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phone went dead, and yours was just ringing and ringing.’
    ‘Yeah, well, I’m here now, so what do you want?’ Terry said – as patiently as he could manage, given that the mere sound of her voice wound him up. They were almost the same age, so it was hard for him to treat her with the respect she seemed to think that she was due as his girlfriend’s mother. But it was her nasty habit of forgetting all about Leanne and flirting with him whenever she got the chance that really turned his stomach.
    But there was to be no flirting tonight as, sounding remarkably sober for once, Carole grimly informed him about the fire and Connor being taken to hospital.
    ‘You what?’ All trace of tiredness gone in a flash, Terry sat up and swung his legs out of the bed. ‘Where is he? What’s happened?’
    ‘He’s all right,’ Carole assured him. Then, less confidently, ‘Least, I think he is, or the copper would have said, wouldn’t she?’
    ‘Copper?’ Terry repeated confusedly, already pulling his damp jeans back on. ‘I thought you said it was a fire? What the hell have the police got to do with it?’
    ‘ I don’t know, so there’s no point having a go at me,’ Carole retorted huffily. ‘I just got back from our Lisa’s and found a note through the door telling me to ring this copper. Our Lenny and Fred were both here when she called round earlier, but the ignorant little bastards didn’t answer the door, so I don’t—’
    ‘Just tell me what she said!’ Terry interrupted, dragging his T-shirt on and shoving his feet into his boots.
    Tutting, Carole said, ‘Just that there was a fire and your lad’s at the hospital, and she wants to see you. So, like I said, there’s no point—’
    ‘What about Nicky?’ Terry cut in again, heading for the door. ‘Is she all right?’
    There were several seconds of silence before Carole guiltily admitted that she didn’t know; that she hadn’t thought to ask.
    Demanding to know when all this had happened, Terry burst through the living-room door and pushed his way through the girls. Flapping his hand at Leanne to shut up when she started complaining, he muttered, ‘For fuck’s sake !’ when Carole told him that she thought it had been a few hours ago. ‘Why the hell didn’t Sue let me know?’
    ‘ She ’s not there,’ Carole replied caustically. ‘She’s out with that mate of hers again, picking up diseases. Anyway, the copper will tell you more about it when she sees you, ’cos I had to give her your address. Hope you don’t mind, only she said you haven’t told your works where you’d moved to, so I had to.’
    Gritting his teeth, Terry asked which hospital Connor had been taken to. Hanging up without thanking her when she’d told him, he snatched his keys off the ledge and headed for the front door.
    Following him out onto the communal landing, Leanne demanded to know where he was going. And who he’d been talking to just now. And, more importantly, why had he been talking about that bitch? Was there something she should know? And he needn’t bother lying, because she’d find out.
    ‘There’s been a fire,’ Terry told her, marching to the lift and jabbing at the button. Slamming his fist into the door when he found that it had somehow broken down in the fifteen minutes or so since he’d used it, he turned on his heel and made for the stairs instead.
    ‘A fire?’ Rushing to the handrail, Leanne peered after him. ‘Where?’
    ‘My house,’ he called back. ‘Your mum’s just told me our Connor’s in hospital.’
    Furious with him for referring to his ex’s house as his , Leanne yelled that she was coming with him. Running back into the flat, she grabbed her jacket and told the girls to let themselves out when they’d finished, then legged it down the stairs after Terry.
    If he thought she was letting him go to the hospital without her, he had another think coming. Sue would be there by now, and there was no way Leanne was leaving the