‘Give your Grandad a kiss, Georgie,’ Joyce ordered.
Eddie sat Harry on the sofa next to his sister, then knelt down in front of the pair of them. Apart from a quick glance when he’d knocked at O’Hara’s house, he hadn’t seen Georgie for well over a year, but still felt hurt that she didn’t seem to remember him. He spoke gently. ‘I know neither of you really know who I am, but that’s my fault because I had to go away somewhere. I’m your mum’s dad, your Grandad Eddie.’
Georgie and Harry glanced at one another. Within seconds, Georgie had worked it all out. ‘What, like my dad is Jed and you are Eddie, Mummy’s dad?’
Eddie smiled. ‘That’s right, and being your mum’s dad makes me your grandad.’
Georgie smiled and then hugged him. If this man was her mum’s dad, then she liked him.
‘Can we see Mummy now?’ Harry asked again.
‘Hopefully you can soon, but you have to do what I tell you to do, is that OK? Will you do that for me?’
Georgie and Harry both nodded excitedly. They couldn’t wait to see their mum.
‘In a little while a man and a lady are going to come here. You must tell them that you ran away from home because you miss your mum so much. The lady will ask you some questions and you must tell her that you don’t like living with your dad, Nanny Alice and Grandad Jimmy. Tell her you want to live with Nanny Joyce, Uncle Joey, or me.’
‘Will she take us to see Mummy then?’ Harry enquired.
‘Not tonight, but hopefully very soon,’ Eddie replied.
‘Why did Mummy leave us?’ Georgie asked sadly.
Eddie stroked her long, dark hair. ‘Your Mummy didn’t leave you. She would never do that because she loves you and Harry more than anything in the world. Something happened between your mum and dad and the police took your mummy away for a little while.’
Georgie chewed her fingernails. ‘Is Mummy in prison? Daddy says she is and Nanny Alice says she’s an old shitcunt.’
Eddie could barely believe what he was hearing. He was no angel, but how could any grandmother teach her four-year-old granddaughter that type of language? ‘Your Nanny Alice needs her mouth washed out with soap. Tell the lady that as well, Georgie, tell her what Nanny Alice said about your mum. Don’t forget, will ya?’
‘She said Mummy is an old shitcunt,’ Harry repeated proudly. Neither child was old enough to understand the meaning of such awful language.
‘Good boy,’ Eddie said, patting Harry on the head. Larry and the social worker would be here soon, and they needed to get this right. ‘Now, I want you to pretend that I’m the lady and when I ask you a question, you are to answer it like I told you to. Can you do that for me?’
Both children nodded.
‘So, why did you run away from home?’ Eddie asked.
Joyce, Joey and Dominic all smiled at one another as the children repeated what Ed had told them to say. Georgie was especially convincing, as she answered every question in detail with the answers her grandfather had given her.
‘Was that your idea or Larry’s, Dad?’ Joey asked, impressed.
‘A bit of both really, but it was Larry’s idea to get the social worker involved. She’s got a lot of sway, apparently.’
‘I can’t believe the O’Haras ain’t knocked here. I mean, surely they know the kids are missing,’ Joyce said, perplexed.
‘They’re scum, what do you expect?’ Eddie replied.
Dominic turned to Georgie and Harry. ‘Where was your dad, nan and grandad when you ran away? Were they all at home?’ he asked.
Both children shook their heads. ‘Nanny Alice and Grandad Jimmy went out and Daddy was in the front room with Sally, making funny noises,’ Georgie replied.
Eddie glanced at Joey, shook his head and knelt down again. ‘Tell the lady that as well. Tell her that when you ran away, Daddy was making funny noises with his girlfriend in another room.’
Georgie grinned and nodded eagerly. She really liked her Grandad Eddie; he was cool and treated her like a big girl. ‘Can we live with you, Grandad?’ she asked hopefully.
Feeling himself getting all emotional again, Eddie stood up. Anything could have happened to those kids today, absolutely anything. Say some nonce-case had spotted them and abducted them? The O’Haras wanted shooting and the fact that they’d put his grandchildren in danger made Ed want to be the one to pull that trigger even more.
‘Where you goin’, Grandad?’ Harry asked as Eddie bolted from the room.
‘Toilet,’ Eddie lied. The truth was, he was struggling to hold back the tears and it wasn’t in his nature to show weakness, not even in front of his own.
Alice O’Hara was inconsolable. Crying one minute, screaming, ranting and raving the next. She was losing the plot, especially with Jed, and Jimmy knew it. They’d all spent an hour searching on foot, but there was neither hide nor hair of Georgie or Harry. It was as though the kids had disappeared into thin air. Knowing they had to widen their search, Jimmy had now called reinforcements in. His nephew Sammy had already arrived and his son Billy was on his way and was bringing another four blokes from his site with him. Pat Murphy had offered to help as well. He’d got here within minutes of Jimmy’s phone call, as he only lived down the road.
‘Don’t just fucking stand there, then!’ Alice screamed at everyone.
Jimmy grabbed hold of his wife and held her shaking body close to his chest. ‘We’re just waiting for Billy boy, love, and then we’ll jump in three or four motors and we’ll find them. They’ll be OK, I promise you that.’
‘You promised me Marky’s funeral would be OK and look what happened there. As for you,’ Alice yelled, breaking free from her husband and punching her youngest son in the side of his head, ‘you ain’t fit to be a father, you selfish, no-good cunt.’
As Sally tried to cuddle him, Jed pushed her away. He blamed his girlfriend entirely for what had happened. It was all her fault; he’d been happily watching the telly with the kids until she’d started rubbing his cock. She should never have done that, not when she knew he had to look after Georgie and Harry.
‘Do yourself a favour and go back to your father’s tonight, Sally. I ain’t in the best of moods, OK? If you hadn’t have come round ’ere today, none of this would have happened.’
Sally looked at Jed with an incredulous expression on her face. None of this was her bloody fault. How could he even say that when the reason her beautiful son was dead was because of him?
‘You bastard! My Lukey boy died because somebody was trying to shoot you. How can you blame me for this, Jed? After everything we’ve been through, how could you be so callous?’
‘Don’t you dare blame that girl,’ Alice yelled at Jed.
Desperate to get back into his mother’s good books, Jed did what he was best at and lied. ‘You don’t know the fucking half of it, Mum. I told her to leave me alone, but she kept touching me in front of Georgie and Harry. I didn’t want them to see all that shit, that’s why we went upstairs. I mean, I ain’t had sex for weeks, so what was I supposed to do?’
Jed had always been the apple of Alice’s eye and she was now glad she had an excuse to stop hating him and blame somebody else. ‘Go home, Sally, and don’t fucking come back until you learn how to behave,’ she screamed viciously.
Jed pushed Sally towards the front door. ‘Wait at the end of the drive. I’ll order you a cab and