This was the first time she’d been ringside, and it would be the last. She was revolted, horrified, and filled with a fear so gripping that it churned her stomach and made her bowels clench. She was either going to mess herself or throw up, she didn’t know which.

‘He’s down, he’s down!’ screamed Trace, elbowing Claire in the ribs.

Oh Christ, oh no, not Josh . . .

Claire steeled herself to look. She couldn’t bear it, but she had to. She looked . . . and there he was, on the ground.

Matty.

Matty was down, not Josh. Josh stood over him, sweating, bloody, weaving on his feet, panting hard.

‘He’s won, he’s won it!’ yelled Trace.

The man in the red braces counted down from ten and then he lifted Josh’s arm into the air. A thunderous roar went up. Sam ran in and lifted Josh clean off his feet in triumph, a grin as wide as a mile on his face.

‘You bastard, you done it, you done it!’ he was shouting over and over again.

Someone dashed in and threw a bucket of water on to Matty, who stirred groggily but didn’t get up.

‘The winner!’ shouted the man with the braces, yanking Josh’s arm skywards again.

All around Claire, people were now shouting fix, booing.

‘I lost a fucking monkey on this thing,’ growled a man by her ear.

Josh stood there, exhausted. His ‘manager’ Cloudy was forcing a smile on to his face but not meaning it. Claire saw Shauna Everett break away from her place near the Cleaver lot. Jeb Cleaver was watching her boot-faced as she went shoving her way through the crowds. Shauna ran over to messy, sweaty, bloodstained Josh. She shoved Sam aside and planted a congratulatory kiss on Josh’s cheek.

That cow.

Shrugging off Trace’s clinging hands, Claire went in the other direction, fought her way out, through the crowds and out of the barn door and into the superheated air of the night. This summer had shaped up hotter than the devil’s handshake. The tarmac had bubbled up on the roads and people were having to queue at standpipes for water. Claire breathed in hard, feeling the air almost scorching her lungs. Above her, a million stars studded the heavens and she stared up at them, tears running down her face. She felt but did not see people surging past her and away.

She stood there, half-fainting, disgusted, appalled.

A whimper made her look down. There was Blue, her faithful old lurcher, tied up to the barn door with a length of string. She untied him and knelt to give him a hug. Then with Blue leading the way, she started for home.

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