‘And that’s enough for you, is it? Enough to make you betray somebody who—’
‘Do you know where he is?’ Mia’s eyes were intense, shining from the rings of kohl like jewels. ‘Jason?’
‘Who?’
Jenna had to retreat. She couldn’t let Mia know the full truth and place Jason back in danger.
‘Leonardo,’ she said meaningfully, tapping her tattoo. ‘You know, Lawrence offered to pay for me to get it lasered off. But I couldn’t go through with it. Just seemed like …’
Her voice caught.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ suggested Jenna, leaving a banknote on the table between the plates. ‘We can’t talk with all these people listening in.’
‘Oh, I’m going,’ said Mia, snatching up her bag and marching out, but Jenna was quick and hurried along at her shoulder.
‘You’re not a bad person, Mia, I can see that. You’ve got a conscience, and it’s bothering you. You can’t
live like that forever. You can’t.’
They were on the towpath of the sluggish brown canal now, on to which Mia had sharply turned, in fear of passers-by being able to overhear.
‘Oh, and what would you know about that?’ she demanded, spinning to face Jenna, her black-ringed eyes bright as blue fire. ‘What would you know about living back here? You escaped, somewhere proper. Most of us can only escape into getting high. You don’t know how that feels.’
‘You’d be surprised. No, not me,’ she said quickly. ‘But – swear you won’t tell – Deano.’
Mia appraised Jenna’s face. She might run. She might stay.
She stayed.
‘Is that why you broke up?’ she asked.
‘It’s one of the reasons. There are quite a few.’
‘It’s why me and Jase split up, too. He hated the drugs, but I couldn’t kick them.’
‘You split up?’
‘Well … I never told him in so many words, but I’d been avoiding him for ages. I still cared for him, but when the pains are bad, you’ll do anything.’
They sat down on a bench by the railway bridge. Trains clattered overhead but there were no barges on the canal, just big piles of junk and shopping trolleys baking in the sun.
‘Mia, was he set up?’
‘How do you know him?’
‘I don’t. I know his mum. I spoke to her after a meeting the other day. Poor woman. She thinks he’s dead. But she knows he was set up. She’s sure of it.’
‘Yeah, well, she weren’t much of a mum to him, when it comes down to it,’ said Mia, resentfully. ‘But she’s right. Does she really think he’s dead?’
She stared bleakly into the canal.
‘Who knows?’ said Jenna. ‘But if we can convince the police that he’s innocent, then perhaps we’ll find out.’
Mia put her hands over her face.
‘I can’t,’ she said, followed by a long sniff. ‘I’ll get killed.’
‘By whom?’