The Trap (59 page)
Michael held out his right hand. ‘Vin, I’ll stand by you for now but if you don’t keep to your promises and change, I swear your life won’t be worth fucking living.’
Vinny hugged his brother and smirked as he did so. Michael was a gullible chap and had always been easy to talk around. Good job really, because if Ahmed woke up and started talking, Vinny needed Michael to silence him.
Ahmed Zane opened his eyes. The smell of disinfectant and the sight of tubes poking out of his arms and his wife Anna sitting by his bedside immediately alerted him that he was in some kind of hospital. But, the mystery was, how did he get there?
‘Ahmed, can you hear me? Thank God you are awake. I must go and get the nurse,’ Anna said, both tearful and relieved.
‘No. No nurse. Just tell me what’s happened?’ Ahmed croaked.
‘You were involved in a bad car accident. I’ve been so worried, Ahmed. Your friend Lenny didn’t make it, and the police said you were driving. Had you been drinking? They won’t send you to prison if you were drunk, will they?’
The mention of Lenny immediately jogged his memory and Ahmed shut his eyes again as he tried to recall exactly what had happened. He could remember going to the whorehouse in Dalston with Vinny and Lenny, but Vinny had insisted on driving home, he was sure of that. ‘You no-good cunting motherfucker,’ Ahmed mumbled to himself.
Anna squeezed her husband’s hand. ‘Whatever’s the matter? Have you remembered that night? I’ve asked the police loads of questions, but apart from saying that you were found in the driver’s seat of the car, they won’t tell me anything.’
Ahmed felt physically sick as he pictured Vinny Butler’s face. He remembered everything now, including trying to grab the steering wheel when Vinny dramatically swerved after being stunned by the beam of an oncoming vehicle.
‘Ahmed, are you OK? Talk to me,’ Anna pleaded.
Ahmed was anything but OK. Not only had Vinny left him for dead, his so-called best friend had obviously tried to cover his own tracks by moving his body into the driver’s seat.
Angry and appalled by such an act of betrayal by someone he had trusted so much, Ahmed felt the bile rise to the back of his throat. If Vinny Butler imagined that he was going to get away with the stroke he had pulled, he really did have another think coming.
Grassing to the police was a non-starter. Ahmed would rather seek his own revenge. Two could play at Vinny Butler’s games, and nobody played them quite as well as he did. Ahmed Zane was the fucking master of games.
Mary Walker was thrilled when she received an early-morning phonecall from her daughter saying she was ready to see her dad now. Nancy sounded so much chirpier than she had the previous day. ‘Oh Donald, I’m so happy. Don’t you dare say anything to upset her, will you?’ Mary warned her husband.
‘Of course not, dear,’ Donald replied, with a hint of sarcasm. He was actually just as worried about their daughter as Mary was, but Donald had always had difficulty in expressing his feelings.
‘Now, go and put your nice shirt and trousers on. The hospital said Christopher can be discharged today as well, so perhaps we can all visit Nancy together? Tina can handle the café alone,’ Mary assured her husband.
‘OK, my love. I will go and get changed right now.’
Nancy Butler felt happier than she had in ages. The old lady who was opposite her had befriended her and, although she seemed slightly crazy, had cheered Nancy up no end. ‘So, where do you live, Freda? I’m sure I’ve seen you somewhere before,’ Nancy remarked.
‘Whitechapel. Lived there all my life. Where do you live, darling?’ Freda asked, acting as though she didn’t recognize the girl. She actually quite liked Nancy. She was a sweet girl, and nothing like her parents. Freda remembered them as well, especially the father. He was right up his own arse he was.
About to reply, Nancy was left open-mouthed when Dean Smart strolled into the ward. ‘What you doing here, Dean?’
‘I need to speak to my nan in private for five minutes. I will speak to you afterwards, Nance, if that is OK?’
‘Oh my god! Is that your nan?’ Nancy exclaimed. She had thought Freda looked familiar, but she’d had no idea she was Dean’s nan.
Dean nodded, sat on the edge of his grandmother’s bed and tenderly hugged her. ‘Nan, I have to go away. I cannot be part of that Butler family for one minute longer. I have already spoken to the doctors, and they say you are going to be just fine. I will keep in touch with you always, and when I sort myself out somewhere to live and you are back on your feet again, you can come and visit me.’
Freda held her grandson’s head in her hands and cried with relief. ‘That is the best news I have heard in ages, boy. Get away from them no-good fuckers while you still can. I had visions of you one day propping up a flyover like your poor old dad probably did.’
Dean hugged his nan tightly and kissed her on the forehead. ‘I love you, Nan. I’ll be in touch soon, OK?’
Dean reluctantly turned his back on the old woman who had raised him and meant the world to him, and walked over to Nancy’s bed and sat down beside her. ‘I’ve been so worried about you, babe. Are you OK?’
‘No, Dean. I’ve been ill. I was found in an alleyway by a man, and I don’t even know how I got there. I feel like I’m going mad.’
Dean held Nancy in his arms and stroked her beautiful blonde hair. ‘I know I shouldn’t be saying this, Nance, but I love you and I always will. I know we can never be together, but I can’t help the way that I feel about you. Now listen, I have to go away. I can’t spend one minute longer with Brenda, or her family. If you’ve got any sense, you should do the same. Your Michael is the best of the bunch, but the core of the family is rotten. If I were you, I would run for the hills. You were never cut out to be part of the Butler clan, and neither was I.’
‘Where are you going?’ Nancy asked, with tears in her eyes.
‘I don’t know yet, but get my nan’s phone number, and I will keep in touch with you via her, OK? I know I can trust you never to repeat this conversation.’
Nancy nodded. ‘But what about Tara?’
‘I would love to take Tara with me, Nance, but I can’t. If I do, the bastards will hunt me down. I have lived a life of hell with Brenda. Having sex with her turned my stomach, but I did it on the odd occasion just to keep the peace. She has just announced she is pregnant again, which is another reason I need to get away. Leaving one child is bad enough, and if I stayed to love the other, I would be stuck with Bren for life. Look, I really do have to go now. Take care of yourself, sweetheart,’ Dean said, giving Nancy a short but tender kiss on her lips.
When Dean ran off down the ward, Nancy got out of bed, and walked over to Freda’s.
With Christopher now formally discharged from Upney Hospital and desperate to visit his sister as well, Mary gave her husband and son one last warning not to say anything that might upset Nancy.
‘I won’t, Mum, I promise. I’m just glad to have Nancy back in our lives again,’ Christopher replied, honestly.
‘I feel the same way too,’ Donald admitted.
Mary Walker was horrified when she walked into the ward. Mad Freda had one of those faces that was impossible to forget. She also had her arm around Nancy’s shoulders. ‘Leave my daughter alone. What have you done to her?’ Mary shrieked.
Freda grinned. Nancy and Donald had always seen themselves as the perfect parents, but they were sadly mistaken.
‘Get away from Nancy now, you mad old bat,’ Donald demanded.
‘Calm down, Dad. Let’s not make a scene,’ Christopher said, grabbing his father’s arm. He had also recognized Freda immediately.
‘Well, well, well. If it isn’t the know-it-all couple who I warned about the Butlers many years ago. You thought I was mad when I walked into your posh café in 1965 and told you the score, didn’t ya? Bet you don’t think so now? Told you those bastards set a trap for people like us, didn’t I? They caught my Dean in that trap and your Nancy. Do you still think I’m mental now?’
Donald Walker glanced at his wife before answering. ‘No, you are not mad, Freda. In fact, I would describe you as anything but. You were right about everything. Smart by name and even smarter by nature.’
A big thank you to my lovely editor Sarah Ritherdon, and to all the team at HarperCollins for their hard work, advice and dedication. It is truly a pleasure to be part of a company who has so much faith in me.
Thanks also to the best agent I could wish for, Tim Bates, and my brilliant typist Sue Cox. To Rosie de Courcy for helping me to get where I am today, and to Lady Heller for cheering up my working day with her truly dysfunctional text messages.
I had never been one for the social networking until I became a writer, and it is only through Facebook and Twitter that I have got to know and become fond of so many of my readers. What a great bunch you are! And I can’t thank you enough for all the loyalty and support you have shown me. Writing can be a lonely old job at times and your posts and tweets certainly do brighten up a dull day..........x
Kimberley Chambers lives in Romford and has been, at various times, a disc jockey and a street trader. She is now a full-time writer and is the author of seven novels.
Billie Jo
Born Evil
The Betrayer
The Feud
The Traitor
The Victim
The Schemer
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Harper
An imprint of HarperCollins
Publishers
77–85 Fulham Palace Road,
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
www.harpercollins.co.uk
Copyright © Kimberley Chambers 2013
Kimberley Chambers asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library