Eddie grinned. Gary and Ricky had been extremely dubious when he’d first taken Baldwin on, but Terry was loyal, hard working and over the years had become a great addition to the firm. In fact, he had one of the best right-handers on him that Eddie had ever seen in his life.

‘Did I hear my Raymond mentioned?’ Joycie asked, walking into the lounge with yet another brandy and Baileys in her hand.

‘Yeah, I was just saying Ray is shooting up to the Midlands for me on Monday,’ Eddie replied.

‘What a terrible son that boy’s turned out to be, ain’t he, Stanley?’ Joyce shouted out.

‘Did you call me, dear?’ Stanley asked, running into the lounge like a naughty schoolboy. Even after all these years he still never felt comfortable sitting in the same room as Eddie. He was always polite to him for Joycie’s sake, but he would much rather play with the children in the garden than breathe the same air as the man who had brutally murdered his daughter.

‘Yes, I did. I was just telling Eddie and the boys what a terrible son our Raymond is. Never visits us, does he? And even if he does pop in, he’s always got that monster of a child with him. What a spoilt little bastard that is.’

Eddie burst out laughing. As per usual, after a few bevvies Joycie was as blunt as blunt could be. In this case she was right, though. Chelsea was now six years old and was Polly and Raymond’s only child. She’d been totally mollycoddled since she was a baby and was given everything she wanted. Raymond and Polly had recently had three attempts at IVF and Ed just hoped that one day it would work, because if it didn’t there was little hope for Chelsea’s future.

‘I don’t think it’s Raymondo, it’s the bloody mother. Ray was telling me Polly even bought Chelsea a designer handbag recently. I mean, what the fuck does a six-year-old want a designer handbag for?’ Eddie said, sticking up for his pal.

‘Who you talking about?’ Frankie asked as she walked into the room with Babs.

‘Chelsea. Do you wanna sit down?’ Stuart asked, standing up, and offering Frankie his chair.

About to sit down, Frankie saw Nicole stick her tongue in Gary’s ear and at the same time put her hand on his groin. ‘Excuse me. We’re meant to be having a family get-together to mark Georgie’s thirteenth birthday, not a fucking orgy,’ she said.

Joey, Dom, Stu, Babs and Eddie all laughed. Stanley and Joycie looked at one another in disgust. Slobbering all over one another in public was something they’d never done, even when they were courting.