‘Ram-raiders, as I understand it Stephen, go after electrical goods, or clothing, Reeboks and stuff like that. Why would you just smash up a car lot? There’s no logic in that. If you had a vehicle with the capacity to smash through Dixons’ window, why use it on a car front? There’s more to this than meets the eye.’

‘Now why would you think that, Donna?’

She wiped her nose with a tissue. Even this action was performed gracefully.

‘I think there’s a lot I’m not being told. By you, Davey, and everyone.’

Stephen laughed heartily. ‘Don’t be silly, Donna.’

‘You sounded just like Georgio then. He would say that to me. Those exact words, in fact. Listen, Stephen, I have realised in the few months he’s been away that we were living way beyond our means, that everything was hopelessly under-insured: the car lot, the sites, even this house. If this place had gone up in flames one night, we’d have been lucky to buy a three-bedroomed semi on the money we would have got off the insurance. The land would have been worth more. There was hardly any money in the business accounts, I had to talk that arsehole Pemberton into extending our credit to finish the building work, yet Georgio and I were taking holidays all over the globe. Our cars, I have also found out, are lease-hired. Georgio’s is being repossessed, while mine is now paid up, courtesy of some jewellery I had. So please, Stephen, don’t ever tell me not to be silly again. I love Georgio with all my heart, with my very breath, and I am going to visit him tomorrow and get this all straightened out, once and for all.’

She stood up unsteadily and walked to the kitchen door. ‘You are welcome to one of the guest rooms, there’s four of them. I’ll see you in the morning.’

Donna went out and Stephen heard her footsteps as she padded up to bed in her slippers.

Of everything she had said, the most shocking thing of all was the word ‘arsehole’. In twenty years he had never heard Donna mutter a single obscenity. She was really upset, that much was obvious, and more so was the fact that they had all underestimated her, Georgio most of all.

Stephen lit himself a cigarette and sat in the quiet kitchen. Maybe it was best for her to find out the truth of everything now, before it all got too involved. But how would Donna react to knowing that a man like Lewis was on her tail?

The thought of Lewis frightened even him shitless, Stephen admitted. What on earth would it do to a gentle creature like Donna?

He hoped that his brother had some answers for her, because he sure as hell didn’t, whether true, made up, or induced by drugs. He had nothing to say to her at all.