‘Finished?’ he asked. Peggy nodded, she was speechless, a rare event in itself. ‘Good, well, I am afraid I have to inform you, yet again, that I cannot deal with this here. You are into your fourth week of arrears and, as you know, Mrs Nolan, from our encounters in the past, that is not good news. I can accept payment, but not excuses. You must see Mr Heartfelt yourself. You won’t be needing directions, will you, as you’ve been there plenty of times before. I’m surprised you aren’t on his Christmas card list, you must be that well acquainted. He is there this morning and I will telephone him and tell him you are on your way.’

He glanced back down at the letter in his hand and then, looking back up at her under his cap and over the top of his glasses, asked, ‘I don’t suppose you know why it is Mrs Doherty keeps paying the rent on the house next door to you, do you?’

Peggy’s mouth opened and closed. She shook her head. She had no idea. She was desperately confused. ‘The policeman, he’s moving in, his wife said so.’

‘Yes, that’s right, and we need the rent book back from the Dohertys, so if you hear anything from them, tell her to get a move on, would you?’

Peggy shook her head; he was confusing her further and she didn’t want to see Mr Heartfelt. She was searching for something to say, words that would stop the clocks, allow her to think, to find a way out of the mess they were in. Everyone avoided a visit to Mr Heartfelt. His nature was in itself a deterrent to arrears and his own brother-in-law was the bailiff and known for his unpleasant ways. Maybe she should swallow her pride and throw herself on Jerry’s mercy.

‘I have to go right now, do I?’ she said.

‘You do indeed, Mrs Nolan. You will have received the letter, I’m sure. Mr Heartfelt is meticulous about such things; we often comment on how strange it is that all the medical mysteries of the world appear to have colonised around the Liverpool dockside streets. And we have the worst of everything any doctor has ever seen, did you know that? It’s a wonder the streets aren’t like a ghost town and that anyone can get out of bed.’ He began to laugh at his own joke, but the sight of Peggy, her forlorn expression, the tears he saw spring to her eyes, her obvious innocence and her lack of gumption lay on his heart like a hand on a fresh bruise. He leant across the counter and, taking out his cigarette packet, shuffled out two cigarettes and passed one to Peggy.