‘Nah-nuhh-uh-nuh-nuh-nuh,’ Leon mocked, as he wiped lipstick off his cheek. ‘So Captain Bullshit’s all set for lunchtime?’

‘I bet he’s not coming,’ Leon said. ‘Chicken shit.’

He was in a side street with Daniel, sitting on a low wall in front of an abandoned exhaust centre. Both boys had coat hoods up, with rain pelting the outsides.

‘Better text James,’ Daniel said, but Oli came around the corner just as he was about to dial.

‘Howdy, partners,’ Oli said, stuffing his face from a family bag of Walkers Cheese and Onion. ‘Sorry I’m late. Had to wait till lunch was over ’cos they had someone on the back gate today.’

‘No probs,’ Leon said, as he started a slow walk. ‘So our cousin wants this garage cleared out, says he’ll pay us thirty each. Take maybe three or four hours.’

‘Cool,’ Oli said. ‘I don’t even care about the money, because I’ve got three grand in my Nationwide savings account. I just wanna get off Games, you know?’

‘We’ve done odd jobs for him before,’ Leon continued. ‘Sometimes he gives us a bit of weed as well.’

‘I love smoking joints,’ Oli said. ‘I had one that was like, twenty-five centimetres for New Year and I smoked the whole thing myself.’

‘Nice,’ Daniel said, trying not to meet his brother’s eye because he knew he’d laugh.

They walked a couple of side streets, with the wind whipping rain and leaves. As they turned into a street of two-storey houses, an elderly woman came down an overgrown front path. She clanked her gate and set off at a decent pace towards the boys. When she was a few steps in front of the trio, a set of keys dropped from the woman’s coat pocket. She must have been hard of hearing because they made a clatter but she kept on walking.

Daniel picked up the keys and turned to shout after the old lady, but Oli stood in front of him and raised a hand.

‘We could go in there,’ Oli said urgently, pointing up towards the house. ‘Keep your mouths shut.’

Leon and Daniel exchanged glances.

‘Old people keep cash in the house,’ Oli said, as he watched the lady cut across the road. ‘Thousands sometimes. Or she might have antiques, or shit.’

‘She’s an old lady,’ Daniel pointed out.

‘You’re an old lady,’ Oli said, as he looked across at Leon.

‘He could be right,’ Leon told his brother. ‘Old people don’t trust banks.’

‘What if there’s someone else in there?’ Daniel asked.

‘Even if there is, they’ll be old, like her husband or something,’ Oli said. ‘You wanna slave for your cousin for thirty quid when there could be all kinds of valuable stuff to rip off?’

‘He’s right,’ Leon said.