I don’t have to think about this for very long. ‘Not gonna happen. She won’t believe me for a start, and, even if she does, she’s not just gonna steal something as … what? A favour?’

‘Correct. So we have to use psychology.’

She’s leading me down a certain path – and, better still, she’s making me want to be led.

‘Okay, Einstein. How’s that gonna happen? Just tell me, Susan.’

She holds her chin and taps it with her forefinger as if deep in thought, although it’s an act. She has worked this out already.

‘You told me once about Kez Becker’s “Halloween Challenge” …’

I stare at her, horrified. ‘No, Susan. No, no, no …’

‘It is the only way,’ she says. ‘How else are we going to get in and have a look around to find the Dreaminator? It will be in a box with a label, or on a shelf, or something. We can not go in and ask for it, can we? The place is not even open, and we can’t wait until tomorrow.’ She looks at my face, and I quickly hide my expression of terror. She even laughs a little and pats my arm like she does. ‘Relax, Malky. You will not be in there long.’

‘But … but, Susan, man …’ There is no easy way of saying this. ‘There’ll be … b-bodies. Dead people.’

‘No, there will not. I have done some research. They are not just left lying around, you know. They must be securely stored and refrigerated in a dedicated, licensed unit. It is the law, specifically the Public Health Act of 1984. That building over there is just a showroom and a workshop.’

‘Are you sure?’ I ask, a little too anxiously.

‘Almost certain.’

I don’t like the ‘almost’.

‘Half an hour, yeah?’ I say.

‘That is what you told me Kezia said. She is a strange girl, that is for sure.’

‘Ha ha ha! Stranger than you can possibly imagine!’ says Kez, coming up behind us and making us jump. She has Dennis on the end of a long rope, and he sniffs around in the bushes near us. For once, he doesn’t growl at me. Perhaps he’s okay with me when I’m not on his territory.

Kez squeezes in between Susan and me as if the three of us have always been best pals. ‘What’s up, losers? Very intriguing text message, Susan. How’d you get my number?’

‘COMMS contact sheet, obviously. Staying in touch, you know?’

Susan has set this up already? I glance over at her and she catches my eye with a slight smirk.

Kez makes a pffft sound. ‘Oh, that! Ha – you suckers! I managed to get out of that, eh? Told old Farroukh I had “gerontophobia”, didn’t I?’

She smirks when Susan and I both say, ‘What’s that?’