‘What are you going to do about it, if I don’t?’

Alfie’s eyes darted to the side of him and he quickly picked up a large plank of wood. ‘Whatever it takes.’

The man, keeping his eyes on Alfie, slowly placed the child down. Then holding his teddy bear, the boy ran to Alfie, who held his hand and started to walk away but as Alfie turned to make his escape to the exit, he spun around, and suddenly froze. In the distance, at the bottom of the stairs, he could see Barry Eton.

His breathing becoming shallow as he continued to stare, feeling like the whole warehouse was beginning to spin, feeling the terror he had as a kid, but as he tried to pull himself together, a blunt object smashed down on the back of his head and a second later, Alfie Jennings blacked out.

‘Alfie! Alfie! Are you okay?’

Alfie slowly opened his eyes to look into Franny’s worried face. He tried to sit up, but a pain shot through his head. He touched it, and felt a mess of sticky blood in his hair, but suddenly a thought crossed his mind. He croaked his words. ‘Where is he?’

‘Where’s who?’

Cringing at the pain, Alfie, still holding the back of his head to stem the blood, managed to sit up. ‘There was a boy here, a little boy. Where is he?’

In the dim light, Franny looked around. The place was deserted. She’d been lucky to find Alfie, though, after arriving in the cab. It had taken her over half an hour to do so. ‘There’s no one here, Alf.’

‘I’m telling you, Franny, he was here with some guy … and Barry.’

‘What?’ Shocked, Franny stared at Alfie. ‘Are you sure? Are you sure it was him?’

‘Absolutely, I followed them from the hospital.’

Angrily, Franny shook her head. ‘Charlie told me that he hadn’t had any contact with Barry.’

Trying to stand up but deciding to leave it for a moment, Alfie said, ‘I’m not surprised Charlie lied to you, but I am surprised he still has anything to do with his father. He hated that man, not only that but he was terrified of him as well. I just don’t get it.’

‘You said yourself though that Charlie’s a different person now … Listen, are you okay? I mean after seeing Barry.’

Alfie’s voice was full of concern. ‘I didn’t really see him properly but yeah, I’m fine.’

‘Did he see you though?’

‘I don’t think so, he was too far away.’

‘Look, are you sure you’re okay?’