The house was separated from its neighbour by a wide drive with plenty of room for the Volvo parked on it. She slipped by the car to the gate dividing the front from the rear. The luck she’d had at the side entrance to Allison’s house didn’t hold here. It was locked. Jo took out her frustration on it and kicked it viciously. The gate looked solid, but it was old, the wood weakened by age and the elements. She smiled to see what one kick had done. Without wasting time, she put her shoulder to the door and shoved. It looked easier on the TV. On a second try, she heard a definite creak, louder on the next. She kept at it till, finally, it gave with an ominously loud crack. She held her breath, wondering if someone would come to investigate.

When they didn’t, giddy with her success, she slipped through the gate and pressed the wood back into place. It wouldn’t fool anyone who came to investigate, but she guessed from the road, the damage would be unnoticeable.

The light was fading, and the long back garden stretched away into darkness. As Jo edged around the house, a security light flashed on, bringing her to an abrupt stop. It went off again after a minute but not until she’d had a good look at the rear elevation of the house. She punched the air in excitement. There was an open window. On the first floor, true, but it showed a laxity in security that augured well for her success.

When she moved, the security light switched on again. Maybe Allison would come to investigate? No such luck. Jo checked the back door. It was locked. A uPVC door. Solid as hell. Further along there were bifold doors into what looked like a dining room. With little optimism that the owners of the house would be stupid enough to leave them unlocked, she pushed and almost toppled inside when the door slid back with a shush. Unfuckingbelievable!

She slapped a hand over her mouth when giggles threatened to erupt. No point in getting cocky now and ruining everything. The room she was in – a huge space that seemed to incorporate cooking and relaxing – was plunged into darkness when the sensor light outside switched off.

Standing still, Jo listened intently, expecting to hear the faint sound of a TV or music drifting from further inside the house. But strain as she might, she couldn’t hear a thing. In her small bedsit, she could hear when a toilet flushed in the property on either side. She’d like this quiet. Mentally, she added to the list in her head of the things she would get with her two million. Peace and quiet could be bought.