I chuckled, thanked Maura again, nodded politely at the rest of the queue and calmly left the shop.

On the way home, I couldn’t stop chuckling to myself. Freda was a card. Credit where it’s due, mind, she certainly wasn’t scared of me or my boys.

She was right about one thing though. It wasn’t so long ago I had nothing. But thanks to that robbery I set up at the Huntingdon-Browns, things had changed.

My good mood evaporated when I bumped slap bang into June Tarbuck. ‘Hello, my lovey. How you doing?’ I asked. June looked terrible. She had lost so much weight since everything went wrong for her. Firstly, with Bonnie, and then her old man ending up in the loony bin.

June explained she was moving and I squeezed her arm. I liked her. She was a decent woman. ‘I reckon you’re doing the right thing, sweetheart. Where you moving to?’

‘East Ham. Moving back in with my old mum. It’ll do Adam good to start afresh. Life round here isn’t the same for him without his sister. I can’t wait to see the back of Whitechapel. Not brought us much luck, has it?’

I gave June a hug, wished her well for the future, then said goodbye to her.

Truth be told, I was glad to see the back of the woman. Reason being, five months after that fateful last date with my Vinny, Bonnie Tarbuck hung herself …

Queenie fed the birds, sat in the deck chair and shut her eyes. Her heart went out to June Tarbuck, it really did. There had been a rumour that Bonnie had been pregnant when she’d hung herself, but Queenie chose not to believe that. She would hate to think the poor girl was traumatized because she was carrying Vinny’s child.

Vinny had shown no emotion whatsoever when Queenie had broken the news of Bonnie’s death. He’d shrugged, mumbled, ‘Shit happens’ then swiftly changed the subject. Oh well, thought Queenie. Now June was moving they could put the whole sorry saga behind them and forget Bonnie had ever existed.

Since that unfortunate episode, Vinny had kept to his word. As far as Queenie was aware, he’d never dated another girl. He’d recently turned nineteen and had given up the long firm. Roy was now seventeen and he and Vinny worked together, ducking and diving. Her eldest two were so close these days, and that pleased Queenie immensely. Her boys had one another’s backs and that’s what family was all about.

The robbery Queenie had set up for the boys had set the ball rolling. There hadn’t been as much in that safe as she’d hoped there would be – turned out a couple of Pearl’s diamond necklaces were as fake as she was. But there were also real diamonds, Basil’s collection of expensive watches and plenty of other valuable stones and gold. The Kelly brothers introduced the boys to a diamond dealer who’d bought the whole haul off Vinny, including Basil’s watches.