Franny quickly turned away, watching the cars and lorries go by as they headed towards the A13. She and Alfie were aiming to get to the edge of Essex before nightfall. As much as she knew what needed to be done, as much as this was the only way, sometimes none of it felt easy. The betrayal, the guilt … even the love she had for Alfie made it difficult to come to terms with what she had to do. What she had done. But then she supposed her feeling sentimental was just her being weak. And anything other than strong wouldn’t get Mia back and help her start a new life.

After a moment she asked, ‘Would you still have borrowed the money if you’d known I couldn’t help you?’

There was a long pause as Alfie thought about it, changing lanes as he did so. Eventually, he said, ‘You know what, Fran, yeah, yeah, I think I would. I couldn’t have done anything else. How could I leave that kid there knowing there was something I could’ve done about it? Nobody was there for me when I was around about his age, but I can be there for him.’

‘Well that’s exactly it, Alf. You’ve summed it up right there. Sometimes we have to do what’s wrong to get to what’s right. The decisions we make aren’t always the best ones, but if they’re for the right reasons, I guess we just have to learn to live with them.’

Alfie raised his eyebrows. ‘Or not, in my case!’

Fighting to push any sentiment as far down inside her as she could, Franny shook her head. ‘Alf, it’s not over yet.’

Taking a deep breath, Alfie said, ‘Yeah, you’re right, and anyway, I can’t do anything about Huang right now, but I can do something about Taylor. I’ll think about that lot tomorrow, when Taylor’s safely back.’

‘You’ll be all right, especially as we know now from Charlie that Barry isn’t going to be at the auction himself. It might be easier for you …’ Franny didn’t add that it certainly would be easier for her knowing Barry wouldn’t be there, instead she said, ‘I can’t imagine anyone with a higher bidding power than you, either. Not at the level Barry’s operating at, though I understand you can’t be too careful. But it’ll be okay, I’m sure of it.’

‘I hope so. Did Charlie say anything else? Did he say why Barry wasn’t coming?’

‘No, when I went in to see him they were just about to take him down to theatre again. Something about stopping a bleed, so he didn’t have time to say much. But I guess it’s safer for Barry not to be there; I doubt he’ll want to do another stretch. Maybe he’s feeling edgy.’