It was the Don who made the Mafia brothers make the momentous decision.

Later, they thought that he had, in his aggressive way, forced their hands.

He had summoned them to his room for a meeting that morning before they left for the hospital, to meet Bianca’s mother. The idea was to leave for Hunter’s Folly before evening. Bianca would stay here for a couple of days before joining them.

The white-haired Don, his massive musculature belying his advancing years, was in the study, his Woman perched on his lap when the younger Mafia men entered.

They had been kissing ardently, like young teenagers making out, thought Liam O’Grady in...