‘Something goes badly wrong,’ he said, his eyes slightly narrowed, as if he were struggling to remember everything that Vale had told him. ‘Basically, this Pablo is a hothead, and when Klein tells him the price of the pot, he realizes he’s gone all that way and doesn’t have anywhere near enough money. So Pablo suddenly thinks he’s Tony Montana and starts venting, shouting and screaming that the weed’s overpriced, and then he starts stuffing his pockets without paying; when Klein pushes him away, Pablo pulls out a gun. Klein, he’s just a stoner selling weed out of a motel room – not some criminal mastermind – so he shits his pants on the spot, and Vale, believe it or not, is initially trying to act as peacemaker.’ A smile traces the corner of his lips. ‘Vale as peacemaker. Like that makes any sense.’

‘So Vale wasn’t playing peacemaker?’

‘Vale was smart. Like, Hadron Collider smart. He scanned that scene like the Terminator: if it got too loud, the people in the adjacent rooms would remember; if a gun went off, the cops would turn up; and if the cops turned up, they’d find all the drugs, then Vale would get charged and there’d be no Stanford for him. There’d be no travelling abroad, like he always dreamed of. At that time, in California, they had some of the harshest drug laws going, so the only place Vale was heading if he got found inside that motel room – or if anyone saw or heard him there – was prison. I mean, why do you think he “borrowed” that car from the old man in the first place? It was all one big insurance policy, a way to insulate himself and protect his identity. But he had another problem: while Vale enjoyed his company, Pablo had a quick temper and a big mouth, so even if they walked out of there with everything sorted, and no one saw or heard a thing, there was no guarantee that Pablo wouldn’t be parading around in the days after, telling the story.’

‘So Vale just killed him?’

‘No. He said he tried to talk him back, told him to calm down, tried to get the gun off him, but Pablo was too pumped up by then. They wrestle for control of the weapon, Vale uses his power and weight to overwhelm Pablo, and then he gets carried away: he knocks Pablo out with the butt of the gun.’

Mills paused, looking down at himself.

The blood glistened around the blade.