Alfie listened to the caller, his face drawn. Then clicking his phone off, he turned to Franny in shock and disbelief. ‘It’s the club. There’s been a fire. The whole place has been destroyed.’

19

Driving back to Soho Square, Franny trembled. She had plenty on her mind, the enormity of the past few hours hitting her and the fear of what to do about Mia overwhelming her, but her thoughts were interrupted by Alfie. ‘Do you think we should go and see what’s happened to the club? See if they’ve put the fire out yet?’

With her eyes firmly on the road, Franny shook her head. ‘No, just leave them to it. What good are we going to be? They probably won’t let us near anyway.’

Nodding but saying nothing, Alfie continued to gaze out of the window, but another thought came to him. ‘What were you going to tell me about Vaughn? Back at the club, just before you realised Mia was missing, you were talking about Vaughn.’

Trying to seem as casual as possible, Franny shrugged. ‘I don’t know, Alf, I can’t really think. I can only focus on Mia right now. That’s all I’m bothered about.’

‘I know, darlin’, but it’s weird. He ain’t answering his phone, but he left me this message earlier. He was adamant he wanted to speak to me … Listen.’ Alfie pressed his voicemail, putting it on loudspeaker, and a moment later, Vaughn’s voice filled the car. ‘Alfie! Alfie! For fuck’s sake, pick up the phone! I need to talk to you! Call me back as soon as you get this. If you don’t hear otherwise, I’ll meet you at the club. Make sure you call me back!’