"I don't know anyone," says Jeanette.
"Me neither," says Lutek.
Elly narrows her eyes. "Jason mother-funking Travers."
"Jason mother-funking Travers," I confirm.
"Is that the guy we just saw driving a Maserati?" asks Ed.
"The very one."
"A Maserati?" says Elly. "How can that mouth breather afford a car that could cover my wages for a decade?"
"Wasn't he complaining about the cost of retreads just a few weeks ago?" says Lutek. "On your TikTok."
"Yes he was." I take a sip of my wine. "And now all of a sudden heappearsto have the kind of money normally associated with oligarchs and Sunday Times rich list-ers."
"Surely it's legit," says Ed. "Nobody would be stupid enough to flash about a suspiciously instant accumulation of wealth."
"Oh no. He's stupid enough alright," says Elly. "I've heard him brag about his petty criminal activities in the pub. He's got just enough smarts to get away with doing the dodgy stuff he gets up to, or just enough luck."
Ed raises his brows. "And you're suggesting he's able to mastermind conning someone out of a huge amount of money?"
"Any muppet with a subscription to an AI video generator can make something convincing," I say, paraphrasing The Odour's words. "The voice cloning stuff is unreal. It doesn't take any kind of technical wizardry – just someone dumb enough to be suckered in."
"Is Jason Travers the angry-looking boy with the baggy pants and backward cap?" asks Carlos. "Looks like an over-cooked potato?"
"The very one," I answer.
"I've seen him talking to the Pinkerton fellow a couple of times when he's been on the way to visit you, Bess. They tend to undertake a kind of hand slap ritual and do some unnecessarily loud laughing. They did something with their phones the second time."
"Probably exchanging socials," says Lutek.
I’ve seen it too. They talked the day The Odour tried to get me to sell the terrible painting by his associate’s girlfriend. "So The Odour takes the opportunity to be all street with a local lad, not realising he's providing Jason with a chance to scope him for a scam."
"I'm not sure," says Jeanette. "Are you sure?"
Letting out a long breath, I pause before saying, "There's just too many coincidences for my liking."
Elly's phone vibrates and she peers at the screen. "I think we hit the jackpot." She looks up at us. "I just asked Tommy Hurst, who's Jason's best friend's cousin." She turns her phone around so we can all see the texts:
Conning it out of some dumbass who drives a jag with WEPN on num plate
Toff was asking for it
Ed shakes his head. "What is it with lack of brain cells and modern crooks? Is self-incrimination a thing with the lawbreaking youth?"
"So do we go to the police?" asks Lutek.
"We could," I say. "It would take a while to get the money back, if the scrote hasn't panicked and disappeared it. And we might have to keep paying the new rent in the meantime."
"You said 'we could'," says Ed slowly. "What's the 'or'?"
"Or..." I peer down at the contents of my mug and give it a swirl to allow the tension-creation pause to gather full strength. Then I look up.
"We scam him back."
Chapter forty-seven
