Eddie Mitchell picked up his binoculars once more. He’d recognised Georgie immediately. She looked a lot older than her tender thirteen years, but her similarity to Frankie at a younger age was uncanny. Harry was a different kettle of fish. There were nine mobile homes on what looked like a private bit of land and Ed had seen at least five lads that could pass for Harry’s age, but none of them had light-blonde hair.

‘That fat slag Alice has just come out her trailer again. It’s gotta be Harry who she keeps speaking to, surely?’ Eddie questioned, handing the binoculars to Raymond.

‘It don’t look like him to me, Ed, but I suppose kids change in time,’ Raymond replied sceptically.

Gary snatched the binoculars that Raymond was peering through. ‘It must be him; Alice has just clouted him round the head.’

‘I need a slash. Keep watch for Jimmy or Jed to make a move,’ Eddie said as he stood up. He’d already seen Jed earlier and, unlike the previous evening, had recognised the little shit immediately.

Gary turned to Raymond as soon as his old man was out of earshot. ‘We can’t just fucking run on the site tooled up and drag them off by their hair. Have a word with him, Raymondo, he’ll listen to you.’

‘I will, but you know what he’s like, Gal. That’s definitely Harry; Jed’s just given him some dosh. He must be on his way out, I reckon,’ Raymond replied, eyes glued to the binoculars.

Eddie’s legs were as stiff as a board as he walked back to the lads. They hadn’t been able to drive the vans near enough to spot the kids clearly because the O’Haras were living on private land. Terry and Stuart were parked down the road, looking after both vans and watching the front of the site, while Ed and the rest of the lads had spent the past few hours crouched down and peeping around the side of an old barn.

‘Jed’s just got in a pick-up truck with a bird and a little kid, and Ray’s just seen him give that boy we thought might be Harry some money. It’s definitely gotta be him, Dad, although I must say he looks entirely different to how we imagined,’ Gary said to his father.

Eddie snatched the binoculars off Raymond and studied the lad in question. He was totally unrecognisable from the timid-looking blonde-haired boy he’d known as a child.

‘So what happens now, Ed? We can’t just steam in there like a load of loonies. There’s a few blokes other than Jed and Jimmy living there, and for all we know, they could have shooters and all sorts,’ Raymond said to his boss.