treating each other like school kids. And that,” she added, picking up Chance’s mobile phone. “That’s confiscated too.”
    â€œWhat are you going to do with them?” Rich asked. “Ciggies, fine. But you can’t chuck away his phone. And he put his lighter inside the cigarette packet.”
    â€œThen I’ll put them somewhere he won’t find them,” she said.
    â€œHe’ll go ape,” Rich said.
    Jade grinned. “I know.” She headed for the bedroom.
    Rich stared at the empty space on the table where the cigarettes and phone had been. There was a new packet of cigarettes on a table in the hall, and he fetched it and put it on top of the telly. After a moment’s thought, Rich tore the cellophane wrapper off the packet. Maybe Chance would assume he’d opened a new pack and not get too cross when he couldn’t find his phone or his lighter.
    Rich didn’t ask where Jade was actually hidingChance’s stuff. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. And when Jade returned and moved on to the kitchen, he decided he really didn’t want to know and went to the bedroom. He pushed the door shut and tried to read. He couldn’t concentrate, and