‘You’ve heard the news?’ said Tom.

Tess pulled at her hair. ‘Mam told me. Were you there?’

‘No,’ said Tom. ‘After we left you, I went round to Conor’s house. His sister and her boyfriend were in the front room, so we climbed in the bedroom window.’

‘I didn’t want Paula to see us,’ continued Conor, ‘because she’d tell Dad I’d been out. We were talking, and then the phone rang. We thought that was strange because it was really late. But that sometimes happens in our house.’

Tess nodded. ‘Because of your dad’s job.’

‘Mmm. Anyway, it was my dad on the phone, and he wanted to know if Tom was with me, and when I said he was, he didn’t give out or anything; he just said, “Thank Christ,” and told us not to go anywhere and to put Paula back on the phone.’

‘So then Paula had this conversation with her dad,’ added Tom, ‘and she was going, “You’re not serious” and “What’ll I tell the boys?”’

‘And then she told us,’ said Conor.

‘We had to go around checking the doors and windows in case anybody tried to break in. I wanted to see my mam and dad, but I wasn’t allowed.’ Tom hesitated, and Tess thought he might cry. ‘They came over to Conor’s house this morning. I thought they’d be worked up because I’d gone missing. Normally, Mam would eat the face off me, but she didn’t.’

‘She kept hugging him,’ said Conor. ‘They both did.’

Tom wriggled his shoulders, like he wished Conor hadn’t said that part.

‘Your poor folks,’ said Tess. She noticed that the fertiliser bag was flapping down the street. ‘Will I …’

‘No, I’ll get it,’ said Tom. ‘We’re not in the mood for the hill, but Conor’s sister said we had to go out.’

When Tom turned his back, Tess rounded her eyes at Conor.

‘No,’ he whispered. ‘Nobody has a clue we were in the shed.’

‘Good,’ she whispered back. ‘We’ll keep it like that, so. There’s no point in making trouble for ourselves. I’d better have a word with Nina.’ She watched Tom trudging back up the street, his dark fringe flopping in his brown eyes, his shoulders drooping, like he was carrying a full bag of coal rather than an empty sack. ‘Do you want to come with me?’ she said.