She nodded. ‘Yes, that was Sissel. The baby.’ An expression of sudden horror spread across her face. ‘This isn’t about…? She hasn’t…? She’s a decent girl and she’s going to be confirmed in 203spring and all that. Please don’t get me wrong about what I said. She’s not … like that.’

‘No, no, of course not.’

‘Oh, thank goodness. But suddenly you looked so … official. Like someone from social services.’

‘This is about Johnny.’

‘Ah … Johnny.’ The expression on her face changed to a kind of despair. She waved her cigarette and searched for the right words. ‘He died as he lived.’

‘Yes?’

‘Yes.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘What do I mean? You knew him, didn’t you? Foot on the accelerator all the time. Fire up his arse. Raced through life like a rocket, and in the end there was an almighty bang! There was a limit to how much she could take as well.’

‘She?’

‘Yes? This is between us, but who would know better than me how he … treated us?’

‘You’re referring to his new wife?’

‘Who else?’

‘But…’

‘He was a bully.’

‘But she…’

‘Especially when he’d had a few.’

‘Was that when he hit you?’

‘Not half. The local hero!’ She held up her trembling hands for me. The skin on top was red and chapped; her fingers were short, stained with nicotine. ‘You don’t think I’d go for legal separation for no reason, do you? I got custody of both kids. And where am I now? And where was he?’204

She glared at me accusingly, as though it were my fault. ‘He could carry on touring, remarry, have more kids, while I … Nothing.’ She looked around. ‘I’m in this house, but the council pays half the rent and I’m on disability benefit … nerves. Ruth, the elder girl, has gone and Sissel … It’s not so easy to bring up kids on your own. Last weekend she didn’t come home until the early hours and she’s only fifteen.’

‘No, it isn’t easy,’ I said gently. ‘I’m impressed by how well you’ve managed.’

‘And what do you know about it?’ she barked, though not without a glint of conciliation in her eyes.

‘What did you mean when you said Ruth had gone?’

‘I mean flown the nest. She’s old enough and can manage. It’s not that … it’s that I don’t know where she is anymore. Not at this moment anyway.’

‘So you don’t have much contact?’

‘You can say that again.’

After a pause I said: ‘When you separated, it was 1975, wasn’t it?’

She eyed me suspiciously. ‘Yes?’

‘Was there any special reason why it happened then?’

‘Such as?’ she asked timidly.

‘Well … was he giving you or the children a particularly hard time?’

She shook her head.

I said quickly: ‘It’s not unusual. I worked in child welfare myself and I don’t know how often—’

‘Child welfare can go to hell.’

‘But there was none of that?’

‘No, I told you.’