This time Susan shook her head and did speak. ‘I’d like to see where Margaret lived,’ she said. ‘She never offered to take me back there. Perhaps she thought I’d be too upset.’ She paused for a beat. ‘And I’m sure this bonny lad will take care of me.’ For the first time there was a glimmer of a smile. ‘My age, I don’t need a chaperone.’

Joe didn’t talk to her as they drove away from the Haven. He wasn’t sure where to begin and he thought he’d wait until they were there. Susan sat beside him in the front seat, looking around her as if she were a tourist. She seemed to be enjoying the trip out, the low sun on her face. Occasionally she would lean back in her seat and shut her eyes, and he wondered if she was sleeping or thinking about the past. As they approached Mardle she sat up and was more alert.

‘Tell me about Margaret in those days.’ They’d pulled up outside the Harbour Guest House now. Susan was looking around her, but made no move to get out. And at least in the car it was warm and they wouldn’t be overheard. ‘How did she earn her living?’

The woman turned her head sharply to face him. ‘You already know or you wouldn’t be asking.’

He wondered now that he could have thought her stupid or slow. ‘She was a sex worker?’

‘An escort,’ Susan said. ‘High-class. Choosy. She could have made a fortune, but she was never greedy. And she saved the money. I could never save a penny.’

‘Were you in the same business?’

She shook her head. ‘Nah, I never had the nerve for it.’ Another smile. ‘Or the body. I managed on the social. Had a man, until he left me.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Joe wasn’t sure what else to say.

‘I wasn’t. He was a bastard. But I started taking drugs then. Tranquillizers from the doctor, then anything I could get hold of. Never stopped really. They took my baby.’

He didn’t reply. It would have sounded trite to say again that he was sorry.

‘But you’re clean now? At the Haven.’

‘Aye. Still have bad days.’ A brief grin. ‘And I make the most of them when they happen. I don’t want them to get rid of me. If they think I’m well, they might make me leave, set me up in a place all on my own, like they did Dee. I couldn’t live like that.’

‘You like it at the Haven?’

‘Eh, pet, I love it. Always someone about to chat to. A bit like the old days in Harbour Street.’

They sat for a moment in silence. ‘Can I see inside? Where Margaret lived.’