Shocked to see Franny in such a state, Alfie shook his head. ‘Who’s Mia? What the fuck are you talking about? You’re frightening me, darlin’.’

Franny charged up to Alfie and began to hit his chest, tears streaming down her face as terror ran through her. ‘Tell me where she is! Please tell me where she is!’

Grabbing hold of Franny’s hands, shaking his head, Alfie’s eyes were full of concern. ‘Sweetheart, I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. None.’

Franny stepped back, the words almost unable to come out. ‘Mia. She’s a baby. She was here, right here. I left her here.’

‘A baby? Whose baby? What the fuck are you talking about? Fran, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.’

Franny stared at Alfie. Pale and with waves of nausea rushing through her. Her whole body shaking. ‘She’s … she’s my friend’s baby … I …’ She trailed off again.

‘Fran, I don’t understand. Why was she with you?’

Franny screamed at the top of her voice. ‘I was just helping out, for fuck’s sake. She asked me to look after her for a while … and now she’s gone. Alfie, help me, Mia’s gone!’

She ran around to the driver’s seat, jumping in the car as Alfie slammed down the boot.

‘Where are you going?’

‘To find her – she can’t have gone far.’

She began to reverse, spinning around as the still-open passenger door swung open and closed. ‘Stop! Fran! I’m coming!’ Without hearing Franny’s answer, Alfie jumped in as Franny sped off. And as they drove away, neither of them saw the club bursting into flames.

17

As Shannon sat opposite Charlie and his sister in the club, she felt shaken about the events of the morning, and it hadn’t helped that she hadn’t been able to find any dealers who’d been up to sell her any crack. But as was always the case, the fear she felt from Uncle Charlie and Ma – Auntie Margaret – made everything else fade into obscurity.

Chewing on her thumb, Shannon wished she hadn’t bothered calling her auntie or done what she’d done. At the time it’d seemed like the right thing to do – after all, Ma was Bree’s ex mother-in-law – but as she sat with Auntie Ma, who was staring daggers at her, the right thing to do was certainly turning out not to be the best thing to do.

Charlie sniffed. ‘So come on, Shannon, spit it out – what else do you know about Franny and Bree?’

Sullenly, Shannon said, ‘I don’t know anything else. All I know is what I told you.’

Pointing his fat finger at Shannon, Charlie snarled. ‘Listen, by rights I should give you a good hiding, but Ma here persuaded me not to, for now anyway.’