Payback (34 page)

Having not heard the sound of her father’s voice for years, Joanna nodded. ‘Yeah, you’re right. Give us ten minutes to get ready.’

Nancy grinned. ‘That’s my girl.’

Albie followed Michael into the Blind Beggar and was horrified to see Vinny sitting at a table alone. ‘Your brother’s over there. We don’t want no more trouble, Michael. Let’s just go for a pint at the club, eh?’ Albie hissed in his youngest son’s ear. It had been Michael’s suggestion to stop off for a pint on the way to the club, and Albie had not wanted to go in the Blind Beggar in the first place.

‘I ain’t walking out, Dad. I’d look a right fucking mug if I did. And what about the regulars, eh? They’d know something was wrong, and you know what the rumour mill is like around here.’

‘Please, Michael, you know what an arsehole your brother can be. He’s certain to kick off. Besides, Big Stan is in here. He’s bound to be nasty to me after that lie I told him.’

‘Big Stan won’t say sod all out of line to you. People ain’t stupid, Dad. They respect me, so nobody is going to dig you out. As for Vinny, let him kick off if he wants to. I’m not a little boy any more and I am certainly not scared of him.’

Albie sighed. Michael used to be so laid-back, but he wasn’t any more. Somewhere along the line Vinny’s thuggish behaviour had obviously rubbed off on him, which bothered Albie greatly.

Whenever Michael walked into a local pub, he was always surrounded by well-wishers and hangers-on who wanted to chat to him or buy him drinks. Usually he played along, pretended to be interested in their conversation, but tonight he wasn’t in the mood. Everyone else was a blur as he focused on his brother, sitting across the room, drinking by himself. Even though Michael felt bad about blurting out the truth regarding Lenny’s death, there was no way he was making the first move to smooth over the situation. Why should he, when it had been Vinny’s behaviour and big mouth that had started it all in the first place?

Albie was pleased when Big Stan approached and offered him a drink. Stan did not mention his cancer lie, so Albie decided not to either. Some things were better left unsaid.

‘Shall I get us a chaser as well, Albie?’

Albie did not reply. His eyes were on Vinny, who was walking towards Michael.

Vinny tapped his brother on the back. ‘Can we talk?’

‘Yeah, if you want.’

‘Be careful, boy,’ Albie warned, as Michael went to follow Vinny outside.

‘I’m more than capable of looking after myself, Dad. You stay here with Stan. I won’t be long.’

Vinny was standing in a shop doorway, smoking a cigarette. It was a Sunday and he could not help thinking what a sorry state the Whitechapel Road looked without the hustle and bustle of the market. The properties of hardworking shopkeepers were covered in graffiti, much of it racist – ‘NF’, ‘PAKIS OUT’, ‘KEEP BRITAIN WHITE’ – along with the usual drivel: ‘SPURS RULE’ ‘ARSENAL ARE SHIT’ ‘ICF’ ‘TRACEY LOVES GLENN HODDLE’ ‘SHARON 4 JOHNNY’ and ‘MANDY NELSON SUCKS COCKS’.

Vinny tutted and shook his head. No wonder he wanted his Molly raised in a better area. It might do Little Vinny the world of good as well. If they moved to a decent part of Essex there’d be better lads for his son to knock about with than Ben Bloggs.

‘Shithole round here now, eh? Look at the state of it,’ Vinny said bitterly, as he offered Michael a cigarette.

Michael allowed Vinny to give him a light, took a deep drag, then nodded. ‘Not like it used to be, is it? Is that what you wanted to talk about? The decline of Whitechapel?’

‘Don’t get cocky, Michael. It really doesn’t suit you.’

‘Look, I’m sorry about blurting out the Champ story, OK? But, you fucking started it, Vin. You all but told Mum and Auntie Viv I was on drugs.’

‘Yeah, I know I did, and I’m sorry too. Mum threw me out of the house today. I admitted I’d taken coke on the night Champ had died and she said I am no longer her son. I don’t want there to be no more secrets, Michael, which is why I came clean with her.’

Michael was not only shocked by his brother’s calmness and apology, he was also stunned that Vinny had told the truth. ‘Mum will come round. She loves you, Vin, you’re her golden boy. Give her a bit of time to get her head around it all, eh?’

Vinny and Michael both had their backs against the wall, staring at the traffic rather than looking one another in the eye. When Vinny finally turned to face him, Michael could see the unshed tears in his brother’s eyes. ‘What am I gonna do if Mum won’t forgive me? I doubt Auntie Viv ever will, do you?’

‘I’ll speak to Mum and Auntie Viv on your behalf. I’ll tell them how cut up you was about everything. It might take time, but things will sort themselves out, Vin, I know they will.’

‘Cheers. That’s much appreciated. I was livid with you for blurting all that shit out at first, but then I thought, we’re brothers and we’ve got a business to run, so there’s no point in us being enemies. Are we cool?’

Michael held out his right hand. ‘Yeah, we’re cool. We were both in the wrong, so let’s just call it quits.’

Vinny pulled Michael’s arm towards him, then gave him a brotherly hug. ‘You didn’t ’arf give me a clump when you knocked me on that dancefloor. Not such a little squirt any more, are ya?’

Michael chuckled. When he was a nipper, both Vinny and Roy used to refer to him as ‘Little Squirt’. ‘You can talk! Look at the state of my eye, and my back’s cut to shreds where I landed on fucking glass.’

‘Serves you right!’ Vinny joked. ‘Now, let’s get back inside that boozer, eh?’

When Vinny sauntered into the pub with an arm around his brother’s shoulder, he immediately clocked the look of disappointment on his father’s face and could not help but smirk. He might be a lot of things, but stupid was not one of them. Vinny knew that the only way back into his mother and aunt’s good books was via his brother, forgiveness was a necessary evil.

Queenie and Vivian were sitting side by side on Vivian’s new floral sofa. The sofa had been a recent present for Vivian’s fiftieth birthday and had been bought by Vinny of all people.

Puffing ferociously on a cigarette, Queenie tried to recite word for word what Vinny had told her. The only part she opted to leave out was that her son had admitted to snorting cocaine on the evening in question. Vivian was so anti-drugs and Queenie was worried that that particular snippet of information might just push her sister over the edge.

‘Well, I don’t believe for one minute Vinny was sober when he got behind that wheel. He must have been well pissed to cover it up like he did, Queen. How could I have ever trusted him to take care of my boy like I did, eh? As for Lenny being dragged off to them sordid places, I’m truly appalled by that. No wonder I caught him doing you-know-what in his bedroom that time. It all makes sense now. If only I’d have acted on the signs and put a fucking stop to it … I blame myself, I really do. I was Lenny’s mother, therefore it was my duty to protect him – and I failed miserably.’

Queenie felt a mixture of emotions as she held Vivian in her arms. Sadness, anger, but most of all guilt. As much as part of her would always love Vinny, she had no choice but to side with her sister at this moment in time and banish her son from their lives. She not only owed that to Vivian, but also to the memory of her wonderful nephew.

‘Please don’t be blaming yourself, Viv. Your Lenny adored the ground you walked on. You were the best mother he could have ever wished for, and you know it. As for Vinny, I’m finished with him because of all this. Don’t get me wrong, I know he adored Lenny and neither did he mean to crash that car. But it’s the cover-up and the lies that has broken my heart. What type of man drags his pal’s lifeless body into the front seat of a car while his cousin is lying dead in the back, then legs it without even calling an ambulance, eh? No son of mine, that’s for sure.’

Joanna Preston’s hands shook as she dialled her parents’ phone number. It had been so long since she had heard her dad’s gruff voice, she had no idea how she would react when she actually got to speak to him.

After several rings, the phone was finally answered. ‘Hello, Mum. It’s me. How are you? And how’s Dad?’

Deborah did not even reply to the question. ‘Johnny, quick – Jo’s on the phone,’ she screamed.

‘Hello, princess. Been sat indoors ever since I got out, waiting for you to ring me. How are you, sweetheart? And how’s little Molly?’

Crying, but laughing at the same time, Joanna explained how Molly was not so little any more and was in fact quite a madam. ‘She even won the talent competition at the holiday camp on Saturday, Dad. She sang “You Are My Sunshine”.’

‘Jesus Christ, even I don’t know all the words to that. Who taught it to her?’ Johnny asked.

‘Queenie and Vivian. They’re really kind to Molly, Dad, and they’ve taught her loads of old songs. I started taking her to tap-dancing lessons recently and her teacher reckons she is destined for a career in show business. She said Molly is a natural.’

Johnny Preston felt completely choked up, but did his best to hide it from his voice. He knew if he came across too heavy he would probably put Joanna off ringing again, so tried to keep the conversation as light as possible. ‘’Ere, you’ll never guess who’s here having dinner with me and your mum today.’

‘Who?’

‘Your brother. Travelled down from London and even cooked for us. You know me, Jo. I wasn’t impressed when he got that job as a chef. I thought he was gay when he came to visit me in nick and wore all that bleedin’ eyeliner, but I’m pleased to say he isn’t. Done well for himself has Johnny Junior. He’s brought his girlfriend to meet us as well. And I have to say, he’s a bloody good cook.’

Joanna put some more money in the slot to stop the pips from going and giggled. ‘I thought he was gay at one point too, Dad. Perhaps it was just the obsession with David Bowie, eh?’

‘Yep, must have been, babe.’ Johnny took a deep breath. He had to ask the question at some point. ‘So, when am I going to see you? Look, before you answer, I know it’s awkward after everything that has happened, and I will understand if you can’t bring Molly with you in case she puts her foot in it. However, just to see you and lots of photos of Molly would be enough for me, darling. Me and your mum are getting married again at ten o’clock this coming Thursday morning in a local registry office. Your brother will be there and it would mean the absolute world to both me and your mum if you could come too.’

Whether it was the two glasses of wine she’d had with her scampi and chips or just the fact she missed her family so much, Joanna did not know. But she found herself agreeing to the invitation. ‘You try to stop me coming to your wedding. Listen, I have to go now, but I’ll ring you again tomorrow or Tuesday to get the exact details. Love you, Dad.’

Johnny Preston put his thumb up to Deborah and grinned. ‘Love you too, sweetheart.’

Vinny Butler had been furious when he’d read Joanna’s note. Who the hell did she think she was, going out gallivanting with Nancy? She had not even asked his permission, and for all he knew she could be secretly meeting her scumbag of a father.

Being very protective when it came to Molly, Vinny hated Joanna taking his daughter anywhere without him being present. He had old-fashioned values at heart, and in his book a woman’s place was at home, looking after her children, unless her man was by her side. Kings was the only place he was happy letting them out of his sight, because he knew Joanna rarely left the holiday park and his mum had always been there to keep a watchful eye on his beloved little girl and her mother.

He bumped his car up a kerb and checked the map once again. Apart from when he had been to Karen’s tower block, then tracked down the pub where Yvonne Summers worked, he was no expert on the streets of Dagenham.

Realizing he was only a couple of minutes away from the address that Geary had given to Jo, Vinny put his foot on the accelerator, then turned right into Western Avenue. With a name like Shazza, Vinny had expected the girl to live on a rough council estate, but as he scanned the door numbers, he could tell that this was a much better part of Dagenham compared to the area that Karen had once lived in.

Knowing what a crafty shit his son could be, Vinny drove past the house. He didn’t want Little Vinny looking out of the window and spotting his car, because he’d be sure to do a runner out the back if he knew his dad was coming.

When the front door opened, Vinny was stunned to see a rather attractive woman who looked younger than he did. ‘Hello, sorry to bother you, but have you got a sister called Shazza? The reason I’m asking, my son has gone missing and I’m desperately worried about him,’ Vinny said politely. He had learned from past experiences that wading in like a bull in a china shop was not the way forward. Unless you were dealing with scum like Ben Bloggs’ mother, of course.

Carol Young chuckled. She had often been mistaken for Sharon’s sister and always enjoyed the compliment. She was also rather taken with how attractive and polite Little Vinny’s father was. In his smart suit, he looked more like a rich businessman than the father of the skinhead boy who was currently upstairs in her daughter’s bedroom. ‘Come in, love. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee? Your son is upstairs with my Shaz. I’m her mum, not her sister. Obsessed with that top forty chart, youngsters are these days, aren’t they?’

Vinny smiled falsely. He had just clocked the photo of the skinhead girl on the wall and could immediately tell by her mass of earrings, green eyeshadow and plum lipstick that she was older than his son. Knowing his boy, the deceitful little bastard must have lied about his age. If that was the case, Vinny could not wait to teach the boy a valuable lesson.

‘Yes, but I think the music was far better when we were their age, don’t you? Is that your daughter in the photo? Pretty girl. How old is she, Carol?’

Carol beamed. She liked this charming man immensely. ‘Yes, that’s my Shaz. She turns sixteen the week after next. I’ve arranged a party for her in the hall of the Cross Keys pub. Nothing special, just friends and family, but it would be great if you could come too. Shall I let your son know you’re here?’