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used to beat her with – ‘But I don’t want her looking like something from a pantomime.’
    Nigel and Suzy Spencer had been apart for six years, but Suzy still felt herself bristling at his criticism. Nigel had been the one to leave, but somehow he had regained the moral high ground. Perhaps that was because his affair with his PA in Newcastle had ended up in the out-tray, while she had found herself a lover.
    ‘Well, it will be nice for Molly to stay over with you,’ Suzy said neutrally, thinking about how she could make a rebellious Molly look presentable for her father.
    ‘Yes. I’ll pop over in two weeks’ time and pick her up. It’s a pity Jake will be playing in his band, but it will give us the chance for quality time with Molly. I’m afraid I’ll have to bring her back before the May Bank Holiday. We’ve got a prior engagement.’
    ‘That’s OK.’ Suzy had learned that her husband’s noblesse oblige rarely stretched to having the kids on a public holiday. And who was this ‘we’? Nigel must have a new girlfriend.
    Nigel was still droning on, but one phrase cut through the platitudes. ‘My solicitor says …’
    It took Suzy a moment to catch up. ‘What?’
    ‘It’s not as if we have any real issues to discuss, is it?’ Nigel said. ‘As regards divorce, I mean?’
    ‘No. That’s right.’ Suzy sat down heavily on one of the kitchen chairs. ‘Of course. If that’s what you want.’
    When he rang off she poured herself a large glass of red wine. A divorce at last. She felt ninety per cent relief, but there was a sense of sadness too. She and Nigel had met at university and she had thought they would be partners for life. She had found herself thinking about her undergraduate days more and more in recent weeks. It was odd, the way she and Nigel had clung to each other, scared eighteen-year-olds thrown together away from home. But she had made some good friends – Rachel Cohen, Paul Watson, Nigel Spencer of course, Sandra and Rosemary whom she’d met in the third year. She was still in touch with Rachel but she’d lost touch with Sandra and Rosemary. Perhaps it was because Jake was going into his final year at school in September that she had been thinking of her past so much recently. After wanting it for so long, Suzy felt suddenly shaky at the idea of divorce. Jake got on well with Robert, and Robert was great with both the kids – but he wasn’t their real dad. How would the kids feel about the final split? How did she feel herself, now it was happening?
    In a minute, she would go and tell Robert the good news. It was good news, wasn’t it? Then the phone rang again. It was Judith Dixon.
    ‘Mrs Spencer? Could Becky come and stay with you again this weekend? We’ve got such a lot of bother over here with folk coming to rubberneck at St Trallen’s since the accident. Phil could bring Becky over.’
    ‘Of course,’ Suzy said. At this rate Becky Dixon’s visits would become a weekend fixture. But it was no bad thing. Suzy would have welcomed Becky eight days a week in order to ensure that Molly had a friend.
    So the news on the divorce would have to wait. Suzy put it to the back of her mind while she set about sorting out evening meals, bedding, and their extended family night in.
     
    Friday night at Callie McFadden’s was also a family night in. She lived in a council house on the Pelliter Valley Estate. Her eldest son was lying on the tatty sofa, with his feet in huge trainers lolling over the end. He wore his baseball cap back to front in all weathers, indoors and out, and he was never without a can of drink. He was on his fifth or sixth, after coming home from his job on a building site in Norbridge. To celebrate the fact that he probably wouldn’t be working much longer in the current economic slowdown, he’d decided to get pissed at home. He’d go out later to hang about with his mates on Pelliter High Street, but for now he was watching telly and waiting for his mam to