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cleaning it off?’
    ‘No, I’ll do it. I’ll do it later.’
    There was silence from downstairs. Then: ‘Do you want any supper?’
    ‘I just want to be left alone! Is that too much to ask?’
    This time, the silence had no end. Hanley tried to lift the remains of the whisky to his mouth, but his hand was shaking too much.

Chapter Six
    Don Empson is Still Hunting
    Sam was driving. Eddie was in the seat next to him. Don sat in the back, not saying much. He had explained that he wanted to visit Raymond’s garage. Well, not visit it exactly, just cruise past it. As they turned into the narrow back street, Eddie cleared his throat and said a single word.
    ‘Cops.’
    Three patrol cars had formed a roadblock. Tape was being strung between lamp posts. A couple of white vans were parked, a team emerging from them. They wore overalls and carried face masks. The forensics crew. A uniformed cop was making signals with his hand. Sam nodded and did a U-turn.
    ‘What do you want to do?’ he asked.
    ‘Let’s check some of the other streets,’ Don told him.
    ‘What happened at Raymond’s?’ Eddie asked.
    ‘Somebody shot him,’ Don explained. Eddie whistled but didn’t say anything. Sam met Don’s eyes in the rear-view mirror, but didn’t say anything either. They drove in silence, cruising up one street and down another. Workshops and offices, then some tenements with shops below. There was no one about, but Don knew that soon the police would be knocking on doors, armed with their questions. Shots had been heard. Someone had rung 999. He remembered that he had another piece of business. The middle of the night might be a good time for it. But first, he had to keep his eyes open. He was looking for a car, a green sports car. Benjy’s car. And eventually he saw it. It was parked two streets away from the garage. There was a half-filled skip next to it. He managed not to look too interested. He didn’t want Sam and Eddie knowing more than they needed to know.
    Benjy’s plan: grab the money and run back to the car.
    Benjy’s plan hadn’t worked out.
    Don knew that the police would spot the car eventually. Or someone would draw it to their attention. After which they could run a quick check and come up with the name Benjamin Flowers. They would ask Benjy’s mother, Don’s sister, what Benjy did for a living, and she would tell them. He works for Stewart Renshaw. Stewart, brother of George. And then George would know, and he would blame it all on Don. Giving Benjy a job had been a favour to Don. Someone would have to pay for that.
    Don would have to pay.
    He had gone through a whole range of emotions. Anger at Benjy, then sadness, and finally acceptance. Stuff happened, you just had to deal with it as best you could. But right now, he didn’t know what would count as best.
    As Sam took a right turn, Don leaned forward and told him there was a new destination, Merchant Crescent.
    ‘I’m going to have a word with someone,’ he added. ‘Guess what her name is.’
    Sam was the first to twig. ‘Celine Watts?’
    ‘Got it in one.’
    ‘Are we going to whack her?’ Eddie asked.
    ‘Would that be wise?’ Don snapped back. ‘And besides, you are going nowhere near her. Like I said, I’m going to have a quiet word, that’s all. See if I can persuade her to change her story.’
    Sam was looking at him in the mirror again. ‘Thanks, Mr Empson,’ he said.
    ‘The one you should be thanking is Gorgeous George.’
    Sam nodded slowly. He knew the score. The pair of them had been spotted in a car park next to woodland on the edge of the city. There had been another man in the car with them and he’d been crying, according to the witness. The witness was Celine Watts. The crying man was a small-time pusher who’d been warned before. His body had been found in the woods, in too shallow a grave.
    Leaving Gorgeous George three options. Option one, hang Sam and Eddie out to dry. Option two, get them off the hook. Option