And there was something else that was bothering her: her damaged relationship with her mother. While Adele had been inside, she had tried to put all thoughts of her mother out of her head. After all, if her mother had chosen not to visit her, there wasn’t much she could do to persuade her otherwise from within the prison walls.

As the time for her release had got nearer, though, thoughts of her mother had occupied her mind more and more. She’d been tempted to ring her many times but knew that it would be difficult to repair their relationship over the phone. So she’d decided that once she was released, visiting her mother would be high on her agenda.

But the prospect of that was daunting. Would she ever find it in her heart to forgive Adele? And if she rejected her once more, how would Adele cope with that?

The only way to find out would be to go to her as soon as possible. Then she’d know for sure instead of spending endless nights fretting about it. And, if her mother didn’t want anything to do with her, she would just have to put her out of her mind once and for all.

Chapter 27

Adele arrived in the street where she used to live in a run-down part of the city. The houses here had survived the slum clearance of sixties and seventies Manchester, which had made way for poorly planned high-rise blocks.

In many ways the street looked the same as it always had, with its weathered red-brick houses standing proudly side by side. The old concrete road still had a line of pitch running across it, which they’d used as a starting line for races when she was a child. And there was still a trace of paint spillage that had been there for years.

She remembered Peter prodding at the paint with a stick when it had blistered and softened in the sun, and the hiding he’d got from his father when the paint had stuck to his trousers.

Flagstone pavements ran either side of the narrow concrete road, with random holes between the slabs, which she and her brother used to roll their marbles into. Nowadays there were more cracks in the slabs. There were other differences, too. Children no longer played outside since the proliferation of cars that raced up and down the street had made it too dangerous. Gone was the corner shop of yesteryear and housewives no longer stood chatting at doorways.