Freddie sighed. This was the woman he knew and loved.
‘What’s happened, eh? What brings you home here really? Why are you suddenly father of the year? You in trouble of some kind?’
Jackie had inadvertently hit the nail right on the head. She had sensed that the only thing that would get him home early was trouble.
‘You haven’t listened to a word I’ve said, have you, Jack? This fucking child of ours is in deep shit. You think he is a fucking choir boy, you think he is being led on by other, more sophisticated boys. Well he ain’t, anything he has done he has done on his lonesome. This cunt has all his faculties, don’t you worry about that. As for me being in trouble, I might point out that you have spent your whole married life trying to keep me in this house and now I am trying to make something of my son, trying to help him, you want shot. It’s a fucking joke, except I ain’t laughing. Now you had better calm yourself down, woman, button your fucking mutton and show me a bit of respect, because in a minute I am going to fucking muller you.’
Little Freddie watched them both and decided his mother was right, his father was in it right up to his neck.
Why else would he want to be in this shit hole?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ozzy watched as Jimmy walked into the visitors’ room. As he turned out his pockets once more and waited to be searched again, Ozzy observed him with pride.
He was a handsome man, and he also had a real presence. Jimmy had the air about him that most men dreamed of and the walk of a man completely at ease with himself and his surroundings, no mean feat on a unit that was peopled with serious criminals.
Ozzy knew that he had given this man his confidence, and he was proud of that. Jimmy was the son he had never had, and he did think of him as a son. He was a good man, he was a decent man, but most of all he was one hundred per cent trustworthy.
As Ozzy watched Jimmy, he observed the other people around him, noticing that they unconsciously acknowledged him as one of their own, even though he had never served a second’s time anywhere. His years of coming here had given him that prison swagger, he was as relaxed here as he was in his own home.
Ozzy’s big prayer was that this boy never ever had to experience prison other than as a visitor. It was not an existence that Jimmy would ever accept. Freddie, on the other hand, would relish another stint, he was that fucking stupid, and it was only Jimmy’s nous that had kept Freddie on the outside for so long.
Freddie Jackson was an ungrateful cunt and he knew Jimmy was having trouble with him, but Ozzy was sure Jimmy could handle it. It had grieved Ozzy though that once on the outside Freddie had reverted to type. He had been well treated in stir and, in fairness, Freddie had his creds. He could handle himself, and he was not frightened of anyone or anything.
So why he let it all go to the wayside Ozzy didn’t understand. But he did know that Freddie was cunting Jimmy up hill and down dale, to all and sundry, and he was not going to let that happen for much longer. If he cunted Jimmy, he was cunting him, Ozzy, because Jimmy was his front to the world. He was also aware of Freddie’s light-fingered forays, and he was not impressed. He was nicking off his own, and that was a definite fucking no no.
As Jimmy walked over to him, Ozzy was smiling, that easy, friendly smile that denoted a man without anything bad on his mind.
Ozzy stood up and they hugged for long moments. Ozzy had never hugged anyone in his life until Jimmy and he felt like he knew this boy better than he knew himself.
‘All right, Oz?’
Ozzy smiled again as they sat down together. ‘Fine, Jim, yourself?’
This was always how they started the visit, it was mundane and it was boring but it was heartfelt.
‘Fucking kicking, Oz, everything is lovely jubbly!’
They both laughed.
As always, another inmate brought them over their teas and their Kit Kats. Once that was out of the way, the serious business of the day began.
‘What the fuck has happened to your Little Freddie, Jackie?’
Lena’s voice was harsh but jovial as she made one of her endless cups of tea. She watched her daughter drinking what was supposed to be a can of Coca-Cola but what was actually a vodka and Coke. She was drinking all day now and it was taking its toll on her.
Jackie was thrilled at her mother’s words and she gulped at her can before saying loudly, and not a little drunkenly, ‘He is my baby, Mum. I fucking love him.’
She was slurring her words and Lena closed her eyes in distress. When pissed, Jackie started off loving everyone, but by lunchtime they would all be arseholes and wankers, her son included.
‘Since my Freddie has taken him in hand he is a changed boy!’
Lena smiled as best she could and said as happily as she could manage, given the circumstances, ‘You’re telling me! He has been round a lot lately and if Jimmy Junior’s here he plays with him, helps him do things. Fuck me, Jack, I thought he’d had a personality transplant.’
Jackie was almost bursting with drunken pride. ‘Now the girls are gone, more or less, he is getting a lot of one-to-one attention. He is also coming to terms with any feelings he has, feelings that he needs to express more—’
‘Oh, that’s lovely.’ Lena was regretting asking her daughter anything now, she sounded like a fucking social worker when she spouted that crap. She knew from experience that this kind of talk could go on for hours and she wasn’t in the mood today. ‘How are you, anyway?’
Jackie knew she had been cut off mid-sentence and she swallowed down her annoyance. If Maggie had been sitting here talking intelligently they would all be hanging on her every word. Freddie was right in what he said, they mugged her off.
‘How’s the wedding plans going?’ Lena asked, trying to start a different conversation.
‘All right. It’s not till next year, so why they have to fucking keep on about it I don’t know.’
Lena swallowed down the retort that had sprung to her lips, and changed the subject once again. ‘How’s Big Freddie?’
‘He’s fine. Why are you asking about him?’ Jackie’s voice was now full of suspicion and the underlying anger that was always close to the surface.
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, Jack, I am making what is commonly known as conversation. But with you that’s a fucking impossibility. Relax and have a natter, will you, girl?’
Jackie was mortally offended and it showed, which made Lena so angry she bellowed, ‘You are such hard work, Jackie, do you know that? You are always on your fucking dignity, always looking for an insult or a slight. I am fucked if I know why you even bother to come round here.’
Jackie felt like crying. It was always the same, she did her best to chat and she tried her hardest to be nice, and her mum always ended up having a go at her. Maggie was the golden girl, she was the fucking queen of this house, and her little boy was the little darling, the prince, which meant her and her kids were relegated to second position. It hurt, it really hurt her at times.
Lena saw the tears in her daughter’s eyes and felt awful for shouting at her as per usual, but talking to Jackie was like trying to make conversation with a Pakistani Dutchman. Nigh on fucking impossible. If her daughter wasn’t always half pissed she might get a decent chat out of her, and she might also relax long enough to let the self-pity go for a few minutes, Jackie’s drinking and her fucking stupid way of carrying on worried Lena. She could see the toll the drink was taking on her eldest daughter, and she didn’t know what to do to make it all right, to make it better.
Patricia was seriously worried, and Freddie was not making her feel any easier. In fact, he was starting to annoy her. If he didn’t stop going on about Jimmy and how he was mugging him off, she was going to scream.
‘Have you listened to one word I’ve said, Freddie?’
He nodded. ‘’Course I have.’
‘Well, then, what do you think I should do?’
Freddie was fucked now because he had not been listening to her for ages
. Instead, he had been watching one of the new girls through the doorway and she was just his cup of Rosie Lee.
‘What do you think you should do?’ He was pleased that he had years of experience with Jackie to fall back on, because he had not listened to her since before their honeymoon.
Patricia said, softly, and with an underlying malice, ‘My brother has requested that I bring all the books up to date and then give them to Jimmy, and you ask me what I think I should do?’
Freddie was quiet.
‘Funny how you can fucking go on about Jimmy for hours and when I mention him you don’t even take it on board. Yet I am expected to take the books that denote my livelihood and pass them to him without a fucking murmur.’
She closed the door because she had also caught sight of the new girl. If she wanted some serious answers from Freddie, that meant no distractions whatsoever. She knew him too well, and if he wasn’t such a good fuck she would have crowned him.
‘Has Jimmy said anything to you? Why would my brother suddenly ask me to do that, give the books over to what is in effect a fucking stranger, when I have run his houses single-handedly for years?’
Freddie felt as if his head was going to explode. ‘Did he say anything to you about it the last time you saw him, Pat?’
She shook her head, glad that she finally had his full attention. ‘Not a fucking dicky bird. It was the usual. I told him what we were making and he seemed happy enough, and then we chatted as we always do.’
She didn’t let on that she grassed up everyone and anyone she could, Freddie included. It was through her that Ozzy knew Freddie had lightened more than a few money bags. Jimmy was so close with things like that he was like a fucking statue, and she knew how to earn her Brownie points.
Freddie looked her in the eyes and said carefully, ‘Are you creaming anything off, Pat?’
‘How dare you? You can fucking talk! You’re the one who keeps taking dips out of everyone’s fucking bunce, not me.’
Freddie waved his arms to shut her up. She was so livid at his words, that alone told him he was on the right track. ‘I don’t give a fuck what you do, you silly mare. I am trying to help you out here. If you are scamming him, sister or no sister, he won’t put up with it. He hates anyone trying to take what he sees as his. That is why him and Jimmy get on so well; Jimmy would haunt you over a fucking pound.’
Freddie looked at Pat to make sure she was listening. ‘When I was banged up with Oz, I remember we had a lag in there who managed to get his hands on some LSD. Now the northerners love a bit of brown or a bit of acid to make their sentence go faster. They do their lumps out of their nut as is their prerogative, any way you can find to do your bird in peace is your business.
‘This fella had a lot more than he let on - he wanted a few quid for some luxuries. To Ozzy, right, this was pennies, fucking nothing. But he sussed him out, made a point of counting down each tab that was sold. On the quiet, of course. Well, when Ozzy realised the fella had held some back he went fucking ballistic. He even frightened me, and I was supposed to be his minder. But he got that money. It was only about forty quid, if that.’
Freddie shook his head as if bewildered. ‘And I remember saying to him, “All that for forty quid,” and he turned on me, Pat, and he said, all serious-like, “Forty quid is forty quid, Freddie, and it’s forty quid I never had.” It was fucking mad. All the other lags understood him, agreed with him, but I just felt that forty quid was not worth the hag. He nearly killed that fella, we all ended up on a lockdown, and I know it annoyed him that I couldn’t see the principle that he assured me over and over again had been at stake.’
Freddie held out his arms in wonderment. ‘It was forty quid, for fuck’s sake, but to him it was like forty grand. So now you know why I am asking you if you have not been completely honest with him about the takings here. I know he loves you, Pat, but I also know he won’t be mugged off, not by you, not by anyone. I know Jimmy would never have told him that I had a touch, but I also know that Ozzy will never forgive me because of it.’
Pat listened to Freddie with increasing fear. She knew Ozzy better than anyone, but she had still been buncing the last few years. Why not? He was never coming out, he didn’t want to, so what the fuck did he want all this money for anyway?
He was gathering it up in shedloads and he was never going to be able to fucking spend any of it. She had started paying herself over the odds because she had felt that she deserved it, and after a couple of bonuses she had made it a regular thing.
She was terrified now. She knew Ozzy wouldn’t hurt her physically, but she also knew he was capable of cutting her off without a backward glance, and, money or no money, she loved Oz, always had and always would.
She sat down at her desk and for the first time ever Freddie saw her looking vulnerable. It reminded him that Ozzy might be banged up but he was running the show. Had always run the show. He had dipped himself, on more than one occasion, and Jimmy must have smoothed it all over with Ozzy. It suddenly occurred to him just how fucking lucky he had been. Like Pat he had thought no further than that Ozzy was away for the long haul, and he had not allowed for the mind-set of a man who was marking his prison time by still making money.
‘Can I leave Jimmy Junior with you tonight, Mum?’
Lena smiled. ‘’Course you can. You off out, love?’
Maggie grinned. ‘Jimmy wants to take me out to dinner, he just rang. He is on his way home from the Isle of Wight, and he is in a really good mood.’
‘You leave my little babes here, and you go and have a good time. Let him sleep over, he ain’t done that for ages.’
‘Okey doke. I’ll drop him off later then.’
‘You want a sandwich or something?’
‘No thanks. Has Jackie been round?’
Lena sighed. ‘Don’t start me off about her, for fuck’s sake. She was pissed out of her brains this morning and I tell you now, Mags, I love her, she’s me daughter, but she is such hard work.’
She sat down at the small kitchen table and said conspiratorially, her voice a whisper even though there was no one else within earshot, ‘She walks around with a can now, a Coke can that is full of vodka and she honestly thinks that no one knows, that no one’s sussed it out, and that we think she is drinking fucking Coke. I am really worried about her, Mags, but what can I do?’
Maggie was always sad when she thought of her sister and her way of life. ‘We’ve all tried, Mum, but until she decides to get help, it’s a waste of time, ain’t it.’
‘At least Freddie is at home more these days. He is doing a marvellous job with that little fucker of his. He has been round here, and you wouldn’t know him, girl. I still think he has a screw loose though. You could never trust that child. I don’t think so, anyway.’
Maggie looked at her mother and she saw how much she had aged over the last few years. She was sorry to see her getting so old, even though she knew it had to happen. But her mother had always seemed so strong, had always made her feel safe and loved and cared for. Now Lena was starting to look old it was frightening, because one day that was going to be her.
She was into her thirties now, and even though she looked good, you couldn’t fight age, not really. If you had ten face-lifts and your whole body remodelled, you might look younger but you would still be fifty or sixty or whatever. Looking younger did not make you younger. Time passed, and the older you got the quicker it seemed to go.
‘Do you think it might be worth talking to Freddie about Jackie?’
Maggie shrugged. ‘I never talk to him unless I have to. He is the reason she bloody drinks anyway.’
‘True, but I worry that one day I will get a phone call, or a message telling me she’s dead. She is going yellow, Mags, and it’s her liver, I know it is.’
Maggie could see the worry and fear etched on her mother’s face, and she felt the sting of tears.
‘I love you, Mum.’
Lena flapped her hand at her daughter and
laughed. But Maggie knew she was pleased she had said it. They were not really that kind of family, they didn’t hug or touch too much. But she wanted her mother to know that she did love her.
All day, every day, she loved her.
Freddie had decided to actually do the work he was supposed to be getting on with. He needed time to think, and seeing Pat like that had thrown him because he had a feeling that Jimmy would be in the know about everything. He also had a feeling that Jimmy was about to inherit the houses along with everything else.
He was so fucking angry. Jimmy was walking off with everything and, without him, he would not have even known Ozzy existed. That meant Jimmy owed him a slice of the very lucrative pie he was going to inherit from Ozzy.
Freddie felt hard done by. Here he was running all over the Smoke picking up money and sorting out problems in clubs, pubs and eateries, and where was Jimmy? Sitting on his ring, doing fuck all.
He stormed into a drinking club in Brixton that owed them a weekly take, and saw Glenford Prentiss standing at the bar. Glenford waved him over and Freddie forced a smile on to his face as he said happily, ‘All right, all’s well then, I take it?’
Glenford grinned. ‘Always good me, and you?’
Freddie shrugged nonchalantly. ‘All the better for seeing you. Want a drink?’
They were served immediately, and Glenford watched as Freddie downed the large whisky he had ordered in one large gulp. He was given another one straightaway.
‘You needed that, eh?’ Glenford was sipping his own drink, a pint of Draught Guinness, and savouring it.
‘Wouldn’t you if you were me?’ Freddie looked annoyed.
Glenford didn’t answer him, he was not getting involved in any kind of conversation that revolved around slagging off Jimmy, work, or anything else, other than the mundane and the fucking boring.
‘Seen anything of Jimmy?’