Lee shook his head repeatedly. ‘No way. Dad’s far too old for Katy. He still likes Bella. I honestly reckon Katy fancies me, ya know. Why else would she lean across the table like she did the other day? She even winked when she realized I’d seen her lils. That must mean something, eh?’
Daniel grabbed his brother in a playful headlock. ‘You’re making that up. I was sat at the table with ya, and I never saw her bazookas. If Katy fancies any of us, it’s me. She well wants me to put my Hampton in her mouth.’
Laughing, Lee tussled with his brother. ‘You wish. In ya dreams.’
Queenie Butler drank her sherry in one fell swoop. First the row with Viv, then Brenda getting seven bells knocked out of her. Today had been truly awful.
Not long after Tara and Tommy had arrived on her doorstep, the Old Bill had turned up. Brenda had been taken to hospital, was extremely drunk and also battered and bruised, they’d informed her.
Vinny had wanted to go straight to the hospital, then hunt down Brenda’s bloke, ‘Dagenham Dave’ as the family called him. Queenie had known the first moment she’d ever laid eyes on the man that he was a drunken loser, just like Albie. Unable to stomach Brenda when she had booze inside her, and desperate to avoid her beloved son acting on impulse and landing himself in trouble, Queenie had insisted they visit Brenda tomorrow. It had taken some doing, but she’d managed to persuade Vinny to stay at hers tonight. He was upstairs now, settling Tommy, Tara and Ava down.
Queenie mumbled plenty of blasphemes as she poured herself another drink. On the advice of a neighbour, she’d had that drunken old priest round last Christmas. Fat Beryl was Catholic and had sworn Father Patrick could get rid of all evil spirits.
Well, the exorcism the silly old Irish bum had performed hadn’t worked, had it? The Butlers were still cursed. Always had been and always fucking would be.
The Enemy greeted his probation officer warmly. He’d learned how to play the system while banged up. Let the mugs think you were a reformed character and the world was your oyster.
‘I’ve got the keys. The lady at the council said it’s a decent-sized property. Near Dagenham fire station. Peverel House, to be precise.’
‘Is that one of them tower blocks?’
‘Yes, it is. Are you ready to view it?’
He grinned. Whatever the property was like, he’d snap the council’s hands off for it. He had a plan, and once he had his own gaff, that plan would be far easier to put into action. He could almost smell the Butlers’ blood.
Brenda was sitting up in bed, reading, when her mother and brother marched into the ward. She immediately threw her magazine down in annoyance. ‘What do yous two want?’
Queenie stared at her once attractive daughter. She had a cut on her head, a swollen lip, a black eye and looked fatter than ever. ‘What exactly happened, love? I didn’t know that bastard knocked you about. Why didn’t you tell us?’
‘Because Dave isn’t a bastard and he doesn’t knock me about. This was all my fault, Mum. I goaded him until he snapped.’
‘That’s no excuse for hitting a woman. The geezer’s scum,’ Vinny spat, conveniently forgetting that he’d had the mothers of both of his children murdered. Karen, Little Vinny’s mum, had popped her clogs thanks to a lethal dose of heroin being forced upon her. And Joanna, Ava’s mother, had been killed when her car was rammed off the road by a speeding truck. On both occasions Vinny had got away with it. He knew how to stay one step ahead of the Old Bill and had made damn sure he had decent alibis while others were paid to do his dirty work for him.
‘Don’t start, Vin. I hit Dave first, about ten times. I bet his face looks far worse than mine. Anyway, there’s no real harm done. The nurse reckons the doctor will let me go home soon.’
‘You ain’t going back to him, young lady. Petrified, Tara and Tommy were, poor little mites. You need to make a clean break. It’s about time you sorted your life out once and for all. You need to stop drinking, lose some bloody weight and smarten yourself up a bit,’ Queenie insisted.
‘Where are Tara and Tommy now?’ Brenda asked.
‘At mine. Little Vinny’s looking after ’em. Your brother is going to rent you a flat, so you can get away from Dave and start afresh.’
‘Since when have yous two ever been bothered about me? I’m thirty-two, not ten, and no way are you dictating to me where I can or cannot live. I love Dave and he loves me. All couples argue, that’s life. You and Dad never stopped fucking arguing, if I remember rightly.’
‘That’s why I chucked the old goat out. Can’t see the wood for the trees, you,’ Queenie hissed.
Brenda chuckled sarcastically. Ever since she was a teenager she’d had a difficult relationship with her family. Her mother especially, as she’d always favoured her precious boys over her. Even when she’d been young, Brenda had felt surplus to requirements, and that feeling had accompanied her into adulthood. It probably explained why her self-esteem was so low. ‘And there was me thinkingyou’d slung my dad out because he’d got Judy Preston up the spout. Silly me.’
Snarling, Queenie tugged Vinny’s arm. ‘Come on, let’s go. She’s a waste of fucking space as well as an embarrassment to us. Let her go back to the tosspot and drink herself to death.’
‘Hold your horses, Mum.’ Vinny turned back to Brenda. ‘How do you think Tara and Tommy will turn out, living in your current set-up? I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, Bren, but I wanna help you sort yourself out. Call it an olive branch. If you’ve got a brain, you’ll take it.’
‘I must be brainless then as I would rather eat dogshit than accept any help from you. Now fuck off and leave me alone, the pair of ya.’
‘Come on,’ Queenie ordered, tugging her son’s arm again.
‘You are one dumb cunt, Brenda,’ Vinny said, shaking his head in despair.
‘I’m not as dumb as you think, big bruv. I know you must’ve got rid of Karen and Joanna. Bit of a coincidence both mothers of your kids are brown bread, don’t ya think? And I’m warning you now, if you lay one hand on my Dave, I will go to the police and tell them everything. And that includes Old Jack’s lad, Terry Smart, Kenny Jackson and every other poor bastard in Whitechapel that disappeared off the face of this earth, thanks to you.’
When Vinny lunged at his sister, Queenie slapped him hard around the face to bring him to his senses. ‘She ain’t worth it, boy. Come on, we’re going.’
‘Bye bye. Thanks for the visit,’ Brenda laughed.
Pushing Vinny towards the exit, Queenie turned towards Brenda and wagged her forefinger. ‘If I had one wish, it would be I’d never given birth to you. You’re dead in my eyes, girl. Dead!’
Madam Lydia’s ability to see into the future was scarily accurate, and Bella D’Angelo felt her spirits soar when her spiritual guide predicted she would one day actually marry the love of her life. Bella totally believed in Madam Lydia. So many things she’d predicted over the years had come true. Including Vinny bloody Butler.
‘Are you sure?’ Bella mumbled.
‘As sure as I can be, my love. The image is in the distance though, which suggests the wedding is too. In the forefront is this bad man. He is tall, dark and evil. But I feel you have a hold over him in some way and deep down he is scared of you. If you confront him, he will back away.’
‘Are you sure?’