The back door opened and Petey Bailey came bowling into the kitchen as if her thoughts had conjured him up. Tania was so taken aback she nearly choked on her cup of coffee. He kissed them each in turn, and Tania felt him squeeze her shoulder; his touch made her skin crawl.

He looked down at her, his face a picture of concern as he said gently, ‘How are you, darling? Looking after yourself, I hope?’

Unable to speak, she didn’t answer him, but she could feel herself blushing with embarrassment. She was willing the floor to crack open and swallow her up.

Petey was clearly nervous, terrified of her opening her mouth, but she couldn’t do that without putting herself in it as well. She could still see him, naked and sweating, hear his grunting as he lay on top of her, and she tried to block out the images. For the thousandth time she asked herself what she had been thinking. She could only tell herself that she had been grieving, and incapable of rational decisions.

‘Come on, Mum, I’ll drop you and Mel home. Dad’s taken your car – he’s got a bit of business.’

Ria was irritated. ‘Why couldn’t he go and pick his own car up? I wanted to go to the supermarket.’

Imelda said quietly, ‘He can’t use the same car all the time, Mum – think about it.’

Ria didn’t answer, but she understood her daughter’s meaning. Peter needed to keep well away from his usual routines; whoever had planted the bomb could be waiting for their next chance. Her husband was all over the place these days, and he chopped and changed cars two or three times a day. She sighed heavily; the Life could be very dangerous, but it was also the only life any of them knew. It was far too late to change now. ‘Come on, then, let’s get this show on the road.’

‘You go on. I’ll stay for a bit with Tania.’ Theresa was watching everything with her beady eyes – she missed nothing.

Tania sat there unable to do anything as they bustled about, putting on coats, and chatting about this and that. When they finally left she sighed with relief.