Alfie charged up to Sally, inches away from her. Everything in him wanted to put his hands around her neck and throttle her, but he held back as he felt the tears cutting at the back of his throat. ‘You might as well be, because you’re part of it. You know what’s happening to these kids, yet you’re still willing to be involved.’

‘At least I look after them properly! At least they get food and a bit of care. Sometimes it’s more than they’ve had in their entire life.’

Roaring out in anger, Alfie smashed his fist against the wall, resting his head against it as he tried to breathe and shut out the enormity of what Sally was saying with such aloofness it felt surreal. He spoke in a whisper. ‘Franny, I can’t talk to her anymore. You do it, because otherwise I’m going to fucking kill her.’

Franny, placing the sleeping toddler in the cot in the corner, nodded. She walked across to where Sally sat, reassuringly touching Alfie’s back as she walked past him.

Her voice was icy cold as she spoke to Sally. ‘Let’s talk about Barry, shall we?’

‘I don’t know who he is.’

Incensed, Franny slapped Sally hard across the face. ‘Don’t play games with me. I’m not like he is – I won’t just kill you, I’ll make every second as painful as I can too. Now, tell me about Barry Eton.’

With Anthony still on his side tied to the chair and Alfie resting against the wall with his eyes closed, Sally spoke, the tension in the air between the two women palpable. ‘I’ve only done business with him a couple of times. He’s just one of many clients that ask me to look after one of their products.’

‘How do you know him?’

‘My husband was in prison with him. Not on kiddie charges, he’s not into that either, but for GBH. Anyway, he met Barry and they got talking, and Anthony told him what we do.’

Franny stared at Sally. ‘How long have you been doing this?’

‘A long time. I mean, before the internet really became popular we did it, but it was much harder. Now it’s easy. People from all over the world are on the dark net, and there’s always a supply and demand with this.’

Franny felt revolted, as she was sure Alfie did, but she didn’t let her emotions show. ‘And what about a baby? A little girl, she was … she is four months old. Blonde curly hair, the palest of skin, blue eyes. She’s beautiful, really beautiful. Have … have you seen her? Recently, it would’ve been recently.’

Sally shook her head. ‘No.’

Franny exploded, her face turning red. She shouted as she trembled with anger. ‘You’re lying! You’re fucking lying.’