Page 68 of We Chase Shadows

‘No,’ says Ernesto. ‘All is good.’

‘Who was in the house?’ asks Amy.

Ernesto looks at Georgie Glazier.

‘False alarm,’ he says to Amy. ‘His lights must be on a timer.’

‘So there’s no one there?’

Oh, there’s someone here all right. It’s Vern’s ex-wife, she knows Jakob Eriksson, and she’s looking for money.

‘No,’ says Ernesto. ‘There’s no one here. Speak later.’

‘Speak later, Ernesto,’ says Amy. ‘Steve says hi.’

‘Please say hi to Steve for me,’ says Ernesto and ends the call.

‘Is that Steve who I’ve met?’ asks Georgie.

‘Like if Harrison Ford was English and just wore Iron Maiden T-shirts?’ says Ernesto.

‘That’s him,’ says Georgie. ‘You’re not telling him you found me breaking into Vern’s house?’

‘No,’ says Ernesto.

‘Any reason?’

Any number of reasons. Ernesto finally lowers his gun.

‘Georgie Glazier, let’s talk.’

34

‘Big Jakey Eriksson? No,’ says Tommy Griffin. ‘Don’t especially know the guy. Keeps to himself. I would too. Are you eating that steak?’

‘This steak?’ says Amy, pointing at her plate. ‘The steak that just arrived?’

‘I know it just arrived,’ says Tommy. ‘I got eyes, huh? Two of them. But sometimes people don’t eat steak.’

‘I ordered it,’ says Amy. ‘So I might eat it.’

‘You’ll struggle with it,’ says Tommy. ‘Let me know when you do. How’d you like The Viceroy?’

They are eating dinner in an oak-panelled dining room that would pass for the grand hall of a baronial English mansion, unless you’d actually been in the hall of a baronial English mansion. Great steak though.

‘Nice place,’ says Steve.

‘You like it?’ says Tommy. ‘It’s English, right?’

‘Sort of,’ says Steve, trying to be encouraging.

‘Jakob Eriksson keeps himself to himself,’ says Rosie. ‘You were saying?’

‘Wouldn’t you?’ says Tommy. ‘You want him in a clown suit on a unicycle? Where’s your food?’

‘I pretty much gave up eating in the 1980s,’ says Rosie, sipping her French 75. ‘Why the need for secrecy?’

‘Plenty of people would want to kill him,’ says Tommy. ‘He makes a lot of money that we could be making instead.’