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?’