The next morning Danny awoke in a strange bed in a strange room with a strange woman.

The room in general looked like something from a DFS advert. It had complete lack of personality but it was very modern, two of the walls were a cold shade of lilac and the other two a colour just off white. Glass shelves lined them, a weird square shaped sculpture sat on one which Danny at first thought looked a little like a horse but then seemed to be a kind of bird.

It was like deja vu, this had happened so many other mornings before it was almost routine. He scanned the room again, trying to see if he recognised where he was, or even the face of the woman next to him. Nothing came to mind.

He got up, trying desperately not to make any noise and pulled on his clothes, then almost knocked over the bedside lamp. He cursed under his breath.

Once he'd located his phone, Danny left a note on the pillow, not wanting to seem a jerk, then picked the lock of the door, a trick he'd learnt from Albert, and bounded down the stairs.

It was half past ten, which meant the others would already be designing the latest con without him. On the other hand it didn't mean that it was too late to call Ash, who was usually the one who ended up collecting Danny from strange places. He looked around for a road sign for Ash to key into the Sat Nav and found it. When Danny finally sat down, he actually realised how much his head hurt. He wondered how much he'd had to drink last night; he had vague memories of Eddie's Bar. Or perhaps he just knew he'd thought that because that was basically his second home, as it was to all of them.

About fifteen minutes later, a red Volvo that Danny hadn't seen before appeared right next to the bench he was sat on. The blacked out window of the driver's seat came down to reveal a grinning Ash Morgan. Danny laughed, swinging open the back door and jumping into the back seat of the car. He shut the door behind him and his friend started the engine.

"Where did you get this baby?" Danny asked, closing his eyes and breathing in the pretty scent of new car.

"I have my sources," Ash replied. "And some poor bastard doesn't have their car."

Danny tutted, smirking.

"Hey, he'll probably get it back!"

Danny laughed, then realised a third voice was joining in with the laughter. He slowly turned to find Stacie in the seat next to him.

"What the… how did you get there?!" Danny said, shocked at himself.

She laughed. "I've been here for ages."

He stared at her, still a little puzzled.

"Where's Albert?" Danny asked, looking around the car.

"Oh, we've sort of lost him," Ash said, casually.

"Lost him? As in…"

"As in we don't know where he is, yeah."

"Ash thinks he's done 'a Danny'" Stacie told him, adding a playful roll of the eyes.

Danny noticed how weirdly cheerful she seemed. As usual, she looked beautiful, but somehow in a different way. She was wearing a navy dress with leggings and heels, and gold hoop earrings framed her face. Her hair fell in black ripples around her shoulders, contrast to her porcelain skin.

"You ok?" he asked her, really wanting to say "You have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen,", or "You're all I think about"or even "I'm in love with you."

"Yeah," she said, smiling at him. "Thanks for calling me a taxi, by the way,"

Danny racked his brain, trying to remember a taxi.

"Sorry, I forgot you can't remember anything that happened to you yesterday," Stacie teased.

"I so can!"

"Ok. What was her name?"

Oh, God. She meant that woman, the one whose flat he'd just left. Danny thought about it.

"Erm…"

Stacie stared at him, with those eyes, an amused smile slowly spreading across her face. She started to laugh, Ash joined in.

"Look, I do know it! I just…"

"… don't remember?" Ash said, teasingly.

"Well, yeah."

He saw the looks that they're giving him and can't help but laugh.

"Ok, whatever!"

The car drew up outside Eddie's Bar, and the three of them got out, and went in.

"Still no sign of Albie," Stacie said, eyeing all the empty tables.

They went over to their usual table. Eddie saw them and raised a hand.

"I'll be one minute," he said, heading up the stairs round the corner from the back of the door. As soon as he's round the corner, Danny slid across the bar and grabs a bottle of beer from the freezer, opening it and taking it back to their table.

"Hey!" Ash said.

"Sorry," Danny replied, smiling at him apologetically as he went back to the bar and took another beer, plus a ten pound note from the till. He threw the bottle to Ash, who caught it smoothly.

"Poor Eddie," said Stacie, unable to stop smiling.

"So if there's no sign of him by lunchtime we call him, yeah?" Ash said, unscrewing his beer.

"He's only been gone two minutes!" Danny replied, looking at Ash, puzzled.

"I'm talking about Albert, you moron!"

"Oh."

They were all silent for a minute, Danny looking down a little.

"This isn't like him," Stacie said, coming across from the table to sit at the bar with the other two. "I mean, this is Albie we're talking about. He doesn't just disappear."

Ash shrugged. "He can look after himself."

There was a throng of 'hellos' as Eddie re entered the room.

"Hey, where did you get those?" he said, gesturing to the drinks in their hands.

Danny tried his best to look confused. "You?"

"Me?"

"Yep, we bought them from you about… ten minutes ago, Stace?"

"Oh, I would say twenty," she said, playing along.

Eddie looked at each of their perfect poker-faces, wondering if he was being conned. After all, it wouldn't be the first time.

"There you go, twenty minutes," Danny told him, lifting up his now half-empty bottle and clinking it against Ash's. They both drank.

"That's impossible… you lot have only been here about five!" the barman protested.

"Five? I would say twenty five. Are you sure you haven't got concussion or something, mate?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, you didn't hit your head did you, Eddie?"
Stacie casually brushed her hand against Eddie's. He sighed and turned round, thinking "One day I won't let them beat me."

The other three happily drank their drinks, and for the first time Danny really started thinking about Albert. Stacie had been right, it wasn't like him to just disappear. But then again Ash was also, Albert could look after himself and they would know if we was in trouble, wouldn't they?

They'd call him at lunchtime. And if there was nothing then…

Well, they'd call him at lunchtime. That was as far as they needed to think, for now.

When they'd finished their drinks and talked with Eddie, they went back to their flat, so that Danny could shower and get changed and they could look for any trace of Albert. There was nothing, nothing at all.

It still wasn't twelve o clock, which they'd decided was officially lunchtime a while ago. Who they were made it easier for them to make rules for themselves and keep them, except Danny knew that the other two felt the same way as he did about wanting to grab the phone and just do it, and he'd secretly caught Ash setting the egg timer they kept in the kitchen to twelve o clock. They sat there with the TV on, nobody really watching it. To Danny it was just a blank screen.

But then, coincidently at two minutes to twelve a key sounded in the door and Albert strolled in, unbelievably casually.

"Albie!" Stacie exclaimed, running to hug him.

The other two came to surround him.

"Where've you been?!" Ash demanded.

Albert shrugged, simply. "Places."

"Places? We were so worried!" Stacie said. They were sitting in the large space that served as the living room now, Danny pouring drinks.

When he came back, he saw Albert was holding a fat, blue folder, which Danny recognised as the one they always kept their information for upcoming cons, chunks of paper which would end up shredded and given to a friend of Albert's who kept a hutch of guinea pigs.

Danny walked round to the back of the sofa, where the other three were sat and leant on the back of it. He looked over their shoulders at the paperwork and tried to make some sense of it, of Albert's italic script and the photograph of a man that Danny didn't recognise.

They all listened to Albert, as he talked through the con. It wasn't something Danny found hard to pick up, it was similar to something they'd done in February of last year, conning an art dealer.

Ash had a meeting with the guy in two days time; him and Albert were going to set up a fake office tomorrow.

That night he didn't go to Eddie's with the others. He stayed in, claiming a cold which wasn't entirely made up, he did sort of feel ill. And, of course, nobody protested. They all wanted him better before he was involved in stealing a painting.

He took the opportunity that the others were out and watched Notting Hill on Film 4 then headed to bed, definitely feeling ready to sleep like a log.