hand she struggled with the basics of motherhood. She also treated Lee differently to her own sons, and that pissed Michael off immensely. In his eyes, if Nancy was a decent human being she would include Lee in the trips to her parents and the days out they had. She knew Lee had no grandparents on his mother’s side.
‘I’m looking forward to seeing the dog, Dad, but I am gonna miss my brothers,’ Lee told his father on the journey to his aunt’s house.
‘I know you will, boy.’ Lee had an aunt in Bow whom he stayed with whenever Daniel and Adam went to their grandparents, and he adored her old bull terrier, Spike.
After Michael had dropped Lee off, he got back in the car and grinned. His best pal Kevin was usually under the thumb but his wife was away visiting relatives, so today he and Kev were going out on a good old-fashioned pub crawl. Letting his hair down was just what Michael needed.
Vinny Butler was feeling anxious. He had never found out who had sent those flowers, and knowing somebody had it in for you, but not knowing who that person was, was driving him insane. He had always been paranoid when it came to his safety and that of his family, and now he felt as though he was constantly looking over his shoulder. He had even purchased two guns recently. One was hidden at the club and the other at home, just to be on the safe side.
Vinny had completely ruled Ahmed out of his list of suspects now. Things had been a bit stilted between the two of them for a month or so after the accident, but they had since got their friendship back on track. The drug business was becoming more and more profitable by the day, and Vinny knew Ahmed well enough to know vandalizing cars and daubing graffiti was not his pal’s style. Like himself, Ahmed had class, and would never resort to something so petty.
Vinny stared at the photo of himself, Roy and Michael that sat proudly on his office wall. It had been taken years ago, long before Roy’s accident. ‘If I were a betting man, Roy, my money would be on either Bobby Jackson or Johnny Preston pulling these stunts. What do you reckon, eh, bruv?’
Averting his focus from his unknown stalker, Vinny thought about Joanna. He had only got her up the spout to piss her father off and pay him back for shooting Roy, yet he was now really looking forward to the birth of his second child. He had dreaded the birth of Little Vinny when Karen was pregnant, but he loved being a dad and was hoping for a daughter this time around. Girls were more of a worry, but far less trouble than boys, he imagined.
Michael Butler was having a whale of a time. He was in the Carpenter’s Arms, and it had been a long time since he had really let his hair down.
‘Slow down a bit, mate. You’re drinking for England,’ Kevin said.
‘You’ve been sinking ’em like there’s no tomorrow as well. Talk about pot calling kettle,’ Michael retorted.
‘Are you insinuating I is black?’ Kevin joked.
Michael burst out laughing. Kev was mixed race and they went back years. When they were in their early teens there had been far fewer black faces in the East End, and whenever the pair of them came across some bigot, Kev would always lay on a thick Jamaican accent just for fun. His mum’s family were white and he barely knew his father, so Michael could never work out how he managed to do the accent so well.
‘What’s up? Who you looking at?’ Kevin asked.
Unable to tear his eyes away from the girl, Michael continued to stare at her. She was tall, dark-skinned, with long glossy hair and the sexiest body that Michael had ever seen. She was wearing high-heeled boots, a black leather jacket that had tassels swinging from the sleeves, and faded jeans.
Kevin changed seats and chuckled. ‘Put your tongue away, mate, you’re a married man now, remember?’
With his handsome face, cheeky grin and legendary chat-up lines, Michael had been a real player in his heyday. He had slept with so many girls his mum and aunt nicknamed him Alfie after the womanizing rogue played by Michael Caine in the film. Meeting Nancy had changed all that, but when the girl locked eyes with him, Michael could only think of one thing.
Fucking her senseless.
Vinny Butler was dumbfounded as he listened to what Paul had to say. ‘You sure it was her?’
When the doorman said he was positive, Vinny thanked him for the information, replaced the receiver, then grabbed his car keys. Seeing was believing and he needed to see the slag with his own eyes.
Joanna Preston clutched hold of the sink for support as the searing pain shot through her body again. Where was Vinny? He should have been home ages ago.
Feeling a strange sensation, she started to panic. There was water gushing out of her and it had created a puddle by her feet. Overcome by another jolt of pain, Joanna sank to her knees. ‘Vinny, Vinny. I need you to ring the club, and find out where your dad is. I think the baby’s coming,’ she screamed out.
Little Vinny was sitting on his bed listening to this week’s chart countdown. Debating whether to respond to Joanna’s desperate cries for help, he quickly decided against it. Instead, he turned the volume up on his radio and sang along with Joe Tex. ‘Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)’ was such a catchy tune.
Vinny Butler’s heart was beating like a drum when he pulled up outside the Three Travellers pub in Dagenham. He hated the bitch with a passion, but felt anxious and sick to the stomach at the thought of seeing her again.
With her lithe body, long flowing hair, infectious laugh and perfect white teeth, Vinny Butler had fallen in love with Yvonne Summers on sight as a lad. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, yet the slut had used him and then tortured his mind.
His mouth bone-dry, Vinny approached the pub window. He peered through and could barely believe his eyes. ‘No longer petite’ had been Paul’s assessment of her. Well, that was the understatement of the century. Yvonne Summers was that fat she resembled a whale that had been washed up on the beach.
In complete shock, Vinny stood rooted to the spot. He could not believe this was the same woman whose memory had taunted him for so long, but it was. The fat cow looked like she had fallen out the ugly tree and hit every fucking branch on the way down.
Hearing voices behind him, Vinny turned around. There were two teenage girls staring at him and giggling. ‘You looking for someone?’ one asked.
‘Yeah, my mate. I don’t think he is in there though,’ Vinny replied.
‘Well, we’ll keep you company, won’t we, Barb?’ the blonde one said, nudging her pal.
‘Not ’arf! We don’t often get talent like you in the Travellers, do we, Wendy?’ the ginger girl replied, smiling at Vinny.
Vinny grinned falsely, and handed the girls a tenner just to get rid of them. ‘Go in the pub and order yourselves a drink, ladies. Get me half of lager – any kind will do. I’ll be in in a couple of minutes.’
When the girls disappeared, Vinny looked through the window once again. Seeing Yvonne laughing and joking with a customer, Vinny felt the urge to stroll inside and wipe the smile off the whore’s face by smashing her big fat head against the bar, but he managed to resist. No way was that monster worth getting nicked over, not on your nelly.
