Ged steered clear as he entered the main jail. There was an eerie silence as the visitors got searched. Shoes off, belts off, watches off. Fuck me, he thought, what a palaver. You would have thought the visitors were the criminals here today. Ged showed his ID, went through the metal detector, looking flustered as he came eye to eye with one of the screws. The officer had disposable gloves on, and asked Ged to stand on a wooden box so he could search him. He never spoke a word as he felt up and down Ged’s body; you could see he was on a mission and he was going to let nothing get past him today.

‘It stinks in this place,’ one of the women said loudly. The visitors had gathered in another room. There was just one last search by the dog and then they would be free to see their loved ones. Ged could hear it barking in the distance. He loved animals, was intrigued how they could be trained to smell drugs on a person, couldn’t get his head round it.

‘Aww, it’s a springer spaniel. I love them dogs. Look at how giddy it is, I defo want one of them when I get my own gaff.’ It was the loud woman again.

‘Nah, fuck that, you need a pit bull or a staffy; spaniels are for pussies,’ the bloke next to her replied.

Ged kept quiet. He liked spaniels best of all. His nana had had one when he was a kid. They were loyal, easy to train. He knew what Frankie would say though, he’d said it when they passed a dog earlier. ‘Pit bulls every time – keep you safe. If someone’s trying to boom your front door down, you want an animal who will rip the fuck out of them, don’t you?’

Ged had never thought about stuff like that. He could see Frankie’s point, but who would ever be kicking his front door down?

As Ged walked into the visitors’ room he looked up and down for his dad. He could see a man waving his hand up in the air at the back of the room – his old man. He swallowed hard trying not to cry. Bloody hell, his pops looked rough. A big bushy ginger beard, and hair stuck up all over the show.

His dad was on his feet now, couldn’t wait to hold his son. It had been too long since he’d seen his boy. You could see the pain in Kevin’s eyes as he gripped Ged tight; he was emotional, a lump in his throat.

Ged wriggled free. ‘Come on, Dad, you never used to be like this, stop embarrassing me. Sort it out.’