Driving back to Soho Square, Franny trembled. She had plenty on her mind, the enormity of the past few hours hitting her and the fear of what to do about Mia overwhelming her, but her thoughts were interrupted by Alfie. ‘Do you think we should go and see what’s happened to the club? See if they’ve put the fire out yet?’
With her eyes firmly on the road, Franny shook her head. ‘No, just leave them to it. What good are we going to be? They probably won’t let us near anyway.’
Nodding but saying nothing, Alfie continued to gaze out of the window, but another thought came to him. ‘What were you going to tell me about Vaughn? Back at the club, just before you realised Mia was missing, you were talking about Vaughn.’
Trying to seem as casual as possible, Franny shrugged. ‘I don’t know, Alf, I can’t really think. I can only focus on Mia right now. That’s all I’m bothered about.’
‘I know, darlin’, but it’s weird. He ain’t answering his phone, but he left me this message earlier. He was adamant he wanted to speak to me … Listen.’ Alfie pressed his voicemail, putting it on loudspeaker, and a moment later, Vaughn’s voice filled the car. ‘Alfie! Alfie! For fuck’s sake, pick up the phone! I need to talk to you! Call me back as soon as you get this. If you don’t hear otherwise, I’ll meet you at the club. Make sure you call me back!’
Alfie swivelled round in his seat to look at Franny, seeing the raised bruise on her face. He felt ashamed. He’d never really hit a woman in his life. It just wasn’t his style, and as much as it’d been fucked up – really fucked up, what she’d done with the letters – she wasn’t to know Charlie’s dad had abused him and she certainly wasn’t to know even after all this time that the thought of Barry Eton turned him from Alfie Jennings, a face to be reckoned with, to the trembling little boy from all those years ago. And although most people wouldn’t have done what she did, Franny just wasn’t most people. She’d really only done what she’d thought was best for him. She’d been worried. Jesus, worried about how he felt about Bree leaving him – the woman he’d basically had an affair with. But that just showed Franny’s strength. No matter how hurt she’d been, she’d still put him first. In his book that took some doing, and it also meant he had no right to be angry with her. ‘So, what do you reckon, Fran? Have you any idea what he was talking about?’
After pulling up a few streets away from their house because of the surrounding roads being blocked off due to the police and fire engines, Franny rested her head on the steering wheel. Her body was tired, her mind even more so, but she had to keep going for Mia … But where was she? Who the hell could’ve written that letter and left it on the dashboard? She wanted to run to the police, get help, but after what the note had said about not going to the police, she was too scared to risk it. She had no idea where to start looking, and the truth was, she was terrified.
‘Fran? Fran?’
‘Sorry, Alf, what did you say?’
‘Vaughn. What do you think he was on about?’
Franny took a deep breath, pushing down her emotions once again as she came up with something to say. ‘The thing is … The thing is … Vaughn was ripping us off.’
Alfie looked shocked. ‘What? No way! Not Vaughn. You must’ve got it wrong.’
‘He was, I … I wanted to tell you before, but I didn’t have all the evidence. That’s why I’ve been a bit secretive of late. Anyway, I found out and I confronted him, and of course he didn’t like it.’
‘But why would he want to meet me in the club, then?’
Franny shrugged. ‘Once he knew I was going to say something, I suppose he thought he’d get to you first. Get you to believe him rather than me. After all I did take your money before, so he probably thought it’d be easy to turn you against me.’
‘I just don’t get why though – we’re all partners.’
Rubbing her temples from the pounding headache that was beginning to start, Franny said, ‘He thinks I owe him for the money I took from you both last year, and as you didn’t force me to pay him back, I guess he saw that as some kind of betrayal from you, and he decided to take matters into his own hands.’
‘By ripping us off?’
In full flow and starting to believe her own lies, Franny nodded. ‘Yeah, but he didn’t see it like that; he saw it as taking back what was his.’
Clearly not wanting to accept what Franny was saying, Alfie lit a cigarette. ‘Vaughn may be a lot of things, but to go behind my back like that, well it’s not like him. Are you sure you haven’t got this wrong, Fran?’
Franny looked at Alfie evenly. ‘I wish I had, but I think Vaughn’s been laying the groundwork for a long time.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘All those digs at me, trying to make out like I was up to something. Basically, trying to get you to turn against me.’
Alfie stared at Franny. It was true that Vaughn had kept trying to lay the seed of doubt about Franny, and it was true that the books weren’t balancing, but Vaughn, rip him off? It was so hard to believe, but then, when Franny had taken the two million pounds from them last year, albeit for good reason, that had been hard to believe as well. He supposed, when it came down to it, none of them were in this business because of their sainthoods. ‘So, why were you in the club?’
Not wanting to answer any more questions, Franny snapped, ‘Look, Alf, do we have to do this? The fact is I came to the club and we had a row. I found him taking the money out of the safe … as well as his passport. He’s gone, Alf.’
‘Gone? Where?’
‘I dunno, but I guess he realised that once I told you what he was up to, then things would get very difficult for him. I’m sorry, Alf, I know it’s hard to hear this. I was upset myself. After all, I thought we were all friends. I guess I was wrong.’
Franny smiled at Alfie, though her eyes were dark. When he was about to answer her, Alfie’s phone rang again. He answered it, still processing what Franny had said. ‘Yeah … shit … are you sure? … Okay, thanks.’
After a minute he put the phone down and looked at Franny, her whole face and body still covered in thick mud.
‘That was my pal. He’s heard some rumours. Apparently, even though it’s still early doors, the word is the fire brigade reckons the fire at the club wasn’t an accident. It was deliberate and by all accounts the fire was so hot it’ll take a long time before they can determine the cause. They’re still trying to put it out now.’
Keeping her gaze straight, Franny nodded again, showing no emotion. No pangs of guilt.
‘And I know exactly who it was … There’s no doubt about it. Charlie Eton started that fire. Question is, what are you going to do about it? But whatever you do, Alf, I think you should make it permanent.’