‘Well, they were peddling all this filth, weren’t they? What makes you so sure they weren’t getting their rocks off on it? They must have had contacts or they’d never sell the stuff, would they? They had to know men who wanted this stuff. This ain’t a bit of ordinary porn, love, a bit of old bluey. This is babies, little kids.’

Donna acknowledged the truth of what Carol was saying, but everything inside her rebelled at the thought of Georgio, even knowing what she knew about him, actually touching the children. His baby son came to mind, and she felt a wave of pure hatred rush over her body. Then she heard Candy’s voice talking about Georgio in Thailand with the twelve- and thirteen-year-old girls. ‘The three-headed blow job’ she had called it.

‘Pack the last few boxes into the car, Carol, and I’ll start digging this lot up.’

Carol stared at her as if she were mad.

‘You’re going to dig this place up? Are you out of your mind! Paddy, Davey, anyone could turn up!’

‘At this moment in time, Carol,’ Donna told her, ‘I couldn’t give a flying fuck, as you would say. I will never sleep again unless I know what the hell is under this floor.’

Carol was stunned. She shook her head in distress, her flattened, bleached hair waving with the motion.

‘Oh Donna, please. I don’t think I want to know.’

‘That’s the trouble, love. That’s why people can buy all this stuff - because no one wants to know. No one likes to think about it. It’s too horrible to contemplate. Well, if you want, you go ahead and take the books and discs. Go on home. I’ll stay here alone and sort this lot out.’

‘You’re mad, Donna, stark staring mad. Get the Old Bill. Let them sort it out.’

Donna wiped her hand across her face.

‘And what if there’s nothing here? What then? They will question you, me, the lot of us. We’ll be in it up to our necks, and I hate to remind you but you and I are as guilty as the men in this. Or at least, that’s how it will look. We’ll be arrested, your kids will be without you and Davey. Think about it, Carol. Until we know what’s under this floor we can’t decide anything.’

Carol blanched with fright.

‘Oh, for Christ’s sake, Donna. How the hell did this happen to us?’

She shook her head sadly. ‘It happened, Carol, because we let it. My mother used to say, “People only do to you what you let them,” and that’s true. Now pass me that crowbar and let’s get started. You shut the van up and lock it, then close the main doors. I’ll start pulling up the concrete.’