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that kind of mother love I can do without, OK? Now if you don’t mind I have to get undressed.’
    ‘But I’ve had her round my gaff. Tiffany … She won’t give up. Especially if she finds out ‘bout little Anastasia.’
    The girl rolled her eyes in exasperation.
    ‘Yeah? So? If I don’t want to see her, then I won’t. Now piss off!’
    Her voice was hard, uncaring, and Carole knew better than to push it. She left the room quietly, her heart heavy at the thought that her one-time friend’s daughter wanted nothing to do with her. And if Marie found out that Carole actually worked with Tiffany and had not said so, what would be the upshot? It was this that worried Carole more than anything.
    Tiffany stared into the cracked mirror and then began to apply a thick layer of foundation to hide the acne scars in her skin. As she brushed on her blusher she knew she was just putting on an act for everyone. In fact she was frightened of what her mother might stir up. As Carole said, if Marie wanted to see her she would.
    Tiffany’s eyes registered her grimy surroundings and she shuddered. What would Marie make of her daughter’s life and job? ‘History repeating itself was how Pat described it, saying she was just like her mother at the same age.
    Well, fuck her mother! She had in effect dumped Tiffany when she was a baby so she had no right to any respect now. And if pushed, Tiffany would tell her that.
    Oh yeah, she would tell her that to her face.
    The girl remembered her mother as a force to be reckoned with. The neighbours had all been terrified of her. Marie could make even men nervous when she was out of it. There was an air of violence about her that people picked up on pretty quickly. Pat had regaled her with stories of her mother’s marathon temper bouts and drinking and drug binges. Tiffany knew enough about Marie to realise she didn’t want her anywhere near her own child. A double murderess was hardly the kind of person she wanted around her Anastasia, thank you very much. But inside she wondered exactly what can of 25
     
    worms would be opened by her mother’s release into society.
    Ten minutes later Tiffany was ready for her first act. Stripping was lucrative and Pat had promised to get her into a lap dancing club where the money would be even better. It was her ambition in life to buy a little place of her own, and she was determined to do it. Her daughter deserved the best, and she would see that Anastasia got it.
    Tiffany cut herself a line of coke to give herself an edge. As she went through the ritual of cutting, cleaning and snorting it, she felt more relaxed inside.
    Unlike her mother she used drugs, and not vice versa. All she needed was a little lift now and then, just a lift to give her an edge.
    And after the revelations of today, she needed that lift more than ever.
    Louise Carter listened to her daughter’s mother-inlawto-be, gritting her teeth. Mary Watson was a busybody, a two-faced, interfering bastard of a woman.
    ‘I hear she walked up to the front door, large as life and twice as pretty …’ The last was a jibe at her son’s girlfriend and they all knew it. ‘But then she was always a good-looking girl, you can’t take that away from her. Fair’s fair in that respect. Marie was a looker.’
    ‘For all the good it did her. Now if you don’t mind, Mary, I would rather we dropped the subject.’
    Louise’s voice was dangerously low and Mary suppressed a small triumphant smile.
    Lucy stood up abruptly and said in a false bright voice, ‘Shall I make more tea?’
    She left the room and Mickey followed her.
    Louise stared at the woman before her, took in the brown rat-like eyes and tightly pursed mouth, and wondered how her daughter could want to join a family with this vicious old bitch at its head. It never occurred to Louise that she was looking at another version of herself. The two women hated one another because, as Mickey had pointed out on many occasions, they were too