linda Bentley was thirty-three, years old and she was goodlooking.
She was used to getting what she wanted. She had
made an important decision very early in her life - since there
was no one to look after her, she would make sure that she
looked after herself.
Linda had been born in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland.
She had no brothers or sisters and she didn't know who her
father was. Until she was twelve, Linda had lived with her
mother in a damp, dark flat. The flat had a bedroom - which
was the living-room too - a small kitchen, and a bathroom.
Linda's mother usually went out in the evenings, leaving her
alone. Sometimes her mother brought men home with her,
and then she told Linda to sleep on the floor in the kitchen.
When she was twelve, Linda's mother disappeared and, after
that, Linda never saw her again. She didn't know where her
mother had gone, or what had happened to her, and she didn't
care. An aunt and uncle took Linda into their home and they
tried to love her and care for her. But the girl no longer understood
what love was. As soon as she was eighteen years old, she
left Glasgow and went south to London.
She found a job in a pub called the Red Lion in Ilford, in
east London. That was where she met John Bentley. John was a
likeable young man and a good-looking one. He was an orphan,
so he and Linda had something in common. But Linda had
learnt to look after herself and John had not. So Linda tried to
look after him. He was working as a lorry driver at that time, and
he always seemed to have plenty of money. He spent a lot