Peter looked at his wife; they were both getting old, and he was wondering if it was finally time to retire. He had been on the verge of it many years ago, before Daniel had fucked up and murdered that kid; it had not been viable after that. Now, though, he wished he had just thrown in the towel.

His Ria was so lovely, so loyal. She had deep lines around her eyes, but they suited her. He had always thought of her as young, he still thought of her as the young girl he had married many years ago. But it was impossible to deny that time was marching on. In a way, he could see that the Life was much harder on the women – unlike the men, they spent their lives at the mercy of fate. He was lucky to have her; she had stood by him every step of the way, and there were very few women capable of that.

‘Come on, Peter, please tell me the truth. What do you really think this is about?’

He hugged her to him, and she felt the love he had for her – had always had for her. ‘Truthfully? I don’t know. I have my own suspicions, but they are no more than that – suspicions. All I do know for certain is that poor Lena got what was intended for me.’

Ria sighed heavily; she knew that nothing she said would make any difference to how her husband was feeling. ‘Let’s just retire, Peter. I mean it. I think this is a wake-up call, reminding us that life’s too fucking short. Let the boys have it all – let’s me and you enjoy our lives while we still can.’

Peter Bailey understood exactly where his wife was coming from, but he couldn’t do anything until they knew who was behind the murder. Plus, this was not the time to leave his boys alone; Liam he could trust, but Petey was a different story. He was nicking money left, right and centre – Peter knew all about that as well as the fact that Liam was covering for him. He had hoped that his eldest son would have grown up, used his brains and grasped that their only strength was as a family – the Bailey family. But no, Petey was a fucking waste of space, and that was the truth. Peter had worked far too hard for too long to leave it all in the hands of a man who was still incapable of understanding even the basics of the Life and what it entailed.

‘We will, Ria, but first there’s a few things I need to sort out.’

She was content with that; in truth she had expected as much. ‘I was so frightened when I realised I could have lost you, Peter. This has brought home to me how precious life really is.’