The rain stopped and the walls sweated less and the ceiling stain retreated, ending up about the size of South America. The Falcon performed better in the dry weather. Glen did her teaching and ran her courses and enjoyed her promotion. I did the usual things-a spot of bodyguarding, a little summons-serving, and acted as a consultant for a documentary film-maker who was making a movie about private enquiry agents-strictly off-camera stuff. Glen bought herself a CD player for her birthday because she was flush and I bought her several CDs because I wasn’t-Crosby, Stills amp; Nash, The Big Chill, that sort of thing.

I heard from Scott once, a few weeks after he took the job. He rang and asked me to run a check on a player at the casino whose behaviour was giving them some concern.

‘I can put a bit of this work your way, Cliff, if you’re interested,’ he said.

‘I’m interested.’ It’s not often that doing someone else a good turn brings results for yourself.

The man in question was a toy importer with political aspirations. His products were shoddy and illegally labelled, and his solid financial front turned out to be a tissue-thin facade of debts and deals that would fall down at the first puff of an adverse economic wind. He had some unfortunate personal habits, too, like steering his BMW convertible with his feet when he had a skinful. I reported to Scott and I got a cheque accompanied by a card-’with the thanks and compliments of Scott Galvani, Security Manager, Sydney Casinos Ltd.’ Very nice.