‘Instead of moving to the village, Annie, why don’t you move in to the gatehouse here? That way you would have your freedom but you would be nearer to us. Then you could commute – you know, spend time at your home up North and time here.’

She saw the relief in Annie’s eyes and she knew that, for all her talk, she was just doing what her son wanted.

‘You have a great life up there with lots of friends. I would love you here, Annie, you know that. I just worry you are giving up too much.’

Annie hugged this wonderful girl her son had been lucky enough to find and said seriously, ‘We don’t deserve you, Sharon. You are a wonderful and insightful woman who is far too good for that hooligan I raised!’

Sharon hugged her back tightly and she felt choked up as she said honestly, ‘That hooligan you are talking about was the best thing that happened to me and my boys.’

‘And you, lady, are the best thing that could have ever happened to him.’ Then she said quietly, ‘He did nine long years, and that affects a body. When he came home he was like a rudderless boat. Then he met you. I thank God every day because you and those boys gave him a purpose. From day one it was like he was on a mission to make you happy and I think he managed that. But, more to the point, you made my only son into a happy and contented man.’

They were hugging again and that was how Ray found them and, embracing them both, he said loudly, in a thick Geordie brogue, ‘Why-aye, ladies, why you bubblin’?’

And Annie, laughing loudly, said, ‘We are crying with happiness, you big streak of piss!’ feeling that she had finally come home.

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Four

Bobby Carlton was visited while on remand by a young man called Elton Mills. Elton was black, cockney and had a way with him that Jack Johnson felt was going to get him far. He was handsome, easy-going and he could fight like a paratrooper if the need arose. As young as he was, he was already making a name for himself. He had that wonderful combination of attributes that would take him a long way in his chosen occupation. He was intelligent and he could suss a situation within nanoseconds. This was why Ray and Jack had given him the job of approaching Bobby Carlton; the boy had never even been cautioned so he could move from nick to nick relatively easily.

‘He fucking wants what?’