‘Sure.’

He walked to the rear of the showroom and through the door into the empty double garage at the rear, closing it behind him. There was a kitchenette in there. He sat on a stool at the table for a carefully timed five minutes, reading the paper, then he went back into the showroom and approached the couple with a beam.

‘My boss says he would take £88,000 and throw in a year’s tax and warranty.’

‘What about servicing charges?’ Goodman asked.

‘I’m sure we could do something on that, too.’

Sophia knelt and studied the tyres.

‘All replaced three months ago, I understand,’ Larry said.

She stood back up and looked at her fiancé. He was nodding enthusiastically. She turned to Larry. ‘OK, we’ll think about it.’

Quoting one of his favourites, from Robert Browning, Larry Olson’s parting words to the couple had been, ‘Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?’

It had been no surprise to him when Christopher Goodman called, later that afternoon, asking first if the car was still available, and then, sounding very relieved it was, to book a test drive. Could Larry hold the car until Tuesday morning?

He’d given him the usual patter that he had someone else who was interested coming back on Monday, but for a £5,000 deposit, fully refundable, he’d hold it until midday, Tuesday. And he would need to see on Tuesday either a bank statement showing he was good for the finance or a reference from his bank manager, along with his driving licence.

Goodman had replied that he would bring both. And the deposit had been paid minutes later.

Larry walked across the showroom floor shortly after 7.30 a.m. with a spring in his step. He already had a selection of financial options printed out to show the punter just how incredibly affordable it was.

He only had one slight concern, and that was the weather. It was dry at the moment, but rain was forecast for a little later. Electric cars, especially this BMW, had phenomenal acceleration, and even this BMW with its sure-footed handling could easily catch out the inexperienced driver on a slippery, wet road. But hey, hopefully it would still be dry for the test drive.

And he was confident that, once he had driven it, Goodman would be smitten.

Suddenly he felt a tightening in his chest and a pain, like indigestion. The pain shot acutely down both his arms. It was another angina attack coming on. His heart specialist had been trying to fix a date to book him in for a triple bypass, but Olson didn’t have time for that, not at the moment, when he had to focus on keeping his business afloat. Maybe if he got this sale he could then afford the time.

He dug his hand into his jacket pocket, pulled out the vial of tiny white nitroglycerine tablets and popped one under his tongue. Within half a minute or so the pain began to subside. Shit, the symptoms were coming on increasingly frequently now.