‘I’m sorry, Mrs Brunos. I never meant you any harm, you know that.’

Donna faced him and said: ‘I know that, Mr Laughton. You were just doing your job. Now it’s all over, for everyone. ’

Laughton was nonplussed at her words and Donna grinned up at him as she added, ‘I really thought you had fitted him up, I really believed that.’

Looking down into her face, he said honestly, ‘I did - but you see, Mrs Brunos, I had the edge. Because I knew what your husband was. I just wanted him off the streets, that’s all.’

Donna nodded sagely, then squeezed the bigger man’s arm.

‘You were a wise man, Mr Laughton,’ she murmured, ‘and I didn’t see that for a long time.’

Detective Inspector Frank Laughton watched in silence as she moved away from him. He knew in his heart there was a story to be told; he also knew that it was one story he wouldn’t even begin to understand. Because Donna Brunos had been far too good for her husband - and he had a feeling that even she was aware of that fact now.

Maeve and Pa Brunos were waiting for her on the small pathway between rows of graves.

‘There’s a lot of me here now, Donna. I’ll not be buried in the Old Country after this.’

Donna hugged Maeve to her, both women feeling the enormity of what had happened. ‘You knew what Georgio was, didn’t you?’

‘I knew, I always knew, but he was my son.’ Maeve stared back to the open graves and whispered brokenly, ‘They were my sons, and in me own way, I loved them.’

Donna nodded, and linking arms the two women made their way back to the funeral cars.

Pa Brunos’s sad voice broke through the air. ‘What a day, eh? Two sons buried. Two sons.’

He shook his head, tears rolling down his face and for the first time that day Donna wanted to really cry. Not for Georgio, or for Stephen, but for the two people who had created them. Turning, Donna looked into Pa’s face.

‘My Georgio, he loved you, Donna. Don’t you ever forget that.’

She felt the tears on her tongue, tasted the saltiness of them. They reminded her of the tears she had shed when Georgio had first been taken from her, when she had cried out for him.

Pa wiped his eyes with a crumpled handkerchief. ‘I’ll see you back at the house then, eh?’

Donna nodded, watching as he led Maeve away, towards their funeral car.

Carol’s voice broke into her thoughts. ‘Do you want us to come back with you?’

‘If you don’t mind. I don’t think I could stand it there alone.’

Carol hugged her. ‘That’s what friends are for, ain’t it, Doll?’