The smell, which had been bad throughout the house, was worse in here. Gwenda ignored that too.

It seemed to her that everything had gone wrong since Matt had left. She didn’t quite know why. It wasn’t as if she had actually liked him. On the contrary, she had always known there was something weird about the boy. Hadn’t he dreamt that his mother and father were going to die the night before the accident actually happened? She had only taken him in because Brian had persuaded her – and of course, he’d only wanted to get his hands on the money that Matt’s parents had left their son. The trouble was, the money had gone all too quickly. And then Matt had gone too, taken away by the police as a juvenile delinquent, and all she’d been left with was the blame.

It wasn’t her fault. She’d looked after him. She’d never forget the way the police looked at her, as if she was the one who’d committed the crime. She wished now that Matt had never come into her life. Everything had gone wrong because of Matt.

“And now, on ITV, it’s time once again to take your chances and spin… the Big Wheel!”

Gwenda settled back as the Big Wheel theme tune began. Fifty-pound notes twisted and spun across the screen. The audience applauded. And there was Rex McKenna walking down the flashing staircase with a pretty girl holding onto each arm. He was dressed in a bright, sequinned jacket, waving and smiling, happy as always to be back.

“Good evening, everyone!” he called out. “Who knows who’s going to win big-time tonight?” He paused and winked straight at the camera. “Only the wheel knows!”

The audience went wild as if they were hearing the words for the first time. But of course Rex always began the show the same way. “Only the wheel knows!” was his catch phrase, although Gwenda wasn’t quite sure if it was true. The wheel was just a big piece of wood and plastic. How could it know anything?