Daniel smiled. ‘I want a bit more for her than some fucking oik whose life is dependent on a fucking thieve, you know what I mean? I want her to live in the real world, with real people. I saw her fear today, and I saw myself as she must have seen me. A big, aggressive fucking gangster. What the fuck must my baby have thought? She is seven years old, Tommy! I must have looked like a monster. She was physically sick, you know? She was that scared. I had that fucking muppet Noel by the throat, and she saw all that. I have never seen her so frightened, and I never want to see her like that again. You know I’ve bought that great big drum? Well, Lena doesn’t really want to move, but she has a fucking surprise coming to her. We are going, and sooner rather than later. My Tania is going to have a good life, a comfortable life, and she will go to a good school and all. The best that money can buy.’ He swallowed down his beer quickly, then motioned to the barmaid for a refill. ‘But, as for that pair of fucking prats, Noel and Jamsie, they can fucking whistle for a crust in future. Who does a fucking robbery like that, first time out? They are a pair of fucking idiots. Not a fucking useful brain cell between the pair of them. Still ain’t out of the woods are they? Fuck knows what really went down today. Knowing that pair they left a fucking gas bill behind for the Filth – name, address and fucking phone numbers. Unbelievable, un-fucking-believable.’

Tommy Barker couldn’t help laughing. ‘Still, they got a good wedge, you’ve got to give them that, Daniel.’

‘I ain’t giving them fuck-all. That’s my money now, I think that should teach them a lesson in etiquette. Never go on the rob with strangers. I have told them all, time and time again – keep things in the family.’

Peter Bailey overheard his brother’s last words and nodded in silent agreement. He had drummed that into his lads’ heads since they were old enough to walk. It was the Bailey mantra. But once they were grown men, they would eventually go their own road. That was human nature.

Chapter Seventy-One

Lena was not comfortable, and she didn’t like that feeling. The house Daniel had bought them was lovely, but it was too big, and she didn’t like the feeling of isolation it gave her. Even though they were on a road, the drive was a good thirty feet, and the front wall was obscured by great big trees. Once she was inside the house itself, she felt like she was living in the middle of nowhere.