Jackie held her tongue. She decided to take whatever was thrown at her, as long as she could get her hands on some of their wealth, or even worm her way back into Mike’s affections, although that would take some seriously hard work. The thought of living in that lovely big house of his with the pool and money to do whatever she wanted was becoming more appealing by the second. Why she’d left him in the first place, she was hard-pressed to remember exactly. But one thing she knew: she was Ricky’s mother, and that was something none of his bits of fluff could say.

Jackie leaned forward. ‘So how bad is he? I mean, what’s happened?’

Staffie twisted around to face her. ‘Christ, girl, have you eaten shit for breakfast? Your breath stinks.’

Jackie shrank back in her seat. ‘Is Ricky okay? I thought he was in prison.’

‘Shut it. I don’t wanna hear your fucking voice. Mike can talk to ya, ’cos I won’t,’ said Arthur.

She decided to keep her mouth shut. If the truth be known, she was more afraid of Mike’s father than her husband. Although physically he wasn’t quite as big as Mike, he had this knack of giving someone the silent treatment when he felt like it. Today was obviously one of those moments. She knew if she wasn’t careful, he would pull over and eject her physically from the car and drive off. ‘Play it low-key, girl,’ she said, under her breath.

As they reached Kent, a call came through. It was Gloria. ‘Arthur, the doctors have decided to put Ricky in some kind of chemical coma. They said it’s the best thing to do. Mike’s going home. The doctor said he’s no good to anyone without a wink of sleep. Where are ya? Did ya find that bitch?’

Jackie felt her jaw tighten with rage. What? There was only so much slander she could take. Her frustration at keeping quiet was now going through the roof.

‘Yep, so I guess I’ll take her over to Mike’s then. She needs a good fucking bath, anyway.’

‘What?’

‘Never mind, Glor. I’ll see you back at home. You probably need some rest too.’

***

Several hours later, Arthur arrived at Mike’s place. He used the remote device that he always had in his car to enter the property and drove up the long sweeping drive. When Arthur set foot inside the Georgian mansion, he could see that Mike was crashed out on the sofa with Gloria’s knock-out pills by his side. He smiled. His wife thought of everything and carried as much in her large bag.

Arthur turned to face Jackie and said quietly, ‘Don’t you fucking dare wake him up. Got it?’