‘I heard that, Alfred!’
‘Yeah, well, you need to hear this too …’ He stopped, wondering quite how to say it, quite how to make it sound as casual as possible.
Sitting up, Janine, her hair in large yellow Velcro rollers, scowled. ‘You look suspicious.’
Alfie stared at her. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, then quickly said, ‘There’s no easy way of saying this, so I’ll just come straight out with it … It doesn’t look like Franny’s coming back with the money.’
The scream from Janine was followed by a huge splash, as Vaughn ran over, catching Alfie hard on the chin with his fist before pushing him into the pool.
Spitting out a mouthful of water, Alfie yelled up at Vaughn, ‘I’ll sort it, okay?’
Standing above him on the side of the pool, Vaughn, his face twisted in anger, shouted back, ‘How? How the fuck are you going to get two bloody quid, let alone two million?’
Janine, struggling to push herself up from the sun lounger, butted in. ‘And what am I supposed to do? I rely on the money you give me and now we’ll all end up on the bleedin’ streets because of you!’
Pushing his hair away from his eyes, Alfie growled at Janine. ‘Just shut up, Janine, I’ll do a job, okay.’
Vaughn stared at Alfie. ‘A job? Are you having a laugh? Just the two of us?’
‘We can get a small crew then.’
‘Get real Alf, cos no matter how much we say please, ain’t nobody I know who’s going to work for us for nothing.’
‘Then we do it ourselves. I’ve already started putting me feelers out about …’
‘Hold up, so how long have you known about Franny and the money?’
‘Only a few days.’
Vaughn could hardly speak from rage. ‘And you’re only telling us now?’
‘Well I didn’t want to believe it, did I? I thought she’d come to her senses. I dunno, I thought she wouldn’t do this to me.’
‘Well she did and it’s not just you, is it? It was two million fucking pounds of my money as well!’
‘I know, and that’s why I tried to line up a job to sort this shit out. I thought if we could give Reenie a down payment—’
Vaughn interrupted. ‘A down payment! We ain’t buying a bleedin’ car you know!’
‘Look, I ain’t giving up without a fight. If this job comes off it’s a start … We’ll be jacking some coke from a lorry. It’s not great, but it’s better than nothing.’
Vaughn let out a loud, rueful laugh. ‘Not great? It’s a mug’s game! I never came back to England to start sticking people up and maybe getting a bullet in me head.’
‘But it’s money Vaughn, and that’s what we need. And nobody is going to get a bullet in their head. We can do this. I know we can. Look at us. This is me, Alfie Jennings, once Soho’s number one face, and fuck me, you’re Vaughn Sadler, the Vaughn Sadler. Come on pal, don’t look like that!’
‘You turned us over again! I came back home to take over a multi-million-pound business, a future for me and Casey, and you’ve messed that up.’
Angry himself now, Alfie shouted, ‘You need to knock that idea out of your head. Your bird’s well and truly flitted.’
‘You bastard!’
Seething, Vaughn jumped into the pool, grabbing hold of Alfie and pushing him under the water, holding him down as Alfie splashed his arms about trying to come up for air.
‘I’m going to kill you! I’m going to fucking kill you, Alf!’
Lola, who’d just walked into the pool house, yelled as she ran over, kneeling down at the side of the swimming pool. She swung at Vaughn’s back, hitting him hard. ‘Vaughnie, leave him alone! Let go! You’re going to drown him! It ain’t his fault! Stop!’
Vaughn swivelled round, glaring with contempt at Lola. ‘You knew? You were in on it?’
‘I weren’t in on anything, but yes, I knew.’
‘By heck, this is cosy, I’m missing out. Pool parties during the day, this is what they must mean about swinging in the suburbs.’ Lloyd Page’s voice boomed out as he stood laughing behind Lola.
Standing chest-deep in the pool with a gasping, red-faced Alfie next to him, Vaughn’s expression was a picture of puzzlement and anger. ‘What the fuck is he doing here?’
‘I let him in,’ Lola muttered, looking upset.
‘I can see that, but I want to know why.’
‘Hello to you too, Vaughn, always a pleasure, though I take it Alfie hasn’t told you about our arrangement … about the job he begged me to give him.’
‘What is this?’
Accusingly, Sandra stood in the hallway as Eddie opened the front door. Her tall, skinny body wrapped up in double layer of cream knitwear and jeans.
‘Well go on then Eddie, I’m waiting. What have you got to say for yourself? What you playing at?’
Carefully, Eddie eased off his Gucci loafers attempting to avoid aggravating the painful blisters any more than he had to. He stared at Sandra, hating her as she held up the budget brand tin of cat food in her hand.
‘They didn’t have any Kitty-Kat, so I thought he’d like that.’
‘How many bleedin’ times have I told you, Barrie don’t eat this. If I told you that you were having a bit of steak for tea and instead I put a turd on your plate, how would you like it?’
‘It ain’t quite the same, Sandra, and besides, he’s only a cat.’
With an overhead shot, Sandra threw the tin of cat food at Eddie. ‘Oh, is that how it is now.’
The tin, narrowly missing Eddie’s head, smashed into the wall, leaving a large dent in the newly painted porch. He scrambled up, attempting a smile.
‘Pumpkin I’m sorry, I’ll go and get Barrie some food …’
The sound of smashing glass stopped Eddie finishing off his sentence. A loud voice came from outside.
‘Eddie! Eddie! We know you’re in there. We just want a word. Come on Eddie, open up!’
Eddie’s face paled. He whispered to Sandra, ‘Don’t open the door. Come on, hurry up, let’s go out the back.’
Not waiting for Sandra’s reply, Eddie grabbed hold of her arm, pulling her along with him towards the kitchen.
He froze. His stomach lurching.
‘Hello, Eddie. Going somewhere?’
Jason Robinson, one of the Costa del Sol’s biggest faces stood in front of him, all six foot ten of muscle. His tanned, highly polished head shone proudly under the ceiling spots. ‘I’m disappointed in you, Eddie. You don’t come and see me. You don’t answer me calls. So what am I to think, eh? Especially as you owe me some money.’
Sandra shot Eddie a look.
Jason walked forward, grinning a set of perfectly veneered teeth at her. ‘Oh, hasn’t he told you darlin’? Your old man