‘You’d best ring Flatnose,’ Raymond said, suddenly finding his voice. He’d been so disturbed earlier that he hadn’t really been able to speak. Not only had Ricky’s death brought back awful memories of Jessica’s demise, but the thought of never seeing his daughter again, the child he’d waited so long for, had all but torn him in two.

‘Someone needs to go out to the van. One of us must have left a phone in there,’ Ed suggested.

Joey took his phone out of his pocket and handed it to his father. All that had happened had somewhat traumatised him, but not in the way it should have done. He’d not shed a tear when he’d stared at his dead brother, nor was he bothered about killing two men. The thing that had shocked him the most was his ability to behave in that way. He’d never thought himself capable of being involved in any type of violence, let alone murder.

Instead of calling Flatnose Freddie, Eddie dialled Larry’s number. If Ricky hadn’t died and Gary didn’t have a bullet lodged somewhere in his leg, Flatnose could have mopped up quite easily. Raymond was now over his earlier concussion and Ed could have just turned up at the hospital and pretended he had taken a good hiding from someone. Bullet wounds were different gravy, though. The Old Bill would start sniffing around like there was no tomorrow.

‘What’s up, Ed?’ Larry asked, half asleep.

When Eddie told him the score, Larry had never woken up so quickly in his entire life. ‘So, did all this happen where the tyres are kept?’ Larry asked, trying to catch his breath. He could barely believe what he had just heard.

‘Yeah. We’re still here now.’

‘Right, get yourselves out of there and get rid of any incriminating evidence you might have on you, and I mean everything. Once you’ve done that, set fire to the warehouse with the O’Haras still inside. Then call an ambulance, followed by the police. You tell the authorities that you went up to Scotland to get your grandchildren back, and then you got followed home. Tell them the truth about Joey picking the kids up from the garage – it’s probably on camera anyway – and say you drove straight to the yard because you didn’t know where else to go. You tell the police that you have no idea how the fire actually started. Say that you overheard the O’Haras talking and you think that they were planning on burning you alive. Your injuries and Ricky’s death should cement your story and do not involve Joey in the end part.’