Quickly laying her book aside she pottered along the hallway to the kitchen to find Mrs Petty scrubbing away at the pots in the sink with a grim expression on her face. However, when she spotted Maddie her face softened and wiping her hands on her apron she asked, ‘Want a nice mug o’ cocoa before you go to bed, do you, bab?’

‘Er . . . yes, please. That would be lovely.’ Ruby sat down at the kitchen table watching as the woman fetched a jug of milk from the pantry and poured some into a saucepan. ‘I’ve been racking my brains ever since I first met you,’ she said innocently.

Mrs Petty scowled. ‘Oh ar, an’ why’s that then?’

‘Well, I just had the feeling I’d seen you before somewhere and this evening I realised where it was. Didn’t you used to come into my dad’s bread shop in Nuneaton sometimes?’

Mrs Petty’s colour rose and she looked flustered, but after a moment she answered calmly, ‘I have visited a bakery there from time to time. I had a friend who lived in Nuneaton, see, so I might well have popped in when I visited her.’

As she laid the mugs on the table Ruby noticed that her hands were shaking and she got the distinct impression that Mrs Petty was lying, although she didn’t comment on it.

They were both seated at the table with steaming mugs in front of them before Mrs Petty spoke again. ‘About what Maddie got you to do today . . . I just want yer to know that I don’t approve of it.’

Now it was Ruby’s turn to blush as shame washed over her. ‘I-I’ve never stolen anything before,’ she admitted in a shaky voice.

‘Hm, well the way Maddie sees it, it ain’t wrong if she only steals from them as can well afford it,’ she said. ‘But I want you to know she ain’t all bad. She’s had a hard life so now she just gets by any way she can.’

‘Oh, what happened to her?’ Ruby was intrigued to find out.