Nancy was as proud as punch of her detective work but now she held her head to one side looking puzzled. ‘There’s something that’s still bothering me though. When I followed Frankie, he met some guy in a car. He was in there for ages and I heard lots of shouting. I sneaked up as close as I could and it looked like Frankie was getting a right doing down. I could hear him yelling. Whoever it was fucked him up good and proper because he was clutching his face when he got out the car.’

‘Fucking good,’ Kevin snapped. ‘See, it’s a dog-eat-dog world when there are drugs involved. There is no loyalty, everyone has each other over, trust me I’ve sat with so many lads in the nick who have told me stories about their so-called mates who’d set them up to earn a few quid.’

Ged still couldn’t believe it. Frankie was his friend, they were brothers-in-arms, how could he do that to him? He had nearly died. But then who had decked Frankie? He’d never clocked who Frankie’s supplier was – he was too new to the scene to know the chat about who really ran the show. Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice that Kevin had gone quiet, off in a world of his own. But Nancy could see what he was thinking. Blood was thicker than water – and a father’s urge to protect his son was stirring.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Donny sat waiting for Susan to come home from work. He was restless, a bag of nerves. He couldn’t do this anymore. He’d come out of work early so he could prepare to drop this bombshell on his wife. There were no words to soften the blow, he knew she would go ape. But then who would take something like this lying down? Any woman who was told her husband had a child he’d never thought to mention would act the same way. The shit was going to hit the fan for sure.

After his conversation with Bethany, it was clear that his wife would find out his dirty secret no matter what. His ex wanted money. She wanted Donny to step up as a father and look after his child. But why now? He didn’t even know the kid. He was a stranger to him. Bethany was adamant that he should take a DNA test if he kept trying to suggest Dan wasn’t his son. The bitch had told him that he was going to have to pay in more than just cold, hard cash, too. She’d been clear that she’d make sure his wife knew about it too; he had no choice other than to come clean.