She was glad nobody else was about. And that her folks were out. They were always out, they’d been out nearly every night of her life. Even when she was tiny, they’d be off boozing or down the bookies, and they’d never given it a second thought, they’d just left her in her cot, alone. They were a cold pair. Maybe they’d made her that way, too.

Shauna couldn’t see Josh’s eyes, but his movements were slow and almost bewildered as she approached him. Shauna reached out, took one of his big hands in hers. ‘Josh? What’s going on?’

‘Nothing,’ he said, sounding strange, his words almost slurring. He shook her hand off, went over to the Milo trailer and banged on the closed door. ‘Claire!’ he shouted. ‘Come on, Claire, open up. Let’s talk!’

‘Don’t she usually take the dog out walking late?’ suggested Shauna. ‘I don’t think she’s in there, Josh. What’s up? You two had a row?’

His eyes turned toward her. He seemed almost to see her there for the first time. ‘The wedding’s off,’ he said.

Christ! So it was true, what Claire had said. Images flipped through her mind. Dark blood spurting from Blue’s throat as Ciaran cut it. Claire, her face white as snow as she pleaded with her. Those terrified screams, echoing around the dell.

‘That’s it. I’m through with all this shit. I’m clearing out,’ he said.

‘You’re doing what?’ Shauna choked out a laugh. Josh had been here all his life, just like she had.

‘I’m going, Shauna.’

‘Don’t be daft. Going where?’

‘Anywhere. Anywhere that ain’t here.’

‘Wait a minute.’ Now she grabbed his hand and held on to it. Despite the heat of the night, his flesh felt cold. ‘Come in for a mo, OK?’

She tugged and for a moment he resisted; then his shoulders slumped and he followed, meek as a lamb. She went up the steps to her family’s trailer and he went too. Then she closed the door behind him and went to where Dad kept his whisky. She slopped some into a glass and handed it to Josh as he stood there in the centre of the room, dwarfing everything around him.

Josh took the drink, raised it to his lips, drank the liquid down in one long swallow. He still held his bag in his hand. His face was bruised, his knuckles red.

Feeling nervous, Shauna flicked on the radio. Now it had come to the crunch, she felt unsure and she was wondering if she really could turn this thing to her advantage. Abba were singing ‘Waterloo’. Well, Claire Milo had for damned sure met her Waterloo tonight.

‘What you talking about going for, then?’ she asked, her smile covering her anxiety. ‘You’re a big man now, Josh. You beat Matty O’Connor.’