He wiped a hand over his face. He needed a line but he guessed this was not the place to have one. He knew he had a problem with the coke but it made him feel invincible, made him believe that he was living a good life. At least these days he got acceptance, if not respect, from his wife. She didn’t go on at him like she used to and, now she had her own ‘career’ as she referred to it, they were financially better off than they could have ever hoped to be. In a way he wished she had never been invited back into the fold; after her attempts to bring the family down, his life had been much easier. She had needed him then, she had needed what he could offer her.

Now she was like a phoenix risen from the ashes; she had all but become the main person in the businesses. He knew that Jonny liked her and her acumen. He said she was perfect for their world – she looked like an angel and thought like the devil, a simile that had made Jimmy shudder inwardly. It summed his wife up perfectly, and it also summed up his son.

When they were finally taken into the office and introduced to Dr Wendell, Jimmy started to relax. She looked like someone’s nan, not at all as intimidating as he had expected.

After a few preliminary questions she looked into young James’s face and said seriously, ‘Why did you cut the kitten’s throat, James?’

To which he answered truthfully, ‘I don’t fucking know, do I? That’s why I was sent here.’

It was obvious to everyone in the room that the boy thought there was a moron among them and it certainly wasn’t him.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Gabby was watching Vincent from inside the Golden Egg Cafe as he walked in to meet her. He looked very handsome and a little bit vulnerable. It was their third date and, thanks to her brother, she was now well and truly dispatched back to her nana and granddad’s house – her mum didn’t seem to want anything to do with either of them now. Though she hated what little James had done, she couldn’t help but take advantage of the situation it had left them in.