‘OK, well, thanks for all your help, Maureen. Best me and Vivvy get up the hospital now,’ Queenie said, grabbing her sister’s arm and marching off in the opposite direction.
‘Don’t worry too much, Queen. You know how Maureen likes to exaggerate, and if Little Vinny stood up to unlock the door himself, he must be OK,’ Vivian said comfortingly.
‘Well, I’ll tell you something, Vivvy. If that little bastard hasn’t got any broken bones, he soon will have if he has ruined my beloved conservatory. I’ll break his fucking neck.’
After having lunch and a few drinks in the clubhouse, Vinny and Ahmed suggested they take the girls for a drive so they could explore more of Eastbourne.
Joanna and Chloe were extremely impressed when they saw Vinny’s flash-looking Jaguar, and even though the men had told them very little about what they did for a living, apart from describing themselves as businessmen, the girls saw no danger in going for a drive with them. Usually Joanna and Chloe just chilled by the swimming pool every day after finishing their cleaning, so it was nice to do something different and more exciting for a change.
Vinny took a drive around some of the coastal roads and then stopped at a pub called the Moorings that overlooked the beach. ‘Fancy another drink, ladies?’ he asked.
‘I thought you had to drive back to London this afternoon. What time do you have to leave?’ Joanna asked.
Ahmed chuckled. ‘We don’t. Our mums say we can stay out late.’
Vinny allowed his mind to wander. Many a night he had laid in bed virtually salivating, such was his desire to get even with Preston, and now that time had come. He had asked George Geary to track the bastard down years ago, and when Geary had failed, Vinny had surmised Johnny had changed his name. That wasn’t the case though, and Vinny was now sure that Geary had purposely not even tried to find Preston in case it ended up in a bloodbath and he was implicated.
Vinny had toyed with hiring a private detective at one point, but he was too wary of who he could trust. Loose lips sink ships was a true old saying and one that his mother had drummed into him since childhood.
Vinny glanced into his interior mirror and grinned as Joanna locked eyes with him. The buzz of retribution was already in his system, and it was a bigger high than cocaine. ‘Well, we was going back to London this afternoon, but that was before we met you two beautiful young ladies. Have you and Chloe got any plans for tonight? If you have, please don’t think of cancelling them on our behalf, but if you haven’t, Ahmed and I can stay in my chalet tonight, then drive back to London tomorrow morning. We would love to take you to a nice restaurant later. Or a club? It’s your call,’ Vinny said.
Joanna and Chloe immediately nudged one another excitedly. Tiptree had never been the most stimulating place to live, and the majority of the lads there were quite dull. Vinny reminded Joanna of her dad in some ways, but with a lot more going for him. Joanna’s mum had always described her dad as a Vinny-type when they had first met and were living in South London, but she’d said he had changed when they had moved to Tiptree.
‘Well?’ Chloe asked her pal.
‘It’s up to you,’ Joanna giggled. She wasn’t a virgin, had already slept with two lads back in Tiptree, but there was something about Vinny when he looked at her with those eyes and that stare that made her feel naïve again.
‘OK. Seeing as my mate can’t make a decision, I say we should go to a nightclub,’ Chloe told Vinny.
‘I hope you good dancer. I the best. Turkish man know how to move and groove,’ Ahmed cheekily informed Chloe.
‘Well, that’s settled then. You go get the drinks, Ahmed, while I phone home. I promised Little Vinny I would ring him earlier, then forgot. I’ll be back in a minute, ladies,’ Vinny said, courteously. As he turned his back to walk away, he couldn’t help but smirk. He already had Joanna Preston in the palm of his clever hand, and he knew it.
Queenie Butler screamed when she saw the state of her once-beautiful conservatory. Vinny had paid for it as a birthday present last year, and now it looked like it had been a casualty of one of Hitler’s bombs. The roof was ruined, the panel in the middle had completely caved in, and her lovely flowered sofa with the carved wooden arms and legs, was as flat as a pancake. ‘Aw, my gawd, Vivvy. He’s even flattened me best plant. I’ll swing for the little bastard. Where is he now?’
Little Vinny had escaped his ordeal with just a broken left arm and a small graze on his forehead. The nurse had said that there were no signs of concussion, so he was allowed to go home, but if he were to be sick later, or complain of a bad headache, Queenie should bring him back to the hospital just to be on the safe side.
‘He’s gone upstairs to his bedroom. He’s a bit subdued, ain’t he?’ Vivian said.
‘I’ll give him fucking subdued! I told him he wasn’t allowed in this house alone, and what does he do, he breaks in, the little bastard. Couldn’t even successfully do that, could he? I wouldn’t have minded so much if he had smashed one of me windows, but ruining my conservatory is the final straw, Vivvy. He ain’t my responsibility no more. I can’t handle the child.’
‘I’ll get that,’ Vivian said, when the phone rang. She was hoping it might be her Lenny. She always worried when he worked at the club alone during the day, but Vinny insisted he was fine. He reckoned responsibility was just what the boy needed. ‘It’s Vinny, Queen,’ Vivian shouted out.
Absolutely livid, Queenie snatched the phone out of her sister’s hand. ‘Where the fuck are you? You need to get your arse back here, boy. Your son is driving me totally doolally.’
‘I’m in Eastbourne, Mum. You knew I was coming here to buy a place. I’ve had a few beers now, so have decided to stay here for the night. I’ll be home first thing in the morning, then I’m coming back here at the weekend and bringing you, Auntie Viv, and Champ with me. Guess who are appearing at the clubhouse on Saturday night? Showaddywaddy. You like them, don’t you?’ Vinny said, trying to smooth over his mother’s obvious bad mood.
‘Fuck Showaddywaddy! That little bastard you’ve lumbered me with has broken his arm and smashed up my conservatory. Fell through the bastard roof, he did. Now you get your arse back here a.s.a.p. I am too old to handle that child, so best you pick him up before I break his scrawny neck, or shove him in an orphanage. I’ve had a gutful of him. I can’t hack it no more.’
Vinny sighed with pure frustration. He had been desperate to fuck Joanna Preston’s brains out this evening, and by the way she had been looking at him, he had known his ultimate shag had been on the cards. ‘Calm down, Mum. I hate to hear you this upset. I’ll leave Eastbourne now, and hopefully, traffic permitting, will be back in three hours. Where is Little Vinny now? Is he OK?’
‘In his bedroom. The nurse put plaster on his arm, then said to bring him home. I’m stressed up to me eyeballs. Not only does he worry the bloody life out of me, I now have no fucking roof on my conservatory. What with Roy now moving to Eastbourne, I’m at the end of me tether, son, I really am.’
Assuring his mother he would sort everything out including his son and her roof, Vinny ended the call, plastered a smile on his face and walked over to the table where Ahmed and the girls sat. His quest for revenge would just have to wait that little bit longer.
Mary Walker walked towards her daughter’s house with slight trepidation. Like any decent mother, Mary knew her Nancy inside out, and not only was it out of character for her to ring the café, it was also the tone of Nancy’s voice that had warned Mary something was dreadfully amiss.
‘What’s wrong, darling? Are the boys OK? I know you always wait for me to ring you unless it’s urgent,’ Mary said, when her daughter answered the front door.
‘Oh, it’s everything, Mum. Daniel and Adam both have stomach bugs. Michael has to be at the club all this weekend because Vinny has bought some bloody place on a holiday camp in Eastbourne and is taking most of the family there, and I just can’t get over what Dad and Christopher did to me. How could they be so heartless?’ Nancy sobbed.
Mary looked at her daughter in astonishment. ‘What’re you on about? Where did you see your dad and Christopher?’
‘When I was walking to the park with Rhonda yesterday. I had the boys with me, and as soon as Dad and Christopher spotted us, they crossed the road. I don’t care about them wanting nothing to do with me, but how could they ignore Daniel and Adam like that? I’d already told Daniel that his granddad and uncle were walking towards us and he burst into tears when they avoided him.’
Mary was absolutely furious. She had thought Donald and Christopher seemed a bit sheepish when they’d returned from the pub the previous day and now she knew why. ‘Are you sure they saw you, love?’
‘Of course I’m sure. Christopher even looked at me from the other side of the road, until Dad probably told him to stop. Really spoilt my day it did, and now I feel depressed again. Rhonda was appalled by what happened. She said any granddad who crossed the road to avoid his own grandsons needed stringing up.’
‘Oh, you wait until I get home. I’ll string him up all right. In fact, if Michael is working all weekend, shall I pack a little case and come and stay with you? That will teach the pair of heartless bastards a lesson, won’t it?’
‘That would be great, Mum. The boys will love it.’
‘Bleedin’ hell, Nance. A police car has just pulled up outside. They’re looking at your house, love. Where’s Michael?’ Mary asked.
‘Taken the boys to the doctor’s. Oh my God! Please don’t let nothing terrible have happened to them,’ Nancy said, running to open the front door.
Mary’s heart was beating like a drum as she followed Nancy into the hallway.
‘Nothing has happened to my husband and sons, has it? They only went to the doctor’s. It’s just around the corner,’ Nancy gabbled, her voice full of panic. She could tell by the serious looks on the two officers’ faces that it was bad news.
‘It’s actually Michael Butler we’ve come to see. Are you his wife?’ the male officer asked.
Nancy felt relief seep through her veins. If they were looking for Michael then he and the boys were obviously OK. ‘What do you want to see Michael for? Has he done something wrong?’
‘No, he hasn’t,’ the female officer replied.
‘Here’s Michael now, love,’ Mary informed her daughter, pointing towards her son-in-law crossing the road.
With Adam in his arms, and Daniel by his side, Michael’s face whitened as he saw the two coppers standing at his front door. ‘What’s up?’ he asked.
‘I’m afraid we have some bad news for you, Mr Butler. Shall we speak inside?’ the male officer suggested.
‘Babe, go in the front room with your mum and the kids while I speak to the officers in the kitchen,’ Michael ordered his wife. He waited until the lounge door was shut. ‘Hit me with it then.’
‘I’m afraid your son Lee was involved in a car accident in the early hours of this morning.’
Michael felt the colour drain out of his face. ‘Oh Jesus! Please tell me he’s OK?’
‘Apart from slight concussion and a few cuts and bruises, Lee is fine. But, I’m afraid his mother, gran, and the driver of the car were not so lucky. There were also two fatalities in the car they collided with,’ the female officer told Michael.
‘What do you mean exactly? Are Denise and her mum both dead then?’ Michael asked, dumbly. His brain and body were numb with the shock of it all.
‘I’m afraid so, Mr Butler. Your son was incredibly lucky to survive according to the firemen who cut him free from the wreckage.’
‘So, where is Lee now?’
‘He is in Oldchurch Hospital in Romford. I spoke to the doctor there earlier and he said Lee should be well enough to be discharged in a couple of days. He hasn’t been informed that his mother or gran are dead yet though. We thought that might be kinder coming from you rather than us. Children usually adapt to news of that kind far better if it comes from a relative.’
‘I’ll go straight to the hospital after you leave. Where is he going to live though?’ Michael asked, worriedly.
‘With you surely, Sir? You are his father after all,’ the female officer said.
Michael felt embarrassed. ‘Yes, of course. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just not thinking straight what with the shock of it all.’
The male officer handed Michael a piece of paper. ‘We understand, Sir. This is the ward Lee is on and that is the name of the doctor we spoke to earlier.’
Too astounded by the bombshell that had been dropped on him to even ask where the accident had happened or who was driving the car, Michael thanked the police officers for their time, and showed them out.
Nancy and Mary appeared in the hallway as soon as they heard the front door slam. ‘Whatever is it, Michael?’ Nancy asked. Her husband looked like he had seen a ghost.
‘It’s Lee. He was involved in a bad car accident last night. He’s OK, but Denise is dead and so is her mum. I’ve got to go to the hospital and break the news to the poor little sod. How do you tell a four-year-old kid that his family have all been snuffed out, eh?’ Michael asked, rather hoping that Nancy would offer to accompany him.
Nancy didn’t. Instead she said, ‘Oh my God! This is so awful. Who is Lee going to live with?’
‘Us, Nancy. He doesn’t have anyone else now, does he?’
Nancy shook her head vehemently. ‘He can’t live here. No way! I have enough on my plate with Daniel and Adam, Michael. Lee must have other relatives. He will have to live with those.’
Michael had always loved his wife dearly, but for once he looked at her with hatred. How could Nancy be so bloody selfish? ‘Well, like it or lump it, that boy is coming to live here, Nance. No flesh and blood of mine is going to be brought up by some stranger or in care when he has me as a father. Can you imagine the light people would see me in when they find out my son has just had his family wiped out, and I dumped him like a bag of old rubbish too? No way, darling.’
‘I couldn’t give a shit what people say or think, Michael. I am telling you now, I cannot cope with the two I already have, so no way I am taking on another one. Lee will have to live elsewhere,’ Nancy screamed.