He drove home to the house where he’d been living alone since his wife left him and got out a bottle of whisky.

Dorling could fend for himself. Hobkins would co-operate fully with anyone who wanted him to.

Then he’d leave town. He didn’t know where he’d go or what he’d do.

Then a terrible thought occurred to him. They wouldn’t put him in prison, would they?

Dorling went back after dark, leaving his car in the town centre and walking the rest of the way. He was dressed in black and had a torch and a backpack, as well as a camera. Surely there was some way he could get into the tunnel? It ought to be quite easy to make some more of it cave in and do it in such a way that the houses were damaged at the same time.

A small charge of explosive would make it more unstable, he was sure. The only thing that puzzled him was why the truck hadn’t done more damage to the house.

When he got to the street behind Saffron Lane he spent some time standing quietly in the shadows, observing. He’d wait here as long as was necessary. He wasn’t into taking risks that might land him in trouble without a lot of care.

There were no lights in the end house though the next two had lights showing. How the hell was it possible that they hadn’t been damaged by the truck? And why hadn’t the tenants been evacuated?

After a good half-hour, he was satisfied that no police were patrolling the area on foot. The people in the houses seemed to have gone upstairs, to judge by the lights. Presumably they were going to bed.

He continued to wait till the upstairs lights had gone out, then he moved, making his way slowly from shadow to shadow.

Suddenly a figure jumped in front of him and he couldn’t hold back a grunt of surprise.

‘Where’s our money?’ Raff demanded. ‘You weren’t there, as agreed. Me and Sevvy did the job and we want paying.’

Another figure moved out of some shadows to stand near him on the other side. Sevvy.

‘I was delayed. I knew you’d find me. Let’s move out of sight and I’ll pay you now.’

‘There’s no one around. Just do it.’

Both youths took another step closer.

He gave up the idea of not paying them the full amount and took out his wallet, counting out the money. ‘There you are. Exactly as agreed.’

‘I need more because your change of time buggered things up for us,’ Raff said. ‘The police are on to me, my mother’s thrown me out and I have to get away from this dump of a town.’

‘I’m paying what we agreed and no more,’ Dorling said firmly.

As he started to put the wallet back into his inner jacket pocket, Sevvy grinned and punched him on the jaw.

He cried out as he fell and struggled when Raff bent over him to wrest the wallet out of his hand.