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known face, a little villain, and he had a loaded gun. I said I had no doubt he would have used it if necessary. He was a suspect in a stabbing a few months ago. I can’t see the CPS making any case against you.’
     
    Nick visibly relaxed.
     
    ‘I still feel bad, Pete.’
     
    ‘I know, mate, but that’s because you’re a decent person - more than could be said for that little fucker. He had no chance, did he? Mother’s a junkie, his life’s been one long round of trouble and aggravation. This was bound to happen one day, it just happened sooner rather than later.
     
    ‘I see them all coming through here, Nick, the no hopers. I feel sorry for some of them, but, at the end of the day, they’re all accidents waiting to happen. You have the law on your side as far as I am concerned. It says you can use reasonable force to eject an intruder from your home. If that intruder has a gun then you are within your rights to disarm him, as you did.’
     
    ‘I didn’t just disarm him, I disabled him! He’s going to die, ain’t he?’
     
    Peter Rudde didn’t answer him.
     
    ’Ain’t he!’
     
    Nick was shouting now.
     
    ‘I need to know, Peter. When are they going to turn the machine off?’
     
    He patted Nick’s arm.
     
    ’As far as I know, his dad is back from Jamaica and he’s taking over. The mother couldn’t decide what shoes to wear without a fix of some sort.’
     
    The detective watched his friend relax back into his chair.
     
    ‘Come on, let’s go and have a beer, eh?’
     
    Nick nodded sadly.
     
    ‘You’ll let me know as soon as . . .’
     
    ‘ ’Course I will. Now come on, a large Scotch and you’ll be right as rain.’
     
    It was a stupid thing to say and they both knew it.
     
     
‘Mum, can we go back to school tomorrow?’
     
    Tammy looked at her eldest son but she wasn’t seeing him. She was still reliving the insult she had received earlier in the day from one of her so-called friends.
     
    ‘You what, son?’
     
    Nicholas Leary Junior sighed heavily.
     
    ‘I said, can we go back to school tomorrow?’
     
    Tammy nodded absently.
     
    ‘Wait till your dad gets in, he’ll tell you.’
     
    ‘It’s boring, Mum, we need to get back into a routine . . .’
     
    ‘Let your dad sort it out, OK?’
     
    Nicholas looked at her once more and said flatly, ‘We need to get back to normal sooner rather than later.’
     
    ‘I thought it was half-term?’
     
    In her drink-addled brain Tammy dimly remembered what Fiona had said.
     
    ‘Not for private schools, Mum. We were off all last week, remember?’
     
    It was said sarcastically and this annoyed Tammy as her son knew it would.
     
    She shouted at him then.
     
    ‘Who are you, Nicky, fucking Stephen Hawking? Mr fucking Know All?’
     
    He sighed once more.
     
    ‘Oh, forget it!’
     
    His complete dismissal of her sent Tammy into a frenzy of anger.
     
    ‘Your father could be done for fucking murder, you selfish little fucker!’
     
    Nicholas Leary Junior at twelve years old was already a force to be reckoned with in this house. He had all his mother’s acerbic wit and his paternal grandfather’s utter disregard for others’ feelings. Tammy’s mother adored him. His own mother gravitated between wanting to kiss him and wanting to kick him all day long.
     
    Today she was upset after learning that her husband could still be done for manslaughter. This had scared her, especially as she knew she couldn’t cope without Nick around even though she had spent her whole married life pretending he was nothing more than an albatross round her neck.
     
    But her friends had sounded as if they knew what they were talking about and suddenly the thought of losing her husband was scaring Tammy all over again. He had done what he thought was right; could they really lock him away for protecting his family? According to her so-called friends they could. They could do exactly that.
     
    For the first time in years Tammy really