The Feud (14 page)

‘Do something, Stanley,’ Joyce shouted, as she tried to comfort Joey. Her grandson was trembling and had crawled under the chair.

It was Harry and Reg who managed to drag Eddie outside. His victim’s face was smashed beyond recognition and somebody had already called for an ambulance.

Pushing his son against the wall, Harry glared at him. ‘What the fuck was that all about?’ he asked Ed.

Reg went back inside. He hated big parties at the best of times and had never wanted one in the first place. Now he had to somehow get to Lee and bribe him, to make sure he didn’t involve the police.

‘Why did you do it, Eddie? Why?’ Jessica sobbed, as she ran over to her husband.

Using all of his strength, Ed pushed his old man flying and grabbed Jessica around the throat. ‘What are you, some slag? How many other men have you fucking well slept with?’ he roared, as he tightened his grip and slammed her head against the brick wall.

‘I’m sorry, Ed. Stop it, please, you’re hurting me,’ Jess pleaded.

Harry grabbed Ed around the neck from behind. ‘That’s enough. Now get back inside.’

As Ed stormed off, Harry put a comforting arm around Jessica’s shoulder. ‘Are you OK, love?’

Jessica burst into tears. ‘Ed frightens me when he drinks that Scotch. It turns him into a monster.’

Harry sat Jessica down on a nearby wall. He handed her his handkerchief and told her to dry her eyes. ‘You leave Ed to me, I’ll have a word with him. Is your head OK? You’re not hurt, are you?’

Jessica shook her head. ‘I love him so much, Harry. What am I gonna do?’

Squeezing her hand, Harry smiled. ‘And my Ed loves you very much. I know he’s a wild card at times, but he worships the ground you walk on, Jess. Tonight was just a one-off, he’d never intentionally hurt you, I know he wouldn’t.’

For the first time ever, Jessica saw Harry Mitchell in a different light. She’d never had much to do with him in the past. Feeling guilty for all the years she’d tried to keep Harry away from the twins, she turned to face him. ‘Why don’t you come over for dinner one day, Harry? I’ll cook us a nice roast and you can bring Sylvie with you.’

Harry winked at her. ‘That sounds perfect.’

Stanley resembled a startled deer as he saw Harry clock him. He’d been rooted to the spot for the past five minutes and could barely believe what he’d witnessed. He’d seen Eddie with his hands around Jessica’s throat, and was about to react before Harry had stepped in.

‘Have a chat with your dad and I’ll speak to Ed,’ Harry said, walking away.

‘Are you OK? He didn’t hit you, did he?’ Stanley asked.

Jessica stood up. ‘No, he didn’t. I’m fine, Dad, honest I am. It’s cold out here, let’s go back inside.’

‘What’s going on?’ Joyce asked, as Stanley and Jessica sat down at the table.

As Jess hugged the twins, Stanley moved next to his wife. ‘Thanks to you, our daughter’s married to a fucking lunatic. As I walked outside, Ed had his hands around Jessica’s throat and was trying to strangle her.’

‘Why? What’s she done wrong? Didn’t you try and stop him, Stanley?’

‘His father dragged him off of her. Anyway, what was I meant to do? They’re villains, Joycie. They probably carry guns with them. They ain’t gonna take no notice of a little man like me, are they?’

Lee had been carted off in the ambulance and had been told in no uncertain terms to say that he’d fallen down the stairs that led up to the hall, or else.

Eddie had now calmed down a bit. His dad had given him a good talking to and he was back at the bar having a drink with his brothers.

Most of the guests, including Auntie Joan and Auntie Vi, hadn’t batted an eyelid when Ed had kicked off. Most family get-togethers ended up in a ruckus of some kind, and once you’d seen one poor bastard beaten to pulp, you’d seen them all.

Vi and Joan had been dancing to ‘I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts’, when the fight had erupted.

‘Eddie’s smashing some bloke’s head against the bar,’ Vi had said casually.

Joan carried on singing without even bothering to look round. She’d brought the boys up, and knew full well what cloth they were cut from.

Pissed off with Ronny and Paulie bombarding him with questions about Lee, Ed walked over to his dad. ‘Can I have a quiet word?’

Harry excused himself from Sylvie and followed his son outside. ‘I’m sorry for pushing you, Dad. I just lost it, you know how it is.’

Harry put a wise arm around his son’s shoulder. ‘Take my advice, Ed, talk to Jess and tell her you’re sorry. Good women are hard to find and you’ll be a fool to yourself if you lose her. I know I’m sort of courting Sylvie, but she’ll never replace your mother, no one can.’

Ed nodded. He had no intention of taking his dad’s advice, he was far too clever for that. Give women an inch and they take a mile. ‘Thanks for the guidance,’ he said, walking away.

‘Oh, and by the way, Ed.’

Eddie turned around.

‘If you ever push me like that again, I swear I’ll knock your fucking block off.’

Eddie nodded, took a deep breath and strolled over to the table where Jess was sitting. ‘Come outside, we need to have a little chat,’ he told her.

‘I’ve ordered a cab, Jessica wants to go home,’ Stanley said curtly to Eddie.

‘Cancel it. Jessica’s going nowhere without me,’ Eddie said, glaring at Stanley.

Stanley looked down at his feet. He knew when to shut up.

The twins were both asleep now, and Ed stroked their hair. ‘We need to talk, Jess,’ he said firmly.

As Jessica followed Eddie outside, Stanley turned to Joyce. ‘If our Jess forgives him for tonight, she wants her bleedin’ head tested.’

Joyce said nothing. For the first time ever, she had her doubts about Eddie. Trying to strangle Jessica was not something she had ever thought Ed would do.

‘This is all your fault, Joycie, encouraging her to get involved with the likes of him. I tried to tell you but, as always, you wouldn’t listen.’

Joyce stared at her husband. He was beginning to get on her nerves. He was forever blaming her for Jess getting involved with Eddie, and Joyce had had enough of it. ‘Just shut up, Stanley. Jessica chose her own husband, it was nothing to do with me. All I did was support her choice, like any good mother should. I know Eddie was out of order tonight, but every couple has their arguments. Look at me and you, we don’t stop arguing. The trouble with you, Stanley, is you never liked Eddie from day one. Ever since our Jess brought him home, you’ve been waiting for something like this to happen, just so you can say, “I told you so”.’

Defeated, Stanley shook his head. ‘It will all end in tragedy and tears, dear. You mark my words.’

Eddie lit a fag and leaned against the wall. ‘You should have told me, Jess. If I’d known Lee was your ex, if you’d have said something, I wouldn’t have lost it. How do you think I felt? Here I am at me uncle’s retirement party and there’s some geezer standing at the bar bragging about fucking me wife.’

Standing on tiptoe, Jessica cupped her husband’s handsome face and gently kissed him. ‘I’m sorry, Eddie. I can’t believe Lee stood at the bar saying those things. We were only young when we dated, and he was a nice, quiet boy. He was my best friend Mary’s brother.’

Eddie stared at the floor. ‘It’s ruined my night, Jess. I mean how would you like it, if some bird was giving it large about shagging me?’

With the memory of her husband trying to throttle her totally erased from her mind, Jessica apologised once again. ‘I’ll never keep anything from you again, Ed. I’m really sorry. Can’t we go back and enjoy the rest of the party and forget all about it? I promise there’ll be no more secrets.’

Ed shrugged then nodded. ‘As long as you ain’t got no more skeletons locked in the closet, I’m willing to forget about tonight.’

Jessica felt relief as she hugged him. ‘I love you,’ she whispered.

Eddie held her tight. ‘Oh, and one more thing. I don’t want you to have any more contact with that Mary.’

Jessica agreed. She rarely spoke to Mary now anyway. Eddie’s feelings were far more important to her than those of some old schoolfriend.

The perfect gentleman, Ed held the door open for Jessica. As she walked through, Eddie smirked. The best form of defence was attack and, as usual, Ed had turned the situation around to his advantage.

As Eddie Mitchell ended the phone call, he could barely wipe the grin off his face. His father had just rung him and, in undercover lingo, let him know that the Old Bill were officially treating Mad Dave’s murder as a bungled burglary and were looking for two young black males who had been seen loitering around that area the previous week.

Desperate to tell Raymond the good news in person, rather than via the phone, Eddie picked up his car keys. Ray had been at it all weekend with the tart he’d met at Reg’s party, and had only just got rid of her.

‘Finish getting the kids ready, Jess. I’m just popping out for a bit, I’ll be back in about half-hour.’

‘Where are you going?’ Jessica called, as he slammed the front door.

Flustered because she was running late and was not even ready herself, Jessica marched Joey and Frankie downstairs and ordered Gary and Ricky to keep an eye on them for her. ‘I won’t be long. I just want to have a quick shower and get changed. Make sure they don’t go out in the garden. They’re ready for the party and I don’t want them to get covered in mud.’

‘Where’s me Dad?’ Gary asked.

Jessica shook her head. ‘How should I know? You know what your father’s like, comes and goes as he pleases.’

‘Can I come upstairs with you, Mummy?’ Joey whined.

‘No, stay down here with your sister. Mummy won’t be long, be a good boy and Gary and Ricky will play a game with you.’

‘Please, Mum,’ Joey screamed, clinging on to her legs.

Dragging him up by his arm, Jessica smacked him gently on his bottom. ‘Do as I say, or Daddy won’t let you go to the party.’

Desperate for twenty minutes to herself, Jessica left her son bawling his eyes out and went upstairs to make herself glamorous. The argument between herself and Eddie was now well and truly forgotten. Jess had a big bump on the back of her head where Ed had thrown her against the wall, but she hadn’t told him that he’d hurt her. After the Lee episode, she was just thankful he’d forgiven her.

Sipping the coffee Raymond had just made him, Eddie pulled a face and spat the contents of his mouth back into the mug.

‘Fucking hell, that’s rancid. I think the milk’s gone off.’

Raymond ignored his complaint. He was more interested in hearing about the Old Bill’s findings than worrying about poxy milk.

‘Right, tell me from the beginning what your dad said.’

Eddie explained the conversation in full. ‘So, it looks like we’re all off the hook. The filth always hated Mad Dave, he led ’em a merry dance for years, so they’re not gonna pursue his death with five-star treatment.’

Raymond felt a surge of relief flow through his body. He’d been getting jumpy last night and hadn’t slept too well. At least with the new information, he could now
relax a bit. ‘How does your old man know all this?’ he asked Eddie.

Eddie smiled. ‘The old man’s had a couple of coppers on his payroll for years. One’s a bent sergeant. The dodgy cunt demands a serious backhander for his info. It’s worth it in the long run, though, we’ll never get nicked with him on our side. He’s tipped us off a few times in the past, when the filth were on our cases. An insider of that quality is worth his weight in gold.’

Raymond nodded in agreement. ‘What you up to today, Ed? Is it all right if I come round to see Jess and the kids?’

Raymond loved having his new flat and independence, but he hated being alone for too long. That’s why he’d let Jane, the bird he’d met, stay for two nights.

‘We’re going to a party down the road from me. This geezer has a big do every year. Pat Murphy his name is, he’s an ex-boxer. Go and get yourself ready, Ray, and you can come with us. Jess won’t mind, she’d love you to come,’ Eddie told him.

Raymond didn’t need asking twice. He was so used to his mum and dad constantly shouting at one another, he couldn’t get used to the silence. ‘I’ll just run a quick bath. I’ll be fifteen minutes, tops.’

Eddie laughed at his eagerness. ‘Best you move your arse then, ’cause I told Jess I’d only be half an hour. Leave the door open, so you can give me the full lowdown on that little floozy you tugged.’

Jessica tried on a few outfits. She opted for her white linen trousers, red patent platform boots and a patterned vest top. She had originally chosen to wear her new dress, but had decided to keep it casual, as she had no idea what the other women would be wearing. Jess put a
cardigan, a pair of denim hotpants and a pair of flipflops in her bag. She might get changed later on and, if she wanted to dance, she could take her boots off and wear her flatties.

‘I’m home, babe,’ she heard Eddie shout.

Unable to walk properly in her new chunky footwear, Jessica held on to the stair rail for dear life as she plodded down the stairs.

‘Fucking hell, sis! You look like Wonder Woman in them.’

Surprised, but pleased to see her brother, Jessica playfully punched him. ‘This is all the rage, Ray. You wouldn’t know about women’s fashion if it smacked you over the head, so I’d keep quiet if I was you,’ she joked.

‘Ed said I could come to the party with you. You don’t mind, do you?’

Jessica smiled. ‘Not at all. The twins will be thrilled.’

With Frankie in one arm and Joey in the other, Eddie walked towards Jessica. ‘You look fabulous, but you don’t need all that make-up on,’ he said, pecking her on the lips.

Jessica wiped off her eye shadow. ‘I didn’t know what to wear. It’s so warm today, I was going to wear my hotpants, but I don’t know what the other women will be wearing and I’d hate to turn up looking tarty.’

Eddie smiled. ‘You could never look like a tart, Jess. We ready to make tracks then?’

Both Jessica and Raymond nodded.

‘Gary, Ricky, move your arses. You’ve got one minute or I’m leaving you here,’ Ed shouted.

Patrick Murphy was a big, flash, loud Irishman who loved nothing more than being the centre of attention. He’d been holding his legendary bank-holiday parties for over ten years now and every year he tried to push the boat out a
couple of yards more. Over the years, Patrick had fathered six children by three different women. Like many a good man, he adored his own, but wasn’t that keen on anybody else’s. This year, to rectify his own little problem, he’d fenced off a great big part of the field just for the kids. He’d hired fairground rides, swings and slides. He’d even booked Bob the balloon man and a clown from Corringham to keep the little bastards occupied and well away from the adults.