‘How you doing?’ he asked.

‘Stupid question. Muppet,’ she said.

He nodded, coming to the bed. She felt a kind of calm descend over her and realised that she wanted him in there. He wasn’t behaving like Dad by pretending to be strong; he just was strong. He sat on the bed and stroked the cat. His eyes were as red as her own. She moved over and made room for him to lie down. Rupert accommodated him too. Jordan settled in a comfy position and they lay face to face, the cat between them.

‘I overheard Dad talking to a policeman who came to the house in plain clothes. He’s like the big cheese, a superintendent, and he plays golf with Dad. He said they’re questioning people on the Beacon Estate. It sounds to me like they reckon it was an initiation thing, gang-related.’ Jordan sniffed and wiped his hand over his face. Millie could tell that, like her, inside he was screaming to get his hands on the fucker who’d killed their mum.

Jordan was a quiet guy. He had girlfriends, he went to the gym, he partied, like all boys his age, but he also carried himself with dignity. Mum said so. Millie’s friends all fancied him and she took the piss out of him about it. Sure, they fought, like all siblings, and they scrapped and chased each other around the house. But here, right now, on this bed, she felt like he was her world. She felt placid and safe with him and she hadn’t thought to reach out. He’d done it and she was thankful. She stopped stroking the cat and propped herself up on her elbow.

‘Initiation? What the actual fuck?’ she said. Jordan’s eyes burned with hate and Millie felt pride in him like she never had before. They could both stab the guy who’d done this, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred times, in the face, in the stomach, in the dick that he obviously thought was so big. She tasted acid in her mouth and Jordan reached out his hand to hers.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ he said. ‘Stop it; it will tear you apart. I feel exactly the same. That bloke will catch them, you know, and when he does, I’ll find a way to get to them. I promise.’

‘Them?’

‘Yeah, the police guy said they reckon there were two of them.’

‘Oh my God, no!’ She buried her face in Jordan’s chest. The cat moved. Millie’s shoulders shook and the sobs returned. Jordan held her as she cried, her whole body spasming with fresh waves of agony. She felt as though it would never end. Visions of her mother, surrounded by two strangers, knowing she was powerless to fight back, lying bleeding on the road on her own, with no one to help…