Lenny looked at his mother and said quietly, ‘Yeah, Mum, that’s about the strength of it. But do you know what? I am going to tell you what Sharon told her mum. Keep your fucking nose out. I don’t live here any more. I’m a grown man with a family and I will earn for my wife and my kid in any way I can.’

He looked at his father, pleased to see that he was of the same mind. Nevertheless, Big Lenny chastised him. ‘No need to swear at your mother, son. But I admit you are in the right. I admire you. You’re a big lump with a quick brain. A lethal combination in our game. I’m made up for you.’

Lenny grinned. ‘This is just the start, Dad. I really love my job, you know. Jack Johnson’s so good to me. I trust him. He’s a good man, a decent man.’

As Lesley watched her husband and son talking, she realised that her boy was as far gone from her as if he had been struck dead. That he could talk to her like that! Her husband was acting like he was the Christ Child, and everyone was treating her as if she was visiting royalty. She was devastated. Her handsome son had had the brains to go to university, and he had thrown it all away. Now he was a thug, no more and no less. And a vicious thug at that.

He had crippled a man and he had not even had the excuse of the drink. Keith had been because of alcohol – she had made herself believe that. But this last one she couldn’t justify to herself, however hard she tried.

She watched as her son talked about his plans, and she wondered at a future that was based on violence. Never in her life had she felt so low, so disgusted with her family. Even Sharon, who had turned a blind eye to what Lenny had become. It was as if Lesley had never really known her son. Her dreams were dead, and all she had now was the promise of a grandchild to give her any hope for the future.

Chapter Nineteen

Ivy was delighted with things. After her initial shock at the Billy Mason incident, she had done what Sharon had asked and accepted the situation. If she was honest, it was mainly because Ivy was enjoying her newfound celebrity as Sharon Scott’s mother. She loved the way people who had never given her the time of day before broke their necks to ask how she was and how her daughter was. It was heady stuff.