Frankie nodded. ‘OK, I’ll ask her if she can do it.’

* * *

Jed dropped his parents back in Rainham, then took the kids to Lakeside to get them some toys. Both kids were currently obsessed with Mr Blobby, a character that had become famous on Noel’s House Party, a Saturday-night variety show, and since Mr Blobby had released a song the previous week, both Georgie and Harry had done nothing but sing it constantly.

‘Please can we have the record, Daddy?’ Georgie begged.

Jed had already bought the kids three toys each in the first shop they’d been in, but he liked to see them happy, so agreed. Jed had a CD player over at his mobile home in Wickford, but since he’d been stabbed, he hadn’t been back there. His cousin Sammy owned the trailer next door, they shared the piece of land, and Sammy was keeping an eye on things for him in his absence. One day Jed would return there, but at the moment he needed all the help with the kids that he could get, so staying with his parents suited him.

‘Blobby, blobby, blobby,’ Harry sang happily.

Crouching down, Jed smiled at both of his children. ‘I’ll make you a deal. Nanny has only got a cassette recorder, so I’ll buy you a CD player that you can take up to the bedroom. But I don’t wanna hear Mr Blobby, neither does your nan and grandad, so you only play it upstairs, OK?’

Georgie and Harry both nodded.

Hearing his mobile ring, Jed stood up and answered it. It was Sammy. ‘What? Are you sure?’ Jed asked in shock.

‘Yeah, I had to take the boys back to Kerry and she was proper going into one. Apparently, Sally got taken into hospital yesterday and she’s definitely lost the baby. Her father’s blaming you, apparently, so is Kerry, obviously.’

Jed ended the call and sat down on a nearby bench. Luke dying had broken his heart, but he felt nothing over this miscarriage. How can you be upset over something that wasn’t even properly formed yet? he thought. It wasn’t as though he could picture the kid’s face or had memories of playing with it like he had of Luke.

‘What a matter, Daddy?’ Harry asked him. His dad had been nice to him recently and Harry decided he rather liked him now. When they’d lived with Mum, his dad used to ignore him a lot, but he didn’t do that any more.

Jed ruffled Harry’s hair. Sally losing the kid was a blessing in disguise, he decided. He could now concentrate on Georgie and Harry more. Just lately, Sally had felt like a fucking albatross hanging around his neck, anyway. Lukey’s death had ruined any closeness between them and in Jed’s opinion, it was definitely time to move on with his life and find himself another bird.