He had to admit she had looked after him, bringing him hot soup when he was cold, and chilled lemonade when he was burning up. All the same, he resented her for it, having to rely on her so much, as if he was nothing but a little boy again. He’d always taken blatant advantage of the way she spoilt him, taking it for granted that she’d be happy to wait on him hand and foot, and he hadn’t particularly noticed how she did it. Now every tiny detail jarred. The way she’d be so deliberately cheerful in the morning, pulling up the hated blind. The little song she’d hum as she brought him up his meals. The snippets of gossip she’d bring back, in which he had not the slightest bit of interest.

Even though his body was worn out, his mind was beginning to churn, rehashing old resentments and frustrations. He didn’t in the least care about being off work. He would rather his fellow dockers didn’t think badly of him for taking the time off, but he didn’t miss the physical work itself – he was happy to leave them to get on with it. He missed the company, though, and the opportunities it brought him for little deals on the side, always with an eye out for a profit. That was what made life worth living – getting one over on somebody, winning a game the other person hadn’t even realised they’d been playing.

The fact that he hadn’t managed to get Danny to do what he wanted still plagued him. Danny had somehow won without even seeming to try. He was safe as houses, doing his soft desk job, not getting his hands dirty. Alfie had begun to imagine how he’d teach the man a lesson if he ever got him alone, where he couldn’t cry out for help. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a reasonable thing to do. His feverish days and nights put strange images of vengeance into his mind. Before his illness, Alfie had done a deal with one of Clender’s men and got himself a crate of whisky off the back of a lorry. He’d hidden it in his wardrobe so his mother wouldn’t find it, and had been helping himself when his thirst got really bad. It was now nearly all gone, but it had further fuelled his hatred of Danny, and his obsession with the Callaghans.