The Feud

by Kimberley Chambers

  Jed lay still as Raymond finally managed to tie and gag Frankie. He cursed himself for not bringing a proper weapon with him. Pretending he was knocked out cold was all he could do. Raymond was double his size and was armed with his infamous baseball bat, and Jed knew that Frankie needed him alive, not dead.

  Jessica was frozen with shock. She couldn’t breathe, move or anything. Her daughter’s screams had been awful. She had wanted to get up and help her, but she had been paralysed by fear and couldn’t. She felt faint again, really ill.

  Seeing Raymond bundle Frankie towards the car, Eddie picked up the machine gun and studied it. He had never used one of these things before, but he was sure he could handle it.

  As Raymond’s car pulled away, Eddie got out of his car and took a pop at one of the nearby squashed cars. Perfect, he thought, as the bullets landed exactly where he aimed them.

  Hearing the fun being fired, Jed quickly got up. It was obvious what was coming next and he knew he had no choice other than to leg it. Raymond had smashed a couple of windows in the trailer and, realising the gunshots were coming from the front, Jed squeezed himself out of a back window and literally ran for his life.

  At the sound of the gun being fired, Jessica lost consciousness. Out for the count, she was totally unaware of her husband’s footsteps nearing.

  In the back of Raymond’s car, Frankie was desperately trying to pull the gag off her mouth. She had seen her father waiting in the shadows as Raymond had lifted her into his motor, and not only was she worried about Jed, she was also concerned about her mother.

  Realising Frankie was making all sorts of funny noises, Raymond stopped the car. He had to check she was all right in case she couldn’t breathe properly. ‘Are you OK? Can you breathe?’ he asked as he pulled the gag off her.

  ‘You stupid fucking idiot. I saw me dad outside and Mum’s in that trailer.’

  ‘What?’ Raymond asked incredulously. Frankie was winding him up – she had to be.

  ‘I swear on my baby’s life, Mum’s in there. She came to see me to sort stuff out. When she heard your voice, she hid under the bed.’

  Realising that Frankie was telling the truth, Raymond felt all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. ‘Jesus! No!’ he screamed, as he spun the car around and raced back to the scene of the crime.

  * * *

  Eddie smiled as he saw the dealer boots poking out from under the bed. He would have liked to have tortured the little fucker for a while, but he really didn’t have the time. Poor little Jed must have crawled in here after Raymond clumped him over the bonce. Smiling, Eddie prepared his speech.

  ‘Bye-bye, Jeddy boy. This is what you get for crossing me,’ he said as he let fly with the machine gun.

  With blood splattered all over himself and the walls, Eddie decided enough was enough. He was extremely thirsty and decided he needed to have a little refreshment before Raymond got back. The cleaning-up process was much harder work than just killing people, unfortunately.

  Eddie went to the fridge and was pleased to find a can of lager. ‘Cheers, you little gyppo cunt,’ he toasted, as he sat down on the old sofa.

  Sipping his beer, Eddie took a good look at the surroundings. ‘So this is how pikeys live, is it?’ he said cuttingly.

  Smirking, Eddie slurped his beer. Frankie wouldn’t thank him for a while, but he had literally saved his daughter from a life of hell. Any man in his position would have done the same as he had. Every father in the world only wants the best for their daughter, don’t they?

  As the sound of brakes screeched outside, Eddie shot up like a jack-in-the-box. Raymond wasn’t due back yet, so who the fuck was this?

  Eddie picked up the machine gun and lifted back the old net curtain. As he saw Raymond running towards him, Eddie guessed there had been a hitch, but still breathed a sigh of relief. Flatnose Freddie would have thought he was taking the right piss if he had turned up with a boot full of bodies instead of just one.

  ‘What’s up?’ he asked as Raymond let himself in.

  ‘Where’s Jessica? Have you seen her?’ Raymond asked frantically.

  ‘Of course I ain’t seen her. She’s round her fucking mother’s,’ Ed replied, looking at him as though he was mental.

  ‘No, she ain’t. Frankie said she was here, she came to see her,’ Raymond said nervously.

  ‘Well, she ain’t here now, is she?’ Eddie said, fuming that his wife had gone behind his back.

  ‘Where’s Jed?’ Raymond asked, as a sudden feeling of dread washed over him.

  ‘Having a little rest under the bed. Don’t worry, Ray, I’ve put about two hundred bullets in him, so he’s hardly likely to jump out on us,’ Eddie said, laughing.

  Raymond yanked open the bedroom door and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw a pair of boots poking out from underneath the bed. ‘Thank God. You did see his face, didn’t you, Ed?’ Raymond asked confused. He could have sworn that Jed was barefoot when he had left.

  ‘You ain’t losing the plot, Ray, are you? You clumped him, he crawled under the bed. I came in, shot the cunt, job done. So what is your problem?’

  Raymond felt ill as he turned to Eddie. ‘Ed, Frankie reckons Jess crawled under the bed and was hiding there.’

  Eddie stood up. ‘My old woman don’t walk around in dealer boots,’ he said, as he strolled into the bedroom.

  Grabbing hold of the ankles, Eddie was shocked as the boots came off in his hand. Seeing a pair of perfectly manicured feet, Eddie sank to his knees. ‘No, no, it can’t be! No!’ he shouted.

  Raymond pushed him out of the way, grabbed the legs and dragged the body out. As Eddie screamed out his wife’s name, Raymond started to sob.

  ‘Jessica, Jessica. I’m so sorry, I love you. Why did you come here? Why?’ Eddie howled, cradling her bullet-ridden body in his arms.

  Raymond was too stunned to speak. He could barely believe that his beautiful, vivacious sister was the bloodied corpse he was looking at. Jessica’s body was lacerated beyond recognition. Her beautiful blonde hair was matted with blood and her face looked contorted with shock.

  ‘Oh my God, Eddie. What have you done?’ Raymond whispered.

  Sobbing like a baby, Eddie clung to his wife’s lifeless limbs. Raymond tried to drag Eddie off his sister and, as he did so, Ed started to yelp like a wounded animal. Raymond stared at Jessica’s face once more, then bent over and vomited.

  As Raymond’s gun fell out of his pocket, Eddie immediately picked it up. Without Jessica, his life was nothing and he knew he could never forgive himself or get over what he had done. ‘It’s all right, darling. I’ll look after you and our baby. I’m coming with you,’ he said, as he pointed the gun towards his temple.

  ‘No, Ed! No!’ Raymond yelled, as he lunged towards Eddie.

  Outside in the car, Frankie was still tied up. She was frightened, thirsty and desperate to know what was going on. As she heard the gunshot echo in the wind, she let out a piercing scream.

  ‘Jed! Mum! Where are you?’ she sobbed.

  FORTY-THREE

  Raymond crouched down. He had managed to knock the gun away from his brother-in-law’s head, but it had still gone off and had whizzed through Eddie’s shoulder. ‘Stay with me, Ed. I’m calling an ambulance right now,’ Raymond urged him.

  Eddie lay moaning and groaning. He was conscious, but not really with it. ‘Let me die. I want to die,’ he muttered.

  Ignoring his pal’s wishes, Raymond dialled 999. ‘Get me an ambulance. Two people have been shot,’ he yelled, as the woman asked him which service he wanted.

  Taking off his jacket, Raymond laid it over his sister’s mutilated body. ‘I love you, Jess,’ he said, tears rolling down his face.

  Knowing that the police were going to have a field day, Raymond’s instincts kicked in and he ran outside to untie Frankie.

  ‘What’s happened? Is Jed alive?’ his niece screamed.

  By now Frankie was absolutely hysterical and Raymond had never felt so guilty in his
life as he tried to calm her down. ‘Jed’s fine, he got away. Now listen Frankie, and listen carefully. The police and ambulance will be here in a minute. You say nothing to them, OK? All I’m gonna say is me and you drove over here to look for your mum.’

  ‘I’m telling them everything. You and Dad are animals and I hate you both,’ Frankie bellowed.

  Raymond slapped his hand around her face. She was in terrible shock and needed to snap out of it, else they were all going down. ‘You say nothing, Frankie, do you hear me? Nothing.’

  ‘Where’s my mum? I want my mum,’ Frankie sobbed.

  Untying the last bit of rope, Eddie held his distraught niece in his arms. How was he meant to tell her that her dad had killed her mum? As the sound of sirens approached, he pleaded with Frankie to do as he had asked. ‘There’s been an accident, Frankie. I’ll explain later. Don’t say anything to the police,’ he said, as he jumped out of the car.

  Both the police and paramedics were taken aback by the sight that greeted them. They were obviously trained to deal with these situations, but neither service had ever seen a woman with so many bulletholes in her body. Eddie was now out for the count, and was bleeding profusely.

  ‘Is he still alive?’ Raymond asked, as Eddie was rushed into the ambulance.

  ‘He’s still got a pulse, but we need to get him to hospital immediately. He’s lost a lot of blood,’ the paramedic replied.

  Seeing the stretcher being brought out of the trailer, Frankie lost the plot. ‘What’s going on?’ she screamed, as she got out of the car and ran towards the amubulance.

  As Frankie tried to dart inside the trailer, a policeman grabbed hold of her. The police had been so shocked by the scene they had encountered, they hadn’t even realised Frankie was there. ‘Where’s Jed? Where’s my mum?’ Frankie yelled.

  ‘You can’t go inside. It’s a crime scene,’ the policeman told her gently.

  Raymond led his inconsolable niece back to the safety of the car. He had to tell her the truth before the coppers did the honours. Sitting Frankie in the passenger seat, Raymond crouched down and held her hands. ‘Mummy’s dead, Frankie. I’m so, so sorry,’ he said, as another ambulance and more police back-up arrived.

  ‘Mum’s not dead. What about her baby? She can’t be dead,’ Frankie whimpered.

  ‘It was an accident, Frankie. I’m sorry,’ Raymond responded, hugging her fragile body in his arms.

  As white as a ghost, Frankie shook like a leaf. ‘I want my mum, I need to see her!’ she screamed hysterically.

  The police came over to tell Raymond and Frankie that the ambulance was waiting to take them to hospital. ‘You’ll be treated for shock. We’re going to need to take statements from both of you later,’an officer informed Raymond.

  Raymond nodded. He had already told the police that he had brought Frankie here to see her mum and found Jessica and Eddie both shot. ‘It’s obvious someone wanted to kill them, and thought they’d succeeded,’ he told the shell-shocked copper.

  ‘I want Joey. Ring Joey for me,’ Frankie wailed, as she was helped into the ambulance.

  Raymond sat opposite her with his head in his hands. How the hell was he meant to tell his mum and dad that both Jessica and the baby were dead?

  Unaware of the carnage, Jed was sat drinking a beer and soaking his sore feet in a trailer over in Basildon. Fearful of losing his life, he had run for miles barefoot. He had heard the gunshots as he had scarpered across the fields, but had no idea of what had actually happened. Finally, he had come to a main road, had found a phone box and rung his cousin, Sammy Boy. His feet were ripped to pieces and when Sammy arrived to collect him, he could barely speak through the pain.

  ‘Do you want another beer? How do ya feel now?’ Sammy asked him.

  Gratefully accepting the can, Jed opened it and drank most of the lager in one go. ‘I feel like shit, but I need to find Frankie. I want you to drive me to her house and if she ain’t there, then you’ll have to take me back to Tilbury.’

  ‘It’s a bit risky if they’ve got shooters, ain’t it?’ Sammy asked him.

  ‘If Frankie ain’t indoors, I’ll go to mine and get one of me dad’s guns,’ Jed replied.

  Sammy handed him a fresh pair of socks and some trainers. ‘Come on then, let’s go.’

  Many miles away, Joyce, Joey and Stanley were all of a panic as they headed towards Basildon Hospital.

  ‘There’s been a terrible accident – you need to come quick. Frankie’s asking for Joey, so bring him with you,’ was all Raymond had told them.

  Joey couldn’t stop crying, ‘Whaddya think has happened, Nan?’ he wept.

  ‘I don’t know, darling,’ Joyce said, squeezing his hand. Raymond was pacing the corridors when he spotted his parents walking towards him. The doctors were worried about Frankie. She had been that hysterical, her blood pressure had shot through the roof and they had now given her a sedative to calm her down.

  Joyce and Stanley glanced fearfully at one another as they spotted the huge police presence. ‘Is it Jess? Has she lost the baby?’ Joyce sobbed, as she was led into a nearby relatives’ room.

  A sombre-looking policewoman urged them all to sit down.

  ‘Where’s Frankie? Is she OK?’ Joey asked, shaking.

  Raymond begged the policewoman to let him break the terrible news to his family.

  ‘What’s going on, son?’ Stanley asked, his face stern.

  Raymond let out a cry. ‘Jessica’s dead,’ he sobbed. ‘Dead! What do you mean, she’s dead?’ Joyce asked incredulously.

  ‘There was a shooting. No one knows exactly what happened, but Jessica’s dead and Eddie’s being operated on as we speak.’

  As Joey let out a piercing scream, Joyce collapsed with shock. Stanley stood up and, as his legs buckled, sank to his knees. ‘I always knew that bastard would be the death of my Jessica, I always knew it,’ he howled.

  Nearby, in the operating theatre, Eddie’s heart had just stopped beating. ‘Cardiac arrest. Start resuscitation,’ shouted one of the surgeons.

  Everybody crowded round. It was touch and go for Eddie Mitchell.

  Still unaware of the chaos, Jed and Sammy Boy headed straight to Frankie’s house and were surprised to see her driveway swarming with police officers. Jed told Sammy to stay in the car.

  ‘Wait here while I ask the gavvers what’s going on,’ he said as he slammed the car door.

  ‘You can’t go in there. No one’s allowed in there,’ said a copper, standing by the gate. He had been ordered to guard the property while his superiors searched for clues.

  ‘What’s happened? I need to see my girlfriend, she lives here,’ Jed said bluntly.

  ‘There’s been an accident, that’s all I can tell you,’ the copper replied.

  Jed was never one to be fobbed off. ‘Me and my girlfriend are getting wed. She’s having my baby, so I need to know she’s all right. Can you try and find out where she is for me?’

  Turning his back to Jed, the young officer spoke into his walkie-talkie. His girlfriend was also pregnant, so he felt some empathy towards Jed. ‘Your girlfriend’s OK. She’s at Basildon Hospital.’

  Jed sprinted back to the car. ‘Basildon Hospital, as quick as you like,’ he yelled at his cousin.

  Back at the hospital, Joyce had been treated for shock. Seeing Joey and his father in absolute pieces, Raymond left the room. Their tears were pure and raw and Raymond felt as guilty as hell.

  Outside, he punched the wall. He couldn’t live this life any more. He pictured Jessica’s face. It seemed so surreal that he would never see her or hear her infectious laugh ever again. Memories of the past came flooding back to Raymond. He remembered Jess struggling to learn to ride her bike without stabilisers. How she took the piss out of his obsession with Marc Bolan. She’d been so supportive when he’d joined that band, and even stuck up for him when he’d worn eyeliner. Raymond sat on a plastic chair and toyed with his emotions. Grassing Eddie up to the police was a no-go. Many people w
ould have done, but not Raymond – he was too loyal. He knew how much Eddie had loved Jessica. It was an accident, a mistake. Ed’s life would be destroyed after this. It was a pure mishap and Raymond would never tell a soul about the horrendous true happenings. As long as Frankie and Jed kept quiet, the police would just think that Jessica and Eddie had been attacked by somebody else.

  Seeing a copper staring at him, Raymond went back inside the hospital. Joey was curled up on the floor like a baby. ‘Get up, Joey, come on, mate,’ Raymond said, crouching down next to him.

  ‘Leave him alone. This is all your fault, you and that other fucking hoodlum. With the lives you and him led, something like this was always bound to happen and it did, to my beautiful Jessica, who did nothing to deserve it. I hate what you’ve become, Raymond, and I’m ashamed to call you my son. Get out. Go on, get out, I never want to see your face again,’ Stanley shouted, pushing his son towards the door.

  Shocked at the venom in his usually mild-mannered father’s voice, Raymond ran from the room.

  With no room in the hospital car park, Sammy parked his motor in one of the spaces marked for staff only.

  Jed had had his thinking cap on during the journey. He guessed from the police presence at Frankie’s that something sinister had happened, so he had prepared himself a story. ‘If the gavvers say anything, then I’m gonna say that you picked me up from Tilbury at six o’clock this morning. Me dad’ll go mental, ’cause he owns that fucking land. Me truck’s there and it’s registered in his name, so the gavvers are bound to wanna question him. Thank God I burnt them photos yesterday, Sam. Can you imagine the can of worms they could have opened?’

  ‘Are you sure you burnt ’em properly?’ Sammy asked worried.

  ‘Positive. I checked,’ Jed replied confidently.

  ‘Can I go and see my Joycie?’ asked a red-eyed Stanley.

  ‘And can I see Frankie now?’ Joey asked, distraught.

  Neither asked about Eddie, as neither really cared how he was.

  The nurse nodded. ‘Take no notice if they’re still woozy. It will just be the medication we’ve given them,’ she told them.