Page 44 of The Impossible Fortune

Not many people scare Ron, but Davey Noakes does. He is glad to have Bogdan with him. Surely he wouldn’t kill them both? Not in one go?

Davey nods to the bottles. ‘Everyone okay with beer for breakfast?’

They all raise their bottles. Yes, everyone is okay with beer for breakfast.

‘How’s your son, Ron?’ Davey asks.

‘He’s well,’ says Ron. Ron is now used to every single criminal on the South Coast being personally acquainted with Jason. He doesn’t like to think about it too much. Jason has signed up to do panto in Hastings this year. Surely he wouldn’t have signed up to do panto if he was still making money with the killers and drug dealers? ‘He’s doing panto this year.’

‘He used to be a lot of fun,’ says Davey. ‘But then didn’t we all? You’ve got five minutes to catch my attention, boys. Forgive the gun, but you’ve both got a reputation in your own way.’

‘Holly Lewis,’ says Ron. ‘She came to see you.’

‘She did,’ agrees Davey. ‘She’s a handful, that one.’

‘And last night she died,’ says Bogdan. ‘In a bombing.’

‘I heard that,’ says Davey. ‘The news, anyway, not the explosion.’

‘And we just wondered,’ says Ron, ‘if there might be a connection between those two events?’

‘I don’t killeveryone,’ says Davey. ‘Who’d have the time? She wanted a bit of advice, that’s all. Came to Uncle Davey.’

‘About the Bitcoin?’ Ron asks.

Davey sizes Ron up. Ron has been ‘sized up’ before, but this time it feels like it might be for a coffin.

‘That rather depends on how much you know,’ says Davey. ‘And how you know it.’

‘We know there’s three hundred and fifty million pounds sitting on a scrap of paper in The Compound,’ says Ron. ‘We know that Holly and Nick were finally thinking of cashing out, and that they came to see you and one other person for advice.’

‘And now Holly dies,’ says Bogdan. ‘Big boom. Not many people that good with explosives. Me, for sure – I like explosives – but maybe you too?’

‘I don’thateexplosives, sure,’ says Davey.

‘And Nick Silver has disappeared, could be dead,’ says Ron.

Davey takes a swig of his beer. ‘Who else did they go to see?’

‘No idea,’ says Ron.

‘I see,’ says Davey. ‘And what’s my angle? Why have I killed her?’

‘Three hundred and fifty million is your angle,’ says Ron.

‘Big angle,’ says Bogdan.

‘I’d definitely like three hundred and fifty mil,’ says Davey. ‘But how would I get it?’

‘The safe is encrypted,’ says Bogdan. ‘Holly had half the code; Nick had the other half.’

‘You found out Holly’s half,’ says Ron. ‘She had it written down somewhere, and you can hack into anything. So you just need Nick’s half now. Perhaps you’re in the process of getting it? Perhaps he’s locked up here somewhere with a gun at his head.’

‘Then the money’s all yours,’ says Bogdan.

Davey nods. ‘Got it all worked out, boys. You’re not worried I’ll kill you now though? Because you worked it all out?’

‘A bit worried, yeah,’ says Ron, looking at the gun.