Lesley had aged overnight and Sharon was sorry for what had befallen the woman, but she saw her as her enemy. If Lenny had not died like he had, this woman would still be dictating her life in some way, looking down her nose at them.

‘You caused this, Sharon.’

Sharon Scott looked steadily at the woman before her and swallowed down the anger that was building up inside her at an alarming rate. Lesley had to know the truth of it as there was no way anyone could pretend otherwise given the circumstances, no matter how much she might want to.

‘Have you nothing to say to me, Sharon?’

She shook her head slowly, afraid to speak in case the canker inside her burst and she completely lost the plot.

Lesley Scott sat back in her chair now, sure of her ground and that she would get her ten-pence worth in if it was the last thing she did in this life of hers.

‘Since I lost my son, you have done everything in your power to keep me away from those boys. You have practically ignored me these last few years, and now you have that Ray in your bed I suppose that will be the end of us, won’t it? They will be calling that northern ponce “Dad” before we know it.’

Still Sharon didn’t say a word.

Lesley carried on – as if she was chatting about the weather, so calm was her voice.

‘I know you set your cap at my Lenny. Your own husband’s father. What happened? Got fed up with him, did you? Wanted a newer model, a younger man, is that it? Not content with taking my son, you wanted his father as well . . .’

The blow that came nearly took Lesley Scott out of her chair and the shock and the pain was almost overpowering. Sharon was out of her chair and, unzipping her tracksuit top, she pulled it off and showed the woman the purple bruises covering her arms and back.

‘Does this look like I wanted it, like I wasn’t resisting? Does it? He raped me—’ She swallowed noisily before saying quickly, ‘Your precious fucking Lenny tried to rape me . . . I’ve had murders with him for ages. Always round here telling me how I needed a man to look after me. I wouldn’t have touched that filthy old cunt if the bomb dropped and he was the last man on earth, you stupid, stupid fucking woman!’

Lesley Scott was staring at her daughter-in-law with such venom and hatred that Sharon took a step away from her.

‘You must have encouraged him! He’s old enough to be your father. He was a decent man, a good man, until you set your fucking cap at him.’