The Traitor

by Kimberley Chambers

  Jed was taken completely by surprise as the thick-set man lunged at him with a cosh.

  Alice screamed at the top of her voice as he repeatedly whacked it around her son’s head. ‘Get off him, leave him alone,’ she shouted, as she ran towards the man and jumped on his back.

  Hearing a commotion outside, Frankie threw her jeans and T-shirt back on. She opened the trailer door and screamed as she saw a big man hitting her boyfriend with some kind of object.

  Patience had never been one of Eddie Mitchell’s virtues and today was no different. Waiting for anything did his head in, and here he was sitting alone in a cell waiting to see if twelve complete strangers were about to dish him out a life sentence. Hearing footsteps, Ed looked up. It was his lawyer, Larry.

  ‘What’s up?’ he asked worriedly.

  ‘The jury haven’t been able to make a decision, Ed. The judge has adjourned until Monday.’

  Eddie put his head in his hands. The thought of spending the weekend in prison while still awaiting his fate didn’t appeal one iota. Thoroughly pissed off, Ed grabbed the cell bars and banged his head against them.

  ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck!’ he shouted.

  Eddie wasn’t the only person shouting; back in Rainham, his daughter was absolutely hysterical.

  ‘Leave him alone. He’s my boyfriend,’ she screamed, as Jed lay on the floor and curled himself up in a protective ball.

  ‘I’ll kill you, you shitcunt,’ Alice yelled, as she picked up a broom and clumped Terry Baldwin repeatedly with it.

  Jed’s face was battered. It was covered in blood, and pain shot through his right leg where he had fallen awkwardly.

  Aiming one more kick at Jed, Terry grabbed the broom from Alice and tossed it away.

  ‘You fucking arsehole, my Jimmy’ll have you for this. He’s only a young mush, look what you’ve done to him.’

  Terry turned to Frankie. He was well aware that she was Eddie Mitchell’s daughter. ‘I’m sorry you had to see that, love, but you wanna leave that piece of shit while you still can.’

  Frankie crouched down and held Jed’s battered face in her hands. She turned to Terry. ‘You animal. What’s he meant to have done to you?’

  Terry felt sorry for the innocent-looking young girl, but he had to be brutal, she needed to know the truth. ‘My daughter is carrying your scumbag of a boyfriend’s child. Told him she was pregnant, my Sally did, and that little shit told her to get rid of it. No one takes the piss out of my little girl, I won’t fucking stand for it.’

  Seeing Jed looking at him, Terry couldn’t resist giving him a sly kick in the bollocks. ‘You ain’t seen the last of me. You’ll be paying maintenance once that baby’s born, I’ll make damn sure of it.’

  As Terry walked away, Frankie stared at his back with her mouth open. It couldn’t be true, surely not?

  ‘I ain’t done nothing wrong, Frankie. I swear on our baby’s life, I ain’t cheated on ya,’ Jed cried.

  Guessing that there was a good chance that the accusation was true, Alice decided to intervene. If Frankie left Jed, then Alice wouldn’t see baby Georgie at all and she couldn’t risk that happening.

  As Frankie went to storm off, Alice grabbed her by the arm. ‘Don’t believe that nutter, Frankie. I know my own son and I know that he loves you more than he’s ever loved anyone. Why would he want a beef burger when he’s got fillet steak indoors, eh love?’

  Frankie didn’t know whether she was coming or going. Little things flashed through her mind. She thought of all the nights Jed had stayed out, the make-up and lipstick she’d seen on his clothes, the distinct smell of women’s perfume on that new shirt she’d bought him for his birthday. She’d confronted him at the time, but he had sworn blind that the evidence had been his aunts and cousins making a fuss of him.

  Frankie glared at her boyfriend. If he had cheated on her, she would leave him tomorrow, but only if she was one hundred per cent certain. Say she left him, but Jed was telling the truth? If that happened, she would never forgive herself.

  As Jed struggled to stand up, Frankie watched him.

  ‘My head hurts,’ he whined.

  Alice helped her son get up. ‘Let’s all go inside. That man was a bloody lunatic. We’ll ring your dad – he’ll know what to do.’

  Jed looked at Frankie with pleading eyes. ‘I swear Frankie, I ain’t got no girl pregnant.’

  Frankie started to cry. ‘So you don’t know no one called Sally?’

  As his mum walked away, Jed hugged Frankie. He had to think up a convincing lie and he had to think of one quickly. ‘If I tell you something, you have to promise you won’t tell anyone.’

  ‘I promise.’

  ‘I know who Sally is. Me old man was knocking her off. It’s me dad’s baby, not mine.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  With his lies spiralling out of control, Jed decided that the quicker he and Frankie left Rainham, the better. Telling his mother had been awful. Alice had sobbed her heart out, but had fully understood why he had to go.

  Petrified of Sally’s father coming back, Jed rang his brother Billy. ‘Is that plot still available on your site?’

  Billy told him that it was, so Jed arranged for his trailer to be taken to Hainault the following Monday.

  Frankie and Jed were up at 6 a.m. on the morning in question. There was so much to do and very little time to get things organised.

  ‘What about your horses? Are you gonna leave them here?’ Frankie asked Jed.

  ‘Nah, I’m putting ’em in the field where me brother keeps his. Dad’s gonna bring ’em over in the horse-box tomorrow.’

  At the mention of Jed’s father, Frankie glared at her boyfriend. She was furious that Jimmy had got away scot-free with his infidelities. He should have got a good hiding, not poor Jed, whose head, face and body were still covered in bruises.

  ‘I still think that someone should tell your mum. I know me and her have been known to argue, but she needs to be told that her husband is a pervert and has got some young girl pregnant. I’d wanna know if you ever did anything like that to me.’

  Jed put down the box he was holding and gave Frankie a cuddle. He was annoyed with himself for making his dad look like a nonce. He should have told Frankie that his cousin Sammy had got the girl up the duff, but he’d just blurted out the first thing that had come into his head.

  ‘Look, I’ve spoken to me dad and he promises me it’s all over with that girl. It’ll break me mum’s heart, Frankie, if she ever finds out, so swear you’ll never say anything.’

  ‘It should be your job to tell her Jed, not mine. If I’d ever caught my dad messing about with young girls, I’d have told my mum immediately.’

  Jed gave Frankie a peck on the nose. ‘Maybe I will tell her one day, but not now. She’s upset that we’re leaving and I don’t want her to get all depressed again.’

  By the time they had finished packing anything breakable in boxes and had eaten some breakfast, it was gone 9 a.m.

  Alice had offered to look after Georgie while Jed and Frankie moved the trailer and got themselves organised. She was devastated they were moving and before they left she wanted to spend as much time with her granddaughter as possible.

  As Jimmy walked towards them, Frankie turned away.

  ‘I’m gonna come with ya. I’ll give you a hand,’ he said brightly.

  Disgusted by her soon-to-be father-in-law’s appalling behaviour, Frankie urged Jed to go without her. ‘I’ll wait here with Georgie and your mum,’ she hissed, walking towards the house.

  Jed ran over and grabbed Frankie’s arm. He couldn’t risk her saying anything. His dad would kill him if his lie ever came to light. ‘I mean it, Frankie, if you say one word to my mum, I’ll never forgive you, and me and you will be finished for good.’

  Unaware that his daughter was currently moving home, Eddie Mitchell was led into the courtroom. He felt sick with nerves. The jury had spent the weekend holed up in a hotel and he just hoped and prayed that they had co
me to a decision, because the not knowing was horrendous.

  Ed glanced towards the gallery. Gary, Ricky, Auntie Joan, Vi, Paulie, Ronny, Reg and Raymond were all there to support him. So were Dougie, Flatnose Freddie and John, the old guvnor of the Flag in Canning Town.

  The judge urged the foreman of the jury to stand up. ‘Has the jury reached a decision on all three charges?’

  ‘Yes, your Honour.’

  ‘On the charge of murder, how do you find the defendant: guilty or not guilty?’

  Eddie held his breath. He could feel his legs shaking and the sweat dripping down his face.

  ‘Not guilty.’

  Gary and Ricky jumped up and hugged one another. Auntie Joan stuck her two fingers up at the devastated prosecution team. ‘Bunch of arseholes,’ she shouted.

  ‘Silence in court,’ the judge yelled, before continuing.

  ‘And on the charge of manslaughter, how do you find the defendant: guilty or not guilty?’

  Eddie looked towards Gary and Ricky. They all knew he was going to get found guilty for manslaughter; it was a forgone conclusion.

  ‘Not guilty.’

  Eddie gasped. He almost expected Jeremy Beadle to pop up from somewhere; it was like a scene from the TV programme Beadle’s About.

  Neither Larry nor Eddie’s QC could quite believe their ears. How could they not find Mitchell guilty of manslaughter? It was a mistake – it had to be.

  ‘Get in there. Well done, Ed. We all love you, boy,’ Auntie Joan screamed.

  ‘Silence in court,’ the judge ordered sternly.

  As the courtroom fell quiet again, he continued.

  ‘And on the charge of being in possession of a firearm, how do you find the defendant: guilty or not guilty?’

  ‘Guilty.’

  Stanley and Joyce had been pottering about indoors all day, trying to keep themselves busy. Joey and Dominic had both taken a week off work and had invited themselves over for lunch.

  ‘Go and get changed, Stanley, the boys will be here soon.’

  ‘Why do I have to bloody well get changed to sit in me own bleedin’ house?’ Stanley snapped.

  The shrill ring of the telephone stopped their argument. Raymond had promised he would call as soon as a verdict was announced.

  ‘Answer it then, Stanley,’ Joyce yelled.

  As Stanley picked up the receiver and heard his son’s voice, he felt his hands go like jelly. ‘What? I don’t believe it!’ he yelled.

  Without saying goodbye, Stanley slammed down the phone and turned to his wife. ‘The bastard got away with it. I hope our Frankie’s ashamed of herself. This is all her doing.’

  ‘What do you mean, got away with it? They must have found him guilty of manslaughter.’

  With tears in his eyes, Stanley shook his head. ‘They found him not guilty. What sort of people do they put on these juries, eh, Joycie?’

  Joyce was gobsmacked. ‘So has he been let free?’

  ‘He got charged with possessing a firearm. Seven years, he got. The bastard’ll be out before you know it. The Devil looks after his own, I’ve always fucking said that. We’ve got no justice for our Jessica whatsoever.’

  Eddie felt a relief within as he was driven back to the prison. He would never forgive himself for what he had done to Jessica, but at least now he could try to move on with his life.

  The whole courtroom had been astounded when he’d got the not guilty for manslaughter verdict. ‘That’s got to be the biggest travesty I’ve ever had the misfortune of being part of,’ Ed heard the prosecution QC say to one of his team.

  James Fitzgerald Smythe, Eddie’s QC, and Larry, his brief, had both been totally dumbfounded by the verdict. Both men had told him all along that he had no chance of getting off the manslaughter charge. ‘Getting a not guilty for murder is what we have to aim for, Eddie,’ they’d insisted.

  Eddie wondered if the bent chief inspector or the judge’s summing up had swung things in his favour. The bent Inspector had been blackmailed into giving him a glowing reference, but obviously the judge hadn’t. Or maybe it was his emotional outburst at the end that had won the jury’s hearts.

  ‘What happened was an act of extreme violence, but if there is any doubt in your minds that what Mr Mitchell did was actually a terrible accident, then he should be found not guilty,’ the judge had told the jury.

  Thinking of how elated his family had been, Eddie grinned. With the time he’d already served, he could be out in as little as four years.

  The copper sitting opposite Eddie sneered at him. ‘I wouldn’t be smiling if I’d just murdered my wife,’ he said sarcastically.

  Eddie had cried many a tear in private for Jessica, but he wasn’t about to let this jumped-up little bastard get the better of him.

  Eddie gave him a wink. ‘You ain’t me though, are you, mate?’

  Back in Rainham, Joey had just arrived at his grandparents’ and was horrified by his father’s lenient sentence. ‘If Frankie had told the truth, Dad would have definitely got found guilty. It’s all Frankie’s fault. I never want to speak to her again,’ Joey said, trying desperately not to cry.

  As Dominic comforted his partner, Joyce opened a bottle of brandy and poured them all a glass. ‘Drink this – it’s good for shock,’ she urged her grandson.

  Two glasses later, Joey’s upset had turned to pure anger. ‘How can Frankie stick up for Dad when he killed our mum like he did?’ he shouted.

  Joyce did her best to make her grandson see sense. ‘You must make it up with Frankie. You can’t let this ruin your relationship. When was the last time you spoke to her?’

  ‘I haven’t spoken to her since we went to court. She’s been ringing me, but I’ve got nothing to say to her, Nan.’

  ‘You can’t blame him, Joycie,’ Stanley piped up.

  Throwing her husband a look that could kill, Joyce put an arm around Joey’s shoulder. ‘If your mum’s looking down, she would be so upset that you and Frankie aren’t talking. You’ve always been like two peas in a pod, so you must sort it out, Joey. And what about Georgie? You don’t wanna lose contact with her, do you? Say you miss her growing up.’

  Joey laid his head on his nan’s shoulder. ‘If Frankie rings me again, for Mum’s sake, I’ll answer it, but I’m not ringing her. I feel like I hate her at the moment, Nan, for letting that bastard off the hook, I really do.’

  Stuart, Eddie’s cellmate, was overjoyed by his pal’s stroke of good fortune. ‘You’re a top geezer, Ed. I’m so pleased for ya, mate,’ he said, hugging him. ‘That new screw, Leslie, said me and you can go and have a game of cards with Bertie Simms and JD. I asked him earlier, as I thought you might need some cheering up.’

  Eddie shook his head. ‘It’s been a long day, mate. I’ve got a few letters I need to write. I need to thank people and stuff. Now I’m no longer on remand, I ain’t allowed as many visitors, am I? So I’d better start putting pen to paper a bit more.’

  ‘Shall I stay here with ya?’ Stu offered.

  ‘Nah, you go and play cards,’ Eddie replied. He usually adored Stuart’s constant chitchat, but after the trauma of the court case, all he wanted was to be left alone.

  When Stuart left the cell, Eddie picked up his pen and writing pad. He wanted to drop a quick line to everyone who had given up their time to support him. He penned letters to Gary and Ricky, his aunts, uncles and brothers. Finishing the last of the family letters, he laid back on his bunk and thought of Gina.

  No one would ever replace his wonderful Jessica, but watching Gina perform in court had excited Eddie to some extent. He couldn’t put his finger on what attracted him to her. It wasn’t just her looks – she definitely had something else about her. He propped himself up and picked up his pen and pad again.

  Dear Gina,

  I just wanted to thank you for standing up in court on my behalf. My case ended today and, as you probably know, I got a not guilty for murder and manslaughter, but got a guilty for possession of firearms, what resulted in
me getting seven years, of which I’ll probably have to serve about four.

  I’ve no idea how busy you are workwise at the moment, but if you fancy popping up to visit me, let me know and I will send you a VO.

  Take care of yourself,

  Thanks again.

  Eddie x

  Eddie reread the letter and then dithered over sending it. Perhaps he should take the bit about her visiting him out. Deciding to leave it in, Ed sealed the envelope before he could change his mind again. Part of him felt disloyal to Jessica, but he managed to convince himself that he was doing nothing wrong. If Gina visited, it would be nice to have a bit of female company and, seeing as he was stuck in the clink, it wasn’t as if anything untoward could happen.

  Over in Essex, Alice was in floods of tears as she clung on to baby Georgie for dear life.

  ‘Anyone would think we were moving to Scotland, not bloody Hainault,’ Jed said, laughing.

  Alice ignored her son’s little joke. She knew exactly why he was moving so quickly – because he’d got that other girl up the duff. He might be able to lie to Frankie and get away with it, but she knew he was as guilty as sin. Alice felt quite sorry for Frankie as she handed her the baby. She’d caught her Jimmy at it once and, after clumping him, had left him immediately. She found it strange that Frankie seemed so laid-back about the whole drama. The girl hadn’t said one word about it all day.

  Alice kissed her philandering son. ‘Me and your dad will pop over and see you tomorrow.’

  The journey from Rainham to Hainault took about half an hour. Noticing that her phone was switched off, Frankie turned it on and was surprised when it rang almost instantly.

  ‘Frankie, it’s Gary. Just to let you know Dad got seven years, but he won’t have to serve all that. He got done for firearms, but got a not guilty to the other two charges. Now, when do you wanna go and visit him?’

  Not wanting Jed to know that she was planning to visit her father, Frankie swerved the question. ‘I bet you and Ricky are well chuffed. Listen, Gal, I’m a bit busy right now. Jed and I have moved to Hainault today and we’re just taking the rest of the stuff over there, so I’ll give you a ring tomorrow.’