Sighing, she pulled down the passenger mirror and looked at herself, but suddenly her gaze caught sight of something, someone behind her. She screamed. There in the mirror, sitting behind her, was Bree.

Panicking, Franny unclicked her seatbelt and spun around, kneeling up, her breathing laboured as tears came to her eyes.

‘Fuck’s sake, what’s wrong! What’s wrong? Jesus, Fran, you nearly gave me a heart attack.’ Alfie, having got a fright from Franny’s sudden outburst, reached across and touched her whilst keeping his eyes on the road.

‘I … I … I thought …’ She stopped and gawked at the empty back seat.

‘Thought, what?’

She answered in a whisper, ‘Nothing … nothing …’ She trailed off as she continued to stare at the empty back seat. It was stupid. What was she even thinking letting her mind play tricks? She was stronger than that? She could keep it together …

‘Franny, talk to me, baby.’

Tensely, Franny said, ‘Sorry, Alf, I just thought … I thought you’d hit a rabbit.’

‘A rabbit?’

Sliding back into the cream, leather seat, and doing her belt back up, Franny shrugged. ‘A rabbit, a small dog, I dunno, it sounded like you hit something.’

Not saying anything, Alfie frowned as Franny huddled up, rubbing the side of her head as they continued to drive along; passing the mosque, heading towards Carr House Road, which took them past a row of small shops and houses, and on to Leger Way where the racecourse loomed large.

Gathering herself, Franny spoke calmly as she clenched her hands together. ‘How long now, Alf?’

Alfie glanced at the GPS, worried that it was all getting to be too much for her. ‘I reckon we can be there in about ten minutes, maybe five … I tell you something, I ain’t looking forward to it, Fran.’

Franny nodded, briefly touching Alfie’s hand. ‘Me neither – to tell you the truth, I’d rather be going anywhere else but here.’

On the eastern edge of Doncaster, Alfie and Franny came to Armstrong, a sprawling urban village with row upon row of terraced houses and bungalows. The roads were quiet as they drove along slowly, coming to Cleveland Street and turning into Rand Street, which was a long road made up of red-brick houses.

‘I never expected it to be like this, Alf.’

Alfie gazed around as he drove carefully along, much slower than he normally would’ve done as he tried to hold off the inevitable. ‘Me neither. It looks so normal. It looks like a place where you’d be happy to bring up your kids.’

‘I guess it is, but I suppose it’s a case of what goes on behind closed doors. You never know who your neighbour is, not really.’

‘You never know who anybody is, Fran, so thank God I’ve got you.’