She shook her head. ‘He never touched me, I don’t think he would dare – even at that age I was a handful. Anyway, Rachel found out what he was doing. She didn’t confront him or anything, that wasn’t Ma’s style. Instead, she bided her time and chose her moment carefully. One morning she went to the off-licence and got him paralytic. I was at school, but Jez was at home, off sick, and saw it all happen. The way I heard, when Alan passed out on the couch she took a saucepan and smashed him over the head until his skull caved in. Then, just to be sure, she shoved the business end of a kitchen knife into his chest three or four times.’ Lore blew out her cheeks. ‘Alan was a bit of a mess when the cops turned up, but I never saw the body, not like Jez. I never went back to that house.’

She paused, thinking about what she said. ‘And I’ve never had a home since, not a proper one, somewhere I’ve laid down roots. I’ve moved around, squatting here and there, mostly.’

‘She was protecting you,’ said Sasha.

‘She was protecting Jez.’ Lore’s boots tapped anxiously on the floor. ‘I’m not sure my well-being ever entered her mind – she always loved him more than me. Sometimes I wonder if she even knew I existed. I don’t say that with any bitterness. It hurt me at the time, of course it did, but I just came to accept it. Rachel dressed Jez up nice for school – he got a new tie and blazer and everything, paid for by money she stole from her boyfriends – but there never seemed to be any money left to spend on me, so I’d go to school in scruffy hand-me-downs. I was always being sent home because my clothes were literally falling apart. Rachel killed Alan to protect her precious boy. If he sneaked into my bedroom at night, I’m not sure she would even have thrown him out.’ Lore shrugged. ‘Anyway, Ma ended up behind bars for nearly twenty years.’

‘So she’s out now,’ said Sasha.

‘I guess she is, but it’s not my concern. As young kids in care, Jez and I were encouraged to write to her – she was our mother, after all – so I dutifully wrote her a dozen letters or more.’ Lore snorted dismissively. ‘Guess what, she replied to Jez’s letters, but not to mine.’

‘And your brother, Jeremy, you’re not in contact with him?’

‘I haven’t spoken to him for years.’ Lore’s voice hardened. ‘He’s got his supersized life. Money in the bank, the fancy house and Barbie wife. We have nothing in common.’

‘When did you last see him?’ asked Sasha.

Lore stood and swung the chair the right way round; sat back down.