‘Other side of town. Not far.’ Alfie rolls up a fiver and wedges it up one nostril. ‘Just the dust off the scales,’ he says with a wink. ‘Perk of the deal.’ In one neat sweep he hoovers up the scattering of powder on top of the cash box.

Alfie turns round and puts his face up to Will’s. Will flinches away.

‘Relax, bruv!’ Alfie says, laughing. ‘Just check my nose, yeah? I’m not trying to kiss you!’

Will’s face burns. ‘Yeah, it’s …’ His laugh is the wrong volume.

‘Any gear round my nose, cuz? Not a good look, you see.’

‘Fine. Fine. Nothing there.’

‘Cool. Won’t be a min. Gonna sort the kids out,’ Alfie says.

Will waits alone in the bedroom. Beyond the open door, Alfie gives out orders to finish homework, to shower and clean teeth, what time each one of them should be in bed. And then he slips into the bedroom opposite his, emerging again after a minute or two, telling his mum he loves her and to get some sleep.

He’s been so distracted since he’s been here that for once Will hasn’t been thinking about Nain’s note. And so, when it happens, he doesn’t immediately appreciate the significance.

‘Power cut!’ a voice yells as the place plunges into darkness. The kids shout and scream with excitement.

‘Fuck’s sake,’ Alfie says. ‘Put money on the meter yesterday.’

‘It’s the whole neighbourhood,’ his brother tells him. ‘Street lights are off.’

Will creeps to the front door. It’s so dark in the bungalow that the glass appears faintly illuminated from the outside. Stepping on to the front porch, Patten’s Island is silent and dark. The distant seafront and Ebbswick town beyond that are pitch black too.

Lights will go out.

Is this what the note refers to?

Lights will come back on late at night.

When lights back on see Danny. Go to alley to find. Only talk to Danny.

If Will had any interest in obeying that note, he’d be looking for an alley right now – one with a name that begins with a B or a D. He’d be readying himself for some sort of incident that might be improved if he would only talk to Danny.

But he’s not playing.

‘The things they get excited over,’ Alfie says, joining him in the front garden. ‘Keep dazzling each other with torches. Little fuckers.’

‘Power’s out across the whole town,’ Will says.

‘Yup.’ He gives a wild smile. ‘Perfect conditions for some lucrative criminality. Coming, Parks?’

‘Think I’ll maybe head home,’ Will says, more uneasy by the second.

Alfie gives him a fist bump before getting into his car and driving away.

Standing at the kerb, Will’s heart thumps. This is it. What he’s been dreading.

This is when he finds out for sure.

In the Dark