‘So you’ve no idea where he might be?’ the policeman persisted.

‘Run away as far as he can from her, I shouldn’t wonder.’ The woman was working herself up into a proper state. ‘I’ve a good mind to go round there and give her a piece of my mind.’ She turned to the kitchen table and grabbed her handbag.

‘Now, Mrs Kerrigan, wouldn’t it be more sensible to stay here in case he takes it into his head to come home?’ the officer suggested, but the woman was adamant.

‘I’m going to see my daughter-in-law right away and you can’t stop me,’ she told him. ‘There are things that have needed saying for a long time. I blame myself, staying quiet for as long as I have done. So now I’m not staying quiet any longer. Someone’s got to put that young woman right, and it doesn’t look as if anyone else is going to do it.’ She reached for her coat hanging on a hook beside the back door. ‘If you’ll excuse me.’ She held the door open.

‘We’d better go down to his road to see if the car’s there,’ Tommy suggested, happier now that they were actually out and doing something. ‘I reckon I could spot it easily, seeing as what I’ve been in it.’

Nancy agreed, as it seemed as good a place to start as anywhere. She was tormented by thoughts of what Alfie might do to her boy. What could he possibly know about small children? Would he have thought to give Georgie a blanket or something warm, or was he wandering around in his faded pyjamas? She shuddered at the idea but could not banish the fear from her mind.

Just before the turning to the Delaneys’ road, they caught sight of a small, angry-looking figure marching towards them.

‘Quick,’ said Nancy, pulling Tommy back and into the mouth of one of the alleys that ran along the back yards of the terraces. ‘It’s Sid’s mam. She hasn’t moved that fast for years. She must have heard.’

‘Won’t she want to help?’ Tommy asked.

‘Not her,’ spat Nancy. ‘She’ll be coming round to gloat. She’ll add it to her collection of things to be sad about, that’s what she’s like.’

Tommy stared at the mouth of the alley as the woman passed by, looking neither to left nor right, face set rigid with purpose. ‘She doesn’t look very friendly,’ he admitted.