‘What the fuck are we supposed to be seeing?’ said Roddy getting out of the car.

A straggle of tired buildings was strung in a crescent facing the muddy clearing where they’d parked. Paint peeled from window frames and doors and the whitewash was filthy grey from the battering of the elements.

‘Potential,’ said Adam. ‘Follow me.’

He walked towards the nearest of the buildings, digging keys out of his pocket. He undid a padlock and opened the old wooden door.

‘Come on,’ he said, ducking inside.

The rest of them looked at each other then followed.

Inside, Adam stood next to a table strewn with bits of paper. Behind him were three large copper stills linked by a gantry and metal stairs, the familiar witch’s-hat shapes linked by tarnished pipes. The floor was covered in birdshit and bits of masonry, and as they entered a pigeon made a flustered flap into the rafters. Thin light through a high window picked out dust dancing in the air.

‘Well,’ said Adam. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think you’ve brought us to a shithole at the end of the world,’ said Roddy.

‘It’s a disused distillery,’ said Ethan. ‘So what?’

Luke’s eyes lit up. ‘An illegal still, man.’

Adam smiled. ‘There will be nothing illegal about it. This is Stremnishmore distillery. I plan to buy it, renovate it and turn it into a working proposition again. I’m going to make whisky. I’ve got it all worked out, look.’

He waved excitedly at the plans, bills and forms on the table.

‘The owners have agreed to sell me the place and I’ve got quotes for the renovation work, licence agreements sorted, the lot. I’ve even got suppliers and distributors lined up, plus a handful of possible employees from the island.’

‘You’re serious,’ said Ethan.

‘Deadly,’ said Adam. ‘This is the big chance to do something with my life. You all know how passionate I am about whisky. This is my chance to actually do something about it instead of rotting in that stupid shop forever.’

‘Cool,’ said Luke, nodding.

Roddy was shaking his head and grinning. ‘You’re going to own and run your own distillery?’

Adam looked at him and took a breath.

‘I was kind of hoping we would own it together.’

‘What?’

‘Wouldn’t it be amazing?’ said Adam. ‘Imagine our bottles sitting next to Laphroaig and Ardbeg in the Islay section of whisky shops.’

Roddy narrowed his eyes. ‘How much?’

‘What?’

‘I presume you’re asking me to invest in this pipedream, so cut the bullshit and tell me how much.’

‘The thing is …’

‘Just give me a figure.’ There was a steeliness in Roddy’s voice Adam hadn’t heard before. He didn’t like it.

‘With start-up costs and wages for the first few years factored in, given that we can’t sell the product until …’

‘A number, please.’

‘One point two million would cover it.’

Roddy threw his head back for show and laughed.

‘It wouldn’t be as much as that to begin with,’ said Adam hurriedly. ‘We could start online sales of the new spirit after a year, and we could even bring in some money from a visitor centre and cafe, maybe run whisky-making courses in the quiet season, other distilleries …’

‘You mean it, don’t you?’ said Roddy. ‘You actually want me to give you over a million fucking quid …’

‘Not give it to me, invest it in this place. Roddy, it’s a great opportunity. You know yourself that the whisky industry has been bulletproof during the credit crunch, in fact the market for Islay malts is going through the roof in the Far East and India …’

‘Go to a fucking bank.’

‘What?’

‘I said go to a bank. Loaning people money is what they do.’

‘Come on, Roddy …’

‘Go to the bank.’

‘I already went to the bank.’

‘And?’

‘What do you think? I don’t have a track record in the industry, I’m not a successful businessman, I didn’t have any collateral to borrow against. They weren’t going to give me a million quid.’

‘So why should I?’

Adam felt his heart thudding against his ribcage.

‘Because you know me,’ he pleaded. ‘We’ve been friends for twenty fucking years. I’ve never asked you for anything in all that time, but I’m asking you now. It’s not a favour, it’s a sound investment.’

‘What makes you think I have that kind of money lying around?’

‘Come on, you’re always talking about how much you make.’ Adam heard his voice rise in pitch but couldn’t control it. ‘This is probably peanuts to you, you make this much in yearly bonuses.’

‘That might be true, but I didn’t get to be the best in the business by throwing money at pie-in-the-sky projects.’

‘It’s not pie in the sky,’ said Adam, panicking. ‘If you’ll just take a look at the business plan, the figures all stack up. You can have whatever percentage of the company you like, I’m just interested in making quality whisky.’

‘This isn’t Dragon’s fucking Den,’ laughed Roddy. ‘We’re talking about a million quid and change of my money getting pished into a big black hole at the end of a dirt track on a God-forsaken rock in the Atlantic. It’s not going to happen.’

Molly piped up. ‘You could at least take a look at the details of the proposal, Roddy. It seems like Adam’s gone to a lot of work putting this together.’

Roddy turned and stared. ‘He’s got you in his corner, has he? Well listen, darling, I don’t need to take a look at the details, because I’m not going to throw money away on a ridiculous scheme like this.’

‘It could work,’ said Molly. ‘Bruichladdich have proved that. And there’s a new farmhouse distillery at Kilchoman that’s doing great business already after only three years.’

‘That’s right,’ said Adam, feeling sweat on his hands. ‘I’ve arranged for us to have a chat with the owner and manager of Kilchoman this afternoon, take a look round the place. It’s amazing what they’ve done in such a short time.’

‘You’re wasting your time,’ said Roddy. ‘I’m not investing in this fucking crazy idea.’

‘But why not?’ Adam begged.

Roddy stared hard. ‘Because, Adam, you’re one of life’s losers, you always have been and you always will be. You’re almost forty and still working in a shop, for fuck’s sake. You’ve spent your whole life being petrified of taking a chance on anything. That doesn’t necessarily make you a bad person, but it sure as shit doesn’t make you the kind of person who runs a successful business either. You never take risks, it’s that simple, so you’ll always be one of the also-rans. You’re a beta male through and through.’

‘But don’t you see, I’m trying to change that with this project,’ Adam said. ‘I’m trying to turn things round, take risks and grab life by the bollocks.’

Roddy smiled. ‘Did you fuck Molly last night?’

‘What?’

‘I said did you fuck her?’

‘Mind your own business,’ said Molly.

Adam looked confused. ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’

Roddy shook his head. ‘Man, you couldn’t get laid if you fell into a barrel of fannies. You can’t even pull with a woman who actually likes you, that’s how much of a risk-taker you are. I bet you’ve still got those two Viagras I gave you.’

Adam looked at Molly. ‘I didn’t want them, he put them in my pocket and …’ He turned back to Roddy. ‘Anyway, that’s got nothing to do with anything. This is business we’re talking about.’

‘It’s all part of life’s rich tapestry,’ said Roddy. ‘Loser in love, loser in life.’

Adam was exasperated. ‘Look, at least consider it,’ he said, picking up the paperwork and thrusting it at Roddy. ‘Take a look at the numbers and the plans, and if you don’t like it, then fair enough.’

‘I don’t need to, I’m not investing.’ Roddy walked towards the door, kicking up dirt.

‘Fuck’s sake,’ said Adam, grabbing his coat. ‘If you were a friend, you’d at least consider it.’

Roddy turned sharply, grabbed Adam and shoved him against a wall, pinning him. ‘If you were a friend, you wouldn’t ask me to pish away a million quid of my own money on a no-hope fucking joke of a scheme.’

He released Adam in a cloud of masonry dust and turned. ‘Right, I’m getting in the car and driving away from this shitheap. If you lot want a lift back to civilisation, I suggest you’re in the car in two minutes.’

He swept out of the stillroom, leaving Adam scrambling around picking up the plans that had scattered on the filthy floor.

‘Fucking hell,’ he said.

The others helped him collect up the paperwork.

‘I guess that didn’t go according to plan,’ said Ethan quietly as he and Luke headed towards the door.

Molly put an arm round Adam and led him out of the stillroom.

‘Don’t give up just yet,’ she said.