‘Come on, mate.’ Rhys removed the peeler from Nathan’s grip. ‘You’ll need a dressing on that.’ He began to usher Nathan out of the room.

Shaun raised his voice slightly. ‘The rest of you, settle down! You’ve got a job to finish.’ He flashed me a smile that was meant to be reassuring, but it only annoyed me. I’d already expressed my views on letting juvenile delinquents into my kitchen. Now Shaun was trying to suggest that everything was under control.

I went to get a mop to clean the blood off the floor.

‘He did it deliberately,’ said the smirking kid who’d brought the porn mag to camp. I looked at him, startled; he was a little shorter than me, with long, fleecy hair and hazel eyes. You could see the sculptured lines of his adult face emerging from the puppy fat. ‘I was watching him. It wasn’t an accident.’

‘I’m sure it was.’ Shaun sounded dismissive.

‘It wasn’t.’

‘You can’t possibly know that, Jake.’

Right, I thought. Jake Duggan. Shaun had given me the rundown on Jake, who was a suspected vandal and shoplifter, though he’d never been caught in the act. According to Shaun, there had been family violence. A schizophrenic mother. An aunt who’d agreed to house Jake, but who didn’t seem to like him.

‘You can’t blame her,’ Shaun had said. ‘Since Jake showed up, all three of her kids have landed in hospital.’ After hesitating for a moment, he’d fixed me with an intent look and said, ‘You want to watch him. He’s sneaky.’

Mopping the kitchen floor, I wondered about Jake’s sneaky side. He seemed personable enough.

‘There are some pretty crazy kids here,’ he said with a shrug. As if to prove his point, Dean jumped up and hurled his peeler at the wall. ‘Fuck this! I can’t do it!’ With a toss of his straggly dreads he was out the door before Shaun could move a muscle.

Connor rolled his eyes. ‘Not again.’

Shaun threw me a questioning glance. When I nodded, he left. All at once I found myself with five troubled teens and no back-up.

They immediately relaxed. I could see the tension flowing out of their bodies. Half of them stopped peeling.

‘I don’t even like potatoes,’ said Marcus.

‘I do,’ said Jake. ‘I love potatoes. I love mashing potatoes.’ His gaze slid towards me. ‘I love the way they’re all soft and yielding when you push them and push them…’

Oh, for fuck’s sake, I thought. Sexual innuendo? Little sleazebag.

‘At this rate Ali’s the only one who’ll be mashing any potatoes,’ I said. ‘If you’re too slow, you’ll be cutting onions.’

Connor sneered. ‘Bring it on. I’m good with a knife.’

‘You won’t need a knife. I’ve got an onion chopper.’ I spoke evenly, but I mentally added, dipshit.