Sharon shrugged as if what he said had not broken her heart. ‘If I go, Ray, think on this: your daughter will come with me, even if it is to a bedsit. She is my baby, no matter how much you tried to make her yours. You took my sons, but I didn’t understand you then. I still trusted you. More fucking fool me, eh?’

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Seven

Reggie was waiting for Ray in a little spieler in Canning Town. It was a dive but it was safe and it was filled with Faces of one sort or another. Elton was getting them drinks at the bar, and Reggie wondered what this meet was about. This was neutral ground so it couldn’t be about work in general; that was all dealt with at the breakers yard.

Ray finally arrived and, after ten minutes of being hailed by the clientele, he finally got to sit with them at the table. Reggie waited for him to settle down and tell them what was on his mind. He knew Ray well enough by now to know that he would not say anything until he was good and ready. They made small talk, and asked after each other’s respective lives – not that any of them were really interested in the answers. This was just getting the preliminaries out of the way.

The bar stank of cheap aftershave and lager. Reggie loathed the place but he knew it was Ray’s choice so he was lumbered with it. Ray knew how much he disliked the dive and Reggie guessed that was why it had been the chosen venue for whatever was going on.

Eventually Ray said seriously, ‘This is about Jack Johnson.’

Reggie nodded. There was no way he was going to commit himself to anything until he had heard the whole story. He wasn’t a fool and he knew as well as Jack did that the man’s days were numbered. Jack was old and frail now, but he was still a powerful Face and he had much respect from everyone in the Life. Even Ray knew that no one would countenance Jack disappearing as so many others had done. Jack Johnson was an institution and, more than that, he was well liked.

‘It’s hard to say this, Reggie, but we think it’s time Jack stepped down.’

Reggie looked from Ray to Elton Mills, who at least had the grace to appear a little bit ashamed. Jack had never liked Elton but he had afforded him the respect; that meant a lot to Elton who, in his own way, looked up to the likes of Jack Johnson. Jack was one of the last of the old guard. He had known all the Faces from Jack ‘Spot’ Comer right through the card.