Читать книгу The Wronged: No parent should ever have to bury their child... - Kimberley Chambers - Страница 17

Nancy Butler prodded her husband. ‘Michael, wake up. That was my mum on the phone. Freda Smart is seriously ill, so I’m going to the hospital. Will you look after the boys today?’

Squinting at the radio/alarm clock, Michael was annoyed he’d been woken up so early. ‘Freda Smart’s a mad old bat and her fucking grandson dumped my sister while she was pregnant, in case you’d forgotten.’

‘I know that, but Freda was really kind to me when I was ill in hospital, Michael. She hasn’t got anybody else to visit her,’ Nancy retorted.

‘I’ve got to go to work today, so the boys will have to come with me.’

‘I don’t want them going to the club. Can’t you have the day off and take them somewhere else?’

‘No. I can’t. Now stop rambling on and let me get some poxy kip.’

Mary Walker was unusually quiet throughout the journey to the hospital.

‘You OK, Mum?’ Nancy asked.

‘I just hate going back to Whitechapel, love. Reminds me of our old café. Do you remember the interior, Nance? You probably don’t, as you were still quite young. Beautiful, that café was. I was heartbroken when we had to walk away from it.’

‘I remember the red tables and chairs and the jukebox,’ said Nancy, patting her mum’s arm. ‘I don’t like coming back here either. It reminds me of Molly.’

‘I wonder who’s living in Molly’s old house now?’

Nancy shrugged. ‘I think Michael sold it to an Indian family. Let’s hope they have more luck there than poor Jo did.’ Vinny had instructed Michael to sell the house via a phone call from prison.

‘I hope poor Freda knows who we are. She must be in a pretty bad way for the hospital to ring me so early. Shame, isn’t it, love. Must be awful, not having any family to call upon at a time like this.’

Watching her mother struggle to get out of the car, Nancy issued a warning. ‘It’ll be you in hospital next if you put on any more weight, Mum.’

Mary sighed. She only weighted eleven stone something, but looked bigger because of her five-foot frame. Donald was a whole foot taller than her and when they’d met she’d been ever so petite with a tiny little waist. ‘Thanks for that, Nance. It’s not easy to lose weight at my age. You’re lucky ’cause you’re taller than me and still young.’

‘Mum, you’re fifty-two not seventy. Your sweet tooth is the bloody problem, not your height or age.’

‘Has Michael upset you this morning, dear?’ Mary asked knowingly.

Nancy nodded. ‘I asked him to take the boys out somewhere for the day, but he’s taking them to work with him instead. It gives me the heebies, them going anywhere near that club after what happened to Molly. The place is jinxed.’

Mary linked arms with her daughter. ‘Try not to worry too much. The boys are far more capable of looking after themselves than poor little Molly was. They’ll most likely all be working there when they leave school anyway, Nance. So you might as well get used to it.’

Having prepared themselves for the worst, Mary and Nancy were surprised to see Freda propped up against a pillow reading the newspaper. She didn’t look well though. Her skin and the whites of her eyes were the colour of egg yolks.

‘Thanks for coming at such short notice. I really do appreciate it,’ Freda said, before explaining her cancer was back and was now terminal.

Nancy squeezed the old lady’s hand. ‘Surely there must be something the doctors can do? Isn’t there any treatment they can try?’

Freda shook her head. ‘Riddled with the bastard disease, I am. Even spread to my liver now. Once it hits your vital organs, that’s it – curtains.’

Mary had tears streaming down her face. She’d first met Freda back in 1965. Freda had barged into the café in Whitechapel one day to warn her and Donald how dangerous the Butler family were. At the time, Mary and Donald had dismissed her as some nutty local scaremonger. But Freda had been spot on. Over the years she’d become a valued friend and she would be sorely missed.

‘Now stop all them tears. I’m no spring chicken, so I can’t complain. I’ve had a decent innings. Open that drawer, Nancy. I wrote a list out last night. The doctor reckons I ain’t got long left, so I need to get my affairs in order. You don’t mind helping me, do you? I’ve no one else I can trust.’

Nancy forced a smile. ‘Of course we’ll help you.’

Michael Butler had just ordered himself and the boys some breakfast when his mother and Auntie Vivian marched into the café like two bulls in a china shop.

‘There you are! I was ringing the club continuously last night and couldn’t bloody get hold of you. I rung Nancy twice and she didn’t know where you were. I wish some bastard would invent a phone you could carry around with you, else what’s the point of having sons,’ Queenie spat, completely ignoring her grandchildren.

Seeing a table full of workmen staring his way, Michael ordered his sons to stay put, then led his mum and aunt outside. ‘I went out with me old mate Kev. I haven’t seen him for yonks. What’s the problem?’

When Queenie and Viv explained word for word about their altercation with the neighbours, Michael lit up a cigarette and inhaled deeply to calm his temper. Nobody around here dared disrespect his family. The locals were all too aware of what happened to those who did. Terry Smart, Trevor Thomas, Kenny and Bobby Jackson had all either disappeared or met a grizzly end after falling foul of the Butlers. No one else wanted to meet the same fate.

‘Well? Don’t just stand there like a stuffed dummy. What ya gonna do about it? Vinny would’ve been round there first time I asked. So would my Roy, God rest his soul.’

Michael dropped his cigarette, then stamped on it and twisted his foot as if he were snuffing out the life of a tarantula. ‘Do you honestly still see me as your baby boy, Mum? Or that fresh-faced David Essex lookalike that birds used to chase down the road in the seventies? Or do you just see me as the weakest link of this family? Not up to Vinny’s standards perhaps?’

‘I didn’t mean it like that. It was you who sorted Pervy Pat, so I know you’re more than capable. I just meant that Vinny would’ve straightened them bastards out like a shot.’

Michael smirked. ‘Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, but seeing as Vinny is currently being detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure for his swift way of dealing with things, I shall sort out this problem in my own sweet time, Mum. It will be dealt with though, I can promise you that. Now, if you don’t mind, I must excuse myself as my breakfast is getting cold.’

Queenie looked at Vivian in sheer amazement as Michael sauntered back into the café. ‘Saucy bastard. Who the hell does he think he is, eh? I won’t be insulted like that, Viv, not by one of me own.’

When her sister went to march back inside the café, Vivian grabbed her arm. ‘Leave it, Queen. Michael does have a point and I trust him to deal with those bastards next door.’

‘But he totally disrespected me.’

‘You were very disrespectful to him. He proved himself good and proper when he chopped that pervert’s dingle-dangle off. Believe me, that boy has more brains and integrity than you give him credit for. He’s a better man than Vinny will ever be, and that’s a fact.’

Johnny Preston felt as sick as a dog as he queued up inside Feltham Borstal. His mother had wanted to accompany him, but Johnny had refused. He needed to do this alone.

Once searched, Johnny was led away from the other visitors and taken down the corridor. Because of who he was he’d been allowed to speak to his nephew away from the prying eyes and listening ears of other inmates and their families.

‘Here we are. There will be four prison officers in the room with you for security purposes.’

‘I would much rather speak to Jamie alone.’

‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible. The guvnor’s orders, not mine. Jamie has been involved in numerous violent altercations while in our care, so the boss didn’t want to take any chances. He doesn’t allow many visits of this kind, so you’re lucky you’ve got one.’

Knowing it was now or never, Johnny took some deep breaths to try to calm himself. He couldn’t lose it in there, because if he did and got himself arrested, Deborah would probably divorce him.

‘You OK?’ the screw asked.

Johnny leaned against the wall and nodded. ‘Just give me a minute.’ The last time he could remember his heart beating at such a frantic pace was when he’d been plotted up outside that club waiting to shoot Vinny, and that hadn’t turned out too well. He’d drunk Scotch to calm his nerves and had accidentally shot Roy Butler instead. ‘I’m ready now.’

The first thing that struck Johnny as he entered the room was how different Jamie looked. He was eighteen now, full of muscle and had the body of a man rather than a teenager. His dark hair was cropped, and he had a big scar that ran diagonally from his right ear to the corner of his mouth.

‘Thanks for coming, Uncle Johnny. I had doubts you’d show up.’

Johnny was sure that, had he not been in prison when she was born, had he met his granddaughter, held her in his arms, read her bedtime stories and got to know her little personality, no way could he have stomached this visit. Perhaps the reason he was able to face Jamie was because the only memory he had of Molly was a couple of photographs.

Pulling the chair out from under the table, Johnny sat down opposite his nephew. Jamie had the same piercing green eyes as Vinny, which was no surprise seeing as it was now common knowledge they were half-brothers. ‘Cut the “Uncle Johnny” bollocks, and say what you gotta say. I don’t wanna be anywhere fucking near you, so the quicker you spill your guts and I can get out of here, the better.’

Jamie stared directly into his uncle’s eyes. ‘I asked Nan to speak to you because I wanted you to hear my side of the story. I’ve been framed, Johnny, and you are the only one who can help me. I am so sorry about what happened to Molly. You and your family must have been to hell and back, but I didn’t kill her. I swear to God, I never.’

‘Pull the other leg, it’s got fucking bells on,’ Johnny hissed.

‘What type of monster do you think I am, eh? I could never hurt a little kid. I promise you, if I’d been guilty of such a despicable act, I’d have killed myself by now. What type of cunt could live with themselves after murdering a three-year-old? Not me, that’s for fucking sure.’

If it hadn’t been for the four prison officers standing guard, Johnny would have lunged across the table and beaten his nephew black and blue. How dare he have the front to do what he’d done and then blatantly lie about it?

‘I want to speak to the police and urge them to re-open the case. Molly’s killer needs to be caught.’

Johnny looked at Jamie in disbelief. ‘As if the Old Bill are gonna do that. You were caught with a bedroom full of newspaper cuttings, you’d been ripping missing posters off walls and fucking lampposts, you even rung up the cunting police station and told them you had taken Molly. You were seen sat opposite the club on the day she went missing. Have you hit your head since you’ve been in here? The police got you bang to rights, boy, and you know it. Now why don’t you do me a favour and just admit it. It’s upsetting your nan the way you keep pleading your innocence. You’re making her ill.’

Eyes brimming with tears, Jamie shook his head furiously. ‘No way would I ever admit to something I didn’t do. It’s bad enough that the whole world sees me as a child-killer when I’m fucking innocent. I’ll hold my hands up to the newspaper cuttings, ripping the posters down and phone calls. That was wrong – bang out of order, in fact – and there isn’t a day goes by when I don’t regret it. But I was fourteen years old, for fuck’s sake. And I only did that shit because I hated Vinny so much. He tried to make my mother abort me – as you well know – and I blamed him for Mark’s death. That night we started the fire at Vinny’s club, Mark was climbing out the window when some evil cunt pulled him back in that storeroom. It had to be Vinny or a member of his staff. I can still hear Mark’s screams now as he burned to death. I could even smell his flesh being cooked,’ Jamie wept. Mark had been his older half-brother and they’d been so very close.

‘So you killed Molly to get back at Vinny. Is that what you’re trying to say?’

‘How many more times have I got to tell you, Johnny? I didn’t fucking touch Molly. I never even met her, let alone strangled her. The police found not one shred of evidence connecting me to Molly’s body or the area where she was found. I’d never even heard of that place, let alone been there.’

‘But you admitted you were sat opposite the club on the day she went missing.’

‘Yeah, I was. It would have been Mark’s eighteenth that day. I was upset, which is why I bought some cider and drowned my sorrows. If I had planned to snatch Molly you don’t honestly think I would be sitting opposite the club so the whole world could see me, do you?’

Johnny shrugged. ‘Well, you was silly enough to do all the other stuff, so why not? Hardly fucking Einstein, are you?’

‘No. But I’m no Ian Brady either!’ Jamie banged his fist on the table and all four prison guards instantly took a step forward. He raised his hands in apology, took a couple of deep breaths to bring his temper under control and then continued: ‘Listen, I found out something recently which I want you to tell the Old Bill. They won’t listen to me, but they might you.’

‘What?’

Jamie put his elbows on the table and leaned towards his uncle. ‘There’s a lad from Whitechapel in here. Good pal of mine. Did you know that Little Vinny’s best mate topped himself around the time of Molly’s funeral?’

Johnny shook his head.

‘Don’t you find that odd? Why would a young lad with his whole life in front of him want to hang himself down Hainault forest for no reason, eh? Guilt maybe? Word is, he was a right oddball, into glue-sniffing and all sorts. Perhaps the little weirdo couldn’t live with something bad he’d done? You get my drift?’

Johnny shrugged. He was feeling more uneasy by the second, truth be told. Jamie certainly did not have the demeanour of a guilty person. Quite the opposite, in fact.

‘Do you mind if I tell you what it was like in here at the beginning for me, Johnny?’