A dark-coloured car had pulled up beside him, and all his instincts told him that something was wrong, that there was a problem. He turned to look at whoever was driving the offending motor, and he saw Daniel Bailey grinning at him.

As Alfie finally understood what was happening, he tried to shield his son with his own body, but he knew in his heart that it was too late.

It was all over in minutes – Alfie Clarke and his little son were both dead. Daniel Bailey had pumped eight bullets into them.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Peter Bailey was waiting for the tragic news about Alfie Clarke’s demise at one of his favourite pubs in Dagenham. He was holding court with a group of friends, and enjoying a few beers when Delroy came into the bar with a face like thunder.

Leading Delroy outside to the car park, Peter looked at his son-in-law askance, and waited patiently for him to deliver the news.

‘You’re not going to believe this, Peter. I can’t fucking believe it.’

Peter frowned. Assuming it had all gone wrong, he said quickly, ‘Is Daniel OK? Has he been nicked or something?’

Delroy shook his head slowly. ‘If only. The fucker did the deed all right, but he didn’t only take Clarke out – he took his little boy out as well. The mad cunt killed them both. Shot the fuck out of them.’

Peter Bailey was silent. He knew his son-in-law was telling him the truth; Delroy wouldn’t lie, and certainly not about something as serious as this. What on earth went on in Daniel’s head? What the fuck was wrong with him? This would cause fucking murders – literally. How could Daniel even think that what he had done would be remotely acceptable to the people in their world? He had to know that he had crossed a line, had to understand that this would be seen as an outrageous affront to everyone who knew them.

‘I’ll fucking kill him. I will fucking kill him myself.’

Delroy grabbed his father-in-law’s arms and, as he tried to stop the man from jumping into his car and making a bad situation worse, he was reminded of just how strong he was. It was taking all his strength to stop Peter getting away from him.

‘Listen to me, Peter! You can’t go near him – not like this. We have to think this through, we have to box clever.’

Peter knew Delroy was making sense, and he willed himself to calm down, but his heart was pounding in his chest. He could not for the life of him understand what his brother had done.