Sarah nodded, but she knew it was unlikely that she’d ever see or hear from Samuel again. As the policemen left, she walked out to the back room again, her thoughts on Ron Lyons. Surely he was too young for retirement? It crossed her mind that maybe he’d run away from her to protect himself and his wife against his past mistakes.

Good, Sarah thought. She had been frightened of him and his threats, but now it was another chapter of her life she could lay to rest.

George’s heart had sunk when he’d seen Roger turn up on his stall, but he’d had a couple of weeks to calm down, and was now only simmering. Sarah seemed to be recovering from the heartache Roger and Mo had caused her, though he knew it would be a long time yet before she would get over losing Tommy, if ever. They’d talked for hours, and getting things off her chest seemed to do Sarah good, but she still refused to allow George to lamp Roger one.

He looked over at the man, pleased to see the remnants of the beating that Samuel had given him.

‘So it’s to be in November, George. Are you getting excited?’

George tore his eyes away from Roger to see Kath standing in front of him, carrying her usual woven cane shopping basket. ‘Hello, Kath. November? Oh, yeah – my mum’s wedding. To be honest I’ll be glad when it’s done and dusted. All I hear at home nowadays is her and Sarah talking about dresses, cakes, hairdos and all the other stuff. It’s driving me bonkers.’

‘Well, you can’t blame your mum for pushing the boat out a bit.’

‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy for her, but what she said was going to be a small do is suddenly turning into a full-blown affair. Mark my words, she’ll be booking Westminster Cathedral next.’

Kath laughed. ‘You do exaggerate, George. Anyway, me and Joan are going to organise a bit of a ladies’ get-together before your mum’s big day. You’ll have to tell Sarah to join us.’

‘I will. It’d probably do her good. Oh, and by the way, Kath – what were you going on about the other week? You know, all that stuff about you having a surprise for me?’

‘You’ll see soon enough,’ Kath said, then winked mysteriously again at George as she walked off to do her shopping.

Blinking women, thought George with an affectionate smile. He’d never understand them.

Mo woke up and looked at the clock. It was gone lunchtime, but it wasn’t unusual for her to sleep for most of the day. She didn’t have much reason to get up. Since Samuel had beaten Roger up she hadn’t seen either of them, or Sarah, and now spent her days and nights alone.