‘What do you mean, bad?’ Laura said.

Ida sighed. ‘She was young when she had Shane, and perhaps that wasn’t her fault, but she turned bad as she got older. She was drinking a lot, and taking drugs.’

‘How do you know?’

Ida paused as she thought about that, and said, ‘We just knew.’ She looked down as she spoke.

Laura looked at Joe and raised an eyebrow. His eyes narrowed, and Laura knew that he was thinking the same thing – that there was something they weren’t being told.

‘And she was a prostitute,’ Ida said, looking up now. ‘She went to court a few times, we read about that. No, it was better that Shane didn’t see her. When she turned up at the house, we wouldn’t let her see him. She carried on though, and so we had to get the police involved. And then she stopped coming.’

‘How did Shane take this?’ Joe asked.

‘He didn’t know at first, but then one night she turned up, and Shane must have heard the argument. When I went into the hallway, Shane was looking through the stairs. He just looked angry, scowling, but he didn’t say much.’ A tear rolled down Ida’s cheek. ‘It was my fault Shane ended up like he did. He became even quieter after that, and more spiteful.’

Laura was about to ask a question, but Ida cut her off with a raised hand.

‘I’m sorry for telling you that, but it was part of what made Shane the boy he was,’ Ida said. Then she straightened herself, as if confession time was over. ‘So what have you come to tell me? Have you caught whoever did it?’

Laura looked at Joe, confused. ‘Did what?’ she said.

It was Ida’s turn to look bewildered. ‘That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Have you got a lead in the case?’

‘Which case?’

‘Shane’s death,’ Ida said. ‘Isn’t that why you’re here, to tell me you’ve got a suspect?’

Laura exchanged glances with Joe, and then said gently, ‘No, I’m sorry, it’s not why we’re here.’

Ida looked hurt. ‘It’s a long time ago now, but if you are not here about that, why are you interested in Shane?’

‘It’s about Doctor Barker,’ Laura said. ‘I’m so sorry, but he’s been found dead in his house. We’re tracing his former patients, in case there’s a connection.’

Ida’s hand went to her mouth. ‘Doctor Barker? How? When?’

‘This lunchtime. I’m sorry, this must be quite a shock.’ Laura looked at Joe, who was staring at the photograph over the fireplace.

‘How did Shane die?’ Joe asked.

Ida looked at Joe, surprised. ‘Why don’t you know about this?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Shane was murdered,’ Ida said, and then took a deep breath before a tear tumbled down her cheek. ‘Have the police forgotten about it already?’

Joe leaned forward. ‘Could you tell me more,’ he said.

Ida wiped her cheek and then sat back. She was looking at her hands when she started to speak.

‘Shane wasn’t an easy teenager,’ she said. ‘Some of the boys around here used to pick on him. We did what we could, tried to keep him safe, but boys want to do boy things, like youth clubs and school discos. And why shouldn’t they? You can’t let the bullies win. But those things attract some of the wrong sort, and so Shane would come home upset, and Shane being upset was different to most people, because he wouldn’t cry or shout; he would go quiet, and he would be like that for a few days.’

‘Did he do well at school?’ Joe said. ‘Sometimes quiet boys find an outlet in getting good marks at school.’

Ida smiled. ‘Those are the boys who do well in the end,’ she said. ‘My husband used to tell Shane that. Be patient, he used to say, because all these bullies and thugs fail when they go into the world. They end up in court and then prison, or in dull jobs. Work hard, try hard, he used to say, and you will overtake them all, and then one day you’ll see them pushing a line of supermarket trolleys or delivering your pizzas. But Shane didn’t do that.’ She looked at Laura, and then at Joe. ‘He ran away,’ she said.

‘Where to?’ Joe said.

‘London,’ Ida said. ‘He called me once, just to let me know where he was. He said that I wasn’t to worry, that he was doing well, and that he would come back one day and he would show us how well he was doing. I asked him why he went, and he said he just wanted the bright lights, away from his boring, northern life, where no one would know him and he could start again.’ Ida shook her head and her fingers gripped the handkerchief tighter. ‘It wasn’t that. He just needed to be far enough away so that he couldn’t get back easily.’

‘So what did he do in London?’ Laura asked.

‘What most runaways end up doing when they go down there,’ she said. ‘The police said that the kids find it exciting at first, the big busy city, but then they end up sleeping in squats and dosshouses. It was the same for Shane. He must have been so frightened. And then drink becomes a thing, because it gives them something to do, and then it’s drugs. Maybe it was always there, something that he got from his mother.’ She wiped away her tears, and looked ashamed now, and when she spoke again, her voice was breaking, wretched and filled with emotion. She could barely finish her sentence. ‘The police told me he was a prostitute for a while, because he looked younger than his age, and some men like that kind of thing.’

‘How old was he?’ Laura asked gently.

‘When he ran away? Sixteen. As soon as he left school. He was nineteen when he died.’

Laura knew then why Shane’s death hadn’t cropped up when they’d run some checks on him on their way to the house. Police forces didn’t share information back then, and the details of victims wouldn’t have got a mention on the database.

‘What theory were the police working on?’ Joe asked. ‘A client?’

Ida shook her head. ‘No one knows. He was found dead in an alley behind King’s Cross. He had been strangled, but this is the really cruel thing, that he had been set alight, so that I never really got a chance to make him look nice for his funeral.’ She sighed. ‘There wasn’t much left to identify him from. Just the boots he always wore, old Doctor Martens with red and green laces, and an old donkey jacket. There were some papers in his back pocket, all charred. Turned out to be Shane’s dole card. The police looked out for him at the benefits office, just in case it was someone else and Shane needed to make another claim, but he never showed again.’

‘How can you be certain it was Shane?’ Joe said.

Ida smiled at him with teary eyes. ‘Because if Shane was alive, he would have got in touch, because even though he had problems, he loved us. I know it was Shane, and I know he has gone.’ She dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief and said, ‘I’m sorry this won’t help you finding out who killed Doctor Barker. He tried his best for Shane, but we couldn’t afford to keep going. It wasn’t the doctor’s fault things turned out like they did. Did you think Shane might have been involved?’

Joe shook his head. ‘We are going through his old patients, that’s all, just to check that it isn’t related. Shane was on the list.’ He reached out and held her hand. ‘I’m sorry we disturbed you, Ida. I know this must all be very painful for you. Thank you for the tea.’

She nodded to herself. ‘Doctor Barker was a nice man. I hope you catch whoever killed him.’

Joe nodded and pumped her hand. ‘So do I,’ he said. ‘So do I.’

They made their exit, and once they were outside, Laura whispered, ‘What do you think?’

Joe waited until they were back in the car before he said anything. ‘There are two possibilities. One is that Doctor Barker got it wrong.’

‘And the other?’

‘That he didn’t.’

Laura smiled at that. ‘That would be some trick, coming back from the dead.’

‘The identification of the body was based on assumptions,’ Joe said. ‘It was burnt out, and so there was no fingerprint evidence. If Ida is right, the police assumed it was Shane Grix because of the clothes and his dole card, and because no one challenged it. It went into history as fact and Ida thinks she has lost her son. But what if it was wrong? Doctor Barker thought it was Shane Grix, and he was going to tell us that today. He died not long after. That is one hell of a coincidence.’