At the same time Ben was hauling Frank to his feet and marching him roughly to the bedroom door. ‘Don’t let me down, Frank. What’s about to happen to your friends won’t happen to you.’

Ben pushed open the door and walked Frank out onto the landing with the gun jammed against his neck. The sounds from below had stopped abruptly. Ken and Terry had no doubt heard the thump of Wolf’s rapid descent to the orangery roof and sensed something was up. But now Ben had a new distraction with which to draw their attention. ‘Go.’ He shoved Frank hard towards the head of the stairs and ducked back out of sight behind the corner of the landing wall.

Frank yelled hoarsely down the stairway, ‘Oy! Guys! Get a load of this!’

Moments later Frank’s associates emerged from the dining room and living room and came together in the hallway, standing either side of Abbott’s body and staring up the stairs. The big guy was clutching the shotgun, while the other had drawn a pistol. They were ready for anything and taking no chances. The one with the pistol yelled, ‘What’s up?’

‘Gotta check this out!’ Frank shouted, waving his arms for them to come up.

‘You find it?’

‘Come and see.’

So far Frank was sticking to the script. His associate with the pistol started up the stairs. The big man with the shotgun hesitated, then clumped up the stairs after him. But then Frank suddenly yelled, ‘Watch out, boys! It’s a—’

Evidently, Frank wasn’t that attached to life after all. His last word was drowned out by the BOOM as Ben stepped out from behind the corner of the landing wall and fired at the first guy on the stairs. The guy crumpled and fell backwards as the bullet took him in the chest, and his buddy behind him had to duck out of the way of his falling body to avoid being knocked down the stairs with him.