Joey noticed the green tinge to Donna’s face and said gently, ‘Get the lass away, Alan, we’ll finish up here. It’s better if you disappear now anyway. Leave it to me and the local filth to clear this lot up.’

Alan held out a meaty fist. ‘Thanks, Joey, I appreciate it.’

He grinned now, displaying pristine white teeth.

‘You’re paying well, but in all honesty I’d have come here for nowt. I don’t know, Alan. There’s shite in the world these days, and yet it’s the armed robbers that everyone seems to hate. Property or other people’s money is sacred. Human life is a different ballgame altogether, eh?’

Alan nodded, and taking Donna by the arm, he led her from the room.

As they walked through the hotel, she looked at all the children. They were sitting quietly, their faces devoid of expression, no real feeling evident anywhere, accepting this latest development in their fate as they had everything else.

‘What’ll happen to them, Alan? What will be the end result?’

He opened the car door. ‘I can’t answer that one, darling. It was their parents who brought them here. Let Joey sort it out now. We’ve done all we can, haven’t we?’

She looked up into his face and said softly, ‘Have we? Then why aren’t I feeling any better?’

Alan sighed heavily and Donna looked at him properly. She saw the lines around his eyes and mouth, the deep hollows across his face through lack of sleep, and she shook her head in despair.

‘Who cares about them though? Who really cares?’

‘I don’t know, love. Now get into the car, will you? God only worked one day at a time, remember, and even He ended up having a day off.’

If Donna had had a chuckle inside her, she would have given it. As it was, she couldn’t even cry any more.

Jack Coyne looked worried and JoJo O’Neil was getting annoyed. ‘So you can’t get through. Big deal. You know what the situation’s like out there. Sometimes they can’t use the phones for days.’

Jack shook his head. ‘I don’t care, JoJo, there’s something not right. I can feel it in my water.’

JoJo laughed loudly. ‘Are you sure? You can feel it in your water! Now I’ve heard everything. Knowing Stephen, he’s on a pussy hunt with that piss-head Jake. Only knowing Stephen’s little foibles, Jake’s shagging the kids and Stephen’s after their grannies!’ He laughed uproariously at his own wit.

Jack was silent for a while, until JoJo said heavily, ‘Will you go home? I can’t stand you sitting there with a face like a wet weekend in Blackpool. I’ve got a little bird coming round soon, and I want to get her in the mood for shagging, not hanging herself.’