Having called the police anonymously from outside the flat, and having waited and watched them arrive, Franny and Alfie drove back to London in silence, both of them traumatised and wishing they could turn back the clock and un-hear what they’d been told in Sally and Anthony’s flat. But both of them realised what they’d heard would stay with them for the rest of their lives.
By the time they arrived in Soho Square, it was the early hours of the morning and tiredness hit them.
Outside the house, Alfie turned off the engine and just sat and stared ahead, and it was a number of minutes before he spoke his first words in over two hours. ‘We need to sort this.’
‘I know, but how?’
‘It’s too risky to leave it for the police; by the time they’ve done their investigation, Barry will be long gone, so I’m going to go to that auction. We’re going to go.’
Rubbing her temples and taking a quick sip of her warm can of Coke, Franny, feeling exhausted, asked, ‘But what about Sally and Anthony? What if he hears something?’
‘If Barry does hear anything about Sally and Anthony being arrested, he certainly won’t think it’s anything to do with him. He’ll probably just be pleased he took Taylor out of there before there was a raid. Though I expect word won’t get out for a few days, if not more, and by that time Barry would’ve taken Taylor to the auction.’
‘So, what next?’
‘We’re going to go and bid for him. However much it takes. Whatever it takes, we’re going to make sure we get Taylor back. And once we’ve got him, I’ll take him to my friend Claire. She fosters kids and stuff, you know through social services, so she’ll know exactly what to do with him. If we do that he’ll be safe, but we’ll be able to keep our names out of it. She won’t say anything about us.’
Worried, Franny stared at Alfie. ‘That’s all fine, but ain’t you jumping the gun a bit? The auction’s tomorrow night – you won’t be able to lay your hands on enough money that quickly. Things have been difficult.’
‘Like I say, whatever it takes, I’ll do it. We’ve got a good few grand in the safe and …’
Franny cut in, knowing that she needed to tell Alfie she’d taken the money albeit she certainly wouldn’t tell him she’d taken it and given it to Ma to keep quiet about Bree and her.
‘We haven’t.’
‘Yeah we have, there’s about ten or fifteen grand, and I know it won’t be enough but it’s a start.’
Franny spoke intently. ‘But that’s what I’m trying to tell you, we haven’t. Not anymore.’
Alfie’s face darkened. He became agitated. ‘What the fuck are you talking about?’
‘The money in the safe, I … I had to use it.’
With the tension between them electric, Alfie fell silent as he stared at Franny in disbelief, and it was only after a few moments he said, ‘Why the fuck didn’t I know about this? And more to the point, why did you use it?’
Franny, the panic swirling around her again, snapped. ‘I don’t need to run everything past you, Alf. In case you’ve forgotten, we’re a team. Sometimes we’ll do things together and sometimes we’ll do things individually and know the other person has got our back and won’t question what we do.’
Alfie tilted his head, menace coming into his voice. ‘You haven’t answered the question.’
Franny’s mind raced as her eyes darted across Alfie’s face. ‘Vaughn.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘I had to give the money to Vaughn. Well rather, I had to put the money back in the business to try to balance the books. I didn’t want to say. You were so stressed.’
Alfie shook his head, his stare piercing. ‘Hold on, I’m not following you.’
Keeping her cool like she’d always been taught, Franny leant in to Alfie’s face. Her tone was cold. ‘I know we’re both tired but it’s not difficult to understand what I’m saying … I told you before, Vaughn was robbing us from right underneath our noses, and when I found out I confronted him, and he tried to turn it round to make it look like I was the one stealing money.’
Alfie held Franny’s gaze and with a strange look in his eye he said, ‘And you would never do that, would you?’
Feeling uneasy, but certainly not letting it show, Franny shook her head. ‘I know what I did about the letters was wrong. I should never have written them, but no, I would never do anything to hurt you or our business.’
Alfie nodded slowly. ‘Because you’ve got no secrets, have you, Fran?’
Tightly, Franny replied, ‘None.’
‘That’s right, because you’ve already told me that, haven’t you? The girl with no secrets.’
Alfie smiled, but it was as icy as Franny’s tone had been cold. Everything in him wanted to believe Franny, but everything in him wanted to shake the truth out of her, because right then, he knew she was lying … Lying about putting the money back in the business. And the reason he knew that was because he had in fact put the money in the safe, the morning after Vaughn had left. The morning after the fire. So, what Franny was saying was impossible. But why she was saying it and why she had taken the money without telling him was an entirely different matter. And maybe, just maybe, there was something in the anonymous texts he’d been getting that was nearer the truth than he’d wanted to believe. Perhaps, after all, Franny had done something and perhaps she really did have a secret.
He took a deep, long breath. He had to keep a lid on it. Whatever it was would have to wait. He needed to keep his mind on Taylor, and he wasn’t going to risk being distracted for something he could deal with later. But he would deal with it. He would eventually get the truth out of Franny, one way or another.
Franny, wanting to break the strained silence, said, ‘You need to get some sleep, Alf – we both do if we’re going to be any use to Taylor …’ She paused before adding, ‘And Mia.’
Alfie nodded, feeling a pain in his chest, though he wasn’t entirely sure if it was physical. He loved Franny so much and he was afraid that when he did eventually find out what she was hiding, his heart might get well and truly broken. ‘You get some rest. As for myself, I’ve got to go and sort some money out, as well as pay someone a visit … Will you be all right, Fran?’
Exhausted and on the verge of feeling like she was going to lose it, Franny nodded. ‘Yeah, I’ll be fine. Who are you going to see?’
‘Alan. I’m going to pay Alan another visit. It’s about time him and me had a little chat.’
Trying only to concentrate on the matter at hand, Alfie made his way across the estate towards a group of kids huddled in the corner smoking joints.
He nodded to the oldest-looking kid, who Alfie didn’t think could be much more than fourteen. ‘I’m trying to find Alan. I dunno his second name, but I reckon he lives around here.’
The kid, taking a large drag of the joint he was holding, stared at Alfie, his eyes full of disinterest. ‘Can’t help you, mate.’
Alfie went into his pocket, pulling out a twenty-pound note. ‘How about if I give you this? Can you help me now?’
The kid shrugged but took the money. ‘Depends. What does he look like?’
Alfie thought of Alan, he could almost taste the disgust in his mouth. ‘He’s small. He barely touches five foot three, and he’s probably in his early thirties. When I saw him last time, he was wearing a blue shell Nike tracksuit and baseball cap with a red letter A on it. His face is probably a bit messed up at the moment, oh and he’s a total smackhead.’
The boy nodded. ‘Yeah, I know him. A proper nonce.’
Alfie frowned. ‘Why do you call him that?’
The boy, who had a thick cockney accent, pulled a face. ‘Cos he is. He’s proper snaky. He’s always watching the younger kids down here. Always trying to make friends with them. A couple of months ago he took a kid into his flat. Nothing happened cos the kid’s dad went looking for him and found him before it did. Geezer gave Alan a right battering. I think he even called the police, told them he’d beaten Alan up and the reason why, but the Old Bill – instead of nicking Alan, they ended up nicking the kid’s dad.’
Alfie shook his head, imagining just how the scene would’ve played out. ‘And is it true that Alan’s got a son?’
The boy raised his eyebrows. ‘Yeah. His name’s Taylor, though I ain’t seen him for a bit. But usually he’s out here on his own, even when the weather’s pissing it down or it’s snowing, Taylor will be out here without a coat. Even my mum ain’t that bad, and she’s shit.’
Having got the details of where Alan lived, Alfie made his way to the large block of flats on the west side of the estate, noticing that most of the CCTV cameras were either hanging off the wall or had been smashed.
Getting into the lift – which had a used syringe in the corner lying in a pool of urine – Alfie tried to hold his breath, not wanting to inhale the stink of alcohol and faeces that sat heavily in the air.
At the top floor, the metal door opened with a shudder and Alfie marched along the corridor, making his way to the end flat. Without bothering to knock, Alfie began to boot the front door down, causing tiny splinters of wood to scatter everywhere. Then with one final kick, the door swung open, and Alfie casually walked in.
The place lay in darkness, the curtains closed and, as Alfie’s eyes adjusted, he could see the whole place was a mess. Going towards the bedroom, Alfie’s attention was suddenly drawn towards the far side of the room; something – or rather somebody – was there and, without any doubt of who it was that crouched and hid in the corner, Alfie leapt at the figure, pounding his fist into any part of the body he could find. He spat out his words.
‘How could you do it? How could you sell your own flesh and blood? How could you sell your little boy?’
Alan screamed. ‘What difference does it make to you?’
Enraged, Alfie bellowed back. ‘Are you having a fucking laugh? You do know Barry’s auctioning him off?’
Confused, Alan stammered. ‘Yeah … yeah, of course I do. What else would he do?’
‘But that’s your kid!’
‘So?’
Incensed, Alfie rained down harder blows, which made Alan scream out in agony as he felt his front teeth being jammed back by the force of the punches, with a pain shooting through his eye like a needle had been thrust straight through it.
Panting, Alfie stood up, still attacking Alan with his feet as he kicked him in the side.
‘Why didn’t you tell me that Taylor was your son before? Why didn’t you mention anything about him?’
Terrified, Alan muttered, blood and saliva bubbling and frothing out of his mouth. ‘You didn’t ask, and what difference would it make? And besides, you were looking to find where Barry was.’
‘You’re scum, you know that? Scum.’
‘I don’t understand, what have I done wrong? I told you where to find Sally, didn’t I? I helped you out. I told you she would know where Barry was. It’s not my fault if she didn’t tell you.’ As Alan stopped talking, Alfie grabbed hold of a clump of his hair, tearing it as hard as he could away from Alan’s scalp.
‘Seriously? You think this is just about me finding Barry?’
‘Well if it’s not then what is it about?’
Alfie rubbed his chin in shocked bewilderment. ‘You really don’t get it, do you?’
‘No, cos I’ve told you everything I know.’
Alfie, still holding Alan’s hair, shook his head. ‘It’s not about that now. It’s about Taylor. It’s all about Taylor now.’
Alan lowered his voice, his eyes becoming dilated. He licked his lips. ‘Are you going to buy him then?’
‘What?’
‘You are, aren’t you? You’re just like me. We have the same tastes.’ Inexplicably, Alan grinned and was immediately kicked hard in the back by Alfie.
‘What the fuck are you talking about? I’m not like you and never will be. You make me sick to my stomach, Alan, and now I’ll tell you how it’s going to go.’
Alfie walked over to the curtains and pulled them tighter together, causing clouds of dust to rise from them. He walked over to the door and shut it before turning to look at Alan and pulling out a rope from his coat pocket as he did so.
On seeing the rope, Alan, still in pain, began to back away fearfully, shuffling along the floor.
‘What … what are you going to do?’
Full of hatred and not wanting to hear anything more out of his mouth, Alfie ran at Alan. Roughly, he grabbed Alan’s arms, expertly tying them behind his back before slipping the rope down and round Alan’s ankles, then around the base of the radiator on the wall, making sure that the knot was tight.
Out of his other pocket, Alfie pulled a black roll of tape. ‘You ready for this?’
‘No … stop, look, maybe we can come to some agreement.’
Alfie sneered. ‘You have nothing I want.’ And with that, Alfie began to bind the black tape round and round Alan’s mouth.
Once he’d finished taping up his mouth, Alfie stared at Alan. ‘So, what I’m going to do now is say goodbye. I won’t be seeing you again, but then, Alan, nobody else will be seeing you either, so make the most of these last few hours. At about seven o’clock tonight, friends of mine will be coming to pay you a little visit, and make no mistake, they enjoy what they do, and they’ll take you somewhere that no one can hear you scream. And do you know what their speciality is, Alan? Burying people alive.’
Alan made muffled sounds of protest through the tape, and with a smile on his face, Alfie retorted, ‘That’s right. And the best thing about it is that you’ll have a lot of time to think … Enjoy the journey. Oh, and, Alan? I’ll see you in hell.’