'They thought I was out with my mates. In a way I suppose I was. Why should they worry? I wasn't pestering them.'
'They must have wondered where your money was coming from.'
'A couple of times I said I was doing jobs for a friend's uncle, someone they didn't know, clearing out the garage or helping in the garden.'
'They should have taken more of an interest in what you were getting up to.'
'I ain't blaming them for what happened. They brought me up to know the difference between right and wrong. What I did was down to me. They don't even know I was sent down. My Mum and Dad never had any trouble with the law, nor has my brother. They'd be ashamed if they ever found out.'
'You kept everything to yourself, even from your brother?'
'He may have suspected something, but he's the last one to tell about anything like that. You'd never hear the end of it. He might look like a hard case, but he's completely straight. In some ways you've got lot in common with him.'
'Thanks a lot.' The comparison was, I guessed, meant to be teasing. It lightened the mood, and I was glad he felt comfortable enough for a little humour. What I wanted was an understanding of that part of his life, not some sort of confession. 'I meant to tell you about him coming up to me outside the newsagent's a week or so ago asking what you were doing in Portsmouth. I just told him that we'd split up, nothing else.'
'Good, thanks for keeping it quiet. Anyway to account to my family for my time inside I made up a story about finding some work up north. Because Andrew helped me by letting me have the flat above the garden centre and giving me work when I got out I didn't have to go crawling back to them for help.'
'So, you were stealing from cars and joy riding when you were a kid.'
'We weren't that bad, not compared to some kids who smash up cars and set fire to them. Me and my mate never did serious damage. Joy riding was a fantastic thrill. When the most you'd ever done is drive a few hundred yards round the back of some flats in the family motor, jump-starting one that you'd broken into and whizzing it round the streets was terrific. We never went far in them, the owners would've got their car back in a day or two. All they had to do was replace the glass and fix the wires back in the ignition. We were kids, we were just messing about.'