'Four or five minutes. Past the BMW depot and the Bank sports place… just past there.'

'He fought us, you know. When we had to take him from the car.'

'You took him well, Claudio. You gave him no chance.'

'If he had gone on then I would have hit him with the hammer.*

'You don't know the sap in your arm,' Vanni chuckled.

'They'd pay little for a corpse.'

'How long did you say to the garage?*

'Three more minutes, a little less than when you last asked.

Idiot of Calabria, are you frightened of losing us? You would like to come with us on the train this afternoon? Poor Claudio, you must endure a night of the boredom and the tedium of Rome.

You must be patient, as the capo said. A bad night for the whores, eh Claudio?'

'We could all have travelled together.'

'Not what the capo said. Travel separately, break the group.

Give Claudio his night between the thighs. Don't you go hurting those girls, big boy.' Vanni laughed softly; it was part of the game, the prowess of Claudio the lover. If a girl spoke to the buffoon he'd fall on his arse in fright.

'I would like to be back in Palmi,' Claudio said simply.

'Calabria can wait for you just ohe day more. Calabria will survive without you.'

'It's a bastard strain – on your own.'

'You will find someone to talk to, you'll find some fat cow who thinks you're a great man. But don't go flashing her, not your money anyway, not five million.' And the laughter faded. 'That's how they get you, Claudio, how the polizia take you, when you have the money running free in your palm.'