Clare stroked her son’s face gently. ‘Son, bloody hell, my baby.’ The door swung open and Frankie marched in. How he’d got past the nurses was anyone’s guess. His mouth was moving rapidly as he chewed on gum. He glared at Nancy. ‘What are you doing here?’

Clare looked over at Nancy; she could tell right away these two had beef.

Nancy sat up straight and faced him. He didn’t own her, who was he to tell her who she could speak to? ‘I’m here for the same reason you are. I care about him.’

Frankie edged closer. ‘You can get off now he’s fine. I’ll sit with him, you get yourself off home.’

It was clear to Clare that there was no love lost between them and she decided she had better get involved. Teenage feelings ran deep, she knew that much. ‘Frankie, Nancy was the one who brought him to the hospital. I’m sure Ged wants her here, don’t you?’ Ged’s eyes looked more swollen with every second that passed, deep purple bruising, puffy and sore. ‘She can stay,’ he croaked. Frankie sat down. You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife.

Clare stood up. ‘I’m going to speak with the medical team. I want to know what they’re doing for him. You could fall apart in this place and nobody would notice, they’re stretched so thin. All these NHS cuts are showing now. I knew they would in the end. What did they expect when they are cutting jobs all the time?’

She reached over and kissed her son on his forehead. ‘I won’t be a minute, son, I’m just going to have a word with the doctor and make sure they’ve examined you properly. You might need an X-ray, maybe there’s broken bones. I mean, you have to check, don’t you, who knows what internal injuries you’ve had?’

As she left the room, Frankie followed her with his eyes to make sure she was gone. Nancy, in turn, was watching him like a hawk.

‘Fuck me, mate, they messed you up good and proper, didn’t they?’

Ged winced as he replied. ‘I knew things didn’t seem right. There were two lads on the train – they looked shady. I moved away from them and sat on my own up the carriage.’

‘Dirty bastards they are. Stabbing you up too, why didn’t they just give you a few digs and take the gear?’

Nancy listened to the conversation sitting forward in her seat. ‘The lads must have followed him up from Manchester, I mean, they must have had some inside information that he was carrying, otherwise how would they know?’

Ged looked at her. ‘She’s right. They must have been on to me from the start and moved up the carriages when we were nearing Blackpool.’