Queens of Crime: 3-Book Thriller Collection. Kimberley Chambers

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СКАЧАТЬ stunning bird, and with his own dark smouldering looks, his son was always destined to be a handsome kid.

      Karen hadn’t wanted to part with her baby at first. She’d had delusions of Vinny marrying her and the three of them becoming one big happy family. It took the wad of cash, plus a few threats, to finally make Karen see sense and flee the area. Vinny had never heard from her since and had no wish to. His son had all the family he needed. He had told Little Vinny that his mother was dead, and if Karen ever caused him any trouble, he knew he could quite easily turn his little white lie into the truth.

      ‘Answer the door then, Nan,’ Little Vinny ordered, pummelling his nan on the arm with his boxing gloves to get her to move off the sofa.

      ‘Don’t hit your nan. You must never punch girls or women with them gloves, boy,’ Roy said sharply.

      ‘Chill out, bruv,’ Vinny ordered, glaring at Roy as his mum stood up.

      ‘I am chilled out and stop getting on my case all the time. Ever since you’ve been knocking about with the poxy Turk, all you seem to do is give it the large,’ Roy said, referring to Vinny’s pal, Ahmed. Truth be known, Roy was a bit miffed about his brother’s close friendship with the man. Once upon a time, it had been just the two of them. Back then it was him who Vinny had been as thick as thieves with, not some bloody foreigner.

      Vinny had always vowed when they were younger that they would never let an outsider into their lives. He reckoned that you could only really trust family, yet over the past ten months or so, Ahmed was hanging around with Vinny more and more. This worried Roy greatly, as he’d heard through the rumour mill that Ahmed was a drug kingpin. He’d even once asked Vinny if the word on the street was true, but his brother had just laughed in his face. He had sworn to him that Ahmed was a legal businessman, but Roy still wasn’t sure if he believed Vinny. Ahmed was a wrong ’un, Roy could see it in his cold dark eyes.

      Threatening her boys if they argued any more they would have her to deal with, Queenie ran into the hallway to hand over her football bets to the Pools man. She was then relieved for once to see her sons and grandson making a move. It was Little Vinny’s fifth birthday tomorrow, and seeing as it had been her idea to throw him his very first proper party, she intended to make it as special as possible. ‘That’s it, get out of my way so I can crack on,’ Queenie said, kissing both her sons, then cuddling her grandson.

      ‘Well, I’ll keep little ’un all day and bring him back about seven before I open the club,’ Vinny informed her.

      ‘Where you taking him?’ Queenie asked.

      ‘The fair at Barking Park.’

      Mary Walker served old Mr Sams his two weekly packs of Old Holborn, then ordered Donald to take over at the till while she stocked the shelves. Mary sometimes still dreamt about her fabulous café with its smart red and white décor and fashionable jukebox, but she had learned to deal with what had happened.

      Doing a Christmas Day flit to Ilford had proved to be a good move. Donald and Mary’s café in Whitechapel had sold for more than they had expected, which had enabled them to buy a newsagent’s instead. Their shop was situated on the corner of a road near Ilford town centre, and over the years they had made it into far more than just a newsagent’s. It was more like a general store now which sold virtually everything. From toilet paper to ham, from greetings cards to daily delivered bread and cakes, there wasn’t much Mary and Donald didn’t sell and they were very proud of the service they provided to the public.

      ‘Hi, Mum. Do you need me to help with that? Have you and Dad been busy today?’ Christopher asked, as he walked into the shop.

      Mary smiled. Christopher looked so smart in his Boy Scout uniform, and he was such a sensible lad. He had turned fourteen a couple of months ago, and was a real credit to her and Donald. Christopher was still determined to follow his dream and become a policeman, and Donald was in full favour of his son’s choice of career. Mary wasn’t though. After the terrible experience they’d endured in Whitechapel, Mary was frightened of Christopher dealing with the likes of the Vinny Butlers of this world, day in day out, and was concerned for her son’s safety.

      ‘Are you in a daze, Mum? I asked you if you wanted any help and you haven’t answered me yet.’

      ‘Sorry, son. You can help me stack that tinned stuff, if you like,’ Mary said.

      Christopher picked up the tray of corned beef. ‘Where’s Nancy?’ he asked.

      ‘She’s gone to the fair with Rhonda.’

      ‘What! You shouldn’t have allowed her to go there, Mum,’ Christopher said, dropping the corned beef with a thud, just to show his displeasure. Unlike him, with his rather plain looks, Nancy was absolutely stunning and this worried the life out of her brother.

      ‘Oh, don’t you start as well, Christopher. I’ve had enough with your dad harping on about what Nancy should and shouldn’t be allowed to do. She’s sixteen, and she can’t be wrapped in cotton wool forever. Your sister is sensible enough to look after herself, so for goodness’ sake stop fretting.’

      Christopher stacked the rest of the shelves in silence. His false statement to the police about Dave Phillips’ murder had never been mentioned again since he had admitted his lie. But, even though his family seemed to have forgotten all about it, Christopher never had. What had happened between himself and Vinny Butler had changed him completely. He was no longer the carefree lad he had once been. He was serious, a worrier, and there was no way he would be able to rest now until his sister arrived home safe and sound from that fair.

      Queenie took her fairy cakes out of the oven and showed them to Vivian.

      ‘Oh, they look perfect, Queen. Now let’s see if my jellies are set so I can put some Angel Delight and hundreds and thousands on top of them.’

      Queenie smiled. Her Brenda was sixteen now and Viv’s Lenny fifteen, but thankfully they could remember all the things that little ’uns liked.

      ‘Can I have one of them cakes?’ Lenny asked, appearing at the kitchen door.

      ‘No, you bleedin’ well can’t. You had a big lunch and these are for the party tomorrow,’ Vivian said sternly.

      ‘Oh, one won’t hurt him, Viv. Go on, take that and go and watch the telly,’ Queenie ordered, handing her nephew a plate.

      Vivian tutted in pretend annoyance. Even as a young child, her Lenny could wind anybody and everybody around his little finger, and he had become even more of an expert in the art of manipulating people since he’d gone to a special school. Lenny could read and write fairly well now, but even though he was tall and resembled Michael, he was slightly overweight, and his facial expressions clearly gave away that he had been born with disabilities.

      Thinking about her own brood, Queenie iced her grandson’s birthday cake in total silence. Vinny and Roy had sold their snooker club just over a year ago now and had bought a bigger club along the Commercial Road. They held jazz nights and all sorts in there. They even had a proper licence for their roulette table. Queenie felt like Her Majesty the Queen whenever she had an evening out there. Her boys were treated like royalty and so was she. To say she was proud of how well her sons had done in life was an understatement. She was absolutely fucking ecstatic about it.

      Queenie had never seen Albie again since that day she had found out about his affair. She’d had one or two drunken phonecalls from him a few years back, but Vinny had her number changed and she’d heard СКАЧАТЬ