The Victim

by Kimberley Chambers

  ‘Right, I don’t know who actually murdered your brothers, but I do know who ordered the hit and I know who the middleman was.’

  ‘O’Hara fucking ordered it, I know that already,’ Eddie said angrily.

  Flatnose Freddie shook his head. ‘O’Hara’s plant was Pete Berkley and when Ronny and Paulie got shoved into the nonces’ wing, Berkley couldn’t get to ’em.’

  ‘So, who the fuck ordered it, then?’ Ed asked, stunned.

  ‘Terry Baldwin. He paid Jamie Carroll to sort it.’

  Overcome by shock, Eddie’s mind went completely blank. ‘Do I know ’em?’

  ‘Course you do. Carroll’s out of Plaistow originally. Used to knock about with Dean Arnold. Everyone knows him as the Fixer. As for Baldwin, he’s the grandfather of the kid your brothers murdered, hence the hit, I suppose.’

  Ed leaned against the wall to steady himself. He knew the Fixer – he was a slimy fucker and Ed had never liked him much. As for Baldwin, Ed knew him by sight, but had never really had many dealings with him. Ed had heard good things about Baldwin in the past, but he certainly wasn’t in his league.

  Shaking his head in utter disbelief, Eddie shook Freddie’s hand. ‘Thanks mate. I’ll get Raymond to pop your dosh over to you later in the week.’

  Flatnose Freddie shook his head. ‘Call it a favour, pal.’

  ‘There you are. What you doing, Dad? Me, Gary and Joey have been searching high and low for ya,’ Ricky said, as he poked his head around the brick wall.

  Pulling himself together, Eddie smiled falsely. With the wake being held in the Flag, he had to keep schtum about his discovery for now, because in the circles he mixed in, people had ears like little bats.

  ‘You know me, boy, I hate that grave bit, it gives me the fucking heebies. Go and tell your brothers I’ll be over in a sec.’

  When Ricky walked away, Eddie turned back to Freddie. ‘You’ll be OK to get rid of any waste for me, won’t ya, mate?’

  Flatnose Freddie grinned. There were hundreds of missing persons propped up in flyovers all over the country and they were mostly down to him. He was an expert with a cement mixer. ‘Does the Pope fucking pray?’ he chuckled.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  In the weeks following his brothers’ funerals Eddie returned to his focused, jolly, businesslike self. Flatnose Freddie’s revelation had left him thunderstruck at the time, but once the news had finally sunk in, Eddie had felt nothing but relief. Knowing that he’d had sod-all to do with murdering his own brothers was a wonderful feeling and, as the guilt ebbed away from his body, Ed felt his sanity return.

  The next day was Gina’s thirty-fifth birthday and Ed could barely wait to present her with the biggest surprise she’d ever had. She didn’t have a clue what he’d planned, bless her, and Ed couldn’t wait to see the shocked expression on her face when she found out.

  Once tomorrow was over, it was going to be all guns blazing, literally. Jamie Carroll was the first on Eddie’s hit list. Gary and Ricky had been clocking Carroll’s movements for over three weeks now. He lived in Harold Hill and Ed planned to abduct him outside his local snooker hall, which he seemed to frequent as regular as clockwork on a Monday night.

  Terry Baldwin had been pinpointed as victim number two. He’d recently returned from Australia alone; as word had it, his wife had decided to spend some extra time with her family, which suited Ed perfectly. Raymond had been clocking Baldwin and they’d decided to abduct him at his own house.

  Last, but certainly not least on the hit list, were the O’Haras. Stuart had been watching their movements for over a fortnight now and it had been decided they would strike late on Wednesday night. Jimmy and Jed both went to Southall horse market very early every Wednesday morning and, apparently, arrived home as pissed as farts between nine and ten in the evening. This suited Eddie, as the more rat-arsed they were, the less alert they would be when he and the boys broke in and shot the bastards.

  Eddie punched in Gary’s number and smiled as he heard his son’s hungover-sounding voice. It had been Gary’s thirtieth birthday the previous day. They’d had a family lunch, then Gary, Ricky and Stuart had all gone clubbing up West.

  ‘How’d it go, boy? I hope you looked after Stu. He never came home last night, so I take it he’s with you still?’

  ‘Him and Ricky copped off with a couple of birds, fucking models they were, the lucky bastards. Christ knows how I got home; I must have got a black cab. I feel like shit today, I can tell ya. I’m getting too old for all this partying lark.’

  Eddie chuckled. ‘Well, best you sort yourself out in time for tomorrow. Track down the other two for me. I expect all three of yous to be bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning. I’m on me way to visit Frankie now. Fuck knows why she’s asked to see me, but I expect I’ll get an earful, I always do off her. I’ll bell ya when I leave the prison and, in the meantime, sort yourself out, boy, OK?’

  Gary sighed. The way he felt, another big celebration in the dysfunctional life of the Mitchells was the last thing he needed.

  Joey and Dominic sat opposite Joyce in an Italian restaurant in Hornchurch. It had been Dom’s idea to pick Joycie up, get her drunk, and then beg her to let her husband come back home.

  ‘So, are you looking forward to tomorrow? Big day for you as well, isn’t it?’ Joyce asked her grandson.

  Joey nodded. He was proud his dad had chosen him, very proud indeed. ‘I wish you’d come, Nan. Dad was upset when I told him you wasn’t coming. He thinks the world of you, you know.’

  ‘I know he does, but I can’t come, love, it don’t feel right. Now, can we talk about something else?’ Joyce asked, feeling herself becoming emotional.

  Joey topped his nan’s glass up with more wine. ‘Let’s talk about Grandad. He’s been as good as gold with us, Nan, but we can’t have him stay there for ever. You know how old fashioned he is – me and Dom are too frightened to have sex in case he hears us.’

  Dominic chuckled. ‘I feel like a monk, Joycie. Please take him back. He loves you so much, he talks constantly about you to me and Joey every night of the week.’

  Joyce smirked. She liked Stanley talking about her constantly, and she hoped he was hurting as much as he’d hurt her. She hadn’t spoken to him since the day they’d met in the carvery. She had let him drop her home that day and had told him she would let him know in her own time if he could come back home.

  ‘Well? What do you say, Nan?’ Joey asked hopefully.

  Joycie sank the rest of her wine and wiped her mouth with the napkin. ‘OK, tell the old goat he can come home tomorrow. I’m only doing this for your sakes, mind. You can tell him that I shall be writing a list of house rules, which I expect him to abide by. If he doesn’t, then the dirty old bastard is straight out the door again.’

  When Joyce headed for the toilet, Joey laughed and turned to Dominic. ‘Poor Grandad. I’d hate to be in his bloody shoes.’

  DI Blyth was sitting opposite the superintendent in Arbour Square police station in East London. The superintendent had been on a skiing holiday for the past couple of weeks and Blyth had eagerly awaited his return before presenting her evidence. In Blyth’s experience, you were always better to speak to the organ grinder rather than waste time talking to the monkeys.

  The superintendent put the statements down on his desk and turned to Blyth. He knew the Mitchell family very well. Over the years they had become the bane of his life and not getting the murder conviction to stick against Eddie had been one of the worst moments of his career.

  ‘This all looks very impressive on paper, but I wouldn’t trust a Mitchell as far as I could throw them. This is the same girl that lied through her teeth at her father’s trial, I take it?’

  Without the superintendent’s support, Blyth knew she was up the creek without a paddle, so she sold Frankie to him as a person as best as she could. ‘Frankie had very little choice other than to defend Eddie Mitchell at his trial. What girl wouldn’t speak up for their own father
? And I’m positive that she was got at by her own brothers as well. As for Frankie’s statement telling us that Jed O’Hara was responsible for murdering her grandfather, I am one hundred per cent sure that the girl is telling the truth. Kerry, her friend, backed up the story; her statement is virtually identical to Frankie’s.’

  The superintendent was still dubious. He had hated Harry Mitchell with a passion. For years, he’d known exactly what the head of the Mitchell clan was up to, but catching him and locking him up had proved an impossible task. Houdini, the superintendent had nicknamed Mitchell, the reason being that the bastard was the biggest escapologist he’d ever had the misfortune of dealing with. In fact, when Houdini had finally met his maker, the superintendent had breathed a massive sigh of relief that he couldn’t be tormented by the man any longer.

  ‘I can see what you’re saying, Blyth, but I would really like to speak to the Mitchell girl myself or send one of my own team to speak to her before I reopen this case.’

  ‘Both Frankie and Kerry have flatly refused to speak to any officer other than myself, nor will they do a taped interview. Like it or not, sir, if this investigation does go any further, then I will have to be involved. The girls trust me, you see,’ Blyth explained.

  The superintendent rubbed his fingers around his moustache. He’d overslept this morning and hadn’t had time to trim the bloody thing. ‘OK, on your insistence, I’ll reopen the case. We’ll start by getting some DNA tests done on the crime exhibits, see if we can get a match to the suspects. I’ll also send some men round to speak to Mitchell’s neighbours again. But if these girls are lying, be it on your head, and I truly mean that, Blyth.’

  Filled with relief, Blyth smiled and shook the SI’s hand. ‘Thank you so much for taking me seriously, sir.’

  Eddie Mitchell didn’t know whether to hug, kiss, or just curtly say hello to his only daughter. Frankie was an unpredictable character at the best of times and, as alike as they were, he would never understand her way of thinking as long as he lived. As he walked towards her, he opted to give her a quick peck on the cheek.

  ‘You all right, girl? Christ, you ain’t ’arf showing now,’ Ed said, stating the obvious.

  ‘You wanna see my mate, Babs. She’s only got a couple of weeks to go and she’s twice the size of me,’ Frankie replied.

  ‘So, how long exactly you got to go now?’

  ‘Six weeks. I can’t wait now, I’m so excited.’

  Eddie grinned. Frankie was acting much warmer towards him than he’d expected her to be. Not one to brush things under the carpet, Ed leaned towards her. ‘I know you’ve been pissed off with me, sweetheart, and I do understand how you feel, but I ain’t ’arf missed ya and I really want us to be friends again. Can we put all that crap behind us now?’

  Frankie could be just as blunt as her father at times. ‘It all depends if you help me or not. I need a big favour, Dad.’

  Eddie smirked. He’d thought his daughter had asked him to visit her because she had missed him, but in true Frankie style, the only reason she’d requested his presence was because she wanted something in return. ‘Go on, hit me with it.’

  Eddie was appalled as Frankie explained the true horror of what had happened to her cellmate, Babs. He hated nonces, fucking despised them, and he admired Babs for killing the bastard in the way that she had. Seeing Frankie’s eyes well up, Eddie held his daughter’s hand.

  ‘It’s OK, you don’t have to tell me no more. I’ll sort your mate out with a brief, babe, and I’ll cover all the costs for her, OK?’

  Frankie squeezed her father’s hand. ‘Thanks, Dad, I knew I could rely on you.’

  Alice O’Hara was a bundle of nerves as she walked through the corridor of Georgie’s infant school. Dealing with people in authority wasn’t Alice’s cup of tea and she was dreading facing her granddaughter’s headmaster.

  ‘So, what’s she done now?’ Alice coldly asked the secretary. Since starting her new school Georgie had been off her food again, and Alice was becoming increasingly worried about her granddaughter’s weightloss and quietness indoors. In the last couple of weeks she’d become very sullen and introverted, and trying to get her to school in the mornings was an absolute nightmare.

  ‘The headmaster will explain all to you. Take a seat and I’ll let him know you are here,’ the secretary informed her.

  Alice sat down on the chair and twiddled her thumbs anxiously. The school head had rung up just over an hour ago. Jed was up in Cambridgeshire grafting with Sammy, and Jimmy hated authority as much as Alice did, so had opted to wait outside in the motor.

  ‘The headmaster will see you now,’ the secretary said, smiling.

  Alice walked into the small room.

  ‘Please sit down, Mrs O’Hara,’ the headmaster instructed.

  ‘So, what’s she done?’ Alice asked him. He was an ugly man, with silly glasses perched on the end of his nose.

  ‘Georgina ran away from the playground earlier and if it wasn’t for one of the other children telling the teacher on duty, we wouldn’t have known until playtime was over.’

  ‘Surely the gates are locked, though? Where is she now?’ Alice asked worriedly.

  ‘Georgina is in her classroom. She’s fine, and of course the gates are locked. We take every precaution possible to ensure the safety of our children. Georgina is the first child who has ever managed to climb over the railings. Mrs Morris, who was on playground duty, informed me and we immediately sent out a search party. We finally found Georgina walking along the main road. I know she has had problems in the past, but Georgina doesn’t seem to be settling in very well here. She really doesn’t seem happy and that worries me greatly. I don’t want to worry you, Mrs O’Hara, but anyone could have snatched her along that main road today. There are some very dangerous people out there, as I am sure you are only too aware of. Georgina is a very bright girl for her age. She is behind the other children with her reading and writing, but other than that, she is years ahead of them in her speech and her ways. I propose we send her to a special unit where the classrooms are smaller and she can get one-to-one tuition. They can help her overcome her emotional difficulties, and then you can find a more suitable school for her. I really do think this would benefit Georgina in the long run.’

  Alice was furious. In her eyes, a special unit was for either difficult or backward kids, and there was no way her precious Georgie was going to one of those. ‘No granddaughter of mine is going anywhere with a load of loonies and divs. Where is she now?’ Alice screeched.

  The headmaster was horrified by Alice’s shouting. ‘As I said earlier, Georgina’s back in her classroom. I really think you should think about what I …’

  Alice stopped him mid-sentence. She jumped off her seat and pointed her chubby finger into his face. ‘Now, you listen to me, you ugly, four-eyed old shitcunt. I am taking my granddaughter out of this crappy school this very minute and I shall find her somewhere decent to attend. And while I’m at it, I might report you to the gavvers for putting her poor little life in danger.’

  ‘Is there really any need to use such language?’ the headmaster asked, shell-shocked by Alice’s use of appalling vocabulary.

  Alice opened the door and glared at him. ‘Go fuck your grandmother.’

  After agreeing to help Babs, Frankie and Eddie enjoyed a pleasant visit. Gina wasn’t mentioned by either of them; instead they discussed the rest of the family in detail.

  ‘I really can’t believe that Nan’s letting Grandad move back in with her. I know I forgave Jed when he messed about with that Sally bird, but I would never do it again with any other bloke. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Nan and Grandad have sorted out their differences, but knowing Nan as well as I do, I’m just shocked that she’s taken him back. She always came across to me as someone who would never forgive that type of thing.’

  Eddie chuckled. It had been wonderful spending time with his daughter today and he didn’t want visiting time to end. ‘Your grandmother wi
ll give that poor old sod a dog’s life, trust me on that one.’

  Frankie laughed. She, too, had enjoyed the visit, so much so that she realised exactly how much she’d missed having her dad in her life. ‘Is that boy still living with you, Dad? You know, the one you were in Wandsworth with?’

  ‘Yeah, he ain’t a boy no more, though. Stuart’s a man now and he liked you when I showed him your photos, reckoned you were beautiful, he did.’

  ‘Don’t be showing photos of me to strangers, Dad. You know how I hate having my photo taken; I look awful in ’em,’ Frankie said, embarrassed.

  ‘No, you don’t! That’s just you being paranoid. He’d make a nice boyfriend for you when you get out of here. Stu’s the same age as Ricky and, unlike your ex, he’s a true gentleman. He’ll make a fucking great husband for some lucky girl one day, I know that much.’

  ‘Well, it won’t be me! Jed has put me off men for life and when I finally get out of here, all I wanna do is get Georgie and Harry back and concentrate on them and my new baby. Please don’t start trying to fix me up with blokes when I get out, Dad, it’s really humiliating.’

  ‘I’m not trying to fix you up, I was just saying I thought you’d be well suited, that’s all. Now, tell me more about this little chat you had with that DI Blyth. Joey said that Jed was conning old people or something.’

  Frankie began to explain about Jed’s business dealings and was relieved when the bell rang for the end of visiting time. She had been enjoying herself until her dad had mentioned DI Blyth. As soon as he’d said her name, it reminded her of the awful secret she was keeping from him.

  ‘I’d best go now,’ she said, hugging her father tightly.

  ‘Don’t go yet, no other bastard has jumped out their seat,’ Ed replied.

  Frankie took in the scent of her father’s aftershave. The smell of him always reminded her of when she was a child. She pulled away from him. ‘So, when will you sort out the Babs situation for me?’