Callum paled, and he was starting to back away, hoping to make a run for it, when he inadvertently stepped on the toes of the man behind him, who cried out and pushed him forward into Charlie who, realising his intentions, swiftly cuffed him.

‘Oh no you don’t,’ said Charlie. Holding Callum by his elbow, he continued to talk to Suzie. ‘Go on.’

Callum lunged at his daughter, in a bid to silence her. ‘Shut your bleedin’ trap!’ he roared, before turning to those gathered around. ‘She’s lyin’! I wouldn’t do that …’

‘Then why was the old woman on her own?’ called a voice from the back of the crowd.

Callum’s eyes darted around as he tried to think of a reasonable excuse as to why he’d left his mother on her own, but with nothing coming to mind, and the hangman’s noose looming, he fought desperately to break free from Charlie. But Charlie, being both stronger and younger than Callum, merely tightened his grip, and called to Cyril – another policeman – for assistance.

Realising he had no hope of escape, Callum spat at his daughter’s feet. ‘You ain’t no Haggarty,’ he said, his voice full of venom.

‘Good!’ said Suzie. ‘Because I wouldn’t want to be.’

Charlie looked at Suzie. ‘I know it’s a big ask, but we need you to come down to the station and make a statement.’

Suzie looked at her father, who was glaring fiercely at her in the hope that she would refuse, but Suzie had had enough.

‘I lost me mam and me gran because of you – everything you touch turns rotten.’

Callum hissed a warning. ‘You do this and we’re through – you’re on your own.’

She gave a mirthless laugh. ‘I’m better off without you. You never approved of me anyway, always having a go, saying I never did nothing right, but I wasn’t the one who drove Mam away, and I wasn’t the one who left Gran on her own in the middle of an air raid.’ Angry tears trickling down her cheeks, she shook her head. ‘I told you she couldn’t get down them steps on her own, but you were more bothered about the stuff you’d been nicking from other people’s houses than you were about your own mother.’

The truth hit Callum like a hammer. His face fell as the enormity of her words struck home. ‘How was I to know they’d hit our place?’ he said wretchedly. ‘You can’t blame me …’

‘Only I do,’ said Suzie frankly. She turned to Charlie. ‘I was catching the train to Betwys-y-Coed, but I’ll have to give that a miss, this is far more important. Can I just have a quick word with Felix?’

Nodding, Charlie indicated the steps that led to the station. ‘We’ll wait for you out there.’