The whinny returns, slightly self-consciously. ‘Sorry about that. I get demons.’ He points to his head. ‘They said you were one of the bad guys, but after you went and I cooled down, I realised you weren’t. You got any coffee?’

‘Instant.’

‘Okay. Four spoonfuls please.’ I go to make the coffee that I didn’t offer to make, and he stretches indulgently and then plonks down into the couch.

I make the coffee, and return with it. ‘So you’re here to apologise?’

‘Me?’ He sips at the coffee. ‘No. You should. This is awful.’ I go to take the coffee back, but he hangs on tighter to the mug and says, ‘But it’ll do.’

I keep standing, watching him drink. ‘What are you doing here, Shiflon? What’s this about?’

‘Oh.’ He holds a finger up, and then uses it to dive into one of the deep pockets of his colourful, stripy pants. He extracts a smooth piece of very white porcelain, and offers it to me. It is flat with one edge that curls upwards. On the flat bit are some blurred colours that look like part of a photo printed somehow onto the porcelain.

‘Be very careful with it, please.’

‘What is it?’

‘It’s not so much what it is, but what it does.’

He doesn’t say anything else, and we both look at the shard of porcelain.

‘So what does it do?’ I’m exasperated with the game.

‘Tito gave it to me. He said I needed to give it to you to protect you.’

This is too far-out for me, even after all I’ve been through.

‘It’s from the seventh box. I didn’t tell you, because you said you already got seven.’

I remember the conversation, and how, at the time, I didn’t realise the box of money wasn’t part of the others. I remind myself that I only have six boxes now because Frank Costello took his.

‘I meant to give it to you that time when you turned up at my place. I really did. But it had so much power, I could feel it protecting me. Like scary powerful. I told myself I needed the protection more than you did. Then I realised it didn’t protect me from you, and I felt its powers waning. I knew it was because it was in the wrong hands. I had to make sure it got into the right hands. And now I have.’ He looks pleased and relaxed. He sits back and does his best to enjoy my coffee. I put the shard on the sideboard, and sit on the arm of a chair, watching him.

He makes loud drinking noises, and seems fascinated with the contents of his mug.

‘So what now?’