his few belongings and left Whitechapel, he had luckily still had the two hundred quid that Vinny had stuffed in his jacket pocket as a bribe. Not knowing where to go, Albie had returned cap in hand to Becontree Heath and as luck would have it, Pauline had snatched a hundred quid out of his hand, proclaimed she had missed him, and welcomed him back into her home with open arms.
Albie put his hand inside the pocket of his raincoat and checked that the letters were still there. He had spent all yesterday evening writing them in the Matapan pub, and although he had never been a man of words, for once he felt he had done himself proud. For all Queenie’s faults, she deserved to know the truth, not only about how she had made him feel over the years, but also that her eldest son was out of control. He had to warn her if only for Roy and Colleen’s sake. As much as Albie hated to admit it, his sperm had produced a wrong ’un, and he would wait at the hospital for as long as it took. Michael was the only one he could truly trust, which is why he had written him a separate letter. His family were entitled to know what they were dealing with, and Albie was determined that they read the truth from him. Whether or not they believed it was another matter.
Nancy was incredibly anxious as she walked over to her brother. Rhonda had told her he was standing by the till, and apart from her father, Christopher was the last person she wanted to see. ‘What’s up?’ she asked, as casually as she could. She then gestured for her brother to follow her outside the shop.
‘I would rather say what I have to say here, thank you, Nancy. I feel your colleagues might be able to help me make you see sense,’ Christopher stated, hands on hips.
Clocking both her colleagues’ and the customers’ awkward glances, Nancy grabbed Christopher by the arm and tried to lead him outside the shop. ‘Don’t you dare show me up. We’ll speak outside,’ she hissed.
‘Oh, no we won’t,’ Christopher said in a loud voice while waving the East London Advertiser in the air and pointing at the front page. ‘You see these people on the front page, everybody? The gangsters who were shot at? Well, this is the family my stupid sister has left our own family home for and moved in with. My mother is devastated, my father is distraught, and all I want is my sister back.’
Feeling herself blush the colour of crimson, Nancy first looked at Rhonda, then her manager Steven, and then the queuing customers. ‘I am so sorry about all this, everybody,’ she said apologetically.
‘And so you should be, Nancy. Mum, Dad and I have been out of our minds with worry. So, are you coming home with me after work? Or not? I am willing to wait for you if you wish.’
Nancy had never ever felt so humiliated in her whole life. ‘No, Christopher. I am not coming home with you. Now, please get out of my shop and leave me alone. And if you come back here again and jeopardize my job, I swear I will tell Michael about it, OK?’
Unable to believe his ears, Christopher sneered at Nancy, his face a picture of disgust. It was too late to save his sister. She was already a Butler.
After dropping Karen home, Vinny headed to the club. Out of respect for his brother, Vinny hadn’t opened up since the shooting.
Checking that everything was just as it should be, Vinny was about to leave the premises when he heard the shrill ring of the phone, and so he dashed behind the bar to answer it.
‘That you, Vinny?’
Even though he hadn’t heard the voice for a long time, Vinny recognized it immediately. George Geary was the now retired chief inspector Vinny had had in his pocket for many years. ‘You all right, George? What’s up?’
‘Just heard a bit of inside info, boy, which I thought you might be interested in. Obviously, I will expect a drink in return. Fifty quid, shall we say?’
‘Go on,’ Vinny replied.
‘My old mob are just about to charge a man with the attempted murder of your brother. They caught him the same night it happened, but wasn’t allowed to question him immediately, because he’d been involved in a road accident.’
‘Who is it, George?’ Vinny asked, his heart beating like a drum.
‘Johnny Preston.’
Shocked to the core, Vinny told George to pick up his dosh the following day and slammed the phone back on its cradle. He then smashed his fist against the bar. Johnny Preston would pay for what he had done in the very worst way possible. What that was yet, Vinny did not know. But, what he did know was that by the time he had finished with him, Johnny cunting Preston would wish he had never been born.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The following morning, Queenie and Vivian arrived at the hospital at eight a.m. and soon realized that even though she had promised to go home and get some sleep, Colleen had stayed at Roy’s beside again all night.
Queenie sat down next to her future daughter-in-law and squeezed her hand. ‘Look, sweetheart, I know how much you love Roy, we all do, but sitting here nigh-on twenty-four hours a day isn’t the answer. You need to eat, kip, and start looking after yourself. You heard what the doctor said yesterday: they have no idea when Roy will wake up, so you must get a grip, darling. Every human being needs food and sleep. We can’t survive without it.’
‘Queenie’s right, Colleen. You look ill, and your Roy ain’t gonna want to wake up to a skeleton, is he?’ Vivian added.
‘You OK, love?’ Queenie asked, as Colleen stood up and stared blankly at her and Vivian.
‘No, I feel a bit …’ Colleen mumbled, and then collapsed before finishing her sentence.
Unaware that the police were currently at the hospital talking to his mother, Michael was on his way there. Since Roy had been shot, apart from the first night, Michael had barely seen or spoken to his eldest brother. Unlike the rest of the family who had visited Roy on a daily basis, Vinny had stayed well away, his excuse being that it broke his heart to see his brother in a coma, and it was pointless being there until he actually woke up.
‘Michael, why do they call this area the Waste?’ Lenny asked.
Michael couldn’t help but smile. Ever since the lad had started work at the club, he seemed to ask questions all day long. Last week, Michael had spent the whole day trying to explain why elephants had trunks to his young cousin.
‘Michael, why are you living at Auntie Queenie’s now? Why ain’t you living with Vinny no more? Have yous two fallen out?’ Lenny asked, without even waiting for the first answer.
Putting a protective arm around Lenny, Michael led him safely across the road. ‘No, ’course me and Vin haven’t fallen out. He’s been staying with his Turkish mate in Camden, and I’ve been stopping at your Auntie Queenie’s house because Nancy has now moved in with me.’
‘Do you love Nancy? Are you going to marry her?’ Lenny asked bluntly.
‘Yes, I love Nancy, Champ, and one day if she is lucky, I might just marry her,’ Michael said, with a wink.
Lenny chuckled, but Michael missed his inquisitive cousin’s next question, as he had just spotted his father standing by a wall, waving frantically at him.
Over in Dagenham, Karen had spent the past hour deciding what she was going to take to her lovely new home. Vinny had sworn her
