She wants to try some now, but her throat is constricted, and she can’t imagine getting anything solid down it. She watches her mum drop a generous slice onto a plate and pass it over.

‘You are still so beautiful,’ her mum observes. ‘But you look tired. You work too hard.’

Beth shrugs, breaks off a small piece of bread, and forces out another warm smile.

‘I worry about you; you suffered terribly after Eddie died,’ her mum continues, but avoiding eye contact now. ‘All the cleaning.’

Beth swallows bile.

‘We didn’t understand it,’ her mum admits. ‘We didn’t want you to leave us, but it felt like the right decision, to give you some space.’

‘It helped, Mum; it was a good decision.’

Beth turns to look out of the window. A boy cycles past on a black and red bike and she tries to concentrate on the spokes of its wheels. But it doesn’t work; the images still come. Eddie in the bedroom they shared. The tatty navy belt stretched around his bicep. The smell and mess, the humiliation of dying. She never set foot in that room again after witnessing that. ‘It was a shock,’ she says finally. ‘I didn’t handle it very well.’

‘But you fought back. Getting your A levels at that new school. Then a place at university. You made us so proud.’

The bike has disappeared, but a man is walking past the window now. He looks like a builder, his large belly squeezed into a high-vis jacket. ‘Can I see Dad now?’ she asks. ‘I can’t stay long.’

‘Really?’ her mum asks, and Beth tries not to hear the disappointment in her tone. Then she shakes her head. ‘Sorry, of course you can.’

Beth uses her thigh muscles, not her hands, to push up from the sofa.

‘Cathy brought a proper hospital bed round; your dad is in your old room.’

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Mark

Mark eyes the packet of spice. Then he lurches forwards and pushes it off the arm of the sofa. Why the fuck is he wasting his life smoking that shit? He thought he was so clever, nicking all those packets off Jon’s dealer. But that was four days ago, and he’s hardly left the squat since. He’s got no idea when he last ate or washed, and the only highlight was getting overpowered by a fucking woman. He needs to cut the spice out, and get on with his plan.