‘Excuse me,’ Jack crouched down beside him, and a small, thin, very young face looked up at him. Defensive and frightened. It wasn’t Boo. ‘Sorry.’ Jack backed away. ‘Sorry to have disturbed you.’

He made his way back out on to the main drag and just ran out of steam. He’d had enough for one night, he’d try again tomorrow. Heading for his car, he suddenly heard someone call, ‘Jack! Over here.’

And there, sitting on a hairdresser’s step, reading a book was, of all people, Boo.

‘Out on the piss?’ Boo enquired, with his gappy grin.

‘Er, no.’ Jack was stunned that it was Boo who had found him. ‘I’ve been looking for you for the past couple of hours.’

‘So it was you.’ Earlier JohnJohn had warned him that some chap was asking about him. He’d suspected he was a plainclothes – because what else could he be? – but he wasn’t entirely sure.

‘It was me.’ Jack crouched down beside Boo and suddenly, as though crossing an invisible line, the smell hit him like a blow from a lump-hammer. With enormous effort of will, he forced his face not to register it.

‘So what’s up?’ Boo was wary. He’d liked Jack that time he’d stopped and chatted about those fashion photos with him. But generally people did not seek Boo out unless he was in some sort of trouble.

Tuning out the reeking air. Jack searched for the right words, unwilling to sound patronizing. He wanted Boo to come away from this with some dignity.

‘I have a problem,’ Jack began.

Muscle by muscle, Boo’s face began to shut down.

‘I have a vacancy at the television station I work at and I’m looking for the right person to fill it. Your name was suggested to me by a colleague.’

‘What do you mean?’ Boo’s eyes were narrow with suspicion.

‘I’m offering you a job. If you’d like it,’ he added quickly.

Boo’s face was a study of incomprehension. This was outside the breadth of his experience. ‘Why?’ he finally managed. People being nice to him was a rare event and he wasn’t inclined to trust it.

‘Ashling thought you would be suitable and I respect her opinion.’

‘Ashling…’ If she had something to do with this, maybe it wasn’t a total put-on. But what else could it be? Sharply, he said, ‘You’re taking the piss, are you?’

‘No, I’m really not. Why don’t you come and see us over at the station and you might believe me then.’

‘You’d let me in?’

At that Jack thought his heart might cave in. ‘Of course we would. How else would you do any work?’

It was then that Boo went against his every natural instinct and began to believe Jack. ‘But why…?’ His eyes glistened and he looked terribly young, so like a child. Jack felt his own face fill with emotion. ‘I’ve never had a job before.’ Boo swallowed.

‘Well, isn’t it about time you started?’

‘Can’t be a layabout all my life!’

‘Er, yeah.’ Jack wasn’t sure whether or not to laugh.

‘Oh, lighten up,’ Boo elbowed him with a watery grin. ‘And will it be just book reviews I’ll be doing, or will you be needing other stuff done as well?’

‘Erm –’ Jack was entirely wrong-footed. ‘Other stuff as well, I’d say.’

The next morning at work, Jack offered his news to Ashling as if it was a present. ‘I found Boo and told him about the job over at the TV station. He seemed keen.’

‘Great!’ Her enthusiastic voice didn’t match her whey-face.

‘He’s short of clothes, so I’ve told him to come in and see Kelvin. There’s a lot of men’s clothes in the “fashion department” that no one wants, he might as well get togged out.’

Ashling became very still. She still hadn’t shed one tear, but this was almost enough to dissolve her. ‘That’s very nice of you,’ she said to her chest.

‘The thing was,’ Jack sounded confused, ‘at first Boo seemed to think that we wanted him to do book reviews for Colleen. Why’s that?’

She lifted and released her shoulder bones. ‘Search me.’ Suddenly she wished she hadn’t said that. The words had caused something to dart across Jack’s face and it froze her mid-shrug. Whatever it was made her feel alive. And afraid. ‘Book reviews?’ She tried to focus, then remembered. ‘I’ve been giving him proof copies. Of books no one else wanted,’ she added hastily. ‘And he always gave me his opinion.’

‘Oh right. Well, he starts as a runner at the station on Monday. The book reviews on Colleen are Lisa’s call. But we can always ask her,’ he concluded cheerfully.

In floods of tears, Clodagh opened her front-door.

‘What’s wrong?’ Marcus gasped.

‘It’s Dylan. He’s a bastard.’

‘What’s he done?’ Marcus demanded, following her into the kitchen, his face bruised with fury.

‘Oh, I deserve it,’ Clodagh sat at the table and wiped her leaking eyes. ‘I’m not saying I don’t. But it’s so hard. Whenever I see him he has more bad news and he makes me feel awful.’

‘So what’s he done?’ Marcus demanded again.

‘He made me give back all my credit cards. And he’s closed our joint account and instead he’s going to give me an allowance every month. For guess how much?’

Sobbing again, she named a sum so low that Marcus exclaimed, ‘Allowance? That’s more like a forbiddance!’

She rewarded this with a trembly smile. ‘Well, I’ve been a bad girl, what do I expect?’

‘But he has a duty to look after you, you’re his wife!’ Marcus’s vehemence wasn’t matched by his actions. He was fumbling in the containers along the window-sill.

‘But I suppose he doesn’t feel he should take care of me…’ She paused. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Looking for a pen.’

‘Here.’ One was located in Craig’s pencil case. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Just…’He scribbled something on a scrap of paper. ‘Something. Let’s go to bed,’ he murmured into her neck.

‘I thought you’d never ask.’ She summoned a less watery smile and led him to the front-room. But Marcus paused and wouldn’t go in. The novelty of having teenage sex on a couch had begun to pall.