Charlie snapped. ‘How the fuck did I know that? You weren’t exactly Florence Nightingale when you came in, were you? And we’re hardly each other’s number-one fans, are we? I didn’t think, all right. If someone comes and threatens me like you did, then I’m not really going to feel like a frigging chit-chat, am I?’

‘You don’t seem surprised that Barry had this kid though.’

Full of sincerity, Charlie looked at Franny. ‘Why would I be? Prison’s hardly going to reform him, is it? He would’ve met a whole lot more people, just like him, in there. They could keep their fantasies alive, they could sneak phones in, photos, swap stories. The wing he was on would’ve been like a holiday camp for nonces.’

‘Then if you feel like this, I need you to help me.’

‘Franny, come off it.’

Franny’s voice turned hard again. She stared at him. ‘Easy way or hard way, Char?’

After a moment, his eyes matching the hostility in Franny’s, Charlie said, ‘Fine, what do you want me to do?’

‘I want you to call him and find out where he is.’

‘He’s not stupid. He knows that I would never ask that. I’ve got no reason to.’

Franny sat down on the edge of the bed and began to think. The room fell silent and only the wind and rain on the hospital window could be heard. After a couple of minutes, Charlie suddenly said, ‘I’ve got an idea, and I reckon it just might work.’

32

Barry Eton dragged on his cigarette as he sat in the small, untidy bedroom of the mobile home that was situated a few feet behind his daughter’s. He enjoyed the solitude. After years inside, a lot of which was spent locked up for over twenty-three hours a day, having people around him constantly took some getting used to. So being on the private, secluded site, tucked away in the heart of Essex with Ma, was perfect.

Not that he’d seen Ma, apart from getting her to make the odd cup of tea for him and warm up the odd sausage roll. He liked to keep his privacy, and here suited him down to the ground. And there was no way Ma would knock on his door, unless of course she’d been invited to. No way at all.

For all the mouth she had, for all the front she had with other people, when it came to him, he knew that she wouldn’t dare give him the smallest of cheek, or even look at him the wrong way. The discipline he’d given her as a kid had made sure of that.