‘I’m doing fine, thank you. Take more than a bit of cancer to kill me off. How’s your Nancy now? It’s her I’ve come to see actually.’
‘She’s doing well, thanks, Freda. Back with Michael unfortunately, but Mary and I see our grandsons now. Wonderful lads they are. Very polite and loving.’
‘Well, they won’t stay that way. If they were girls they might have stood half a chance, but those boys will be forced into the same lifestyle as their father soon as they’re old enough, you mark my words. Vinny’s brat of a son is at it already. Robbed the Patels’ shop recently. Smokes like a chimney as well and he’s only ten. You wanna tell your Nancy all this, make her see sense before it’s too late.’
Feeling dizzy at the thought of his grandsons robbing shops at the age of ten, Donald sat down on a chair. Everything Freda had said about the Butlers thus far had been proved right, so he was not about to argue with her. Nancy insisted that Michael was a legit club owner, but Donald guessed there was more to his business than met the eye. You certainly did not get a reputation like that family had by being law-abiding citizens. ‘So is that what you come to tell Nancy?’
‘No. I came to give her a message from my Dean. Got himself sorted now with a job and a flat, and he asked me to give Nancy his phone number. Thinks the world of her, he does. Such a shame he got with that Brenda. I’d have loved to see him settle down with a decent girl like your Nancy. I’m not allowed to see Tara any more. I’m sure that old cow Queenie put the block on it. Just had a son as well, Brenda has. Fat Beryl said she’s called him Tommy. I’ll never be allowed to get to know him either – my own flesh and blood. Not right, is it, Donald?’
Seeing the tears in Freda’s eyes, Donald felt incredibly sorry for her. Her son Terry’s body had never been found, but he had supposedly been murdered by Vinny. Dean was her only grandchild and he had been forced to flee the area. Now the poor old dear had no family left whatsoever. ‘Look, I know nothing will make up for not being able to see your family, but why don’t you pop round our house for tea, seeing as you’ve travelled here from Whitechapel? Mary’s cooking, and Nancy will be there with Daniel and Adam. You can give Nancy your message personally then, and I’m sure she will be thrilled to see you.’
Freda smiled. Because of her blunt independent nature, she had no close friends and the only creatures that were nice to her were her cats Moggers and Midge. ‘Thank you, Donald. I would like that very much.’
Ahmed smiled as Vinny placed his daughter in his arms. He had never seen a newborn baby with such a mop of blonde curly hair. ‘I can’t believe how big she is. She really is a beautiful baby.’
‘Wow, look at this, Vinny,’ Joanna exclaimed as she unwrapped the last of Ahmed’s gifts. It was a gold baby bangle engraved with flowers and hearts.
‘Aw, thanks, pal. You needn’t have bought so much stuff, but we really do appreciate it, don’t we, Jo?’ Vinny said.
‘You haven’t opened the card yet,’ Ahmed reminded Joanna.
Having already unwrapped a massive teddy bear, two pretty dresses, a rattle and the bracelet, Joanna was gobsmacked when she opened the large card and saw it was full of twenty-pound notes. ‘We can’t take money from you too, Ahmed. You’ve bought Molly plenty already.’
‘It’s to open a building society account for her. It is the custom in my country to give money to babies. Although I think Molly might have just thanked me by having a little dump in my arms,’ Ahmed chuckled.
‘Take Molly upstairs to change her, Jo. Ahmed and I need to talk business, so make yourself scarce for a bit and I’ll give you a shout when we’re done,’ Vinny ordered.
When Joanna left the room, Vinny shut the lounge door and poured himself and Ahmed a Scotch.
‘So, how’s it going with you and Jo? You seem to be getting along OK,’ Ahmed pried.
Vinny sat opposite his pal in his favourite armchair. ‘All right, I suppose. She don’t seem to grate on me as much as some birds do, and she’s gonna be a good little mum. Her old man must know she’s had Molly now ’cause Jo rang her mother the other day. I wonder how he’s handling the news?’ Vinny said, smirking sadistically.
‘Have you fallen in love with Jo?’
‘Don’t be daft! I can’t even be arsed giving her one any more. But she’s the mother of my kid and I need someone to look after Molly and Little Vinny. As long as she does as she’s told and don’t get in my face, then we’ll get along just fine. This was all your fucking idea, me moving her in in the first place,’ Vinny reminded his pal.
‘So, when are we going to the whorehouse again? It’s been months,’ Ahmed asked. He wanted to act as normal as possible in case Vinny smelt a rat.
‘Soon, pal, soon. How’s business? Did the last drop-off go OK?’
‘Yes, it went fine, but we do have a slight problem now.’
‘What?’ Vinny asked, alarmed. He had always been happy to be the silent partner and let Ahmed be the active one. His mother and Auntie Viv would disown him if they knew what he was up to, so he’d kept his involvement in the drug trade under wraps, though he was sure Michael had a hunch.
Secretly enjoying the look of panic on his so-called friend’s face, Ahmed took a couple of sips of his drink before explaining. ‘You know Emre, my main man? Well, he has a court case coming up in Turkey for tax evasion charges. His brief reckons he is looking at a two-year sentence, and his trial starts the end of June.’
‘So what we going to do? Surely Emre will leave somebody in charge while he’s away?’
All their heroin and cocaine came from Emre, and they bought in such bulk now that they only needed to place an order every few months.
Ahmed shook his head. ‘Emre will not trust anybody to run his empire. He would rather take a break.’
‘Well, you must know somebody else we can buy from.’
‘Not that I can trust like Emre. Look, how long have we been buying off him? Never had any problems with him or the Old Bill, have we? Why change something that works, eh? What I suggest we do is stock up before he goes inside. Buy enough to last us for the two years.’
Vinny immediately shook his head. ‘Fuck off, Ahmed. You pay Emre up front and I’ve never met the bloke. How do we know his court case story is true? He might rip us off for a fortune.’
‘Of course he won’t! Emre is my friend. I have known him since I was three years old. He hasn’t suggested we buy two years’ supply up front. He doesn’t even know about it yet and for all I know he might not even be able to supply us that amount. I’ve spoken to you about it first. We know the gear off Emre is good. If we buy it elsewhere it will probably be cut to fuck and if we take a break while he is in prison, then you know full well that somebody will step in our shoes. We have the money to buy it, Vinny, the perfect place to hide it, so why not take the plunge? In the years we have been dealing with Emre, at least fifty times we must have given him money up front and he has never conned us out of a penny. The man is like my brother, I swear,’ Ahmed said, holding his hand on his heart.
Vinny knocked his drink back and put his hands on top of his head. He and Ahmed usually parted with three hundred grand between them every three months. The gear was the proper uncut stuff, so it could be turned into millions in street value once it was mixed with other substances. It did involve a big outlay though. Vinny and Ahmed never got their own hands dirty, which meant a long line of people on the payroll, from the boys who cut the stuff right down to the two-bob merchants who punted it out in wraps on the street.
‘I’m gonna need to think about this one. Is there no way you can bypass Emre and go straight to his suppliers while he’s inside?’
‘Are you fucking kidding me, Vinny? I know for a fact the drugs come from Nicaragua. Do you fancy a trip out there? Because I sure don’t.’
Vinny