Maybe Billy had convinced the Baileys that they were a pair of innocents. Unfortunately, his behaviour at the engagement party had not been appreciated – he had shown his hand far too soon. Arrogance was his biggest failing. He had believed at the time that he had something to be arrogant about. Now, the people he had been working with all these years would readily serve him up without a second’s thought.

Terry dropped down heavily on to the greasy old settee that looked and smelled like it had been purchased some time during the Korean War, and he waited.

It was the waiting that was the worst part.

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Six

Petey Bailey looked at his young cousin and smiled. He had not realised how pretty Tania had become, or how much she had matured physically in the last couple of years. Even like this, soaked to the skin and shivering with cold, she looked good.

He had insisted on taking her home, and she had been so grateful, refusing to go with anyone else but him. He had been glad to leave the scrapyard; now he looked like the hero of the hour. His father had been beside himself with anger about her being anywhere near the place. But with everything that was going on, Petey could see how she could be lost in the middle of it. These were not normal times, as he had pointed out to his father and, as such, normal behaviour was not to be expected.

But it was Tania who had really shocked him; she had argued her point with passion and a strength that he had never believed possible of her. She had really let rip, reminding them that her mother was dead and she had every right to know who was responsible. She had also pointed out that she had been a Bailey all her life and, as she wasn’t deaf, dumb or blind, she had sussed everything out from a very young age. She was nearly eighteen and, like young Delroy, she had as much right as the rest of them to be treated as an adult.

He had left them there, arguing the toss, insisting that she needed to get home and warmed up before she caught pneumonia or worse. He had been the perfect knight in shining armour.

‘You all right, Tania?’

She nodded sadly.

‘How much did you really see, darling?’

She shrugged, thrilled at his calling her darling; she had imagined him saying that to her so many times. He was such a big part of her life; he didn’t know that she thought about him all the time. He was larger than life – her equivalent of a rock star or actor. Petey was everything that she believed it was important for a man to be. It wasn’t just his good looks, but the way he treated her; he was the whole package.