Michael didn’t want to go home; he talked to little Jake on the phone, but there was no way he wanted to go back there and face Josephine. She was the last person he wanted to see. Every time he thought about her keeping that letter to herself, putting her own needs before her daughter’s, he felt angry enough to strangle her with his bare hands. If she had told him, this might have been resolved by now. If this bloke was as big a nut as they all reckoned, maybe not phoning had sent him over the edge; after all, no one had heard a fucking word from him since.

‘How the fuck can this ponce evade not just the police, but every fucking Face in the country? It’s fucking impossible, surely?’

Declan shrugged casually. ‘Well, look at that Bin Laden bloke. He’d been on the trot for years when they caught him.’

Michael ran his hands through his hair; sometimes Declan didn’t have a clue. He just opened his mouth before he put his brain in gear.

‘Oh, by the way, Michael, I spoke to Jack earlier on, while you were in the shower. He has tracked down Golding’s medical records. It cost him an arm and a leg, but he has all the addresses where he’s ever lived – everything about him. Who knows – he might have a place he goes to regularly. It’s worth a chance.’

Michael snorted with derision. ‘I suppose so. It’s amazing what you can fucking buy, isn’t it?’

Declan laughed at Michael’s sarcasm. Money could get literally anything usually.

Michael went on: ‘If I could only know for certain that she was alive, Declan, I would feel so much better. I can’t bear to think that she might be frightened, you know? Scared and alone somewhere, and wondering why I haven’t rescued her.’

Declan was very blasé as he said honestly, ‘I’m sorry, Michael, but it would take a lot to scare your Jessie. She isn’t what anyone would call a shrinking violet, is she? Jessie Flynn is a woman who lives her own life. Fuck me – if you can’t control her, how the fuck could anyone else?’

Michael didn’t laugh with Declan this time; he appreciated his friend was just trying to allay his fears, but no one could do that now.

‘I’m not so sure about that, Declan. She isn’t as hard-faced as she acts. There is a softness there that few people ever see. She would ring her mum almost every day, because she knew that she worries about her. She also asks about Jake, of course. She loves that little boy, I know that for a fact.’