‘Well, you’ve said it now.’ I pulled my arm free but his grip was too tight. Not for the first time I felt frightened of him, of this man I knew so little of; this man I had awarded my trust so carelessly.

More than my trust.

I swallowed hard. ‘Where’s Kattan, Danny? Where has he gone?’

‘Abroad.’

‘Where?’

‘I can’t tell you.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because.’

‘Because what?’ My voice was rising.

‘Because it’s more than my life’s worth.’

‘What about my life, Danny? What about my children’s?’

‘Why do you want him so badly, Rose?’

‘Because he’s involved with my husband’s arrest. And so are you.’

Danny relit his roll-up. ‘What makes you think that?’

‘Because James told me so.’

‘And you trust your husband, do you?’ He inhaled, narrowing his eyes against the smoke. ‘The husband who’s banged up. The husband who hits you.’

‘He only hit me once,’ I lied.

‘Oh good. So that makes it all right then?’

‘No, I’m not saying that. The point is, you need to –’ I was blustering ridiculously – ‘you need to hand yourself in.’

‘And what would that achieve?’ Danny actually grinned. ‘I’m sorry for you both, but I don’t much fancy doing time, if you don’t mind.’

‘Don’t laugh at me.’ Tears of frustration filled my eyes.

‘I’m not, Rose, I promise.’ He stopped smiling. He reached a hand towards my face, and I ducked, banging my head against the wall. ‘Don’t cry, baby.’

‘I’m not your baby.’ However much I might want to be. ‘I am very much not your baby.’

‘Fair enough.’ He sighed. ‘But still, don’t cry.’

‘Why not? I feel like crying, to be honest, Danny. Everything’s turned to shit. My husband’s in gaol for God knows what, my kids have got no father, you screwed me and left me. I can’t believe my own stupidity.’

‘Are you angry with me, then?’ He looked down at me calmly, unblinking. ‘Or yourself?’

‘Both.’ I dashed away the threatening tears. ‘Both. I don’t know what the hell’s happening from one minute to the next.’

‘I went because I had to.’

‘Had to what?’

‘I only left you because I had to.’

I absorbed his words. I felt a grain of hope. ‘Why did you have to?’

‘You’re a married woman, for starters.’ He looked at me blankly. ‘What did you expect?’

I’d never known him to be so loquacious. I stared at him. ‘Is that the truth?’

‘Of course it’s the bloody truth.’

‘You would have stayed—’