Sarah agreed and went upstairs to kiss Tommy goodbye, warning him to behave himself with Lena. She quickly grabbed a comb from her handbag and ran it through her hair. As she placed it back inside her bag, she saw the handkerchief full of jewellery, and was reminded of her promise to Jenny and Doreen to get payback on Godfrey. Her plan to visit Mrs Alderton-Steele had been put on hold while she’d been staying at George’s, but she’d make it a priority once she was back at home.

George pulled up outside Sarah’s house, and immediately noticed the front door had been repaired in a makeshift fashion. He assumed it had been kicked in. ‘Are you sure about this, Sarah?’

‘I’m as sure as I’ll ever be,’ she replied, drawing in a long breath.

George climbed out of the van first and walked in front of Sarah. ‘Looks like this door’s had a bit of a bash,’ he commented. ‘Give me your keys.’

Sarah handed them to him and he slowly opened the door to step inside, saying over his shoulder, ‘Wait there a minute.’

He walked across to Sarah’s room and saw black scuff marks on her door, probably from heavy boots, but when he went to unlock it, the key wouldn’t fit. ‘Are you sure this is the right key?’ he called.

Sarah walked into the hallway and answered, ‘Definitely.’

George fiddled some more with the lock, but it wouldn’t open.

‘Sarah, you’re back!’ Mo called from the top of the stairs. ‘Hang on a tick. Sam changed the lock so I’ll get the new key,’ she said before running back into her room.

‘That explains it,’ George said.

Mo quickly returned and came running down the stairs. ‘Hello, George,’ she said cheerily and handed him the new key.

‘I take it your brother’s been here then?’ George asked as he opened the door.

‘Go inside and I’ll tell you all about it,’ Mo said, ‘but first, if you put the kettle on the gas to boil, I’ll pop upstairs and bring you some sugar and milk for a cup of tea. I won’t be two ticks.’

Sarah looked around her room and was pleasantly surprised to see everything looked intact, in fact, tidier than she’d left it. Even the window pane had been replaced, which she hadn’t noticed when outside. She walked over to the stove, picked up the kettle and filled it with water from the single tap over the sink.

‘Are you OK?’ George asked.

‘Yes, I’m pleased to see my place hasn’t been damaged.’

Mo came back into the room carrying a small tray. ‘Well, as you could probably see from the front door, they came, but I’m hoping that’ll be the last we see of them.’