‘Donny reckons he did this to me,’ he said, staring at her.

‘What? Who?’ Oh please just fuck off, will you?

‘Dickie Cole.’

‘That’s rubbish. He was as shocked as I was to hear about what happened to you.’

‘It’s because I was hanging around you. He don’t want no one hanging around you.’

God, this was really ruining her day. Dora opened the gate but he was parked right there, in the way; she couldn’t get through. She felt the very unsaintly urge to shove, hard, and knock him on his arse out of the damned chair. She could see his brother Donny coming up the pavement, looking ahead and starting to hurry as he saw William there with her.

‘You’re talking nonsense, William.’

‘I’ve remembered something. One of the blokes that done me was wearing a gold snake ring,’ said William.

Dora froze.

William nodded. ‘You heard me. On the right hand. One of those snake things, eating its own tail, you know the sort of thing? It was him. I know it was.’

‘Get out the damned way, William,’ said Dora, a sick feeling in her stomach. Dickie wore a gold snake eternity ring. He was never parted from it.

‘Yeah. All right.’ William flicked the wheels on the chair, awkwardly, grunting with effort, easing it out of her way. Then Donny came up to them.

‘What’s going on?’ he asked, eyeing Dora as he took hold of the handles on William’s chair and pulled it back, out of her way.

‘Nothing. We’re just talking,’ said William.

‘Well she can tell her bent boyfriend his days are numbered,’ said Donny, his eyes holding hers. ‘Dickie Cole’s been hanging around the gangs, getting in with the Pargeter bunch. More than that – he was in on the attack on Wills. Are you hearing me, you bitch? And I’m going to make damned sure he goes down for it.’

Turning her back on the pair of them, Dora went through the gate and raced on up the path, scrabbling in her bag for her front door key, for a few moments so shattered, so spooked, that she couldn’t find it. She rummaged again. There it was. She got it into the lock and shoved her way inside.

‘We ain’t going to forget any of this!’ called William after her. ‘Don’t think we are, cos we ain’t!’

9

Frank Pargeter was fucking furious, and that wasn’t a pretty sight. He’d been running a pretty good gang since the war, gathering together a collection of heavies and thieves to rival the likes of Billy Hill and Jack Spot. Others were coming on the scene now Hitler had bit the dust – the Kray twins among them. You got your territory, you held it, and you exploited it. That was the name of the game. Also, you kept the peace while making big money out of the protection rackets.

East End businessmen who had to pay up to the gangs were either on the Nipping list or the Pension list. The Nipping list was the pubs, off-licences and small shops. The Pension list was more upmarket: fancier restaurants and gambling joints. Frank favoured the Pension pot, and it pissed him off when anyone else tried to step in on one of his classy joints.