Ahmed Zane popped the cork and grinned like a Cheshire cat as he did so. He’d been totally gobsmacked when he had rung the club earlier and spoken to Michael. His initial shock had soon turned to elation though. This was karma at its very best.
‘Do not keep me in suspense any longer, Ahmed. Tell me, what has happened?’ Burak demanded.
Ahmed handed his cousin a glass of champagne and held his own aloft. ‘To Vinny Butler, who has now been arrested on a murder charge.’
‘What!’ Burak exclaimed.
Laughing like a hyena, Ahmed chinked glasses with his cousin. ‘Bobby Jackson died yesterday. It couldn’t have happened at a better time either, what with Carl on the loose, eh?’
Burak agreed. Carl Thompson had been the guy Ahmed had hired to help set Vinny up, but that plan had gone pear-shaped. Carl knew too much and needed to be found and silenced.
Ahmed topped up his and Burak’s drinks. ‘Can you imagine how difficult it will be for Vinny to cope in prison? I think he will go insane, especially so soon after Molly’s death. I must ask for a visiting order so I can experience his misery in the flesh.’
Burak smirked. ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if Butler ended up in Broadmoor?’
Ahmed laughed. ‘Now that would be hilarious.’
Mary Walker knew her daughter well enough to know she had something on her mind. ‘Why did you go back to Tiptree after Molly’s funeral? Not been rowing with Michael again, have you?’ Mary pried.
Nancy sighed. She had promised Joanna that she would not tell a soul about her pregnancy, but she was so worried about her friend, she had to tell somebody. ‘Boys, go and play in the garden for five minutes,’ Nancy ordered.
Adam and Lee immediately stood up, but Daniel didn’t. He stared at his mother and in an insolent tone said, ‘No. I’m watching Rainbow.’
‘I beg your pardon! Do as your mum says now,’ Mary insisted.
Daniel glared defiantly at this grandma. ‘No. It’s cold outside.’
Fuming at the way her eight-year-old son had been behaving of late, Nancy yanked him up by the arm and dragged him into the hallway. ‘Now put your coat on and get in that garden.’
Knowing when she spoke through gritted teeth his mother was at her angriest, Daniel grinned, ‘Make me.’
With his jet-black hair and bright green eyes, Daniel had certainly inherited his looks from his father’s side of the family. So had Adam. In fact only Lee looked anything like Nancy, yet he was Michael’s son from another relationship.
‘I am sick and tired of your cheekiness and I will not put up with it any more,’ Nancy said, punctuating her words while slapping her son repeatedly across his backside and legs.
Realizing he had pushed his mother too far, Daniel mumbled ‘Mad bitch’ before scarpering into the back garden.
‘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