‘He came out of nowhere. Balaclava pulled down over his face. Just a couple of holes for the eyes and one for the mouth. He was carrying a pistol. Funny thing is…’

‘What?’

‘Well, I had this wild thought when I saw him. I wondered if you’d sent him.’

‘Me?’

‘That way you’d get your money back, and Hanley couldn’t complain. He’d still have to keep his side of the deal.’

George was shaking his head. But he was thinking too. Don reckoned he knew what he was thinking, Wish I’d thought of that…

‘And you just handed the cash over to him?’ George asked.

‘I’m not a martyr, George. The gun was real.’

‘So how did the shooting start?’

‘There were the three of us, me, Hanley and the mask. Nobody was paying attention to Raymond. He must have had the gun tucked away somewhere. He shot twice. It was deafening. ’

‘And he got the guy?’

‘First bullet went wide, second one hit him in the chest.’ Don paused for a moment. It was painful for him, remembering this. He made a show of clearing his throat. ‘But by then he’d fired back at Raymond. Went straight into his skull and he dropped. The money was still in my car, so the mask got into the driver’s seat and backed out of the garage. Headed across the forecourt and was gone.’

‘Before you could pick up Raymond’s gun?’

Don just shrugged.

‘What did Hanley do? Besides wetting himself, I mean.’

‘He ran back to his car and hightailed it.’

‘Same direction the bandit took?’

Don shook his head. ‘You reckon Hanley…? But he was going to get the money anyway.’

George thought about this and nodded. He folded his arms. ‘This isn’t good, Don. How did you get out of there?’

‘Well, the Bentley had its keys in.’

‘Where is it now?’

‘Parked up behind the Portakabin. Reckon it needs to go in the compactor?’

‘Of course it does!’

‘Shame. Raymond did a beautiful job of cleaning it.’