‘I told you that me and your dad had noticed a change in Daniel’s behaviour, didn’t I? Good job your father isn’t here. I’m not going to tell him or your brother this latest episode,’ Mary said.
Nancy was trembling with a mixture of rage and fear. At times like this her son reminded her so much of Little Vinny, it truly scared her. ‘I’ll kill him, Mum, if he carries on like that. You’d think the telling off I gave him after he beat up that boy at school would have taught him a lesson, but he’s becoming more of a handful every day. Adam’s fine and so is Lee, so why does Daniel feel the need to play me up? I am going to tell Michael to reprimand him when I get home. Perhaps being forced to go to bed early, or not being able to watch TV for a week might teach the little sod some manners.’
‘Was that what you wanted to speak to me about – Daniel?’
‘No. It’s Jo. Mum, if I tell you something, you must swear to me you will never repeat what I say to another living soul.’
‘Of course not! I’m your mother. If you can’t trust me, who can you trust?’
‘Jo’s pregnant again and she says she’s keeping the baby. Her parents have tried to talk her out of it and so have I, but she won’t listen. That bastard Vinny is bound to find out somewhere along the line, then it will all end in tears for poor Jo. I just know it will.’
Queenie Butler was thoroughly annoyed. Not only had Michael not had the decency to inform her the previous evening of Bobby Jackson’s death and Vinny’s arrest, he now had the cheek to tell her that, if the worst happened, it was her duty to look after Little Vinny!
‘My duty! Why is it my duty exactly, Michael?’
‘Because you’re his gran. Who else can he live with if Vinny don’t get bail? Nancy hates him, so he can’t stop with me. I guarantee he’ll behave himself. I’m gonna keep a proper close eye on him from now on, and he’ll be working with me full-time at the club. He’s a good—’
‘I’ll stop you right there, Michael, before you waste any more breath. I got lumbered with Little Vinny once before, remember? And look how that turned out. He ruined my bleedin’ conservatory, robbed the Patels’ shop and constantly ran rings around me. Never again, boy. I’ll be fifty-four next month and I really don’t need the stress, thank you very much.’
Shocked by his mother’s coldness, Michael tried one more time to make her change her mind. ‘Mum, this is Vinny’s son, your first-born grandkid we’re talking about, not some stranger. Where the hell will he live if Vinny gets banged up, eh? Do you want him living round the Bloggses’ house?’
‘I couldn’t give a shit where he lives, and even if he was Prince Charles’s son, I wouldn’t change my mind. No way is that little bastard ever living with me again, Michael, and that’s final!’
Little Vinny knocked on the Bloggses’ front door. ‘Any news yet?’ he asked Ben’s dishevelled-looking whore of a mother.
Alison Bloggs shook her head and then burst into tears. ‘I don’t reckon he’s coming back. He nicked my money and puff, and he’s never stolen off me before. I’m clucking. I’ve got no readies to score with, and I can’t go out to work of a night ’cause Ben’s not here to look after the little ’uns. I’m gonna go to the police to report him missing. Will you keep an eye on the kids for me for half an hour?’
Immediately alarmed at the mention of the police, Little Vinny took some money out of his pocket and handed it to Alison. ‘Don’t bother going to the Old Bill yet. They ain’t bothered about lads like Ben, and I’m gonna search for him again later. If anyone can find him, it’ll be me.’
‘What’s the money for?’
‘So you can score and straighten yourself out.’ Vinny handed Alison another tenner. ‘Get a couple of bottles of cider as well, eh? I’ll keep you company for a bit. Between us we can make a list of where Ben might be. The filth are mugs, they won’t find him.’
Staring at the money in her hand all Alison could think about was her next hit. She kissed Little Vinny on the cheek. ‘You’re a good boy, you are. I’ll be back in twenty minutes.’
Little Vinny breathed a sigh of relief. He had to find Ben before the police did, that was for sure. His pal was obviously not in a sound state of mind and the chances were if the Old Bill got to him first, Ben would be capable of blurting out anything.
No way was Little Vinny going down for Molly’s murder, and if that meant spending a couple of hours with Ben’s horrid mother to ensure she was too out of her nut to call in the Old Bill, then so be it.
Nancy Butler looked at her husband in annoyance. She had just spent the past ten minutes telling him how worried she was about Daniel’s behaviour, and although Michael had promised to have a chat with their son, he seemed far more concerned about his other family – as per usual.
‘I don’t want you to just have a chat with Daniel, Michael. I want you to punish him and set some boundaries for the future. He is going to go off the rails if you don’t sort him out, and I will not have him ending up like Little Vinny. Daniel reminded me so much of him when he was insolent earlier, it really did frighten me.’
Michael sighed. Like most women, Nancy could make a crisis out of the smallest of dramas. ‘Look, I’ve said I’ll talk to Daniel, OK? Give me a break, Nance, for Christ’s sake. I’ve just told you that Vinny’s been re-arrested and is up on a murder charge, and all you can do is moan about Dan wanting to watch Rainbow rather than play in the fucking garden. As if I haven’t got enough on my plate right now, what with trying to sort out somewhere for Little Vinny to live and getting the club reopened this weekend. Money is running low and we can’t live on shirt buttons.’
‘Little Vinny is not living here, so don’t even bother asking me that one. As for you reopening the club, if Vinny ends up in prison, does that mean you will be working all hours? I barely see you as it is and the boys need their father around more now they’re getting older.’
‘Nance, I have not even been in twenty minutes and you have done my swede in already. Nag, nag, nag. You should record yourself and listen to it sometime. You might teach yourself a thing or two.’
When Nancy started to cry, scream and shout, Michael stormed out of the house.
Back in Whitechapel, Queenie and Viv were discussing Pervy Pat. Both were in agreement that he needed to be dealt with.
‘There you go. Drink it in one,’ Queenie ordered, handing her ashen-faced sister a brandy. ‘I wish I knew where that dirty bastard lived now. I’d go straight round there with me meat knife and chop that diseased todger of his off. Bad enough he assaulted that poor girl, but fancy offering you a portion of helmet pie an’ all. He’ll rue the day he ever uttered those words, we’ll make sure of that. Vinny’ll sort it if he gets bail and if he don’t, Michael can do the honours. Did you actually see his, you know?’
‘It was dark down that alley, but I did sort of see it. Big and slippery like a fucking snake. I feel sick even thinking about it. I don’t wanna talk about it no more today. I need time to get over the shock. Tell me about Bren.’
Brenda had only just turned up to pick up her children and Queenie had given her daughter a right earful.
‘I can’t believe she reckons this geezer is the one, Viv. Got to be
