Jon shrugged. ‘When I decided to work for you, I accessed your house on the pretence of updating your utility meter and you gave me your router name and password. After that, I could access every file and password you had on your computer. How d’you think I knew all that stuff about your fears and regrets that I told you about at my interview?’

Well, that explained a lot.

‘I asked you after the interview how you knew so much about me, but you never said,’ I remembered.

Once Jon started working for me, for months afterwards I’d asked him where he got his information from, but he’d always reply, ‘A good magician never reveals how their tricks are done.’ I’d been impressed enough to finally let the topic drop and leave it alone. If he had told me, I might have had to question how he’d obtained his information on some of my clients over the years. So I’d deliberately looked the other way. As long as he got results, I could fool myself into believing he acquired his information reasonably legitimately.

Now I knew otherwise.

‘I was in your house for over twenty minutes, Callie, and you still didn’t recognize me when I came for an interview a month later,’ Jon said with contempt. ‘People like you never notice those who serve.’

Ashamed, I hung my head. I remembered an engineer who’d come to update the utility meter when I was working at home, but I’d barely given him a first glance, never mind a second one. I could recall that he was a Nought, wearing a black woollen hat, and he’d had a moustache. That was it.

‘You’re right and I’m sorry. Please, Jon, don’t do this. You can’t get away with it. Even if you get Tobey’s money, you’d never be free to spend it.’

‘Let me worry about that,’ said Jon. ‘Tobey, start the money transfer. I’m not going to tell you again.’

Beside me, Tobey took out his smartphone.

‘Jon, you think you’re the only one who has to work for a living?’ asked Mum from beside me. ‘If so, then you’re a fool.’

I gasped. What was Mum playing at? The last thing any of us should be doing was antagonizing this man.

‘I’ve known what it’s like to be broke and I’ve known what it’s like to be hungry, day in, day out. You think you’re the only one who’s ever had to go without?’ said Mum, standing up.

She shrugged off Sonny’s hand on her forearm. I recognized her expression. She was unimpressed and wasn’t afraid to tell Jon about himself – gun or no gun. Terrified, I got to my feet too. Tobey stood up beside me.

Mum, please. Don’t do this. Don’t piss him off.