I stood outside a perfectly ordinary house. It was a quiet suburb, the street tree lined, cars parked either side of the road, a mixture of expensive and cheap. There was a Porsche next to a Fiat. A group of drunken were walking up the road, heading home after a night out.

The house I was looking at was different to the others. Each was of red brick, semi-detached, small front garden, well maintained.

It was difficult to connect the house with what I’d been told by Roy. This was definitely where William Lawson lived.

Roy had been as good as his word. Within ten minutes, he’d not only found the right guy where I’d been unable to, he’d also found his address.

“What’s this all about?” Roy asked over the phone after I’d taken the details.

“I’ll tell you later. First of all, I’ve got to go see him.”

So the owner of Club Darkness lived in this nondescript place. Net curtains up, number painted above the door, nothing out of the ordinary at all.

I opened the gate and walked up to the front door. I had thought about sneaking in but decided the simplest option was to just knock.

He opened it after thirty seconds of waiting. “Mr Powers,” he said, tipping his head just slightly. “Would you like to come in?”

“Where’s Alice?”

“It wasn’t a request, Mr Powers. Step inside. My neighbours will not appreciate noise at this hour.”

His voice was cold. His entire manner was frosty. Had he been expecting me? He knew who I was. “Where is she?”

“If you continue to berate me, I shall close the door and leave you to it. Your choice.”

I walked in, clenching my fists to try and keep calm.

“Good choice,” he said, walking along the hallway and into the lounge. He sat on the armchair by the fireplace, cat asleep on the rug in front of him. “Sit down and let’s talk.”

“I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to sit. I want to know what you’ve done with Alice.”

“I haven’t done anything with her.”

“But the red token-”

“You have put two and two together and made five. A red token has been issued but beyond that, who knows what it means.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

He leaned back in his chair, examining my closely. “What do you see in Alice?”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Everything. Why do you care where she is? What is she to you?”

A hundred thoughts crossed my mind at once. She was the missing piece of me, she was the thought that woke me each morning, she was the reason I felt like a part of me was dying at that moment. “She’s the right fit for the person I am,” I said at last. “I can’t explain it any better than that.”

“Do you love her?”

“What kind of a question is that?”

“A perfectly simple one. Do you love her?”

“I want her back and if you’ve hurt one hair on her head-”

“Mr Powers. You will answer my question. Do you love her?”

“Yes!”

He smiled ever so slightly. I took in that smile and tried to interpret it but I failed. He had a strange look about him. He was heading towards his sixties if he wasn’t there already. White woolly jumper, brown cords, slippers. But where his hair was grey, his face was sprightly as if he was finding our conversation terribly amusing.

“Where is she?” I asked again, my fists clenching once more. “Damn it, tell me!”

“There are certain rules that come with running a club of the nature of mine-”

“Damn your rules,” I interrupted him to shout. “Just tell me.”

“Rules matter, Mr Powers. Without them, we are no better than wild beasts. It is because of the rules that you received a black bid token. It is because of the rules that a red token was issued in your name. Did you ever think whether your infraction was serious enough to warrant a red token?”

“What does that have to do with Alice?”

“Sometimes we can only see how things connect after our journey is over. I did not know what issuing the red token might lead to. I do now.”

“I’m running out of patience. Where is she?”

If he noticed the anger in my voice, he showed no sign of caring. “The red token was merely a test of your mettle. You intrigue me, Mr Powers. So angry, so impetuous. You remind me of me when I was young.”

I opened my mouth but he waved me into silence. “I have done nothing with Alice. However you might be interested in knowing I own clubs in other cities. Perhaps you might care to visit one, Birmingham is particularly good at this time of year. They have many visiting acts.”

“Are you saying she’s there?”

“I’m not saying anything. I have to obey the rules same as you. I don’t ask how you are on first name terms with two members of the local police force for example.”

“And I guess I don’t ask you why you have the same surname as Alice.”

“Precisely. Take a trip, Mr Powers. See where it leads you.”

“If she’s not there, I’ll be back.”

“I have no doubt. Now if you don’t mind, I have a crossword waiting for me.”

“Just answer me one question,” I said as I paused in the doorway. “Why ruin me?”

“When people are tested, their true personalities emerge, Mr Powers. Now get going, the roads can be busy at this time of day.”

He nodded before picking up his crossword. I left, no closer to understanding what was going on than before but at least I had somewhere to go. Had he sent her up there? Was she in an auction up there? Was that what he meant by rules? But why tell me? None of it made any sense.

I climbed into the car and headed north. It would take three hours to get to Birmingham. I knew there was another club there. I had been to it a couple of times but it wasn’t to my taste. The things they did were too extreme even for me.

But if they did anything to her, if they hurt her in any way, then I would be back to visit him again real soon.