The girl nodded. She knew when she was beaten. This family was a law unto itself, which was, she realised, why she had been assigned to them. She saw that now with crystal clarity. No one else wanted the aggravation, or indeed wanted to get involved at all!

The Jacksons would sort this out and the local police would let them. It was how their worlds worked.

She heard later that night in the canteen that some bloke called Mr Thomas Halpin, who was part of the Serious Crime Squad, had apparently already warned the station to back off. It was not the first time that had happened and she was sure it would not be the last.

So she would do the same as everyone else. She had tried her best, done her job, and if she was honest she hoped that Freddie Jackson did take the fucker out. If there was a nutter on the streets and Jackson cleaned him up, it would save them all a job.

She wanted to be a plain clothes one day, and if that meant letting the Jacksons have a get-out-of-jail-free card, then so be it.

Ozzy was ill and he was feeling the pain in his chest acutely. He sat up in his cell and clutched his arm. It was like a big cold weight was crushing his chest. Like a block of ice had been dropped on him from a great height.

He was sweating heavily, and his breathing was getting shallower and shallower.

He wondered if he should ring the bell, get a screw in. But he had to lie down first, he had to try to lessen this pain a bit.

Finally he fell asleep, and the pain eased.

Jackie and Maggie came home from the hospital at six thirty in the morning. The girls had stayed behind, and were told the same story, that she had been attacked by a stranger. Though none of them believed it they would keep up the pretence, especially Kimberley, who was already remembering details of her mystery attacker.

Maggie put on the kettle in the kitchen while Jackie took a bottle of vodka out of the fridge. She mixed it in a large water glass which already contained lukewarm white wine and gulped it down. Maggie watched as she poured out another drink with trembling hands, and her heart broke once more at the sorry excuse of a woman her sister had become.

'You have to make him go, Jack, you can't let him get away with that.'

Jackie looked at her in utter bewilderment. 'What you on about, you silly mare? He done a good thing, he was looking out for his own!'

The pride in Jackie's voice made her sound almost happy at her daughter's predicament. Freddie had come home, practically murdered the poor girl, caused ructions with everyone in the house, and to Jackie that was love.

Maggie wanted to laugh. 'Will you listen to yourself, Jackie? He didn't attack her because he cared about her, he attacked that girl because it's a taint on him if she's a fucking junkie. Use your loaf, wipe the shit from your eyes and see him for what he really is.'

Jackie looked at Maggie. Even in jeans and a shirt she looked lovely, perfect. She always looked perfect, always looked like an advert for healthy womanhood. But she wasn't anything, not really, she just thought she was better than everyone else.

'If his daughter is a junkie then he has to deal with other people knowing that. It's like admitting defeat, admitting he has failed as a father. It has nothing to do with you or the kids or love. It's not about you, you silly bitch, it's about him. It's always about him?

'You are wrong, Maggie. For all his faults, he loves us.'

'He treats you like dirt, he laughs at your drinking, he takes what he wants from you and then he leaves you for weeks on end and you let him. You let him, Jackie, because for some unknown reason you think that he is a wonderful person, yet he has systematically destroyed you and those kids since day one.'

Jackie shook her head then. This was getting too near the mark, too near the truth and she could not take that, not tonight, not ever. 'You are wrong, Mags, he loves us, he loves his family.'

Maggie picked up Jackie's cigarettes and lit one before saying through a sarcastic smile, 'Look around you, look at your life, at how you live. Your daughter is an addict because you are an addict. Any one of those fucking, shite-talking, pop psychology daytime TV shit shows you watch would tell you that, Jack. Kimberley has had a good teacher and it was you. You've been pissed for years Jackie. You're a fucking drunk.'

Jackie was frightened by what was being said now, she didn't want this. She just wanted to drink in peace and get a few hours' kip.

'How dare you fucking lecture me-'

Maggie said through gritted teeth and with as much menace as she could muster, 'I dare, Jackie, because someone has to tell you once and for all that this has all got to stop! The man you love hates you and you are too fucking thick to see it. Do you know that him and Jimmy earn the same money, more or less, and you are still in a council house? Love, think about it. What's he spending that dosh on, eh? It fucking ain't you and yours, is it?'

She looked around the ruin of her sister's home and then said sadly, 'It's a shit hole, Jackie. And look at fucking Little Freddie. He is off his trolley, and no one seems to care! Where is he now, eh? Still wandering the streets, I bet. And what about poor Kim? She has been on the brown for ages and you never noticed. I knew there was something wrong with her, and I tried to help her, but you never noticed! Those kids are invisible to you unless they are the reason that keeps Freddie by your side. Freddie has an eighty-grand car parked outside on the kerb, and your toilet has been broke for weeks. Don't you think that is a little bit odd? Does nothing penetrate that drink-sodden brain of yours?'

She lit another cigarette and watched as Jackie gulped at her vodka and wine once more.

'Stop it, Maggie, you say one more word and I'll fucking knock you out.'

Now Maggie did laugh. 'I ain't a kid any more, Jackie, frightened of my big sister. You raise your hand to me and I'll lay you out once and for all.'

Jackie knew what she said was true, and that was what stopped her from attacking Maggie physically. Jackie made a point of attacking only the people she knew would not fight her back. Unless she was drunk of course, when anyone was fair game, but even then she relied on the other people around her to stop the tear up at some point.

'I am trying to help you, Jackie, trying to make you see sense. Even Freddie can see you have a problem, so if he loves you so much why ain't he tried to get you any help? I know the girls have tried to talk to you, they tell me how worried they are about you, and I try and talk to you too but it's a fucking waste of time. But now you have to see the fucking big picture. Your life is a mess and you have to try and do something before it's too late.'

Jackie understood her sister genuinely wanted to help her, while the majority of the people in her immediate orbit were hangers-on who ignored her problems and just used her. But it was so hard for her to admit, because she knew no one else would want to be with her. If she let herself think about it, she would see exactly what she was, and exactly what to expect from her life.

'Go home, Mags, I can't handle this.'

Maggie sighed. 'Do you realise you ain't once mentioned the fact that your Kim is on drugs, or wondered where your son is? Do you realise that, Jack? You only mentioned it when you were telling me how your Freddie loves you. Are you going to get her any help at all? Are you going to sort out some kind of rehab, or will that be left to me as usual?'

Jackie didn't answer her.

'Look in the mirror, Jackie, smell the house you live in with your family. Look at the floor and the walls and the furniture, and then you tell me that you are all right with the way you live and I promise I will back off.'