was bowled over when he learned that Nancy’s new friend Brenda just happened to be Vinny Butler’s sister. ‘Do you think one day your brother will let us see inside his club?’ he asked, in a star-struck voice.
Thrilled that she had a new best friend and desperate to impress Nancy and her brother, Brenda nodded. ‘I’ll take you there now if you like. I pop in there all the time,’ she boasted.
‘I’d better go home for my tea now. Shall I meet you outside the café and walk to school with you in the morning?’ Tommy asked Christopher.
‘Yeah, see you tomorrow,’ Christopher said to his new pal.
The club was only a couple of minutes away and praying that her brothers were inside so she wouldn’t make herself look a fool, Brenda was relieved when Vinny answered the door.
‘You OK, sweetheart?’ he asked, noticing his sister had a grazed knee and dirty hands.
‘I fell over playing hopscotch and I want to wash my hands and knee. Can my friends come in?’
Poking his head around the door, Vinny was surprised to see Nancy and Christopher standing there. He had no idea they even knew his little sister. ‘Come on then. One glass of Coke and a bag of crisps each, then you’ll have to go. I’ve got some business to sort out in a bit,’ he said. The bent Chief Inspector was popping in to pick up his money for the alcohol licence and Vinny didn’t want him to clock the kids inside the club in case he tried to sting him for even more dosh.
‘What you doing here, trouble?’ Roy said, as Brenda ran towards him and Michael.
‘This is my new best friend, Nancy,’ Brenda said proudly.
‘Hello,’ Nancy mumbled.
‘Well, ain’t you a pretty little thing,’ Michael said, winking at her.
‘Yep, she’ll break some hearts one day, like they all do,’ Vinny said, half-joking, half-serious, as he put the Coke and crisps on a table.
‘You all right, boy?’ Roy asked Christopher. The lad looked as if he was in a trance and was gazing around the club with his mouth wide open.
‘That’s my brother,’ Nancy said, smiling at Michael. She found Roy and Vinny a bit scary, but had immediately taken to Michael because he had such a kind face.
‘I really like your club,’ Christopher said, looking at Vinny in awe.
‘Cheers, boy,’ Vinny chuckled.
‘You been home from school yet, Bren? Is Mum and Auntie Viv OK?’ Roy asked.
‘Yeah, I’ve been home, but Mum was upset and she went to sit in Auntie Viv’s house.’
Vinny was immediately alarmed. ‘What do you mean, upset? What was wrong with her?’
‘Dunno. She was sitting on Auntie Viv’s sofa drinking brandy and she looked like she’d been crying.’
‘Why didn’t you bleedin’ well tell me that when you knocked on the door?’ Vinny asked, suddenly agitated.
‘Don’t have a go at her, Vin,’ Roy urged. His brother’s mouth could run away with him at times.
‘Shall I pop round there and make sure everything’s OK?’ Michael offered. Since Vinny had had a go at him, he was trying to do his best to please.
Vinny and Roy glanced at one another. Both were thinking the same thing. Their mother was a tough old East End bird, she never cried, so she had either found out that Vinny had attacked their father, or she knew about his affair.
‘I’ve gotta wait here for Geary, so you pop round home, Roy. You, Michael, can have the night off.’
‘Do you want me to go home to Mum as well?’ Brenda didn’t understand what the hell was going on.
Vinny handed his sister a pound note. ‘No. You take that, buy your friends some sweets and split the change equally between yous. Don’t go home just yet, Bren.’
When Michael opened the door of the club, ruffled her hair and called her sweetheart, Nancy couldn’t look him in the eyes. For the first time ever she had a crush on somebody, but unfortunately for Nancy, he was five years her senior.
CHAPTER SIX
‘I’m really sorry, Mum. I was going to tell you in front of Dad at Michael’s birthday lunch, but when I found out about the baby, I decided to sort it meself. Please forgive me,’ Vinny said, staring at his expensive black leather shoes in shame. Vinny loved his mother more than anybody else in the world. If it wasn’t for her sound advice, he wouldn’t be the man he was today. ‘Vinny, you do whatever it takes to make something of your life. It’s better to be a somebody than a nobody, son, and if that means stealing and stamping out people along the way, then so be it. Don’t ever knock or ill-treat your own kind though. You look after them,’ his mum had told him on the day he’d left school.
Aware that her son looked distraught, Queenie put her arms around him and gave him a motherly hug. Vinny was genuinely sorry, she knew that, and she was also thrilled when he had admitted to her that it was him who had put his father in hospital. ‘Let’s put all this behind us now. Your father ain’t worth the salt in our tears, boy. And thanks for giving him such a good going-over. You did me proud.’
Thrilled that his beloved mother was no longer angry with him, Vinny hugged her tightly to his chest.
Johnny Preston was parked up in his Triumph Herald approximately fifty yards from Queenie Butler’s house. Johnny loved his new set of wheels. It was a white convertible and a real babe magnet, just like himself.
With his strawberry-blond hair, six-foot frame, and Adonis-like physique, Johnny Preston was a handsome bastard and he knew it.
‘Cor, it’s fucking taters sitting here. Run the engine, so we can warm ourselves up a bit,’ Dave said to Johnny.
Johnny turned to his pal and shook his head in mock disbelief. Dave Phillips was his best mate. They had been as thick as thieves since the age of six and Dave was one of the toughest bastards that Johnny knew. Until it came to the weather, that was. As soon as the temperature fell below five degrees, Dave had a terrible habit of turning into a big girl’s blouse.
‘You’re such a tart, Phillips,’ Johnny said, starting the ignition. He turned up the volume of the radio. The Kinks were one of Johnny’s favourite bands and as he sang along to ‘Tired of Waiting for You’, he thought how very apt the song was. The reason being, he was getting fucking sick of waiting for mummy’s boy Vinny Butler to reappear from Queenie’s house.
Vinny still being tied to his mother’s apron strings was well-known amongst the criminal fraternity in London. As far as Johnny knew, nobody had ever said anything to Vinny’s face, but Johnny was well aware that many people laughed at Vinny’s almost incestuous relationship with her. He had even heard Mad Frankie Fraser joke about it once or twice.
It was because of his desperation to worm his way in with Mad Frankie and, in particular, Eddie Richardson, that Johnny had decided to confront Vinny Butler with only Dave as back-up. Their other
