Violet sank down on one of the wooden chairs. ‘Because I told them about what Pop said ages ago. Do you remember? That he was sure he’d seen Alfie Delany hanging around Kitty’s front door after dark, and he’d run off as if he was up to no good. Tommy seemed to think it made sense. I asked them to stay here but—’

‘Well, they aren’t here now,’ Dolly said. ‘That Alfie Delaney is a wrong ’un if ever I saw one. I hope they know what they’re doing.’ Her face creased with worry. ‘I hope they aren’t putting themselves in danger.’

Nancy had racked her brains for any ideas as to where a person like Alfie Delaney might take off to, if he hadn’t gone to his mother or to his old place of work, but come up with nothing. ‘I’m not going home until we find him,’ she said firmly. ‘We’re doing no good there. If he makes his own way back, then Mam and Violet will see to him. We’re better out here, even if we’re just combing the streets.’

‘Suppose so,’ said Tommy, beginning to feel his lack of sleep. His feet were weary as he dragged them along the pavement, made heavier by the unshakeable guilt. He was the man of the place and yet he’d let them all down by failing to protect them, even though he’d bolted the back gate after propping up his bike.

His bike. When had Alfie talked to him about the bike? When he’d first hoped to get his job – and also at the pub. He’d seemed to know the man at the bar there, even though the recollection was hazy. But where was the pub? He hadn’t been drunk when Alfie had taken him there, only on the way back. It struck him that it might be a good place to hole up for a while, especially if you were trying to hide a child too. He struggled to picture the sign above the door, but he hadn’t been able to see it clearly at the time. All the same, if he could just remember the way there …

‘Nancy,’ he said, more lively now. ‘I’ve had an idea. But it’ll mean a bit of a walk. It could take a while.’

‘I don’t care,’ said Nancy at once. ‘You’ve had more to do with Alfie than I have. It’s worth a try.’

‘All right, well, we’re going to find the pub he drove me to a few months back. Do you know of any that have been done up quite recently? I don’t know its name, you see.’