When Little Vinny ran up the stairs and Queenie followed him, Karen suddenly felt nervous. It had taken a lot of guts and planning to come back to Whitechapel, and she couldn’t bottle it now. If she was to have regular contact with her son, then she needed to stand up for herself. It was the only way forward.
‘You got some front turning up here. What you after? More dosh?’ Vinny asked, shutting the lounge door.
‘No, I don’t want your money. All I want is to have contact with my son, Vinny. I don’t want to take him away from you. I just want to see him on a regular basis. He is absolutely adorable, just like I knew he would be and as his mother I have a right to see him grow up.’
‘You lost all your rights as a mother when you took my fucking money and bolted. Now, you have two choices. You can either walk away now and live, or continue this bollocks and die. The choice is yours, so what is it to be, Karen? And don’t think I won’t kill you, because I will.’
‘I know you will, which is why I have already sought legal advice and been to the police, Vinny. They have everything logged on record and if I go missing, or my mutilated body is found, you will go down for the murder. I have made damn sure of that.’
The mention of the police being involved put the fear of God into Vinny. His main source of information on the inside had retired from his position as Chief Inspector last year, and even though he still gave Geary a back-hander for any odds and sods he needed, now he was all legal he had no reason to have the Old Bill on his payroll any more.
‘So, can I see our son from time to time?’ Karen asked. She had noticed the look of fear on Vinny’s face when she had mentioned the police, and was pleased that she sounded so confident, because her insides actually felt like jelly.
Vinny flopped onto the armchair opposite Karen. He knew he had been lucky to get away with topping Dave Phillips and there was no way he could chance getting rid of Karen himself if the bitch had already spoken to the police. The thought of doing life in prison and not seeing his son grow up was unbearable, so instead of strangling Karen and watching the life seep out of her like he wanted to, Vinny forced a smile. ‘I suppose it’s only right with you being his mother that you see him. It has to be on my terms though, and I don’t want him going out on his own with you until he gets to know you better.’
Thrilled that Vinny had actually seen sense, Karen nodded her head. ‘I understand that, but I would love my mum to meet him. Perhaps I could bring her round to your mum’s house?’
Much to his displeasure, Vinny forced himself to smile again. ‘Look, why don’t I book a nice restaurant and your mum can meet him over lunch?’
Karen was suddenly suspicious. Vinny was being a bit too nice for her liking. ‘OK. What day shall we arrange it for?’ she asked. There was nothing Vinny could do to harm her in such a public place.
‘How about Wednesday? I’ll give you the phone number of my club, bell me tomorrow afternoon and I’ll have somewhere nice booked. I’ll talk to Little Vinny tomorrow and explain everything properly to him. Sorry for the way I reacted earlier, I was out of order. Just the shock of you turning up out the blue, I suppose.’
‘That’s OK. I’m sorry for turning up like that as well. I never wanted to give our son up in the first place though, you do know that? I was just so scared of you, Vinny. That’s why I took the money and ran. I’ve sorted myself out now though. I gave up the stripping and I now work as a barmaid in a pub in Dagenham. I could be a good mum to Little Vinny now, I know I could.’
Vinny nodded as if to agree with her. ‘Look, I’ve gotta shoot now. I’ve got a meeting with a guy at the club at eight. Do you need a lift anywhere?’
‘No, I’m fine, thanks. I’ll walk to the station, it’s only round the corner.’
Escorting Karen to the front door, Vinny handed her his phone number on a piece of paper and told her to ring him after two tomorrow.
‘Thanks for everything, Vinny, and I’ll see you on Wednesday,’ Karen said, as she walked down the path.
Vinny closed the door and sighed deeply as he leant against it. Plan A had been to brazenly murder Karen, and seeing as it was far too dangerous to do that now, he needed to quickly think of a Plan B.
Once she had got over her initial nervousness, Nancy had thoroughly enjoyed her date with Michael. He had taken her to a steakhouse in Stratford and even though she had been far too excited to eat very much, Nancy had felt very grown-up and had even had a couple of Cinzanos and lemonade.
Nancy had never had a proper boyfriend in the past. She had been on a few first dates with different lads, but had never enjoyed herself enough to bother with a second one. Being with Michael was different. Not only was he the most handsome lad that she had ever seen, he was also funny, interesting and an absolute gentleman. The five-year age gap didn’t bother Nancy one little bit. She would much rather date a man than a boy. Especially one who drove a red Mustang convertible like Michael did. Nancy had nearly wet herself with excitement when she had clapped eyes on his car.
‘Do I go straight on at these lights?’ Michael asked, snapping Nancy out of her deliriously happy daydream.
‘Yes, then first right and you can drop me on the corner. I live in the next road along and I don’t want my nosy parents to know my business. They keep trying to fix me up with their friend’s awful son, Roger.’
Michael chuckled, followed Nancy’s directions, then pulled over near a couple of garages. He’d had a wonderful evening, so much so, he had decided to pay Denise a visit tomorrow to break up with her for good. Obviously, he hadn’t mentioned to Nancy that he currently had a girlfriend. What was the point if he was going to end the relationship?
Michael turned down the volume on the radio to drown out the sound of Dawn singing ‘Knock Three Times’ and turned to face Nancy. He had never been as desperate to kiss a girl in his life. ‘I really had a good time tonight. Can I see you again, Nancy?’
Nancy stared into Michael’s kind green eyes and smiled. If her parents found out she was dating one of the Butler boys she knew they would go ballistic, but as long as she and Michael kept well away from the Ilford area, it was highly unlikely her parents would find out. ‘Yes. I don’t want my mum and dad to find out though, Michael, so we can’t ever go out around here. My parents are very protective of me and Dad is such an old stick-in-the-mud. Apart from boring Roger who I told you about earlier, he would find fault with anybody I dated.’
‘Don’t worry about your parents. They won’t find out about us. What day can I see you again?’ Michael asked. It had occurred to him in the restaurant earlier who Nancy reminded him of. With her luscious lips and long mop of blonde hair, she looked uncannily like a young Bridgette Bardot.
‘I can see you on Wednesday, if you like? That’s my day off this week.’
‘OK. Let’s go out for the day then, shall we? Leave it with me and I’ll think of something special. Is ten too early for me to pick you up? I can meet you where my car was parked earlier, instead of at the station.’
‘Ten is fine. I’d better go now, Michael. I have to get up for work early.’
‘Can I kiss you first?’ Michael asked, amazed by his own words. He usually just went in for the kill, rather than be polite about it.
‘Yes,’ Nancy whispered, her nerves coming back to haunt her once again.
When Michael leant towards her and their lips entwined for the very first time, Nancy forgot all about her anxiety and responded eagerly. Michael’s kiss was perfect, just like he was.
When Brenda Butler was violently sick for the second morning running, alarm bells began ringing in her head. Her mum had gone to visit her nan’s grave with her Auntie Viv, which would thankfully avert another interrogation like she’d had to endure yesterday morning.
Brenda washed her face, then stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her relationship with Dean Smart had been one of secrecy and passion until he had dumped her just over six weeks ago. ‘Look, Bren, you’re a lovely girl, and I really like you, but I am sick of sneaking around like a couple of silly schoolkids. Your brothers will go mental if they find out about us, and my family will probably disown me. I think we should stop seeing one another before any real damage is done,’ Dean had told her bluntly.
Seeing as Dean was the lad who had taken her virginity, Brenda was heartbroken. Her heartbreak soon turned to anger, though, when she was informed by a few of her friends that less than a week after dumping her, Dean was parading his new girlfriend around town.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and Brenda had considered telling her brothers what had happened just to pay Dean back for betraying her so cruelly. But in the end she had chosen to keep schtum. Vinny had had many a run-in with Dean’s dad, Terry, and Brenda knew if Vinny found out that she had slept with Terry’s son, he would probably throttle her.
Feeling the bile in her throat begin to rise again, Brenda put her head back over the toilet and retched. It was sod’s law she was pregnant with Dean’s baby. That would be just her fucking luck.
Over at Bow Cemetery, Vivian was about to blow a fuse. ‘Don’t you dare! You’re far too old to be doing that now. Christ, if anyone sees you, you’ll be nicked for indecent exposure. You’re a big boy now, Lenny, and big boys have big dingle-dangles.’
Ignoring his mother, Lenny turned his back on her and his Auntie Queenie and pissed all over Old Man Taylor’s unkempt grave.
‘I shall give him such a fucking doughboy when I get him home. Played me up something rotten since we found out about Bill’s death, he has. In fact, just lately, I think that poxy school is doing him more harm than good. I think I’m gonna have to pull Lenny out of there for the sake of his own sanity.’
‘Now he’s fifteen, surely it would be better for him if he had a little job?’ Queenie suggested.
‘Doing what though?’ Vivian asked wearily. Her Lenny was hardly Einstein, poor little sod.
Queenie smirked. ‘I’m sure the boys will find him a job at the club. You just leave it to me.’
Michael was open-mouthed when Nancy climbed into his car. She was wearing chunky wedge-heeled sandals, a faded denim waistcoat, mauve hotpants, and her legs were the longest Michael had ever seen.
Noticing Michael looked rather taken aback by her outfit, Nancy suddenly wished she had worn something else. ‘I’ve got a wrap-over skirt in my bag. I only wore this because I was so hot,’ she explained awkwardly.
‘You look fine. In fact, you look better than fine. You look incredible.’
‘Thanks. You look nice too,’ Nancy replied. Michael was dressed casually today.
‘Right, shall we be on our way then?’
‘Yep. Where we going?’ Nancy asked, feeling her stomach churn with excitement. Michael had the roof down on his Mustang, and Nancy couldn’t wait to hit the road and feel the breeze fly through her hair.
‘Hainault Forest. I’ve got a picnic in the boot fit for a princess and that’s what you are, darling.’
Vinny politely kissed Karen’s mum on the cheek, then introduced his son to her. ‘This is your Nanny Maureen. Go give her a hug, boy.’
When his son hugged his nan then wanted to sit on his mother’s lap, Vinny urged him to do so. He had already thought of a way of getting Karen out of his and his son’s lives for good, but firstly he had to gain her trust.
‘Do you want to open your presents, Vinny? This one is from me and that one is from your nan,’ Karen said, pointing to two wrapped-up boxes.
Vinny plastered a false grin on his face while watching his son open his presents. Karen actually seemed quite good with Little Vinny, but sharing was not in Vinny’s nature. The boy was his property, he had raised him and that’s the way it would stay.
Brenda Butler ordered her pal to meet her in a café in Aldgate rather than their usual one in Whitechapel.
‘Whatever’s wrong? Why did you make me schlep all the way up here?’ Susan Shipton asked.
Brenda was near to tears as she explained all about her morning sickness. ‘And I can’t fit into my white jeans any more. I must be pregnant, I know I am. What am I gonna do, Sue?’
‘Well, you’re gonna have to get a test done for a start. I’ll come to the doctor’s with you.’
‘I can’t go to my doctor in case he tells my mum or brothers. Can’t you take a water sample to your doctor’s and pretend it’s yours?’ Brenda asked hopefully.
‘No, I bloody can’t! My mum would kill me if she thought I was up the spout, Bren. Why don’t you go to that dodgy doctor where Gillian Trott went? He does pregnancy tests if you pay him. In fact, he sells you tablets and all sorts if you pay him. He even arranged Gillian’s abortion for her. A pal of his did it.’
‘Where’s his surgery?’ Brenda asked.
‘It ain’t a proper surgery. It’s a room in his house where he sees his patients. He is a real doctor though, I think. Gillian will know his address. Shall we go and find a phonebox after we’ve finished our drinks? I know her number off by heart.’
Gulping the rest of her tea down in one, Brenda stood up. ‘Come on, let’s ring her now.’
With Michael and Vinny both out, Roy decided to make up for taking the other night off by tackling the paperwork alone. Within seconds of sitting down to start his tedious task, he was disturbed by the doorbell ringing. ‘Who is it?’ he shouted when he looked through the spyhole and couldn’t see anybody standing there.
‘It’s me, boy. It’s your dad.’
Recognizing his father’s voice, Roy yanked open the door. ‘Fucking hell, Dad. What you doing here?’
‘That’s a nice greeting. Can I come in? I need to sit down for a bit.’ Albie’s breathing was clearly laboured.
‘Do you want a drink?’ Roy asked, as he led his father inside.
‘I could murder a brandy, boy. Can you make it a large one?’
Roy was in a daze as he poured out two large brandies. His dad was only fifty-one, but looked more like an old-age pensioner. Gone was the thick mop of dark hair and the twinkle in his eye. His barnet had thinned and was now swept over his head to hide any bald patches. As for his eyes, they had completely lost their sparkle.