‘You were grieving for Mum …’ said Ryan. ‘I guess we all were but that’s no excuse. You were trying to get Stargazey off the ground, look after us and keep a roof over our heads. That should have been my job, as the eldest, and I’m ashamed I shirked my share of the responsibilities. I didn’t want to worry you even more and I genuinely thought I could get myself out of the shit. You’re not Superwoman, Sam, even though you like to pretend you are.’

‘Me? Superwoman? I was just trying to survive from minute to minute back then. I’m— I didn’t realise how bad it was for you.’

‘You need to know the whole of it.’ Gabe was grim faced. ‘I hoped Ryan would bail out and I took his word, but I still kept an eye on him. One evening, he left the shop with his chips and left his Nokia phone on the counter. I picked it up and saw a message that could only mean something was happening that evening.’

‘At the arcade?’ said Sam.

‘Not only the arcade,’ said Gabe.

Ryan cut in. ‘I was desperate and in deep trouble. You knew that.’

Gabe exchanged a look with Ryan.

‘I met up with Ryan and I told him I knew and I said I wouldn’t shop him if he promised to leave Porthmellow and start again somewhere else. He swore he would and I believed him, but he wasn’t telling the truth again. Were you, mate?’

Ryan rubbed his face. Sam knew that nervous gesture all too well. ‘Ryan?’

‘I promised Gabe something I never should have. He didn’t know that my mates were planning other raids. I said I wanted out of it all, but they were having none of it. They said I was a danger and they wanted me to prove I wasn’t going to go to the police. They wanted me to do some more robberies to prove it. They showed me a list. Places closer to home. The Cronks’ shop in Porthmellow and …’ He put his head in his hands. ‘I’m sorry, Sam.’

‘What? What was on the list?’

‘The chip shop and … and Stargazey.’

‘But – but – there wasn’t much money in Stargazey. I never left more than a small float in the unit.’

‘I knew you used to leave the takings inside the filing cabinet at the unit on a Saturday night so you could bank them on Monday morning. I also knew you kept the key to the unit and the cabinet in your room and that you were going out with some friends to the pub.’

‘Oh Ryan! Don’t tell me you were actually going to creep into my bedroom and take my keys?’

He nodded his head miserably. ‘Yes, but I thought I could get in there and take the cash, then replace the keys without you ever even realising it.’