Page 45 of The Impossible Fortune

‘If you kill Ron, I kill you,’ says Bogdan.

‘With what?’ says Davey.

‘Bare hands,’ says Bogdan.

‘Yes, please, what a way to go,’ says Davey. ‘And if I kill you?’

‘Then Elizabeth will kill you,’ says Bogdan.

‘Who’s Elizabeth?’

‘You don’t want to find out,’ says Bogdan.

‘Perhaps I’ll kill her too?’ says Davey.

‘You can’t,’ says Bogdan. ‘Only God can kill Elizabeth.’

‘And even he’d think twice,’ says Ron.

Davey looks between the two of them, weighing something up.

‘I like you both,’ says Davey. ‘You’re idiots, but I like you. Let’s say I won’t kill you for coming to my houseand accusing me of murder. Usually I’d kill you for that alone.’

‘Davey,’ says Ron, ‘when did Holly and Nick come to see you?’

Davey thinks. ‘Tuesday. I’d just got back from aqua aerobics.’

‘So she tells you about the money on Tuesday, and then she dies last night. Come on. You’d be suspicious.’

‘That’s your theory,’ says Davey. ‘I get it. Anything wrong with it that you can see?’

‘Nothing,’ says Ron, but, inside, he’s losing a bit of confidence. Perhaps there is something wrong with it? Ron isn’t always the first to spot when something’s wrong with a theory. Never show doubt though. If you show doubt, the other side has already won.

‘Here’s where your theory falls down,’ says Davey. Ron prepares to take notes. Elizabeth will want a full report. ‘Someone paid Nick and Holly twenty grand in Bitcoin more than ten years ago. And you’re telling me I found out about this on Tuesday?’

‘That’s what we’re telling you,’ says Ron. Don’t back down. ‘They hadn’t told a soul about it beforehand.’

Davey nods and takes another swig of his beer.

‘What sort of person might have paid them twenty grand in Bitcoin all those years ago?’ asks Davey. ‘Would you think?’

‘Uhh,’ starts Ron, but finds he has nowhere left to go. He looks at Bogdan, who shrugs.

‘Sounds like the sort of thing a cyber-security expert might do,’ says Davey. ‘Perhaps with a criminal past, a fewsecrets that needed hiding. That sort of person? Don’t you think?’

‘So –’

‘So that money came from me,’ says Davey. ‘All those years ago. I knew about it then, I’ve known about it for a decade. Every time I’d see Holly or Nick we’d talk about it. They’d do the sums, and I’d tell them to hold on to it. So I didn’t find out about it on Tuesday, my brave lads. I’ve known about it for more than ten years. If I wanted to steal my Bitcoin back, I’ve had ten years to do it. No rush job.’

‘Ah,’ says Ron. Elizabeth’s not going to like this.

‘I paid them that money; they didn’t have to take the risk of accepting it, but they did. I admired it then, and I admire it now. Holly and Nick knew how to take a risk. If I wanted to steal it, I’d have found a way a long time ago. But I didn’t want to steal it. Not this week, not any week. Also, if I killed someone, no one would ever find a trace. Because that’s how I kill people. I don’t blow up their cars, and if you knew the first thing about me you’d know that.’

‘Apologies,’ says Ron.

Davey waves this away. ‘We’re all square if you just let me know who else Holly and Nick went to see about the Bitcoin.’

‘I told you already,’ says Ron, ‘I don’t know.’