Читать книгу The Betrayer - Kimberley Chambers - Страница 19

TWELVE

ETHEL BURST OUT laughing when she clapped eyes on the banner. ‘Welcome Home Tommy’ stood out in enormous green letters and Maureen was asking for help to hang it at the front of the house.

Maureen glared at her. ‘What’s so funny?’

Crying with laughter, Ethel could barely speak. ‘How the fuck have yer got the front to put that up? The whole street knows he was done for murder. Fuck me, that new family that have just moved in opposite will think he’s a war hero coming back late from the Falklands.’

Maureen bit her tongue. She loved her mother-in-law more than words could say, but the older she got, the more outspoken she became. She looked at her mates.

‘What do you think?’

Brenda paused before answering. ‘Look, maybe Ethel’s right. Even though Terry Smith was a wrong ’un and what happened is long forgotten, he’s still got cousins round here, ain’t he?’

Sandra agreed. ‘I heard his brother Wayne’s moved back to the area. Dunno how true it is, but Rosie’s husband saw him in the Duchess last Saturday night.’

As James entered the room, he caught the back end of the conversation. Seeing his mum’s deflated expression, he put an arm around her.

‘We don’t want no trouble, Mum. Give us it here and I’ll put it up in the front room. I don’t think Tommy would like it outside, anyway. Yer know what he’s like and if Freddie’s coming with him, he might feel a bit of a prick.’

Smiling at her son, Maureen handed him the banner.

Tommy Hutton thanked the little blonde bird, rolled onto his back and took off the johnny. Embarrassed that he’d shot his seed in less than two minutes, he apologised and explained why.

‘Do you want to do it again?’ the girl asked.

He shook his head. ‘Thanks all the same, but I’ve gotta be somewhere.’

Tommy took his time as he got dressed. He didn’t want Freddie taking the piss out of him for being so quick, but on reaching the reception, he was surprised to see that Freddie had vanished. The Spanish-looking bird who had taken the money from them smiled at him.

‘Your friend, he is in room number six with Chantelle.’

Tommy sat on a chair and shut his eyes. With no sleep the previous night and a gut full of food and booze, he already felt knackered. Being set free had been the best feeling in the world. Walking through the gates after serving ten years of his fifteen was an incredibly special moment, one that only a long-termer would ever understand.

The first person he saw as the fresh air hit him was Freddie, sitting on the bonnet of a white Escort van. They’d literally run towards one another as if they were long-lost lovers, before jumping up and down like nutters.

‘Right, what do yer wanna do?’ Freddie asked, waving a big wad of dough at him.

Tommy was overawed and didn’t know what to suggest. ‘I’m gagging for a beer. After that, you choose,’ he said.

Freddie pulled up at the first boozer they saw. They knocked back a few lagers and spoke endlessly about their time in Feltham. Tommy was the first to change the subject.

‘So, how’s the building game going? With the wad you’re waving about, yer must be doing all right.’

Freddie did a wanker sign. ‘It’s shit, mate. Me cousin’s a prick, he don’t pay that well and I knock me bollocks off for next to nothing. I’ve only stuck with it while I’ve been waiting for you to get out – that, and to keep me mother off me case.’

Tommy nodded sympathetically.

‘What’s this?’ he asked, as Freddie threw a brown envelope on his lap.

Freddie grinned, ‘It’s a little present from me uncle Bobby. I think there’s two hundred quid in there. Bobby’s in Spain for a couple of weeks, but he gave it to me before he went. He said you were to ’ave a good time with it.’

Downing his beer, Tommy smiled. ‘If I’m meant to be enjoying meself, best we get out of this shit-hole then.’

The next stop was a restaurant. The dinners in prison had been fucking awful and Tommy was gagging for a good old-fashioned roast.

As he wiped the gravy off his plate with the remainder of his Yorkshire pudding, Tommy swallowed the last piece and let out a satisfied groan.

‘Freddie, that was fuckin’ handsome. Honestly, it was better than a bunk up.’

Freddie winked at him. ‘Funny you should say that, ’cause I’ve got one of them lined up for yer later. Yer can tell me after you’ve shot yer load if yer still prefer the roast beef.’

Tommy laughed. He’d had no bird in tow when he’d gone away, but having been sexually active from the age of thirteen, he wasn’t going to say no to the offer.

After leaving the restaurant, Freddie wanted to take Tommy to a boozer in East Ham to meet all his pals.

‘Not today, Fred. I need to get me head together, and me mum’s expecting me home at seven. I can’t not turn up, and if we go down your manor, I probably won’t get back in time.’

Freddie fully understood where his mate was coming from. He’d been there himself. Walking out of prison was one thing, getting your head together and the family stuff was another. Instead, they’d done a little pub crawl. Nowhere special, just random pubs they liked the look of.