Payback (54 page)

Nancy Butler and Deborah Preston were both in tears as they put all Molly’s belongings into black dustbin sacks. They had packed Joanna’s things earlier and loaded them into Deborah’s car. ‘I am so going to miss seeing Jo all the time, Deborah – and Molly, of course. My life is going to feel so empty now, I know it is.’

Deborah gave Nancy a hug. Joanna had been in such a state after viewing Molly’s body, she and Johnny had literally had to drag her kicking and screaming from the mortuary. It had been a horrid experience for all the family, and Deborah would never forget that stench of death as long as she lived.

Johnny had been the one who suggested that they drive Joanna straight back to Tiptree. The realization that Molly really was dead had knocked her for six, and she was in no fit state to return to the house in Whitechapel and see all her daughter’s toys, clothes and other belongings.

‘You’re welcome to come and stay with us whenever you like, Nancy, you know that. Joanna is going to need you more than ever now.’

‘I know, and when I visit I won’t bring the boys with me. It will be too raw for Jo if I do. Too much of a reminder of what she’s lost herself, bless her.’

‘You’re such a kind and thoughtful girl, Nancy. I’m glad you’re going to stay with your parents for a while. You need looking after, and I’m sure your lovely mum will take good care of you. As Johnny said to me last night, sad as this terrible situation has been for all of us, the one good thing to come out of it is that Joanna will no longer be in Vinny’s clutches. Poor Molly was the only thing holding that relationship together. Vinny has made it perfectly clear that he wants no more to do with Jo, and there is no way she would ever get back together with him. I only hope that she can get through this, meet a nice lad and have more children. They will never replace Molly, I know that, but I just pray that at some point she will be strong enough to move on with her life.’

Feeling a bit teary, Nancy nodded. ‘I’m sure she will in time. Jo is made of strong stuff. Let’s pack the rest of this stuff up and get out of here, Deborah. This house gives me the bloody creeps.’

Jamie Preston sat opposite DI Smithers with his mouth wide open. He had just been charged with Molly’s murder and was absolutely furious. Apart from the obvious, the Old Bill had nothing on him and he knew it. ‘I didn’t fucking do it! I never even knew Molly,’ he screamed, trying to lunge at Smithers.

Jamie’s social worker and solicitor stayed frozen in their seats as Townsend leapt up and restrained their awkward client.

Smithers smirked at the furious child as he continued: ‘You are not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so, but anything you do say will be taken down in writing and may be given in evidence.’

‘I’m innocent! It wasn’t me! Tell them, Nan, tell them,’ Jamie cried.

Shirley Preston was dumbstruck. She had been ringing the police countless times a day since Jamie had told her he didn’t want her in the interview room, and the longer the police had held her grandson without charging him, the more confident she had become that he was innocent.

‘I need you to sign the charge sheet, Jamie,’ Smithers said.

‘I ain’t signing nothing. I’m telling the fucking truth,’ Jamie spat.

‘Just do as the policeman has asked you to, Jamie. You’re in enough bloody trouble as it is,’ Shirley ordered her grandson. How was she meant to break this news to Judy and Johnny? It was going to cause ructions.

Jamie wept when he signed his name. ‘Nan, you must believe me. Ring Uncle Johnny, he will know what to do. I never touched Molly, I swear on your life I didn’t.’

‘Don’t be swearing on my life, boy. I’ve had bad enough chest pains these past few days as it is.’

Vinny cursed and thumped the cigarette machine. He, Ahmed and Michael had been chain-smoking this past week, and he must have taken the last packet out of the vending machine in the early hours of this morning when he returned from his disastrous trip to Leyton. The last thing he wanted to do was go to the shop and have to face people, but he desperately needed some fags. He had no idea what time Ahmed would be back as he couldn’t even remember him leaving. As for Michael, he’d gone all saintly on him again last night and stormed out in a huff. He couldn’t recall his brother’s exact words, but he knew Michael had given him a right earful of abuse.

Vinny opened the bag of cocaine that Ahmed had given him, racked up a huge line and immediately felt slightly less pissed as it hit the back of his throat. He had already done over half a bottle of Scotch since Townsend had left.

Praying that he wouldn’t bump into anybody he knew during the short walk to the newsagent’s, Vinny picked up his keys. He then remembered he had heard no more from Geary, so decided to call him first. Finding out who was responsible for murdering his beautiful child was a billion times more important than his craving for nicotine.

Eight miles away in Barking, Albie and Michael were having a heart to heart. ‘Honestly, Dad, if I hadn’t left the club when I did, I’m sure I would have been tempted myself. I don’t even think of the shit any more, provided it’s not laid out on a table in front of me. But I could smell it and I really wanted some. Makes me feel so fucking weak, admitting that.’

‘Don’t beat yourself up, Michael. I’m really proud of you for walking away. We all have our demons in life – look at me with the booze. Whenever you feel tempted again, just think of your lovely Nancy and those wonderful boys of yours. What happened to Molly is incredibly sad, but now she has been found you should really concentrate on your own family. Your brother will only drag you down otherwise.’

Michael sighed. ‘I know you ain’t no fan of Vinny’s, and neither am I at times, believe me. But he is still my brother and I can’t just leave him in the lurch. What about the club, eh? Our takings were going downhill before all this happened, and there’s no way we can open up again until after Molly’s funeral. That would be far too disrespectful. As for my wonderful wife, she isn’t as fucking wonderful as you think, Dad. Every time the chips are down, she pisses off back to her parents and takes my sons with her. I stood by her when she went into nut-nut mode, but she never bastard-well sticks by me in a crisis. Selfish cow, she is at times.’

Albie was about to try to make his son see sense when Little Vinny wandered into the lounge in nothing but a pair of grey Nike tracksuit bottoms. He had been studying himself in the mirror upstairs. His hair had now grown from a skinhead into more of a crop, and after everything that had happened, being a skinhead would forever remind him of his disastrous relationship with Shazza and Molly’s death. So he had decided to become a Casual now instead. He and Ben had seen a few Casuals when they were riding up and down on the District Line last night, and they seemed to have far more success with birds than skinheads did.

‘My turn to make breakfast today, Granddad. What do you and Uncle Michael want to eat?’

‘I’ll have a bacon sandwich, boy,’ Albie said.

‘And I’ll have the same. You sure you can cook, Vin?’ Michael added.

‘Yeah. Nan taught me when I lived with her. I won’t poison yous, I promise.’

When his grandson wandered off to the kitchen, Albie turned to Michael. ‘Pleasantly surprised me, that boy has. I thought I was gonna have murders with him, but he’s been as good as gold.’

‘Unfortunately, Little Vinny is a replica of his father. When he’s good he’s very good – but when he’s bad, he’s pure evil.’

Vinny Butler marched towards the newsagent with a face like thunder. Geary’s main source of information at Arbour Square was apparently on holiday and wasn’t due back until next week. The only thing Geary had been able to confirm was the police had somebody in custody, but for the first time ever the useless old bastard could not find out who.

‘Hello, Vinny. I am so sorry to hear of your loss. Me and the missus have shed a fair few tears, let me tell you. Such a lovely kid, Molly was.’

‘Not now. I’m not in the mood,’ Vinny said, glaring at Big Stan before barging past him.

‘I want two hundred Marlboro. My vending machine has run out of fags,’ Vinny announced, as he entered the shop.

Derek put the cigarettes into a bag and handed them to Vinny. ‘No need to pay me, just replace them when you can. So sorry to hear about your Molly. Such a lovely kid and I will miss seeing her little face in here.’

Vinny snatched the bag and stomped out of the shop without replying. He knew people were only trying to be kind, but he did not want their fucking sympathy. Nothing was going to bring his daughter back, was it?

‘Hello, love. So sorry to hear the bad news. I saw your mum and aunt earlier and passed on my condolences. Do the police know how Molly died yet?’ Nosy Hilda asked.

Vinny felt his hackles rise. Less than fifty yards away Bobby Jackson was strolling along without a care in the world. ‘Hold that,’ Vinny ordered, shoving the bag into Hilda’s hands. He then darted behind the market stalls so Jackson wouldn’t spot him.

Peeping around the side of a fruit-and-veg stall, Vinny’s face reddened with fury. Bobby was standing outside the bookies, laughing and joking with One-Eyed Harry.

Unable to stop himself, Vinny ran at Bobby like a raging bull. ‘Thought my daughter going missing was funny, did you? Not laughing now, are you, cunt!’ Vinny yelled, as he repeatedly smashed Jackson’s head against the bookies’ window.

The sound of shattering glass had women and children screaming as they fled the violent scene in terror.

‘Stop it, Vinny. You’re gonna kill him, and they’ll put you in prison,’ Nosy Hilda shouted. She could barely wait to go to bingo tonight to tell her friends what had happened. For once she wouldn’t need to exaggerate the drama.

‘You’re a sicko, you scum of the earth. You joked in the pub that you’d throttled my daughter and that’s how she died. It was you who killed her, wasn’t it? Well, now it is your turn to die,’ Vinny screamed, as he repeatedly kicked Bobby in the head and face.

The petrified young woman who had only been working at the bookies for six weeks ended her call to the police and ran from the shop in tears. Bobby was a regular, one of her favourite punters, and she could not stand by and just watch him die. ‘Do something! Bobby’s dying, I know he is,’ she shouted at the gawpers.

It finally took three stallholders, two brave passers-by, and twenty-stone Helen who worked in the baker’s to drag Vinny away from his victim.

Nosy Hilda put her hand over her mouth. Bobby Jackson had a huge shard of glass jutting out of his head, and it reminded her of a horror movie she had recently seen.

One-Eyed Harry, who had been frozen to the spot in fear of losing the sight in his other eye, crouched down next to Bobby Jackson. His bloodied and battered body lay motionless. ‘Call an ambulance, quick! I don’t think he’s breathing.’

Queenie and Vivian had spent the morning visiting and tidying up the graves of their loved ones. Neither woman had fancied going to the cemetery, but the job had to be done.

‘Once Molly’s funeral is out of the way, I’ll have a word with Michael about getting Lenny a new headstone,’ Queenie said, giving her sister’s hand a squeeze.

‘Thanks, Queen. There’s no rush though.’

‘Speaking of no rush, I reckon we might as well jump off this bus. The poxy thing ain’t moved for five minutes, and all I can hear is sirens. I reckon there’s been a bad accident up ahead.’

When Queenie and Vivian leapt off the bus and crossed the road, they guessed by the crowds of people congregated near the market that some drama had occurred.

‘It looks near to the bookies. I bet it’s another armed robbery,’ Queenie said, craning her neck.

Because of their bleach-blonde identical shoulder-length hairstyles and the fact they were always dolled up to the nines, Queenie and Vivian were easy to spot from a distance.

‘Oh, here we go. Nosy Hilda has just broken into a run – desperate to be the first to tell us what’s happened,’ Queenie said.

‘Be funny if she fell arse over tit, wouldn’t it?’ Vivian replied, chuckling at the very thought.

By the time Hilda reached Queenie and Vivian she was completely out of breath. ‘You heard the news?’ she panted.

‘No, but I’m sure you’re about to tell us,’ Vivian mumbled.

‘It’s Vinny. He threw Bobby Jackson through the bookies’ window, then did him over real bad. I even saw him stamp on Jackson’s head a couple of times.’

‘Oh dear God no. Where is Vinny now?’ Queenie asked.

‘Dunno. He ran off before the ambulance and police showed up. It looks as though Jackson’s brown bread. Got a big lump of glass poking out of his head – definitely looked a goner to me. No sign of life whatsoever.’

Queenie had tears in her eyes as she turned to Vivian. ‘We must have been wicked bastards us in our past life, you know. Talk about it never rains but it pours …’

As soon as Vinny heard the buzzer go, followed by the pummelling on the club’s front door, he knew it was the Old Bill. He walked into the reception area and shouted out. ‘Who is it?’

‘Vinny, it’s DS Townsend here. You need to open the door, mate. Don’t make things any worse for yourself.’

‘OK. Just give me half an hour to have a shave, shower and change of clothes.’

‘You need to open up now, Vinny. We have officers around the back of the club, so there is no way you will be able to do a runner.’

‘If I planned to do a runner, I would have hardly come back here in the first place, would I? As I said, just give me half an hour to freshen up, then I’ll open the door to you.’

‘Don’t mess me about, Vinny.’

‘I won’t, Townsend. You have my word on that.’

Townsend’s colleagues looked at him. ‘Why don’t we just kick the back door in?’ one asked.

‘Because it is made of thick metal, same as this one.’

‘OK, so we get the cutting equipment out and let ourselves in.’

‘No point. By the time the cutting equipment arrives, Vinny will have opened the front door,’ said Townsend.

‘You actually trust him, boss?’

‘Yes, I do.’

Shirley Preston picked up the phone. She had once been so close to both of her children, but arguments and events over the years had taken their toll and the family had drifted apart. Johnny had not invited her or Judy to his recent wedding, and Judy had not invited her or Johnny to her forthcoming one.