She shook her head and searched the sky.

‘There you go again! How many times, Cormac? No, you didn’t cause this. You stopped causing this a long time ago. My best friend from work left today, that’s all, nothing more, OK?’

‘OK.’

She ate two cakes and ignored Nicolai’s valiant attempts at selling Cormac’s many virtues.

‘Well, Cormac, you’re the tourist here, so what sights would you like to see in Dublin today?’

He resisted the urge to say ‘you and only you,’ and instead asked her what she would recommend. She reeled off more information than he suspected the Dublin tourist board possessed. He considered his many options but one overrode all the others. He pointed across the bridge.

‘Can we ride on the top deck of one of those?’

She spat her coffee, narrowly missing Nadia’s smile.

‘You want to ride on the tourist bus and be fed all the blarney?’

He thought of the old couple this morning.

‘Yes, that’s definitely what I’d like to do.’

They thanked Nicolai and headed for the bus.

Maybe he could steal their day after all.

He hauled the bulging holdall up the last flight of stairs. It had taken him an hour to reach the hotel. It was a journey that would ordinarily be completed in fifteen comfortable minutes. He’d been forced to set it down every few paces along his short route from The Chemist’s hostel on Fredrick Street to the hotel on Lower Dorset Street. He pushed it through the door and flung himself on top of the single bed. Things hadn’t gone according to plan, but when he looked at the contents of the holdall, he felt satisfied with his day’s work. He had everything he needed and more. The Chemist proudly showed him how both devices would work and he was more than satisfied with the goods on offer. The fucking price, though? He was shocked when The Chemist named his price. He shouldn’t have been, because lately the old man had been getting greedy. He was very calm at first, and thought they would haggle for a little while, and then the old man would take what he had to offer. He was five grand short. How the fuck was he supposed to find that amount of money in this tiny window of opportunity? He told the greedy bastard not to fuck with him, not now, of all times! Not when he stood on the threshold of immortality! How could the silly cunt possibly think he could present him with the perfect tools and then take them away like that? What was he supposed to do when faced with that? Say ‘thanks for the demonstration; I’m sorry I can’t quite afford them today, maybe some other time?’ Didn’t the greedy old fucker know there was no way he was leaving without the goods? He tried everything with him. He warned him not to make him angry. Not now when there was so much at stake.