atmosphere in the Walker household was as though a death had occurred.
‘I mean it, Mary. If you have any contact with that girl again after the way she has upset us all tonight, I will never forgive you.’
‘I’m sorry, Donald. If I’d have known that Nancy would break our hearts like this, I would have never asked you to allow her to come back home. I’m devastated, and so, so disappointed in her. Now she is engaged to Michael, I know we’ve lost her for good,’ Mary cried.
Donald held his sobbing wife in his arms. He loved his Mary, hated seeing her so distraught and, unusually for him, had tears in his own eyes. ‘We have to let her go now, darling. Nancy has chosen to marry the enemy, and I hope on her wedding day when she looks around and sees not one member of her own family in attendance, she will realize what pain she has caused to us.’
In a restaurant in Canning Town, Karen was thoroughly enjoying herself. She had felt a little deflated earlier when Vinny hadn’t been able to perform in the bedroom, but she was fine again now.
‘You enjoying yourself? It’s so nice to be a proper couple again, isn’t it?’ Vinny asked.
‘Yes, it’s lovely. When are we going to tell Little Vinny? Can we tell him together?’
‘I thought perhaps we’d get my mum, aunt, and the rest of the family together at the weekend and tell them all at once,’ Vinny lied.
‘Sounds perfect. Who was that man who just spoke to you, Vinny? The one who just left with the black suit on,’ Karen asked.
Vinny leant forward across the table. Canning Town wasn’t his territory and he didn’t want anybody to think he was gossiping. ‘That was Eddie Mitchell. Him and his family run this manor like me and mine run Whitechapel. Why do you ask, babe? You don’t know him, do you?’
Karen giggled. ‘No. I just asked because he was handsome like you, and I could tell he was a somebody.’ Vinny had been plying her with champagne all evening, and Karen hadn’t wanted to be a spoilsport and refuse to drink it as they truly were celebrating something special.
‘Do you want a dessert, babe? I think I’ll order us another bottle of champagne. No rush to get home, is there? Especially seeing as we’ll probably be spending all night and tomorrow in bed together.’
Karen beamed from ear to ear. ‘No, I don’t want a dessert, but I must use the ladies’ room. Where is it?’
‘Upstairs, babe. The ladies’ is the first door you come to on the left.’
As Karen walked away from the table, Vinny checked no-one was watching him, topped up her glass, and discreetly added the crushed tablets to it. He shoved in a very high dosage, like he had when he had spiked her drinks twice at the club, and therefore knew it wouldn’t be too long before he would have to ring his special cab to come and collect her.
Vinny had planned this evening to perfection. The flat he had supposedly rented for Karen actually belonged to a friend of Ahmed who had gone on holiday and entrusted Ahmed with a key to keep an eye on it. Vinny had put that idea in place as he had wanted to keep Karen in his clutches, rather than have her disappearing back to Dagenham. His staff at the club had been shocked when Karen had made a fool of herself at his Auntie Viv’s birthday party, but seeing her collapse and have to be carried upstairs twice in the club since had really sewn the seeds that she was a junkie, which is exactly what Vinny had wanted.
Vinny had also chosen this restaurant for a specific reason. The manager of it was a regular at his club and had been there both times when Karen had collapsed. Vinny had already explained to him a couple of weeks ago that Karen had a drug problem and he was at his wit’s end at what to do to help her. He had also told Nick he was trying to make a go of their relationship for the sake of his son. Unbeknown to many people, Nick’s brother-in-law was East End Old Bill and Vinny knew if push came to shove, Nick would back his innocence surrounding Karen’s demise to the hilt.
Vinny smiled as Karen returned from the toilet. ‘’Ere you go, babe. To us,’ he toasted, handing Karen another glass of bubbly.
Within ten minutes, Vinny saw Karen’s eyes begin to droop, and soon after she began to slur her words. Excusing himself from the table, Vinny walked up to the tiny bar and spoke to Nick. ‘I think Karen has taken something again, mate. She seemed fine until she went to the toilet, now look at the state of her.’
Just as Nick turned around, Karen’s forehead made contact with the table. ‘Jesus Christ. Do you want me to call you a cab?’ Nick asked.
‘It’s definitely smack she is taking, that’s why she keeps going all goofy on me. I spotted a couple of needle marks in her arm the other day and I reckon she has just injected herself in your khazi. Sick of it I am, Nick, fucking sick of it. I’ve done my utmost to help her and I find it so embarrassing,’ Vinny said, sincerely.
Nick patted his pal on the shoulder. There were only about twenty other people in the restaurant apart from the staff, and none were taking much notice of Karen so it was no big deal. ‘Don’t blame yourself, pal. I’ll call you a cab, shall I?’ Nick repeated.
‘Do you know what, Nicky-boy, my mate’s cousin is a cabbie so I’m gonna call him at home and get him to take Karen back to the club. I’m gonna stay here with you for a bit and have a beer, if that’s OK? When you lock up, why don’t you come back to the club with me? I quite fancy a game of cards.’
Nick had always been a big gambler and, as Vinny knew only too well, could never say no to a game that involved money. ‘Yeah, why not. Will Karen be all right travelling back with just the cabbie though?’
‘Yeah, I’ll ring the staff at the club and tell them to open the back door and help her up to bed. I can’t deal with her problems all the time, Nick. I need a break myself.’
‘I understand. Use my phone out the back, mate.’
Vinny followed Nick out the back of the restaurant. He then rang Ahmed’s cousin. ‘Hello, mate. Do you think you could come and pick Karen up in your cab for me? She is in a bit of a state, and I need you to take her back to the club and make sure she gets inside all right.’
Nick shut the door and left his pal to finish his conversation in peace. He felt sorry for Vinny having a junkie as the mother of his kid. What man wouldn’t?
Karen had no memory of the events that followed, or the squalid flat in Poplar she was taken to.
Injected in the left arm with an enormous amount of heroin, Karen died almost immediately.
Three hours later, her body was found dumped in a nearby street behind a row of stinking dustbins.
CHAPTER THIRTY
The day after he got engaged to Nancy, Michael surprised her by renting them a house of their own. The house belonged to a pal of his and was situated in a turning just off the East India Dock Road. Nancy had been thrilled by the gesture and since they’d moved in a few days ago, the intimacy had more than returned to their relationship. The only fly in the ointment had been Karen’s unexpected death. Nancy had been terribly upset and had sworn blind that there was some kind of skulduggery involved.
On the morning of Karen’s funeral, Michael was awake at five a.m. He had driven
