‘Took my gran’s mink stole, the thieving blighters!’ one woman had told the woman next to her. ‘I wouldn’t have minded so much, ’cos I can’t stand the bloomin’ thing, but it meant a lot to me gran. She had it for her weddin’ anniversary off me grandad.’

Roz had pricked up her ears. She had come across some sort of animal stole stuffed down beside Callum’s bed when she had been sweeping the floor that very morning. It had scared her half to death, and believing it to be a rat, she had given it a severe beating with the broom, until she realised it was already dead. She listened as the woman described the fur in detail, and had come to the conclusion that it had to be the same one.

When the siren had given the all-clear, Roz and the two Haggarty women had returned to their shared abode, and Roz had rather unwisely mentioned the stole to see if Callum would react. He did, and not in a positive manner. He asked her if she had been snooping around his things, which of course Roz denied, but he didn’t believe her, and had ended up threatening her with a one-way trip to the Mersey, and the others with a belting should he find them near his things.

Lilith and Suzie had objected to being included in this threat but Callum didn’t care. He said he didn’t trust any of them, and they were to keep their noses out of his business. From that day on, things had changed. Callum was out of the house far more than he was in, which suited not only Roz, but Lilith and Suzie as well, since life with Callum in the house was like walking on eggshells. If Lilith asked him where he had been, he would snap at her, saying it was none of her business, and she shouldn’t question her own son. Suzie rarely spoke to her father, save to ask if he needed her help when he went out, to which he would reply that she would only get under his feet. Roz would have found life much improved, except for the fact that Suzie and Lilith held her responsible for Callum’s constant bad mood.

‘You shouldn’t have accused him of nickin’ stuff,’ Lilith muttered after a run-in with her son. ‘He gets his knickers in a twist at the slightest thing these days and that’s down to you.’

Roz looked at the woman in disbelief. ‘I never accused him of anything; I just mentioned a conversation I had overheard. If anyone jumped to conclusions it was Callum, not me.’

‘You knew full well what you were saying,’ said Suzie petulantly. ‘You done it on purpose ’cos you knew …’

‘That’s enough, Suzie!’ snapped Lilith.

‘Don’t shout at me!’ wailed Suzie. ‘Everything was fine ’til she come along. We never wanted her, it was you who wanted her ’cos you’re a lazy old—’