Petey was genuinely nervous now; Danny had suddenly become his Achilles’ heel, and he didn’t like it. If he wasn’t careful, he was well and truly fucked. This had suddenly got completely out of control. He had underestimated this cousin of his, believing strongly that he was shrewd enough to pull the proverbial wool over Danny’s eyes, but Danny was much more astute than he had ever given him credit for. He could hear the terror in his own voice, could feel the genuine panic as it washed over him.

‘Listen to me, Danny. I have sorted it, OK? I’m only telling you all this because you’re my cousin, because I trust you. I need you to stand by me on this. I swear I will never step outside of the family again.’

Danny felt sick; knowing what his cousin was capable of was not something he felt comfortable with. He finished his pint slowly, unsure how to play this. It was far too personal for him; he was not capable of such skulduggery – it just wasn’t in his nature. His own cousin had spiked his drink, and left him incapacitated, without even the wits to take himself to the toilet. He had been completely disoriented for nearly two days, simply because this man had not wanted anyone to know he was skimming off the family. It was the sheer treachery he couldn’t get to grips with. Knowing that Petey had been capable of something so heinous was bad enough, but what was worse was that Petey now expected him to overlook it. Now that Petey had admitted his sin, admitted what he was capable of, Danny would never be able to trust the bastard again. ‘You are fucking out of order, Petey, and if you weren’t my cousin, I would cheerfully see you demolished over this.’

Petey sighed with obvious relief. ‘I swear, Danny, I still can’t believe I did it. But it must prove to you how fucking desperate I was! I couldn’t hurt you, you must know that. I just saw my chance – I wasn’t really thinking, you know?’

Danny didn’t answer him for long moments, and when he did he said sadly, ‘All I know, Petey, is that I will never trust you again. I won’t broadcast this; you’re my cousin, and you have painted yourself into the proverbial corner. But it hurts that you didn’t think that I had the sense to work out what you’d done to me – you actually thought I was that thick. Well, for your information, Einstein, you’re not as fucking clever as you think you are.’

He left him then; Danny knew if he stayed any longer he would physically harm his cousin, so he walked away.