Of course, it’s all relative. A situation I’d have considered ‘tricky’ a few years ago wouldn’t even make it in to my journal now. So adept had I become at riding my luck, the assumption I made was that “things tend to fix themselves.” We are players on a grand stage.

I wasn’t entirely sure how this one would fix itself, though.

“Mr Dawson,” I smiled, “please. Let calmer heads prevail here.”

The tobacco magnate stood and bellowed a guttural laugh. He opened a small wooden case and pulled out the type of cigar that only a man so wealthy could dream of. I could see the branding on the side: Dawson, written in ornate carnival-style lettering.

“Calmer heads,” he said with an incredulous shake of the head as he cut the cigar with his golden guillotine. “And ‘prevail’? Where the hell did a scumbag like you learn a word like that?”

“This is just a misunderstanding, Mr Dawson, please,” I said.

“A misunderstanding? I can’t wait to hear this. I reckon you got yourself five minutes before the law gets here. Feel free to spend that time explaining to me what you were doing on my farm with a gas canister and a book of matches.”

He jabbed a finger towards the rusty canister and the matchbook he’d thrown down on the table.

Five minutes. It was enough, I reasoned. Enough time for something to come up.

“Mr Dawson, please. I worked for you for ten years. Surely the binds are unnecessary.”

“Unnecessary?” he said, lighting the cigar now held between his teeth. “I know you were never the brightest spark, son, but you’ve lost your damn mind if you think I’m going anywhere near those binds. And what the hell do you look like? Clean shaven. What is it? Trying to start anew? Make out like you ain’t the scumbag you are?”

I watched the plume of smoke rise.

“Let me clue you in,” he said. “You will always be a bottom-feeder. I’ve always known it. And she knew it, Arthur.”

A flash of rage. A thought. An idea.

I thought it best to say nothing.

“That’s what I thought,” he said. He stood up and left the room.

Five minutes. Five minutes and the gamble of a lifetime. The stage was set.

I rocked. Left, right, left, right, swaying a little further each time, until I was able to lurch far enough to clatter in to the table.

I fell to the floor. I gathered my bearings and looked around me.

There it was. Success.

I laughed, one side of my face pressed against the carpet, which had been warmed by the Spring sunshine. I waited, revelling in the woody, thick aroma.

Dawson hadn’t heard the commotion. Perfect. Every second counted.

At that moment, I remembered what Joseph had said to me a week prior. We were stood in Rawbrough’s, the tailors. I was wearing my first ever suit.

“No,” my mentor had said, shaking his head, his eyes narrow. “I’m sorry, Arthur. It’s just not you. You’re not the sophisticated outlaw. You’re still an amateur, and this is a job for a professional. Even if Dawson’s men don’t recognise you, the second they see you walk in, they’ll search you and they’ll find the gun. We can’t raise suspicion,” he said. “I’ll do it. I know you want revenge on this man, Arthur. But this just ain’t you. You can’t come with us.”

The assassination was due to take place tomorrow at a grand ball organised by the man himself. Joseph had somehow wrangled himself and two others a ticket. If I wasn’t going to be there, you could be damn sure that I was going to be the one to destroy his farm. Make the son of a bitch watch as his life burned. It was the least I could do. For her.

Only I’d not counted on security. Joseph was right: I was an amateur. But at least I’d get my moment of glory.

Voices from down the hall. I closed my eyes as they grew louder and louder. I thought of her, as she looked in her final days. Sick and waning. I thought of Dawson; of how he’d refused to call a doctor. I thought of how we’d soon be reunited.

I watched the door swing open. I saw the hot, beautiful orange circle of the Dawson cigar. I just about had time to watch his face register me on the floor, the gas canister nearby spilling out its contents.

This was it. Finally. A tricky situation that I myself had fixed.

Blue flames rose from the carpet, spreading upwards. I smiled as the heat engulfed us all.