Back in Essex, Frankie sat staring at the phone, willing it to ring. Her dad had told her not to call him, but had promised to call her if and when he had anything important to disclose.

‘Will you stop it, Brett? You’re getting on Mummy’s nerves today,’ Frankie shouted, as her son strummed his toy guitar and sang a silly song at the top of his voice.

‘Why can’t I go to school with Kelvin?’ Brett asked sulkily.

‘Why don’t I take him to McDonald’s? It’ll give you and Joey a chance to have a good natter,’ Babs offered.

‘I dunno. My dad said not to let him out of my sight until all this is over,’ Frankie replied anxiously.

‘Yeah, McDonald’s!’ Brett shouted, jumping up and down excitedly.

‘I know he said don’t send him to school, Frankie, but the boy needs a bit of fresh air. Anyway, nothing will have happened just yet, your dad would have called you if it had.’

Frankie shrugged. ‘Go on then, but don’t be too long.’

As the front door closed, Frankie’s eyes welled up and she fell into her brother’s arms. ‘What if Katie was lying to me, or say Dad gets killed or something. And what about Stuart? He might get murdered as well, or Gary and Ricky,’ she said.

‘You’re thinking silly now. Jed might be an arsehole, but he’s hardly a mass murderer,’ Joey replied, stroking his sister’s hair.

‘He is. You don’t know him like I do.’

‘What you talking about, Frankie? Who has he meant to have killed, then?’ Joey asked concerned.

Knowing she had already said too much, Frankie shook her head and wiped her eyes. Her family would never forgive her for keeping her grandfather’s death to herself, so what was the point of upsetting everybody? ‘No one. I’m sorry, I’m just being over-dramatic.’

Eddie Mitchell was becoming extremely impatient, but more excited by the minute. He’d recognised Jimmy O’Hara as soon as he’d got out of a grey Shogun and strolled into the pub, but he hadn’t recognised Jed. Raymond had, though, he’d sworn blind it was the little shit, and Ed could barely wait to follow them home.

‘Over four hours they’ve been in there now. Surely they can’t be much longer if Jimmy’s driving?’ he said to the lads, who were all sitting in the back of the van. It had been decided that Stuart would drive the Renault with Baldwin in the back, and Ricky would drive the Merc with the rest of them in the back.

‘One good thing about ’em taking so fucking long is they’re bound to be pissed and less alert,’ Gary replied.

‘The door’s just opened again,’ Ricky said excitedly.