Mary sniffed disdainfully and said sarcastically, ‘Ten grand, eh? What’s that work out at? About two and a half grand a year? Vincent would have been better off getting a job as a postman – at least he would have been home every night.’

Gabby rolled her eyes in annoyance, ‘All right, Nana, we get your drift, but what’s done is done, and I just want to put it behind me. Once Vince comes home it will all be different.’

‘Well, hopefully he’ll sort your mother out.’

‘I think we can guarantee that much, Granddad. He hates her.’

Jack Callahan laughed then. ‘Like me then! The only way I’d talk to her now is if it was through Doris Stokes!’

Even Mary laughed at that, though the joke saddened her. Cynthia had caused too much trouble for them, and she was still pulling their strings after all this time.

Chapter One Hundred and Ten

James Tailor Junior looked around him with wary eyes, and wondered if the girl sitting in front of him on the bus was worth chatting up. She had nice hair, long and dark, seemingly her natural colour, but you could never tell, never be sure about anything.

As he stepped off the bus, he noticed the changes that had occurred in the area; if anything it looked even more run down than it had when he had come here as a child. Walking along the road, he saw that the traffic had increased twofold, and the shops were now all either take-aways or cheque-cashing facilities. He knew that when the pawn shops moved into an area, it meant the work was on the way out. It was common sense – rich people didn’t need pawn shops. They suited him though; they would take a TV set without asking too many questions and, as for most junkies, those shops were a godsend.

He was smiling to himself now, and he wondered at what kind of reaction he would get at his nana’s house. Not a fucking visit from them in years – a birthday card or Christmas card had been the sum total of their interest in him. Which, in fairness, was more than he could say about his mother. He had not heard a fucking peep out of her since he had been taken away. When they had said he could go home, she had said, ‘No, thank you, he’s not my responsibility any more.’ What a fucking diabolical liberty! Who the fuck did she think she was? Well, he was going to go and see her as well, and when he did she would know about it.