The realisation of what he had done made him start to shake. He had given away all of his and Kirsty’s money – his and Kirsty’s – to a pair of men whose names he didn’t even know. He started to laugh. He fell onto his knees, his laughter growing louder and louder. He clutched his stomach, trying to hold in the pain. Oh Jamie oh Jamie…you stupid fucking idiotic moron…

Eventually, the hysteria subsided. He lay perfectly still in the dark. He tried to think. What could he do?

He heard a car door close outside. They were here. At last. Oh thank God.

He leapt to his feet and ran to the front window. It wasn’t the men. It was Brian and Linda, coming home. He sobbed, bit his tongue, fell to his knees.

He crawled across the floor and grabbed the phone. He dialled the men’s number. The line was dead.

£10,000.

Kirsty had gone and he had stayed behind because he had planned to get some men to scare off Lucy and Chris. The men had taken his money and not done the job. Kirsty was going to be so angry that he had taken the money that he couldn’t even go after her now.

He was stuck.

He was fucked.

He lay on the sofa all night, the heating turned up as high as it would go, listening to noises in the street. He still thought they might come; they might turn up in the middle of the night, which, he persuaded himself, would surely make their actions more effective.

Jamie woke up shortly after the sun had risen. The flat was like a furnace and his clothes stank of stale sweat. He would take them off and put them in the washing machine with all the other unwashed clothes; clothes that reeked of cigarettes and sour, unhealthy perspiration. It was half-eight. He tried to remember when he had last looked at his watch during the night. About three, he thought. Maybe they had come after that, stealing in during the early hours of the morning, getting Lucy and Chris out of bed. But a few minutes later, any last hopes he might have had were dashed. He saw Lucy and Chris come up from their flat and walk down the front path to their car. They looked animated and happy: as happy as he had ever seen them.

He was so tired. He wanted to lie down and sleep forever.

He tried the nameless men’s number once more. The mobile was still switched off. He doubted if they would ever switch it on again. They had probably bought a new phone out of the £10,000 he had given them.

He pulled the curtains and undressed. He got into bed and tried to sleep.