The following morning, much to Roy’s dismay, Vinny insisted they must join Peter’s family, friends and their neighbours in the search for him. ‘Look, this is the third search and if we don’t turn up again, it’ll look weird,’ Vinny explained.

‘But I can’t face his parents, not after what you did. I can’t look ’em in the eyes, Vin.’

‘I think you mean what we did. What did you think was gonna happen when we snatched him off the street? Did you think we were gonna give him ten whacks on each hand with a fucking ruler or something? You need to man up, bruv. We’re going on the search whether you like it or not, so best you get your act together, sharpish.’ Queenie knocked at Viv’s house. The boys had moved her and Lenny into their lovely new home a few days before their mum’s funeral. There was no answer so, deep in thought, Queenie walked towards The Waste.

She had barely slept last night. She hated rowing with Viv. She also felt a tad guilty. Would it really have hurt her to stay at the wake until the end?

It had been a weird time for Queenie since finding her mother dead. Viv had been tearful, but she hadn’t cried at all until a few tears had finally run down her cheeks during the actual service yesterday. Her mum’s death had brought back memories of Mary’s death, and Queenie had been reminded of that awful sense of loss, knowing she would never see or speak to Mary again. Mary had never appeared to her in her dreams again. That was a one-off. It certainly hadn’t been a figment of her imagination though, Queenie was sure of that. She hadn’t mentioned anything about that experience to Viv or the boys. It was too personal. But she felt bad about speaking to her mum the way she had and showing her up in front of her friends. Her mum hadn’t meant to sell the bloody beads, it had been an accident and she’d felt awful about it afterwards.

‘Hello, Queen. So sorry to hear about your mum, love. I hope you received my condolence card? And my flowers arrived OK yesterday?’ asked Freddie Angel.

‘Yes. Both arrived, thank you. Beautiful words you wrote in the card, Freddie, and that wonderful arrangement of flowers must’ve cost you a fortune.’

‘I wanted to attend the funeral, but we’ve been so busy at work, searching for young Peter Davidson, that today is my first day off since the lad went missing.’

‘My Vinny and Roy are helping with the search today. Hopefully the lad will turn up safe and well soon.’

‘I’m not sure he will, Queenie. Peter’s behaviour toward young girls had unfortunately made him quite a few enemies. I hope we get some closure though, for his parents’ sake.’

‘Me too,’ Queenie lied.

‘Are you busy today, Queen? Only I could really do with some advice from a friend and I can’t think of anybody better to spill me guts to than you.’