The Victim (39 page)

‘It’s your dad, Frankie, but he wants to speak to Joey,’ Babs shouted out.

Frankie stood up and snatched the phone out of her friend’s hand. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked her father.

‘Nothing’s wrong. Well, apart from the van playing up, that is. Put Joey on, sweetheart, I need him to ring a mate of mine who’s a mechanic,’ Eddie lied.

‘Where are the kids?’ Frankie asked suspiciously.

‘In the back.’

‘Put ’em on the phone. Please let me say hello to ’em, Dad.’

‘They’re both asleep, Frankie, and you’ll have plenty of time to say hello to ’em when we get home. Now, put your brother on the phone, else we might spend the night on the motorway.’

‘What’s up, Dad?’ Joey asked as he put the receiver to his ear.

‘Keep smiling, and don’t let Frankie know that anything’s amiss, you get my drift?’ Eddie said.

‘Yeah,’ Joey replied, in an unconcerned tone.

‘The O’Haras are behind us on the motorway and I need your help, son. Is Frankie still standing next to you?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Right, when you put the phone down in a minute, pretend you’ve got to ring a mechanic mate of mine. Ask your sister for a pen and paper and I’ll give you a false phone number. Then, end the call and ring me back out of Frankie’s earshot on your mobile.’

‘I need a pen and paper,’ Joey told Frankie.

Joey’s heart was beating rapidly as he took down the imaginary phone number. ‘Right, I’ll ring him now, Dad,’ he said.

‘If Frankie asks, I think the alternator’s on the blink.’

‘No probs,’ Joey said ending the call.

‘What’s a matter with the van?’ Frankie asked.

‘Dad reckons the alternator’s on the blink. He wants me to get one of his mechanic pals to ring him.’

‘Why don’t he just ring the AA?’

‘Because the van isn’t kosher, you div,’ Joey replied jovially. How he was putting on such a convincing act he didn’t know, but he could tell that his sister believed him.

Frankie breathed a sigh of relief. ‘For a moment there I thought that something had gone proper wrong. I had visions of Jed and Jimmy following Dad or something.’

Joey chuckled falsely. ‘You and your overactive imagination will get you into trouble one day, sis.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

After the conversation with his father, Joey’s appetite had all but disappeared by the time the Chinese takeaway arrived.

‘You ain’t eaten enough to keep a bleedin’ fly alive,’ Joyce said, poking her grandson in the arm.

‘I ain’t a lover of Chinese. Want some of my spare ribs?’ Stanley asked Joey.

‘No, I’m fine thanks, Grandad. I’m gonna have to pop out in a minute. Dom’s gotta drive me round to one of Dad’s mates,’ Joey announced.

‘Have I? First I’ve heard of it,’ Dominic said, laughing.

Frankie put her plate on the table. ‘Who you got to go and see then?’ she asked, with distrust in her voice.

‘Dad said if his mechanic mate had his phone switched off, I had to go round to his house,’ Joey replied, as casually as he could.

‘Where’s this bloke live then?’

‘Dagenham,’ Joey lied, looking his sister straight in the eyes.

Dominic knew his boyfriend better than anyone and he could tell that something was wrong. ‘Shall we go now?’ he asked him.

Joey nodded and stood up.

‘You are coming back, ain’t ya? I want you here when the kids get home,’ Frankie insisted.

Joey grinned. ‘Of course I am.’

Jed O’Hara had always been a big believer that things in life happen for a reason. Obviously, he was still a bit pissed off with his brother Billy, but now he believed that fate had played its part. If he’d have run around that service station brandishing a gun he might have got himself nicked and, seeing he was now on the M1 with his father and Mickey Maloney behind, Jed convinced himself that it was a sign from above.

‘What you smiling at?’ Billy asked.

‘Do you know what Billy boy? I think you were destined to forget them bullets on purpose. We were meant to follow Mitchell and finish the job in Essex.’

‘What makes you think that, then?’

‘Because once me and Dad have done away with Eddie and his wanky little firm, I’m gonna find my other chavvie and kill that slag Frankie, an’ all.’

Joey told Dominic to drive towards his father’s cottage and then fell silent.

‘What’s going on, Joey?’ Dom asked, minutes later.

Taking a deep breath, Joey repeated what his father had told him.

‘So why are we going to his cottage?’ Dom asked, confused.

‘Because Dad’s asked me to get something he needs. Later on, he wants us to park at the Brentwood junction on the M25 and pick up the kids from him. He’s gonna ring us with a time.’

Dominic felt a shiver run down his spine. ‘What exactly are we picking up from his cottage, Joey?’

‘You really don’t wanna know,’ Joey mumbled.

Absolutely livid, Dominic mounted his Porsche onto a kerb. ‘If you don’t tell me, I’m not fucking driving you there, nor will I pick up the kids. What are we collecting, Joey?’

Joey glanced at his boyfriend’s face. Dom was a laid-back sort of guy who rarely lost his rag, but on the odd occasion he did, he wasn’t pleasant. ‘He needs me to pick up a gun, if you must know. We need it in case the O’Haras know where Frankie lives and come to the house.’

Dominic shook his head in total disbelief. All this sounded like a scene out of the film
Pulp Fiction
. He glared at his partner. ‘But you don’t even know how to use a gun, Joey.’

‘Yes I do – you pull the trigger,’ Joey replied sarcastically.

‘And what if I refuse to do this for you? I really don’t like the sound of it all, you know. It’s ridiculous and also fucking dangerous.’

Joey had never been interested in learning to drive, but for the first time in his life, he wished he had. ‘Look, we won’t have the gun for long. My dad’s sending Stuart and Terry round to protect us and I’ll give it straight to them. Please, Dom, just drive, otherwise my dad will go mental.’

Remembering the last falling-out he had had with Joey’s father, Dominic pulled off the kerb and drove towards his cottage.

Noticing that her grandad and Raymond were in deep conversation in the front of the van and Gary and Ricky were doing the same in the back, Georgie O’Hara decided to have a little chat with her brother. Both children were well aware that their dad and Grandad Jimmy were now following them but, being the eldest, Georgie had taken it upon herself to think of a back-up plan if anything were to go wrong.

‘Where’s your phone?’ she whispered in Harry’s ear.

‘Back at the trailer. Where’s yours?’

Georgie sighed. Her mobile had been in her big silver purse and had been left at the barn when she had got taken away.

‘Do you think Dad and Grandad will rescue us and take us back home?’ Harry asked in a hushed tone.

Georgie squeezed her little brother’s hand. ‘Of course they will.’

Joey hid the gun in his overnight bag and put it on top of the wardrobe so it was out of harm’s way. He didn’t know how he’d react if the O’Haras came to the house, but it was his duty to stick up for his sister.

‘What you being doing up there?’ Frankie asked accusingly as he came down the stairs. Dominic was sitting in the lounge with a face like thunder and she wasn’t stupid; she knew something was wrong.

‘I went upstairs to put me sweatshirt on. It’s turned bloody cold, ain’t it?’

‘Sod the weather, what’s up with Dom?’

‘Me and him have had a bit of a row. There’s a gay guy that’s started work in my office and he’s rang me a couple of times. Dom kicked off about it. You know how jealous he gets,’ Joey lied.

Satisfied with her brother’s explanation, Frankie smiled. ‘Nan got up to go to the toilet while you were out and fell flat on her face. She’s OK, but well pissed, so can you help me get her up the stairs? Her and Grandad can sleep in the spare room, and you and Dom can doss in Jordan’s.’

‘Come on, Nan, let’s get you to bed,’ Joey said as he walked into the lounge.

‘I made her a coffee, but she won’t drink it,’ Babs informed Frankie.

‘Always has to bleedin’ well show herself up,’ Stanley mumbled.

‘What did you say?’ Joyce asked.

‘Nothing, dear.’

‘I might be a bit tipsy, but there’s sod-all wrong with me hearing, you know,’ Joyce slurred as her grandchildren helped her off the sofa.

‘You and Grandad are gonna sleep in the double bed in the spare room. It’s freshly made up,’ Frankie said, knowing how particular her grandmother was on the subject of clean sheets.

Joycie looked at Frankie as though she were mad. ‘I ain’t sleeping in the same bed as that cantankerous old goat,’ she said.

‘You’ll have to. We’ve only got five bedrooms, Nan, and Georgie and Harry will need one of those.’

Stanley glared at his wife. She could be such an awkward old cow at times. ‘I don’t wanna sleep in the same bleedin’ bed as you, either. You snore like a drunken sailor.’

‘Well, I’m glad we agree for once, ’cause the thought of having you sleeping near me after you went off fornicating with that old slapper makes me feel physically sick.’

At the mention of Pat the Pigeon, Stanley himself felt physically sick at the memories.

‘Babs can sleep with me – that’s if any of us end up getting any sleep. You can have Babs’ bed, Grandad,’ Frankie offered kindly.

‘Dirty old bastard,’ Joyce slurred, as Joey and Frankie took one arm each and led her out of the room.

Stanley poked his tongue out behind his wife’s back then, once Joycie was out of earshot, turned to Dominic. ‘Hooked-nosed, evil old witch.’

Approaching Milton Keynes, Eddie began to have serious doubts about his original plan. Dropping the kids at the A12 junction off the M25 would have been feasible if they only had one motor following them, but now there were two, it was far too dangerous.

‘Turn the radio up again,’ Ed ordered Raymond.

As Raymond did so, Ed leaned towards him. ‘We can’t drop the kids off at the slip road. It’s too dodgy and I don’t want Joey and Dom getting hurt. Think of somewhere we can meet up where they’ll be loads of people milling about.’

‘It’ll be gone ten by the time we get back, Ed, so there ain’t many places gonna be busy. Surely we’re better meeting Dom and Joey at a garage. I can’t see the O’Haras pulling onto the forecourt, ’cause they’re all camera’d up,’ Raymond suggested.

‘But what if they do?’

Raymond shrugged. ‘It’s a chance we’re gonna have to take. Get Joey to make sure Dom parks up away from the pumps and turns the headlights off. I’m sure the O’Haras won’t pull in behind us; they didn’t at the service station, did they?’

Eddie rubbed the stubble on his chin. ‘What garage do ya reckon’s best to stop at? We can’t use the one near Brentwood nick, as it’s too near to Frankie’s gaff.’

‘I reckon we’re better taking the 127 turn-off. If we stop at that garage opposite Palms Hotel, the O’Haras will probably pull up near Ardleigh Green lights and wait for us there. They definitely ain’t gonna wanna create a scene where there’s cameras, Ed.’

Eddie took his phone out of his pocket. ‘Let’s hope you’re fucking right, Raymondo, ’cause if you ain’t, Joey and Dom might be in shit street an’ all.’

As the evening wore on, Frankie was becoming more suspicious by the minute. Joey’s behaviour was odd, to say the least, and even though he was trying to join in the conversation, Frankie knew him well enough to know that something was wrong. Everybody had gone to bed now apart from Babs, Joey, Dom and herself and as her brother stared at his phone again, Frankie felt her hackles start to rise.

‘Whaddya keep checking your fucking phone for? I know something’s wrong, Joey, so you might as well just tell me what it is.’

Eddie had ordered Joey to say nothing to Frankie until he’d picked the children up so, as he was just about to lie, Joey was relieved as his phone burst into life. ‘We’ll leave now,’ he said, after listening to his father’s instructions.

‘You ain’t going nowhere until you tell me what’s going on,’ Frankie yelled, blocking the doorway with her body.

‘I won’t be long and as soon as I get back I’ll explain, I promise.’

‘You fucking tell me now, Joey, else I’m coming with you.’

‘I’m going to pick the kids up, if you must know. Now, get out the way, else we’re gonna be late.’

Frankie stood open-mouthed as her brother and Dominic pushed past her. When the door slammed, she turned to Babs. ‘I knew something would go wrong. I thought it was all too good to be true,’ she shouted tearfully.

Babs hugged her. ‘You don’t even know that anything’s wrong yet. Perhaps your dad has to go somewhere afterwards.’

Frankie shook her head furiously. ‘If my dad has involved my gay brother in all of this, then something is very fucking wrong.’

Jed looked at his fuel tank and ordered his brother to ring their father and pass him the phone.

‘What’s up?’ Jimmy asked.

‘I’m nearly out of juice. I reckon the cunts will take the next turn-off, but even if they don’t, I’m gonna have to fill up. There’s a garage not far past the Post House, ain’t there? I’ll fill up there, then catch you back up. Don’t lose ’em, for fuck’s sake.’

Jimmy chuckled. ‘Me and Mickey are right behind ’em. The only place Mitchell’s going is inside a coffin, boy.’

* * *

Georgie and Harry looked startled as their grandfather ordered their hands to be tied up again. ‘What have we done wrong?’ Georgie complained.

As Gary did the deed, Eddie looked around and leaned over the seat. ‘In a minute you’re getting out the van. Your Uncle Joey is picking you up and he’s taking you home to your mum. We’ll be round to see you again either later tonight or tomorrow.’

Feeling his chance of escaping slipping away, Harry glared at his grandad. ‘What you gonna do to my dad? If you do anything bad to him, I’ll tell the gavvers and get ’em to lock you up.’

‘And if you ain’t nice to your mother, I’ll have you locked up an’ all. Your mum loves you very much and once you get to know her properly, you’ll love her as well,’ Ed replied.

‘Are you gonna hurt our dad and grandad?’ Georgie asked nervously.

‘No. I’m gonna send ’em back to Glasgow, that’s all,’ Eddie lied.

‘Right, we’re only five minutes from the garage now, Ed. We’ve definitely lost one of ’em and he ain’t reappeared yet,’ Raymond said.

‘Bats ready boys, just in case we need ’em. Raymondo reckons they won’t follow us ’cause of the cameras, hence the change of plan,’ Ed explained.

When Gary and Ricky grabbed the baseball bats, Harry looked fearfully at his sister and began to cry. He’d always got annoyed with his Nanny Alice for fussing over him like an old mother hen, but he wished he could have a big cuddle from her now.

Georgie winked at her brother as reassurance that everything would be all right. For now it was the only comfort she could offer him.

Joey and Dominic were still barely on speaking terms. Dom was furious that Joey had sort of threatened him with his father and, not for the first time in his life, wondered what sort of family he’d got himself involved with.

‘Are you OK?’ Joey asked softly. His boyfriend’s hands were visibly shaking and Joey felt terribly guilty for involving him, but he couldn’t drive himself, so had had little choice.