Danny sighed and bit on his toast to put off the moment of explanation. ‘It goes back to when we were all getting called up,’ he said finally. ‘He knew I had a bad heart – well, everyone found out after the fire at the docks. So he kept putting pressure on me to take his medical test for him, knowing I’d fail, so that he’d be exempt for the whole duration of the war.’

‘The coward,’ Sarah spat. ‘You could have got into a whole lot of trouble if you’d been caught.’

‘I know. But I hadn’t been totally on the straight and narrow when I worked on the docks myself, and he kept threatening to put the word out about me. He used pressure on all fronts – he got Tommy a pair of football boots one Christmas so we’d be beholden to him. He kept on asking even when I said no. Then I started at Derby House and he had to flee after he sold everyone that poisoned meat he got from the black market.’ Danny sat back and screwed his eyes shut. He’d come to hate the man, no doubt about it. ‘But that wasn’t why he beat you up though. He’d always had a hankering for Kitty. He’d hang around, hoping for a glance of her, make horrible comments to me about her.’

‘Yes, I know he’d come to the house expecting her to be here, and then he lost his temper when he realised it was me instead,’ said Sarah thoughtfully. ‘I don’t know what was in his mind. He was drunk – I could smell it on him. I didn’t know who it was at the time, but it all fell into place after. I’m glad it was me, not Kitty. Who knows what he might have done.’

Danny impetuously reached forward and took her hand. ‘Don’t say that, Sar. I’d have done anything to have stopped him hurting you. You were doing us a favour keeping an eye on Tommy and yet that happened – it’s not right.’

Sarah held on to his hand. ‘I’d rather he beat me up than succeeded in getting into bed with Kitty. That’s what he was after, wasn’t it? It could have been so much worse if he hadn’t realised who I was. But he did, and I’m still here to tell the tale and so is Kitty. And anyway, he can’t harm us or anyone else any more.’