The Impossible Fortune

24

Danny Lloyd steps out onto the balcony of his hotel, and the heat dances on his skin. He can hear church bells from the local village, and he can see an ex-pat foursome holing out their putts on the 15th green below. He’d flown out from Gatwick on the Friday evening. He’d spent most of Friday working out what to do. First a chat with his lawyer. The house is in Suzi’s name, and not a lot can be done about it. He’d asked about her will, and, as it stands, the whole thing would come back to him if she dies. Or, more accurately, when she dies, but that was another meeting.

But, while Suzi might be a psycho, she’s no fool, so that will won’t be in play for long. Long enough for him to get his hands on it maybe. If she changes it before she dies, so be it. If she doesn’t, then win-win.

Finding someone to murder Suzi won’t be easy. If she dies any time soon, there’s only one suspect, and that’s Danny. He needs to put lots of layers between himself and the killer, money has to go through lots of different hands, and each of those hands gets to keep a bit of it on the way. But Danny trusts someone who trusts someone who trusts someone, and Suzi can meet with the sort of accident that might make the police suspicious, but will send them chasing their tails for a few weeks before they get dizzy and stop running.

Jason Ritchie is altogether easier. He’s made so many enemies over the years, been in enough tricky situations, that when he turns up dead the poor police will have pages of suspects to deal with. Would Danny even be in the first fifty names? He doubts it. With Jason you can just shoot him from a speeding car, dump the motor at a friendly farm and be sitting down for a pint by lunchtime.

One of the faces on the 15th green looks up at the balcony. He shouts a greeting, and Danny waves back. Danny forgets his name, an amphetamine dealer from Billericay, enjoying his Portuguese retirement. You saw a lot of friendly faces out here.

Friendly, sure, but it still pays to be careful. Danny ducks back into his room and pulls the curtains. Don’t want word getting out that he’s here. Suzi and Jason Ritchie will be dead soon enough, but it’s worth remembering that Jason Ritchie will probably kill him first if he finds out where he is.

What a business. There’s nothing like it.