Peter smiled, he understood how Michael was feeling; he was clearly a man who had a lot of pride, and that was a trait Peter respected. One good thing about this Bernadette debacle was at least her family weren’t expecting to jump on the bandwagon.

Chapter Ninety-One

Davey, Noel and Jamsie had escaped to the garden when the party was in full swing. They were smoking a joint, and enjoying the night.

‘That is a puff and a half, Jamsie! Where’d you get it?’

Jamsie grinned. ‘Delroy won’t like it, but I got it off a young lad in Tulse Hill. I heard about him from one of the strippers. He’s a good kid – only twenty-two, and already he has a serious fucking clientele. I’m going to offer him an in, we need to know where he is scoring this gear.’

Davey laughed. ‘Fucking right and all! This is amazing. I love it when we find a new avenue, you know? Keeps everything nice and under control. There are so many youngsters out there looking for a new bit of scratch.’

‘Well, we can only give him a chance; if he knows what is good for him, he will snatch our hand off. But he seems pretty cool – from what I’ve heard he has a good little rep. Only problem is, he thinks he’s a gangster! Fucking morons – they listen to a few rap records and think they are fucking hard men. If only it was that easy!’

They all laughed then.

‘What’s the score with the Allen family? Uncle Peter invited them tonight, but neither him or Dad have really given them the time of day.’ Davey sounded troubled about it.

Noel shrugged. ‘I don’t know, but I would assume it’s serious. They are the nearest thing we have to rivals, after all. I expect the old men have put the brakes on something they want to do. Dad had the arse with them a while back, I know, because I was there when he bawled Terrence Allen out. Dad was fucking fuming.’

Davey and Jamsie shrugged.

‘Well, it’ll all come out in the wash; it always does.’

Noel Bailey nodded, but he had a feeling this was far more serious than any of them suspected.

Chapter Ninety-Two

Daniel Bailey watched Terrence Allen as he talked, and, boy, could Terry Allen talk when the fancy took him! Years ago they had called him Terry the Tarpaulin because he had a reputation for making people disappear; when they finally turned up they were wrapped in an old tarpaulin. It was Terry’s signature; no one could prove it was him, but the people in the know had their suspicions.