Clapping Abs on the back, the short guy threw a twenty at the barman and told him to line up another drink.

‘Don’t you worry, fella, I’ll pay for whatever you want. My other half loves you, and I think you’re an absolute weapon.’

‘Thanks,’ muttered Abs, who for once in his life couldn’t muster the energy to turn on the charm. ‘But I just want to be on my own right now.’

The guy didn’t listen. ‘Those kids they got now on Laid In Essex!, they ain’t fit to tie your shoelaces, Abs, they’re nobodies. It ain’t been the same since you left, mate, they need your star power back.’

‘Didn’t you hear what I said?’ Abs snapped. ‘Just leave me alone.’

The guy looked surprised. ‘There’s no need to be—’

‘For once in my life, just the once, I’d like to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet, a few minutes all by myself, is that too much to ask?’

‘I thought you were meant to be nice,’ said the short fella.

‘Well, I’m not. You don’t know me, you’ve been misinformed. I’m a fake, I’m a fraud, I ain’t nice. It’s all showbiz, it’s all bollocks.’

‘But you’re Abs, you’re grea—’

Abs slammed the drink down and moved close to the guy, so near that the other man could feel the warmth of his vodka breath. ‘You don’t know what I’ve done, you don’t know what I’m capable of, so just piss off and leave me alone.’

The man glared. ‘You ain’t a stand-up guy at all, you’re a mug.’

‘Just eff off!’

‘Watch your mouth, yeah, or you’ll be Laid Out In Essex! On the floor.’ The guy wasn’t intimidated by Abs in the slightest, and his mate had to drag him away. ‘You wait till I tell the missus what you’re really like. Have a good day, you ignoramus.’

‘You can get out.’ The barman jerked a thumb at Abs, and went to remove the second vodka off the bar, but Abs grabbed it and downed it in one, slammed the empty glass down.

Moving restlessly along the esplanade, he pulled his baseball cap low over his face so that no one recognized him. He thought about going back to his flat and sleeping off his bad mood, but he couldn’t get out of his head the fact that Jez had told Sasha Dawson he hadn’t wanted anything to do with his mother, Rachel Weston, even when he was a kid. Abs knew that wasn’t true. What’s more, it seemed to him that Jez took very calmly the shocking news that his mum’s DNA was found at Tony’s house.

Something wasn’t right, and Abs thought he knew what it was.