‘Bollocks to ’em. Fucking load of pansies prancing around a stage. I can’t believe people pay good money to watch that shit. I’m just gonna pop outside to make a couple of phone calls. You all right packing everything? Don’t forget me razor, will ya, it’s still in the bathroom.’

‘I’m fine. Go on, you sod off, I can pack quicker without you,’ Gina said cheerfully. They’d had a wonderful few days and she would never forget her birthday surprise if she lived to be a hundred.

Eddie walked out of the room, shut the door and punched in Raymond’s number. ‘Well, is it all systems go?’

‘It sure is, pal. I’ve spoken to the boys and everybody knows the cue.’

Eddie ended the call and smirked. Now he’d got the wedding over and done with, the killing spree was about to begin.

Alice O’Hara was having a nightmare of a morning. Firstly, the washing machine had broken mid-cycle. Then, when she had forced open the door, the water had pissed out and she had slipped on the kitchen floor and hurt her back and, last but not least, her daughter-in-law, Shannon, had asked her to look after her son for the day and he, Georgie and Harry hadn’t stopped arguing and fighting since he’d arrived.

‘Will yous three fucking stop it now? Nanny’s had enough,’ Alice screamed, as she heard a commotion in the lounge again.

Harry, Georgie and Billy Junior, who everyone called ‘Mush’, took no notice of their nan’s orders.

Mush was older than Georgie and Harry. He was eight, and Harry was furious when he saw him slap Georgie around the face and pin her to the floor. Remembering his dad’s words to always stick up for himself and his sister, Harry picked the glass ashtray up off the table and, just as the doorbell rang, clumped Mush over the head with it.

Ignoring her grandmother’s shouts not to answer the door, Georgie jumped up and did the exact opposite. Mush’s head was bleeding and she was worried that the police had come to take her little brother away. It wasn’t Harry’s fault; Mush had started the fight and Georgie was determined to tell them the truth, so they could take Mush away instead.

‘Is your Dad there, Georgie?’ the caller asked.

Georgie recognised the lady immediately. She was the nice social worker lady who had come round to speak to her and Harry in the past. She had also been at the court when they had been taken there that day.

‘Nan, the nice lady wants to see Daddy,’ Georgie shouted out.