Shannon began to back away. ‘Leave me alone. I ain’t got anything to say.’

Rage rose up in Franny as she stared at Shannon. ‘The problem with that, Shannon, is I know you have. I know you probably like to talk to all those little girlfriends of yours who haven’t got anything else to do, and the thing is I don’t want you to talk about my business, and I certainly don’t want you to talk to Alfie.’

‘I’m not going to, I promise, and besides, I don’t even know what’s happening. Ma ain’t told me nothing, so I ain’t really got much to say.’

As the rain continued, Franny pushed her hair out of her face. ‘Why don’t I believe that? I wish I could.’

‘You can, you can!’

Franny shook her head as she stepped forward. ‘No, Shannon, I’m afraid I can’t. You’re trouble – that’s all I see when I look at you. Have you any idea what you’ve done? Right now, Mia could be anywhere, and you know something, Shannon, it’s all your fault and I think we need to have a talk about that, don’t you?’

Shannon began to back away as the rain drove down. ‘Like I say, I don’t know anything about Mia.’

Anger and hate spat out of Franny. ‘But you still took her, didn’t you? You still gave her to Ma knowing what Ma was like. What sort of person does that?’

Dejected and feeling ashamed of herself, Shannon gazed at Franny. ‘I’m sorry.’

Franny laughed bitterly, her eyes burning with hatred. ‘Sorry? Are you kidding me?’

‘It’s just … it’s just that you were so mean to me.’

Clenching her teeth, Franny’s eyes darkened. ‘Mean to you? You stupid, stupid little girl!’

Naïvely, Shannon said, ‘Look, I never thought it through!’

‘Yeah, and that’s the problem, and because you didn’t, Mia’s in trouble. Now I’ll ask you again, Shannon, and if I were you, I’d think really carefully … Where is Mia?’

Shrugging, Shannon’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I swear, I don’t know anything.’

As Franny stepped nearer and nearer to Shannon, Shannon began to run, darting across the road, hearing Franny chasing behind her, knowing she wasn’t far behind.

‘Shannon, you little bitch, you’re going to pay for what you’ve done! Shannon!’

Not bothering to answer, Shannon sped along Bedford Place before turning into Russell Square. She was sweating and panting, having never run so fast in her life but she knew whatever happened she didn’t want Franny to catch up with her. There was something about the way she’d looked that had frightened her.

With her heart thumping in her chest, Shannon continued to run as fast as she could, speeding past the bowling alley heading towards Southampton Row, feeling Franny getting ever nearer.