by Dani Oakley
Jimmy told himself he didn’t care about not having his folks around. He was perfectly happy with his nan, Linda and Dave Carter as his surrogate family, but truthfully, Diane’s relationship with her parents intrigued him, and he wondered how things would have been different if his family had been more like Diane’s.
He knocked on the Harrisons’ front door and waited on the doorstep.
It wasn’t long before the door was opened by Diane’s mother.
Jimmy smiled widely, using the trademark smile that helped him get away with almost anything, but Mrs Harrison’s eyes bulged when she saw Jimmy standing in front of her.
“Yes?”
Jimmy politely informed her he was there to escort Diane to the pictures. And he watched the blood drain from Mrs Harrison’s face.
It was a knock to his confidence. He was well aware the Harrisons might not consider him a great catch for their daughter, but surely, he wasn’t that bad.
There was a long pause and Mrs Harrison finally said, “I suppose you’d better come in.”
Jimmy followed her into the narrow hallway and then she led him into the front room.
It wasn’t much bigger than his nan’s front room, but the furniture and decorations were up-to-date and definitely looked more expensive.
“You had better wait here. I’ll go and get Diane’s father,” Mrs Harrison said.
Jimmy stood in the middle of the front room, feeling a bit of an idiot. She hadn’t even invited him to sit down, so instead, he stood by the fireplace and leant on the mantelpiece. He noticed there were a couple of framed photographs of Diane as a little girl above the fire.
He smiled as he looked at the cheeky little girl with a beaming smile.
He was so interested in looking at the family photographs that it was some time before he realised he wasn’t alone in the room.
When he turned, he saw Mr Harrison.
Jimmy smiled confidently and stepped towards Diane’s father with his hand outstretched.
“Hello, Mr Harrison. I’m here to take your Diane to the pictures.”
Jimmy saw the flicker of distaste on the man’s face before he suppressed it and gave a tight smile.
“Nice to meet you. Jimmy Diamond, isn’t it? Tell me, what is it you do for a living?”
Jimmy’s face lit up with another smile. Mr Harrison was well aware what he did for a living. And it was probably the reason he hadn’t already been chucked out on his ear.
The fact that Jimmy Diamond was close to Dave Carter was well-known in the East End. Not only because Dave Carter was such an important presence in the area, but because everybody now knew who Jimmy’s father was, and the fact that Jimmy had taken up with his father’s arch nemesis, had been the subject of plenty of gossip over the years. A person living in the East End would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know what Jimmy Diamond did for a living and who he worked for.
But Jimmy was prepared to play the game.
“I work for Carter’s Cars, Mr Harrison. It’s a good job. Well paid and I enjoy it.”
There was another awkward pause just like there had been with Diane’s mother, and then finally Mr Harrison nodded. “Yes, I did hear something along those lines. You work for Dave Carter, is that correct?”
“That’s right. I’m one of his mechanics.”
He tried to make the distinction so Mr Harrison would realise Jimmy worked as a mechanic and wasn’t involved with any of Dave’s slightly dodgy deals.
Not that he wouldn’t have been involved if Dave asked him. Jimmy adored Dave Carter and looked up to him. If Dave had asked him to take part in one of his criminal operations, Jimmy wouldn’t have hesitated. But as Dave told him before, he looked on him as a son, and as such, he treated him just like Georgie. Dave paid Jimmy well but kept him well clear of anything criminal. Not that he expected Mr Harrison to believe that. No one believed it. He wasn’t even sure his own nan believed it.
Jimmy heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs and looked out through the open door into the hallway to see Diane emerging with a look of horror on her face. “Jimmy!”
Jimmy smiled and walked towards her. “Ready to go?”
Diane shot a worried glance at her father and then nodded.
Jimmy guessed her mother was still hiding in the kitchen.
Jimmy tucked Diane’s arm through his and nodded at Mr Harrison. “I will have Diane back home before 10 o’clock. It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr Harrison.”
Mr Harrison looked like he’d swallowed a wasp as he tried to smile and wave goodbye to his daughter as she walked off arm in arm with Jimmy.
* * *
When they were out of the house and halfway up the street, Diane Harrison turned to Jimmy. “I thought we were meeting at the pictures! We were supposed to be keeping things quiet.”
Jimmy looked down at her and grinned. “Are you ashamed of me?” he teased.
Diane’s cheeks flushed, and she shook her head vigorously. Her dark hair whipped around her face as she shook her head.
“Of course, not. All the girls in the East End would be jealous if they knew I was stepping out with Jimmy Diamond.”
Jimmy shrugged. “I thought it was only right that I met your parents.”
Diane nodded. “What did my father say to you before I came downstairs?”
Jimmy grinned again. “Don’t look so worried. He just asked me about my job.”
Diane groaned and clutched at Jimmy’s arm. “I’ll bet. He is going to make such a big deal out of the fact you work for Dave Carter. I’m never going to hear the end of it.”
“It’s a respectable job. Dave Carter’s a good man.”
Diane nodded, but she didn’t look convinced. “So, are we still keeping this quiet, or not? Can I tell Ruby?”
That was another complication in their relationship. Diane Harrison was good friends with Ruby Morton. Jimmy’s half-sister.
Jimmy shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
She looked disappointed and bit down on her lower lip. “Why not?”
They turned the corner and walked until they reached the bus stop.
“It’s complicated,” Jimmy said with a sigh.
He realised he wasn’t going to be able to put Diane off. She would pout and be miserable until he explained.
With another sigh, he said. “There is a complicated history between Ruby and me. I don’t think she’d be too happy if we were seeing each other.”
Diane held a little tighter onto Jimmy’s arm as she asked, “Is it true…? The gossip, I mean.”
Jimmy felt himself tense and then willed himself to relax. It was hard to open up when he’d kept so much secret over the years. There was no way he could keep certain facts private, but he could keep his feelings to himself. Somehow that made him feel protected from anything that could hurt him.
But when he looked at Diane and saw the concerned look on her face he nodded. “It is true. Martin Morton is my father, which makes Ruby my half-sister.”
Diane’s jaw dropped open in surprise, and she shook her head. “I’d heard the gossip, but I didn’t really believe it. Why didn’t he take care of you? Dumping you on your nan like that after your mother died. What a horrible thing to do.”
Jimmy’s eyes darkened and he had a distant look as he stared towards the end of the street. “Because he’s not a nice man,” he said in a low voice.
“Are you not upset? Angry?”
Jimmy took a deep breath and turned around to look down at Diane. “Why should I be? I’ve got my nan, a job I love, and I’ve got the prettiest girl in the East End on my arm.”
Diane’s cheeks flushed, and she smiled with delight. Sometimes, Jimmy Diamond could be such a charmer, but she adored him.
Chapter 7
While Jimmy was at the pictures with Diane, Martin Morton was conducting a meeting at his flat over the club.
As usual, Tony was late and that had put Martin in a bad mood from the get go.
Red-ha
ired Freddie and Henry the Hand were both in attendance and were pussyfooting around Martin. Neither of them wanted to set him off. He had made it quite clear he had an extremely short fuse this evening.
His most recent plans for expansion, involving a protection racket on the very edges of Poplar, had met with a roadblock. Although it wasn’t clear Dave Carter was behind the brick wall they were now facing, everyone knew he was responsible. He seemed to have his fingers in all the pies these days. But he was sneaky about it.
Martin had trusted his best men on the job, and both Freddie and Henry had attended the meeting with the publican. They were sounding him out about taking on a little knock off booze. It was tax-free and imported from the continent. They’d been dealing with the landlord for a while, and they had never had a problem with him in the past. But when they’d tried to lean on him a little heavier so they could take over the protection, obviously word got back to Dave Carter. Freddie and Henry had been in the pub when, bold as brass, the Finnegan brothers turned up.
Everyone knew the Finnegan brothers were from South London and had no business in the East End at all. It was also well-known that they were tight with Dave Carter. And it was common knowledge that mutual business operations between the two Finnegan brothers and Dave Carter went on from time to time.
There wasn’t much Freddie or Henry could do other than leg it out of there. They didn’t have a death wish. The Finnegan brothers had some serious clout in South London, and as they weren’t under orders to start a turf war, they’d backed down quickly and said their goodbyes, keeping things civil.
Freddie couldn’t see any other way out of the situation. But tonight, there was no talking sense to Martin. He was paranoid and angry.
He was pacing back and forth in the living room area, with a glass of Scotch in his hand. Every now and again he would stop and turn to glare at either Henry or Freddie.
“So you just left?” Martin asked. “You just backed down like a pair of girls, is that it?”
Freddie had worked with Martin for a long time and knew he didn’t really expect an answer. He just wanted them to sit there while he lectured them.
Unfortunately, even though Henry had worked with Martin for almost as long, it appeared on this occasion he had a death wish.
“I don’t see that we had another option, Martin. Be reasonable…”
Red-haired Freddie groaned internally. Henry was asking Martin Morton to be reasonable. Was he serious?
Martin stopped pacing and turned to face Henry, his face tightening with rage. “Be reasonable? You don’t get anywhere in this life if you’re reasonable, Henry.”
He shook his head and resumed pacing.
Freddie let out the breath he’d been holding. That could have been a lot worse.
Henry sheepishly looked down at the floor. He realised he’d made an error in judgement.
“I don’t understand it,” Martin raged. “It’s like I’m dealing with amateurs. Things aren’t like they were back in the day. Then we had a system. We had rules. And then Dave Carter comes along and thinks he can push everybody around. Who does he think he is?”
That was definitely a rhetorical question. And Freddie and Henry kept quiet.
“He’s afraid of competition. That’s what it is. He’s scared to let me get a foothold because he knows if he does then I’ll annihilate him. I’m ten times the man he’ll ever be.”
Once upon a time, Freddie would have agreed with Martin. He’d always admired the man’s brains, although he’d been a little scared of his unpredictable behaviour. But these days, he had to admit, it appeared Dave Carter had Martin outwitted at every turn. It didn’t help that Martin was in such a rush to get his position back in the East End. There was no possibility of a slow build as far as Martin was concerned.
Martin was still pacing the sitting room, ranting and raving, when his brother, Tony, finally showed his face.
He swaggered in, looking confident as usual, and smiled at his brother as though he had no idea he’d done anything to annoy him.
“Evening all,” Tony said.
As he smiled around the room, the contrast between Martin Morton and Tony was stark. Over the last few years, Martin had lost weight. He looked gaunt, whereas Tony, despite only being a couple of years Martin’s junior, looked at least a decade younger. He still had the good looks that kept the birds flocking around him. Seeing the brothers next to each other just brought home the fact that Tony was so much more good-looking than his brother, and how much kinder the years had been to Tony.
Over the past year or so, Martin had become increasingly jealous of his brother. As far as Freddie could see it made no sense on the surface because Tony was happy enough to play second fiddle.
But he knew there was a rivalry between the brothers that had grown since childhood. It was obvious to everyone who knew them that Violet Morton favoured Tony over Martin.
And that resentment and jealousy had brewed in Martin over the years. While he was successful, it was easy enough for the brothers to get along. They would never be best of friends. Martin would tolerate his brother and even pay for his flat and keep him on as a well-paid member of the Morton group. The trouble was, now that things were on the downturn, Martin was no longer feeling good about himself. All his old insecurities surfaced every time he looked at his brother.
“Are you all right, Martin?” Tony asked. “You’re looking a bit tense.”
Martin’s eyes narrowed. “Tense? Of course, I’m bloody tense. Our business is up shit creek without a paddle, and no bugger gives a damn apart from me.”
It didn’t go unnoticed that when Martin’s business was doing badly, he referred to it as our business, but when he was doing well, he referred to it as his and his alone.
Freddie kept a careful eye on Tony to see how he would react.
Tony shrugged playing it easy and letting Martin’s temper-filled words roll off his back. It wasn’t easy to get Tony riled, which was a good thing as far as Freddie was concerned.
“Things will work out. They always do,” Tony said.
“They always bleeding work out because I do all the work. You just waltz into our meetings half an hour late and expect us to wait for you. When are you going to start pulling your weight? Or come up with a few ideas for raising some cash?”
“Cash flow is good,” Tony said bluntly, and he was right. In that regard, the business was doing fine. They had multiple streams of income coming in, but it wasn’t as much as before, and they didn’t have the same power. Everyone knew Martin Morton craved that more than money.
“How would you know? You’re never bloody here?” Martin demanded.
Tony walked past him and didn’t answer until he’d settled himself in an armchair then he said, “The club is doing well. I go over the books twice a week with Ruby. I check up on our suppliers of booze and cigarettes, and on our resellers. I know our expenses and our income, so I know we’re making a good profit.”
Martin didn’t like to be confronted with facts. Especially when those facts didn’t agree with what he was saying.
He waved a hand in disgust at Tony. “They are all laughing at us. And you can’t see it. Sure, they are doing it while our backs are turned at the moment, but you wait, soon they’ll be laughing at our faces.”
Freddie caught Tony’s eye. He tried to communicate with a meaningful look that it wasn’t a good idea to argue with Martin tonight. He was in one of his ranting moods, and he wouldn’t see sense, but Tony either didn’t get the message or he ignored it.
“No one is laughing at us, Martin. You’re being paranoid.”
Martin gave his brother a maniacal grin. “Paranoid?” He paced from foot to foot as though he was unable to keep still. “Maybe I need to be paranoid. I need to keep my eyes open. Babs is getting out next week. And I know full well that bitch wants to take me down.”
Freddie saw Tony’s jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth. Here we go, he thought. Time for another b
ust-up.
“Babs just wants to get out and see her children, Martin. She hasn’t got a problem with you.”
Usually, Freddie believed Tony and thought he talked a lot of sense, but in this case, he was quite clearly mistaken. Everyone knew Martin had pulled all the strings he could to keep his wife in jail for the longest time possible, and anyone who knew Babs Morton would know when she got out she would be gunning for her husband.
Martin said nothing but continued to pace. After a few moments of awkward silence, he returned to the small kitchenette and poured himself another Scotch.,
“Things will work out Martin. We’re just being too ambitious. We need to build things up slowly and create a steady foundation.”
Tony’s voice was calm, but it seemed to ignite Martin. He spun around, spilling his Scotch on the floor.
“What the hell would you know? It’s always down to me. I’m the one who thinks of everything. You and Babs… You’re nothing but blood-sucking leeches. You’d be nothing without me.”
Tony’s expression darkened as he stared at his brother.
Freddie exchanged a look with Henry. It looked like things were about to kick-off yet again.
Tony tapped his fingers lightly on the arm of the armchair. “I think this meeting is finished.” He got to his feet. “You need to remember there are still people who have got your back, but if you’re not careful, you will turn everyone against you.”
Martin took a menacing step forward and then leant into his brother’s face. “Really? Maybe I’d be better off without the pair of you. I know I’d be better off without that whore of a wife I’ve lumbered myself with.”
Tony moved quickly. He’d thrown a punch and had Martin staggering back into the kitchen area before anyone could blink.
It was only a single punch, but the strength behind it had been enough to draw blood. Martin touched the edge of his cut lip and then roared with laughter. “If you like her so much, Bruv, why don’t you have her? You can have my sloppy seconds. No charge.”
Tony let out a string of curse words and then launched himself at Martin.