Jack nodded. ‘We were great mates, me and him – like you and Reggie. When he got her in the club, he told her he would never marry her. Remember, this was the early sixties and that wasn’t a bit like now. Those were the days when a pregnancy outside marriage was seen as a terrible thing, you know? The girl was looked on as a whore, especially if the culprit didn’t marry her. And he was a lairy fucker, was Frank. My sister tried to top herself over it all – she was too scared to tell me or my mum and dad. She had the baby – a boy – and he was adopted. But she was never the same. Still a bit touched to this day, if I’m honest about it. Lovely looking girl she was too. I blame meself. I warned Frank off her, see? And that just made him more determined to have her.’ He sipped his tea and saw the wide-eyed incredulity on young Lenny’s face. ‘I couldn’t let the truth out, so I gave him the hammering of a fucking lifetime and I never paid him a penny of what he was owed from our earns. It was the least I could do to pay him back for what he’d done. Then he got a capture and a big lump and that was it. Till now.’

‘Fucking hell, Jack, what a cunt. I feel like slapping him myself.’

It was what Jack wanted to hear but Lenny genuinely meant every word he said.

‘This needs sorting out.’

Jack smiled slowly. ‘My thoughts entirely.’

They heard Reggie pull up outside the yard in his motor and, twenty minutes later, they were drinking strong cups of tea and planning their attack. It seemed everything was falling into place.

Chapter Sixty-Six

Terry Cobb was annoyed, but there was little he could do up against an old Face like Frank Barber. Frank had his creds and, as old as he was, he could still fight his corner in a row. The Carters were gone – no one could say whether he had right on his side or not, so that was a fucking no-go. Plus, Frankie had given him his due in that he was happy for him to run things, and that would have to do to be going on with.

What Frank Barber had not allowed for was Terry’s determination to keep what he saw as rightfully his – and that he would move heaven and earth to achieve that end.

Terry said all the right things and acted in an appropriate manner, but inside he was seething at the injustice of it all. He would put his plans into action and take back what was rightfully his. But he knew how to play the game, so for now Frank Barber would think Terry was full of gratitude to his benefactor.

Chapter Sixty-Seven