‘Thank God for that! I had an awful feeling that Jed and Jimmy might be following Dad. There’s something I need to tell you, Joey, something I should have told you years ago, but I was so worried about Dad getting hurt or banged up again that I kept it all to myself. Please don’t have a go at me when I tell ya, ’cause I was gonna tell you when I was in prison, but when the O’Haras did a runner with Georgie and Harry, I didn’t want them caught up in the crossfire. Now we’ve got them back, it’s the right time to tell you, I know it is. I want you to decide whether we should tell Dad or not, because the burden of keeping it from him is tearing me apart.’

Joey felt a shiver run down his spine. He had no idea what his sister was talking about, but he knew that whatever it was, it was going to be bad news. ‘Tell me, Frankie,’ he demanded in a hushed tone.

Frankie took a deep breath. ‘It was Jed that killed Grandad Harry.’

Joey looked at his sister as though she’d gone mental. ‘Don’t be so ridiculous. If Jed told you that, he’s a liar. He was winding you up, Frankie.’

Frankie felt her eyes well up once more. Apart from Babs and DI Blyth, she had kept the secret to herself for so long, the guilt of revealing it to her brother was almost unbearable.

‘He wasn’t lying, Joey. Me and Kerry planted a tape in Jed’s Shogun; we heard him talking about it with our own ears. Sammy was with him. They both murdered our Grandad.’

Joey counted back the years and shook his head. Jed would have only been about fifteen at the time, how could he have been the one to kill his gangster of a grandfather? ‘You’re wrong, sis, you’re so fucking wrong. Jed was only about fifteen. I bet you any money you like that he saw you and Kerry plant the tape and because he wanted to split up with you, he said all that on purpose.’

With tears now streaming down her face, Frankie crouched down and clutched her brother’s hands. ‘We only planted the tape because me and Kerry knew that Jed and Sammy were cheating on us. That’s why I tried to kill him, Joey, it’s true, I swear it is. You ask DI Blyth if you don’t believe me; I even told her.’

Taking four deep breaths to stop himself from losing it completely, Joey pushed his sister out of the way and and ran upstairs to retrieve the gun.

‘Joey, I’m sorry. Come back, please,’ Frankie wailed.

When Joey ran back down the stairs, he bore a look on his face that Frankie didn’t even recognise. ‘Dominic!’ he screamed.