Being with Gina was everything he had hoped for and more, but there were a lot of things he needed to do and he couldn’t stay hidden in his love nest for ever.

Eddie sat at the kitchen table opposite Gina. ‘Listen, I’m gonna have to pop out for a bit today, babe. I wanna check on the business and go over a few things with Gary and Ricky. I’ve got an appointment with the probation officer, then I must go and see me Auntie Joan. I also need to have a proper chat with Raymond. If he’s coming to that meal on Saturday, I’m gonna have to tell him about me and you beforehand, ain’t I?’

Gina nodded. ‘If you’re going to be out all day, I might hit the shops and get myself a new outfit for the weekend.’

Finishing the last of his bacon sandwich, Eddie stood up and held his fiancée in his arms. ‘We’ll pop up Hatton Garden at some point next week to buy you a massive rock. Can’t have other geezers thinking you’re not taken, can we now?’

Gina grinned. ‘There aren’t many geezers about that could compare to you, Eddie Mitchell.’

Feeling himself getting hard again, Eddie pressed his manhood against his wife-to-be. ‘You’re right, babe, there ain’t.’

Frankie nodded. ‘He reckons he’s working away again this weekend, but I don’t believe him. I might drive to Rush Green, see if I can catch him out. If I pick you up, will you come with me, Kerry?’

Kerry took a gulp from her can of Coke. ‘I think you’re wasting your time driving round Rush Green. You don’t honestly think after what happened with me and Sammy that he’s gonna leave his motor nearby, do ya? Jed’s devious, Frankie, it’ll take more than sitting outside Sally’s flat to catch him at it.’

‘Well, what else can I do, then? I need to find out the truth somehow. Even Georgie blurted out that slag Sally’s name the other day. She’d heard Jed on the phone to her and told me that Daddy had a girlfriend, so I’ve got to do something.’

Kerry shrugged. ‘Why don’t you have a word with your dad or your brothers? Perhaps they can get someone to follow Jed for ya.’

Frankie automatically shook her head. She felt far too embarrassed to involve her nearest and dearest. ‘I can’t tell anyone in my family about this. Remember, they all hated Jed from the word go and I couldn’t stand hearing the “I told you sos”.’

‘Has Sammy said anything else to you? He went round my mum’s again yesterday. Shouting and screaming about taking me to court so he can get access to see the kids, he was. I don’t even think he’s bothered about me. What am I gonna do, Frankie? I can’t keep ’em away from school for ever. My sister reckons I should let him see the boys. She said the courts will make me if I don’t and she said I’ll get in trouble for not enrolling ’em into a new school.’

As Kerry’s eyes filled with tears, Frankie felt her own do the same. They were in shit street and the future for both them and their kids looked very bleak indeed.

‘What about when I threw your pudding at that miserable git in Wandsworth? His face was a picture, the unfeeling bastard. What was his name again?’

Eddie laughed. Joanie throwing the bread pudding at Carter had gone down a treat with his fellow inmates. She’d been the talk of the wing for days. She’d also attacked Carter once for grabbing her arm and ordering her to leave. That had also gone down in Wandsworth folklore.

‘Carter, his name was. How’s Reg? You seen much of him lately?’

‘Yeah, Reg popped round ’ere last week. He reckons Paulie and Ronny’s number’s up in the old sharking game. They kept getting turned over, apparently, and now word’s got about, people have started to knock ’em, left right and centre.’

Eddie shook his head in disbelief. ‘I told Paulie he should have stuck with me. Ronny’s been a laughing stock for years and there ain’t many borrowers that are gonna take the threats of an alcoholic cripple seriously. Shame Paulie never listened, Gary and Ricky have been raking it in while I’ve been away and he could have been part of all that, the silly bastard.’

Joan nodded. ‘Reg has got a feeling that Paulie might come to you cap in hand for a job now you’re out. Would you take him back on, Ed?’

Eddie shrugged. ‘No way! There’s too much water under the bridge, if you know what I mean. Maybe I can lend him some dough or something if he’s going through a sticky patch. Cut us another slice of bread pudding, will ya, Auntie? Fucking handsome that was.’

Joan studied Eddie carefully as she watched him devour his second slice of pudding. He looked ever so well, considering he’d only just come out of clink, and she had a feeling she knew why. ‘Come on then, spill the beans. You’ve met a woman, ain’t ya?’

Eddie grinned. Joanie was a wily old fucker and there were no flies on her. ‘You remember that private detective that spoke up for me in court?’

‘Was she the pretty girl with dark hair?’

Ed nodded. ‘That’s her. Gina, her name is, and we’re sort of giving it a go.’

Joan was made up. Eddie had been in a terrible state over Jessica and she was thrilled he had managed to move on from such an awful tragedy.

‘Well that Gina’s certainly doing something right, boy. Got a right glow about you, you have. I’ve never seen you look so bleedin’ well.’

‘You are coming out for the family meal on Saturday, ain’t ya? Gina’s coming with me and you can meet her properly. I might sit her next to you, with me on the other side.’

‘Yep, I’ll be there. Is it common knowledge you’re with her? Or should I let you tell Reg and Vi?’

Eddie shrugged. ‘Gary and Ricky are the only ones I’ve told so far and I’m gonna tell Raymond when I leave here. It’s a bit awkward, ain’t it? I’m not good at telling people that type of stuff. I dunno what to say, so I thought I’d just bring Gina to the meal and introduce her as a friend at first. I don’t want people thinking badly of me, Auntie. I’ll never forget Jessica, and Gina ain’t some kind of replacement for her, you know.’

‘I understand, boy, and I should imagine all your family will be happy for ya. The only ones who might find it difficult to digest is the twins, I suppose.’

Eddie agreed. ‘Frankie ain’t coming on Saturday, so I’m gonna take her out for lunch next week and speak to her. I don’t see Joey at all now, and I should imagine you know why that is.’

Joan nodded. ‘I heard the rumours and I couldn’t believe it at first. Funny old world, ain’t it?’

‘It sure is. I can forgive most of the things my kids do, but I can’t stomach that. I’ve disowned him; he disgusts me.’

Feeling embarrassed and also agitated, Eddie stood up. ‘I’d best go now. I’ve got a thousand-and-one things to do today.’

Joanie hugged Eddie tightly. He didn’t realise that she’d seen the tears in his eyes when he’d spoken about Joey, but she had. ‘You’ve been a good father. Always remember that, won’t ya?’

Eddie smiled sadly. ‘Thanks, Auntie, I will.’

‘Is Harry OK? I ain’t heard a peep out of him for hours,’ Kerry asked.

‘He’s still asleep, bless him,’ Frankie said, looking inside her son’s pushchair.

Spotting the record stall, Kerry stopped dead and grabbed her friend’s arm. ‘That’s it. I’ve got it.’

‘What you on about?’ Frankie asked, bemused.

Kerry smiled and pointed to the record stall. ‘Cassettes. That’s what you can do, Frankie, tape ’em.’

Frankie didn’t have a clue what her friend was on about. ‘What you talking about? Tape who?’

‘That man over there sells cassettes and it’s just given me an idea. Why don’t you hide a tape recorder in Jed’s Shogun and record his and Sammy’s conversations? That’s the way to find out the truth about everything. Sally, that slag Julie – we can even find out if her kid belongs to Sammy.’

Frankie was unsure. The idea sounded extremely risky. ‘Where am I meant to hide a tape recorder? And even worse, say Jed finds it?’

‘I’ll get you a small one and you can hide it in the back of the Shogun somewhere. You can put a blank tape in and press the record button just before Jed goes out. It’s got to be worth a try, Frankie. How else you gonna catch him?’

‘I don’t know if I like the sound of it, Kerry. How am I meant to run out there and press “record”?’

‘Do it on a night when they’re supposedly working away. You can run out and do it while Jed’s having a shower, or you can pretend that Georgie or Harry has left one of their toys in the motor. Go on, Frankie. Can you imagine all the juicy conversation we’ll hear?’

‘Say they’ve got the music on? Jed always listens to music when he’s driving. We ain’t gonna be able to hear anything then, are we?’

Kerry shook her head. ‘They won’t be listening to music if they’re going over to them two old tarts, will they? Oh, go on, Frankie, please say you’ll do it. I need to know if that Julie’s kid belongs to Sammy. I mean, my boys might have sisters and brothers dotted about all over the place, for all I know.’

Frankie pondered before reluctantly agreeing. ‘You’re gonna have to find the smallest tape recorder ever invented, and don’t buy a cheap one, because we won’t hear sod-all.’

Kerry grinned. ‘I’ll tell my mum what we’re gonna do. She’ll pay for it, I know she will. Now let’s go and ask that man what are the longest cassettes we can buy.’

As Kerry dragged her towards the record stall, Frankie shook her head in disbelief. She must be mad to even consider Kerry’s idea. Jed would go mental if he found the tape recorder, and what Frankie had to do now was decide whether, if their plan went wrong, it was worth getting a good hiding for.

‘It’s a long story. Lock up and let’s go for lunch. There’s stuff we need to discuss.’

Raymond didn’t need telling twice. Just lately, working in the scrap game had been boring him to tears and now that Ed was out he was hoping to work alongside him once more.

There were no decent food-based boozers in Dagenham, so Eddie drove into the lanes in Rainham and pulled up outside the White Hart.

‘If there’s no one we know in here, we’ll eat here. If we get recognised we’ll have a drink, fuck off and find somewhere else,’ Eddie said.

As luck would have it, there were only a handful of people in the pub and neither Eddie nor Raymond knew any of them. Ed ordered a couple of beers and handed Raymond a menu.

‘Order me the scampi. I’m just going for a slash,’ he told him.

Raymond ordered the food and sat down at a table at the far end of the pub. ‘Over ’ere, Ed,’ he shouted, as his pal reappeared.

Eddie sat down, took a sip from his bottle of Bud and grinned. ‘It feels weird when you first come out of nick, Raymondo. It’s just so bleedin’ wonderful to be able to pop into a boozer for a bit of lunch and a couple of beers. I never used to appreciate shit like this before.’

Raymond nodded understandingly. ‘So, what you been up to since Monday? I rang the boys and they said they hadn’t seen you yet. You’re popping over to see ’em later today, ain’t ya?’

Eddie nodded. ‘I just wanted to get me head together, to be honest with ya. It’s strange when you first come out. It takes a while to get used to living in the real world again.’

‘So, who you been stopping with? I thought you’d have gone to stay with Gary and Ricky.’

Eddie shook his head. It was now or never, and even though he dreaded telling Raymond, he knew he couldn’t avoid it any longer. ‘There’s something I need to tell you, something that you might not like. I can’t lie to you, Ray, so I’m gonna come clean with ya. Do you remember that Gina from my trial? You must remember, you dropped some dough off to her a couple of times for me.’

‘The private detective bird?’

Eddie nodded. ‘Well, after my case, I wrote to her and thanked her for her help and she came up to visit me. We just sort of clicked. I was stuck in nick and lonely, and even though I still miss Jessica like mad and think about her every single day, I had to try and move on with my life.’

Raymond felt his stomach turn over. ‘What are you trying to tell me, Ed?’

‘I’ve decided to give it a go with her, Ray. Gina rented a cottage out in the sticks and I’ve moved in with her.’

Raymond stood up and pushed his chair away with force. He couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. ‘You don’t hang about, do ya? Two days you’ve been out, two cunting days and you’ve bagged another bird already. You’re unbelievable, Ed, fucking unbelievable.’

As Raymond bolted out of the pub, Eddie chased after him and grabbed his arm. ‘Don’t be like this, Ray. I loved Jess, you know I did, and I wouldn’t hurt you for the world. Hear me out for fuck’s sake, will ya?’

Unable to stop himself, Raymond broke down. ‘Jess was my sister, Ed. I loved her so much. How do you expect me to feel?’ he wept.

Eddie felt awkward as he hugged his strapping pal. ‘I’m really sorry I’ve upset you, mate. Go on, let it all out.’

Feeling like a complete idiot, Raymond quickly pulled himself together. ‘I’m sorry as well. I don’t begrudge you being happy again, I really don’t and I feel like a right prick for making a scene, but I’m going through a shit time of it myself at the moment. Me and Polly ain’t getting on – all we do is argue. The salvage yard does me head in; I miss the excitement and the life that the old loan-sharking brought with it.’

Eddie put an arm around Ray and led him back towards the pub. ‘That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. Gary and Ricky have done wonders while I’ve been away, but there’s only so much the two of them can do. I think me and you need to get back into the fold, don’t you? Let’s eat our lunch, then we can talk about it properly, eh?’

Georgie clambered into the back of the Shogun and slapped her brother on the head to wake him up. ‘What’s for tea, Mum? I’m hungry.’

‘You can have hot dogs or chicken nuggets.’

‘I don’t want them. Can’t I have burgers?’ Georgie whinged.

‘Yes, there’s some in the freezer, Georgie.’

‘Don’t like your burgers. Can’t I have McDonald’s burgers, Mum?’

‘No, you can’t. Now shut up, because I’m trying to drive.’

As Georgie began rambling on about not wanting any dinner, Frankie ignored her for once. She was far too worried about her own problems today to worry about her daughter’s fussy eating.

Frankie sighed. She desperately needed advice and the only person she could think of to turn to in her hour of need was Joey.

Raymond nodded. ‘I’ll tell Polly tonight. I’m gonna be straight with her and if she don’t like it, she knows what she can do. I do love her, Ed, but she’s doing my head in over this baby thing. The doctor told her to relax and it’ll happen naturally, but she’s like a woman possessed.’

Eddie laughed. He hadn’t told Raymond that he’d proposed to Gina and had no intention of doing so until the time was right. ‘I need to ask you something. I’d like to meet with your parents and speak to them in person. I know I can never make things right for what I did, Ray, but I’d like to try. Can you organise a meet with them for me?’

Raymond held his hands up. ‘I dunno about that, Ed. Me dad’s still very bitter about the whole thing. I can have a word with me mum, if you like. She asked after you only last week, funny enough.’

‘What did she do with all me clobber out of the house, do you know?’

‘Gary’s got it all. Put it in storage, he did. I thought he told you when you first went in nick.’

‘He probably did. I was on a different planet when I first got banged up, weren’t I?’

Raymond smiled. ‘Me dad goes to his pigeon club tomorrow night. Shall I ring Mum while he’s out, see if I can get her to meet up with you?’

Eddie nodded. ‘I will truly understand if she don’t wanna see me, but I desperately need to apologise in person. It’s what Jessica would have wanted, I know it is.’