‘Shannon’s your niece?’

Red-faced and with tears in his eyes from the coughing, Charlie grinned. ‘Oh yeah, for all the good she is. Ungrateful little bitch. By rights I should be pissed off that you nicked her from me but seeing as we’re mates, I’ll give you a squeeze. I hope she treated you well and didn’t charge you too much.’

Still slightly shocked to hear about Shannon, and not wanting to think about what Charlie had put her through, Alfie growled, ‘Firstly, we’re not mates, Charlie. Get that into your head. And secondly, I would never go near Shannon. The kid’s barely turned twenty.’

Charlie roared laughing. ‘Is that what she told you? I have to give it to her, she’s a hustler all right. She’s barely turned sixteen.’

Alfie felt nauseous. ‘Jesus Christ, she’s still a baby.’

Charlie shrugged. ‘Who gives good head.’

Alfie, unable to hear any more, charged into Charlie, pushing him hard and slamming him against the wall. ‘What happened to you, Charlie? Don’t you see? The man you hated most in the world, who abused you as a kid – well look, you’ve turned out just like him.’

Taken by surprise and seething with anger, Charlie clenched his fist, swinging it round into the side of Alfie’s head. He ducked just in time, bringing his knee into Charlie’s stomach before grabbing his hair and squeezing his face between his strong fingers.

Hissing with anger, Charlie sneered. ‘I’m nothing like him! Nothing!’

Alfie leant into Charlie’s face, smelling a mixture of alcohol and cigarettes. ‘No, Char, that’s where you’re wrong. Look around you, look at what you do for a living.’

‘No more than you.’

Alfie shook his head. ‘I might be a lot of things and I may do a lot of things wrong. I may never get to heaven but what I do know is, I will always have a clear conscience when it comes to kids. Young girls. I don’t know how you can live with yourself. Franny won’t even have the girls near the club if she doesn’t check their ID.’

With his face still squeezed tightly between Alfie’s fingers, Charlie gave a scornful laugh.

‘Franny! Don’t talk about her like she’s some kind of saint. You have no idea, do you?’

Letting go of Charlie, Alfie, puzzled, stared at him. ‘Now who’s talking in riddles? What the hell are you on about?’