Jed and Sammy were in a jolly mood as they drove back towards Essex. They’d just returned to work and had had quite a successful day yesterday. They had made friends with three old people who all lived alone and seemed potentially easy to con. Jed was the one who had decided to move their business activities away from the Essex area. Their last victim, Mr Franks, had been just about to leave Jed and Sammy everything in his will, when his nosy next-door neighbour had got involved and threatened to call the police. As luck would have it, Mr Franks had no idea of Jed or Sammy’s surnames or where they came from. If the will had already been made, Jed and Sammy could have been caught red-handed, and they’d had a lucky escape in the end. Cambridgeshire was a perfect area for them to now start all over again. There were lots of old people living there and they were far less clued-up than most of the old people who lived in London or Essex.

‘I reckon that fucking old grunter, Mrs Marsh, is loaded, ya know. Out the three of ’em, I reckon we should sting her first. Them antiques and paintings she was showing us must be worth an arm and a leg alone,’ Sammy said excitedly.

Jed agreed. Mrs Marsh had said she had no family whatsoever and she lived in a cottage and owned a couple of acres of land. There were no neighbours to poke their trunks in, which was a plus point for Jed after what had happened with Mr Franks. ‘We’ll go back on Saturday and mend that leak in her roof she was telling us about. Then we can paint the room she said the damp’s got into,’ Jed suggested.

‘What shall we charge her? We’ve gotta hit her for, say, five grand just for the roof and we won’t have to do ought, we’ll just patch it up as best we can,’ Sammy said, chuckling.

‘Let’s not hit her for too much wonga to start with. We’ll charge her two or three grand for the roof and see how she reacts to that before we sting her good and proper,’ Jed said cautiously. Some of these old people were slightly less senile than they seemed and he didn’t want any alarm bells to start ringing in that wrinkled old head of Mrs Marsh’s.

Pulling up outside his parents’ house, Jed was greeted by his mother running towards him. The battery on his mobile had died a death yesterday afternoon and he’d forgotten to take his spare with him.

‘Whose truck is this? And why are you both wearing overalls and baseball hats?’ Alice asked suspiciously.