I was thinking about something Michael had said to me in the Drying Room: Dad broke the law to care for us. Marcelo was saying the same thing, except I didn’t believe him. Because Michael’s point was that Dad hadn’t used his crimes to fund excess, but the same couldn’t be said of Marcelo, could it?

‘It’s true.’ Marcelo sounded defensive. He’d caught me looking at his Rolex as I turned over Michael’s words. He held it up, tapped it. ‘This wasn’t some splurge. Your father left this for Jeremy, actually. In his will. It’s a shame we couldn’t pass it down.’

That caught me off guard. Just as parts of Michael’s story were starting to connect, some small dishonesty threw the whole story out again. Michael had been adamant that Dad was the Robin Hood of criminals, the honourable thief, but if he’d gone around spending his ill-gotten gains on flashy jewellery, maybe he was just in it for greed all along. And if he’d had a high-end watch to give away on his deathbed, he might have had other valuables stashed somewhere else. That’s certainly what Erin had expected. Maybe that’s what Michael thought he was buying from Alan. Maybe that’s what someone else was killing for.

‘You know how they market Rolexes?’ Marcelo asked.

This seemed an odd question, and I didn’t really have time for Marcelo to brag about his successes, but I recalled the pithy advertising campaigns I’d seen, so I answered. ‘They sell them as a sort of legacy, to be passed down.’

‘Exactly. We didn’t get it for a while after Jeremy—’ He cleared his throat, uncomfortable. ‘So this is yours and Michael’s. I’m just the caretaker.’

‘For a caretaker, you’ve had it an awfully long time.’

‘Your mother and I decided one of you would get it when she died – it’s got nothing to do with me. It’s in her will. You can have it now if you want, though.’ He went to unfasten the clasp, which may have been a bluff, like offering a friend the last slice of pizza and hoping they declined.

I held up the oven mitt. ‘I’m not really in the market for a wristwatch.’

‘This is yours, and Michael’s, when you want it. But most of all, this is a watch designed to be handed down through family. I wear it to remind me.’ He paused, looking at the watch with a sentimentality that I really didn’t believe my father had possessed for trinkets. ‘To look after you both. And your mother.’