In between times, Angel scrubbed off the headstone she’d long since bought and paid for, and had a word or two with Mum. Not that she truly believed her mum was there, not any more. Gone on to a better place, she hoped. Where arseholes like Donny Maguire couldn’t reach her. Sitting on a cloud somewhere with the real angels.

‘Well, Mrs Axelford, how does it suit you, all this?’ asked Tom, smiling.

‘Perfectly,’ said Angel.

‘He’s a bit of a nutter, Lenny,’ said Tom with a grin.

‘Yeah, like a big kid. I know. Lenny Big Bollocks, I call him.’ Angel smiled. ‘But I sort of like that about him.’ She paused as they stood there in companionable silence, enjoying the stillness of the night while the telly shouted out indoors, accompanied by Lenny and the boys catcalling and cheering at some twerp on the gogglebox. ‘Tom, I’ve been meaning to ask – do you know who leaves the flowers at my mum’s grave every fortnight?’

He turned his head. From the light streaming out from the sitting room’s French doors she could see he hadn’t expected the question. ‘Course I do. That’ll be my mum.’

‘Aunt Lil?’ said Angel, surprised. She hadn’t expected that.

‘That’s right. You don’t mind, do you?’

Angel did mind. Those bastard O’Briens had shoved Dora aside like she was filth, leaving her to come to a bad end. Her jaw tightened. ‘Why should I?’ she asked.

‘Only you look like you mind.’ He was smiling, half-apologetic.

Angel shrugged and finished her drink. ‘They treated her like dirt when she was alive,’ she said. ‘Why make a fuss now?’

‘Hey!’ Tom turned toward her, putting his glass on the balustrade. He clasped her shoulders in his hands. ‘Let’s not fight. We been friends for years. We’re family. Let’s not fall out.’

Angel stared at him, nostrils flaring with temper. She could feel a pulse beating hard in her head. She swallowed, forcing the anger down.

‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘I don’t have any quarrel with you, Tom. Sorry.’

‘If you met up with my mum, you wouldn’t have any quarrel with her, either. She’s a good person.’

Angel stepped back, away from him. ‘I don’t want to meet up with her, Tom. Or her sister.’

‘OK, OK.’ Tom held up his hands in a gesture of peace. ‘God’s sake, let’s forget this, shall we? I feel like I just stepped into a minefield.’

Angel nodded.

‘Shall we get back on safer territory?’ Tom was smiling ruefully. ‘You and Lenny. You’re OK, right? You’re happy? I know he’s nothing like you. But then they say opposites attract, don’t they?’

‘They do.’

‘You’re happy, then?’

‘Yeah. Course I am.’ Angel was frowning at him. Why shouldn’t she be? Granted, she knew Lenny was a bit of a player. He was a hopeless flirt where the girls were concerned. She also knew that the powerful red-hot lust he’d felt for her in the beginning had been pretty quick to cool down. But she’d accepted that – actually been pretty much not bothered by it – in return for all this. Safety. Security. A feeling that she was truly the Empress, that nothing bad could touch her, ever again.