It was another half an hour before the man, who Sally had informed them was called Anthony, regained consciousness – though when he did so, he found himself tied to one of the kitchen chairs.
Pulling at his hands, which were bound behind him, Anthony glared at Alfie. ‘Untie me now! I said, untie me now.’
Alfie walked up to him and shook his head as he stared back at Anthony, who was sitting next to Sally – also tied – to another chair.
‘Are you having a laugh, mate? You’re tied up and you’re trying to tell me what to do? If I were you, I’d wind my neck in and keep quiet. Don’t make this any worse than it is already.’
Anthony made a snorting sound, bringing phlegm into his mouth. He smirked, then spat straight at Alfie whose face curled up in disgust. Wiping the spit off his blue cashmere top, Alfie sneered.
‘You’ve really made a mistake now.’ He brought his fist back, then struck Anthony hard across his face, causing his nose to pop and blood spurt out. Alfie pulled up a chair next to Anthony, straddling it backwards and sitting down to light a cigarette. He stared, full of hatred, blowing the smoke into Anthony’s face.
‘I want some answers, Anthony, because I’m not here to talk, I’m here to listen. So, come on then, tell me everything you know about where I can find Barry.’
‘I’m not telling you anything, so you can sing for all I care.’
Alfie smiled nastily then grabbed Anthony’s hair, pulling his head up higher, forcing him to look. ‘I think by the end of the day, it’ll be you singing.’
‘Piss off!’
Alfie laughed though his eyes were cold. ‘It must be a northern thing that makes you lot so stupid, ain’t that right, Sally?’
Alfie glanced at the woman who began to screech with anger, ‘Fuck off! You heard what my husband said – we haven’t got anything to say to you because we don’t know anything. So, you can do anything you like to us, you still won’t learn anything new.’
‘Is that right?’
Sally nodded defiantly. ‘Yes, it bloody well is!’
Alfie, finishing off his cigarette, stubbed it out on the carpet. He looked around the small flat. It was tidy and clean. Flowered wallpaper adorned the room and the blue leather couch was strewn with large velvet cushions. The polished wooden floor was semi-covered with a thick cream rug, and the fake fireplace bounced with flames. And whether it was because he knew what sort of people Sally and Anthony were, he thought the whole place with its spotless, dust-free shelves and furniture held a sinister air.
‘So, you’re saying whatever I do, you won’t talk.’
‘That’s right.’
‘Okay.’
Alfie stood up. He winked at Franny who sat in a chair holding the toddler who had gone back to sleep, then Alfie made eye contact with Sally again. He grinned as he pulled out his belt from his jeans. ‘As in anything I do, Sally?’
The confidence in Sally’s voice seemed to disappear. ‘Yeah … yeah … that’s what I said, isn’t it?’
‘Even this, Sally?’
Taking Anthony by surprise, Alfie looped the belt around Anthony’s neck and began to pull it tight. ‘How about now?’
Beginning to panic as she watched Anthony’s face turn red, his eyes bulging, Sally screamed, ‘You’re hurting him!’
Alfie chuckled and jarred and pulled the belt even tighter as he stood staring at Sally. ‘And how about now?’
‘You’re going to kill him!’
‘And now?’ Alfie bared his teeth, pulling the belt with all his might.
‘Stop! Stop!’ she cried. ‘Stop!’
‘Why? I thought you’d said I could do anything, so it’s pointless me stopping, ain’t it?’ Alfie began to whistle as Anthony, starved of oxygen, started to judder.
‘Okay, okay! I’ll tell you, just leave him alone!’
‘That’s what I thought you’d say!’ And with that, Alfie released the tension in his belt before kicking the chair Anthony was tied on over onto the floor, causing him to smash down on his side as he coughed and spluttered for air.
Feeding his belt back through the loops in his jeans, Alfie sat down again, resting his foot on Anthony’s head, who was having difficulty breathing.
Angrily, Sally said, ‘Look what you’ve done to him. You bastard!’
‘I could do more. I could do the same to you if you want? I usually don’t lay my hands on women, but I could make you an exception to the rule. You want me to show you?’
Sally, her eyes full of fear, shook her head.
Alfie grinned. ‘Good, I’m glad we’ve got that sorted out. So now, what I want from you are answers, and if I think for a moment you’re not telling me the truth, you and Anthony here will be spending a painful afternoon with me? Do you understand what I’m saying?’
‘Yeah, yeah.’
‘So first off, who does this baby belong to?’
Sally glanced across to the toddler who Franny was still holding. ‘He’s … he’s my grandson.’
Alfie put his weight into his foot, crushing and pressing down on Anthony’s skull. As Anthony let out a scream of pain, Alfie leant in towards Sally. ‘Wrong answer. Try again, and this time you better get it right or your husband here is really going to suffer.’
Sally’s eyes darted about. ‘Okay, we’ve been looking after him, for a friend.’
Alfie shook his head. ‘You really are testing my patience.’ He raised his foot to bring it down again on Anthony but as he did so, Sally began to speak again, her words rushing out.
‘No, don’t! Stop! I’ll tell you, just please don’t hurt him anymore … The kid belongs to a couple, or he did.’
Alfie, already feeling ill and not really wanting to ask any more questions but knowing he had to, said, ‘What do you mean, he did?’
‘They sold him, and we’re just looking after him until the new owners come and get him. I swear he’s fine. Look at him – he’s well looked after. He’s a happy boy. I always change him, I always …’
Alfie bellowed, cutting into the woman’s words. ‘Shut up! Shut up, you warped bitch! Do you hear what you’re saying to me? Do you understand what shit is coming out of your mouth? You’re talking about him as if he’s just about to go to Disneyland instead of going to be abused by God knows who for God knows how long.’
‘It’s not always like that!’
With his face curled up with hatred, Alfie hissed, ‘I don’t care if it’s like that only once. Once is too much, you hear me?’
‘I’m only saying.’
Alfie lunged out and grabbed Sally’s face. He squeezed it hard between his fingers, fighting back the tears. ‘Don’t push it. Don’t push me. Because I am so close to putting a bullet in your head. Do you understand?’
Terrified, Sally nodded as Alfie let go of her. She continued to talk. ‘What I mean is, sometimes we look after kids who are simply changing hands. You know, someone can’t afford their kid, or don’t want them and the dealers buy them and then ask us to look after them until the new parents are found.’
‘You make it sound like it’s all rosy.’
Sally shrugged. ‘I’m just trying to explain the difference, that’s all.’
‘And what about the others? Because, fuck me, what you’ve told me is bad enough, but what about the other side of that coin? What about this kid here?’ Alfie nodded towards the toddler and as he did so he caught a glimpse of the strain on Franny’s face. He tried to smile at her, but he couldn’t manage it; what Sally was saying was too unbearable.
‘He’ll be all right. The person who bought him lives in Japan. They’ll give him a good home … but there are the others who get sold for other reasons.’
Alfie rubbed his head, which was now pounding with a migraine. ‘What is wrong with you? How can you live with yourself?’
‘It’s money, ain’t it? We all have to earn our keep.’
Alfie stood up and began to pace, anger and disgust running through him in equal measure. ‘I could be starving on the fucking street and you would never get me to come even close to doing what you do. I would rather die.’
The woman’s eyes flashed with irritation. ‘It’s not like I’m the one who’s abusing them though, is it?’
Alfie charged up to Sally, inches away from her. Everything in him wanted to put his hands around her neck and throttle her, but he held back as he felt the tears cutting at the back of his throat. ‘You might as well be, because you’re part of it. You know what’s happening to these kids, yet you’re still willing to be involved.’
‘At least I look after them properly! At least they get food and a bit of care. Sometimes it’s more than they’ve had in their entire life.’
Roaring out in anger, Alfie smashed his fist against the wall, resting his head against it as he tried to breathe and shut out the enormity of what Sally was saying with such aloofness it felt surreal. He spoke in a whisper. ‘Franny, I can’t talk to her anymore. You do it, because otherwise I’m going to fucking kill her.’
Franny, placing the sleeping toddler in the cot in the corner, nodded. She walked across to where Sally sat, reassuringly touching Alfie’s back as she walked past him.
Her voice was icy cold as she spoke to Sally. ‘Let’s talk about Barry, shall we?’
‘I don’t know who he is.’
Incensed, Franny slapped Sally hard across the face. ‘Don’t play games with me. I’m not like he is – I won’t just kill you, I’ll make every second as painful as I can too. Now, tell me about Barry Eton.’
With Anthony still on his side tied to the chair and Alfie resting against the wall with his eyes closed, Sally spoke, the tension in the air between the two women palpable. ‘I’ve only done business with him a couple of times. He’s just one of many clients that ask me to look after one of their products.’
‘How do you know him?’
‘My husband was in prison with him. Not on kiddie charges, he’s not into that either, but for GBH. Anyway, he met Barry and they got talking, and Anthony told him what we do.’
Franny stared at Sally. ‘How long have you been doing this?’
‘A long time. I mean, before the internet really became popular we did it, but it was much harder. Now it’s easy. People from all over the world are on the dark net, and there’s always a supply and demand with this.’
Franny felt revolted, as she was sure Alfie did, but she didn’t let her emotions show. ‘And what about a baby? A little girl, she was … she is four months old. Blonde curly hair, the palest of skin, blue eyes. She’s beautiful, really beautiful. Have … have you seen her? Recently, it would’ve been recently.’
Sally shook her head. ‘No.’
Franny exploded, her face turning red. She shouted as she trembled with anger. ‘You’re lying! You’re fucking lying.’
Seeing the rage in Franny, Sally, becoming frightened, began to stutter her words. ‘I … I … I don’t know. I’m telling the truth!’
Overcome with emotion, Franny’s voice cracked with hysteria, rage and hurt, panic and fury rushing through her. She pulled out her gun and pressed it under Sally’s chin. ‘Then where is she? Where’s Mia?’
Petrified, Sally shook her head. ‘I don’t know … I don’t know!’
A manic look came into Franny’s eyes. ‘That’s no good to me, Sally, because I have to find her. You hear me? I have to find her so scum like you, scum like Anthony, like Barry can never, never put their hands on her. Do you understand that?’
‘Yes … yes.’
Still with the gun underneath Sally’s chin, Franny leant down and hissed, ‘Then tell me where she is, Sally.’
Sally’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I can’t tell you, because I don’t know. I don’t. I promise I don’t.’
‘Save the tears and don’t fucking insult me. Don’t insult those kids you took in, don’t insult any of us with your crocodile tears, because I don’t care, and I have never hated anyone so much in my life as I hate you right now.’ Franny paused, images of Mia flashing through her mind. She took a deep breath before saying, ‘Carry on telling me about Barry.’
Trying to regain her composure, Sally’s tone was edgy. ‘Well, it’s only recently he’s got out of prison; he hasn’t been trading long, though I’m not sure if he’s really got the money to.’
‘What do you mean?’
Sally shrugged, sighing and sounding like a woman defeated. ‘Unless you’re the middle man, which he isn’t anymore, a lot of the contacts he did have, well, he would’ve lost touch with them. Then if that happens, you have to shell out for the products – the kids – yourself, before you can sell them on. Plus, sometimes you have to pay people like me if you don’t have a buyer straightaway.’
Franny glared at Sally. ‘I was under the impression Barry did filming, streaming, rather than just buying and selling.’
‘I dunno, but if he does, he won’t be the main player. He’ll be working for someone else just to earn a few bob.’
Hating the conversation, Franny said, ‘Why doesn’t he do it himself though?’
Glancing down at her husband, Sally said, ‘Because you really have to know what you’re doing to set yourself up on the net. Of course, if you’re computer savvy then it’s easy enough and you can make yourself a fortune, but otherwise, the police will be able to track you straightaway, and I don’t think Barry wants to end up inside again.’
‘So, what’s his game?’
‘From what I understand, he wants to be a dealer.’
‘So, has Barry paid you a visit recently?’
Taking a deep breath, Sally nodded. ‘Yeah, he was here yesterday. He came to collect a little boy I was looking after for him, though the kid was only here a couple of nights.’
Franny, almost unable to look at Sally, asked, ‘So where’s the boy now? What’s going to happen to him?’
‘Look, I shouldn’t be saying any more.’
Without hesitation, Franny raised her voice. ‘Just tell me!’
‘If people find out they can’t trust me, I’ll be in trouble.’
Franny pushed up against Sally, her eyes blazing. ‘Listen to me, Sally, these people will be the least of your worries if you don’t continue talking, so you might as well tell me.’
Gazing up into Franny’s face, Sally simply said, ‘There’s going to be an auction. Barry’s going to auction off the boy.’