She then handed another packet to Shazza, but Adele could tell by the look of disappointment on Anna’s face that she was doing so unwillingly.

‘Are you OK with this, Anna?’ Adele asked again.

Anna looked up at her. ‘Yeah, course I am,’ she said, but her eyes told a different story as did the imperceptible shake of her head. She was pleading with Adele to drop the subject.

‘So there you go,’ said Shazza, looking up at Adele, who was trying to avoid the frightening glare of Shazza’s evil eyes. ‘Aren’t you Peter Robinson’s sister?’ she asked, now giving Adele her full attention.

‘That’s right,’ Adele replied.

‘I believe he thinks he’s a bit of a hot shot but from what I’ve been told he ain’t all that.’

‘I wouldn’t know,’ said Adele, trying to hide her fear.

‘Seems like you might take after each other, seeing as how you seem to fancy your chances as well,’ Shazza continued.

‘No, I don’t,’ said Adele. She sat up in the bed. ‘Look, I just want to serve my time in peace. I’m not here to cause trouble.’

‘That right? Only, from what I’ve been told, you’ve already stirred things up a bit.’

Denise nodded. ‘Yeah, fucking bitch!’ she cursed.

Shazza didn’t speak for several seconds but she carried on staring at Adele, her eyes piercing through her once more. This time Adele didn’t look away. Instead she bravely held Shazza’s gaze.

Then Shazza spoke again. ‘My ex knows your brother,’ she said. ‘In fact, there’s a rumour that he’s working with him now.’

‘Who’s your ex?’ Adele asked automatically although she didn’t know many of the people Peter associated with nowadays.

‘Mike Shaftesbury,’ said Shazza.

‘No, I don’t know him.’

‘It’s no biggie, anyway. He’s a tosser and he always was a poor fuckin’ judge of character as well.’

‘Apparently so,’ said Adele, but Shazza didn’t pick up on the irony of her words.

Instead Shazza mimicked her childishly. Then she turned on her heel and left the cell with Denise and Louise following behind. Denise flashed Adele a look of contempt before she went. Adele was relieved to see them go.

‘Are you OK, Anna?’ she asked.

‘Yeah, course I am. Why shouldn’t I be?’

‘I just don’t understand why you’re giving your stuff away to Shazza, that’s all.’

‘You heard what she said,’ said Anna defensively. ‘I owe her. We’re mates. We do each other favours.’

‘Funny, but she didn’t look too matey to me,’ said Adele.

‘Course she is.’

‘So why did you owe her the stuff?’ Adele asked. ‘And what is it, anyway? Is it drugs?’

‘She gave me a cig the other day,’ said Anna, ignoring Adele’s last question.

‘Two packets for one cigarette? That’s a bit expensive, isn’t it?’