‘What? Oh, right. Is Penny still not here?’

‘Shouldn’t be long,’ I repeated. I kissed the top of Cassie’s head. ‘See you tomorrow, Cass.’

I dried my hands on a tea towel. Evelyn was sitting at the table again. She didn’t look round when I said goodnight, just sighed a response.

I could see Paul, as I walked under the trees up Turnmill Street. He was standing beside Audrey’s gateposts talking to three boys. Two of them were hulking creatures with baggy cut-off pants and billowing T-shirts. Their close-shaven heads looked too small in proportion to their bodies. The third was small and skinny, more like Jack, except that he was wearing red and white football strip. I slowed down to give them a chance to move on, then realised that they were settling in. The largest one sloped into the garden and peered in through the downstairs window. I heard him calling in a friendly way, ‘Oi, Jack? Wha’s gwa’n, man?’

‘Come out of there, Jason,’ Paul ordered. He saw me and beamed. ‘Here are three boys from Jack’s year. Come back here on the pavement, please, all of you. That means you too, Wes.’

They didn’t look quite so huge at close quarters. I could see they were really only twelve or so.

‘This is Jack’s mum,’ Paul said.

They shuffled into an awkward, eyes-averted line. ‘Yeah. ’Lo.’

‘Is Jack going to stay in there, like, for good?’ the one in the football strip asked.

‘Of course not. How do you know about this?’

I was startled by the thought that Paul might have told them, but the middle one jerked his head towards the other end of the street. ‘Jase’s posh cousins, right, live up there? They heard something about the mad old cat biddy …’

‘That’s enough,’ Paul said sharply.

‘… and this kid who was in there with her and wouldn’t come out, right? And the law coming round and all that. Some other mega-posh tossers they know in the street, they told them.’ Jamie and Ollie, I thought. News travels. ‘So we’re on the way up the park ‘cos half the roads are shut round the estate, and we see sir, so we ask him if it’s true about it being a kid from our school.’

‘I told you. Yes, it’s Jack, and there’s nothing else to tell or to see. The three of you may continue on your way to the park. Only a few days’ holiday left, remember, so you might as well make the best of them.’

‘Oh yeah, sir, d’you think we’d forget?’

‘Can we just shout summat to him?’

Paul glanced at me. ‘Yes, if it’s quick and polite.’

They darted up to the door and clustered round.

‘Oi, mate? It’s Wes, right? Come up the park if you want, when you get out.’

‘If you do.’ The small one sniggered.