Susan stood listening to the voice of reason for a few more minutes before ending the call. She walked into the hallway and stared at herself in the mirror, her eyes narrowing. Through gritted teeth she hissed at her reflection. ‘I’ll catch you, Donny, and when I do, I’ll ruin you, honest to God, I’ll break you into a thousand pieces if you think you can mess with me.’

Chapter Two

The bass was thumping as Donny arrived at work. He was singing his head off, lost in the moment. The pupil referral school was in Moston, about five miles north-east of Manchester city centre. Down at heel would have been gilding the lily; the area around the school was riven by poverty, dangerous too. The crime rate was through the roof – if it wasn’t nailed down, it would go on the missing list. Unemployment levels were high, families living hand-to-mouth to survive, doing anything they could to keep their heads above water. For most people, that meant grafting, helping each other out and going without. But for some folk, there was nowhere left to turn, they’d do anything to survive. And that ‘anything’ included benefit fraud, shoplifting, robbery. For other people, desperation meant an opportunity to trade off other people’s misery. Turn down one wrong street and you’d reach a place most people avoided at all costs, unless they wanted trouble. Sure, there were some parts that felt like they were on the up – but like any city, there was a fine line between the haves and the have-nots.