‘Silly bitch, she knows I don’t want it publicized I’m out.’
‘She means well, Dad,’ David said.
‘Means well? She might as well have put “from prison” in the middle of the bloody banner.’
The celebrations were in full swing and there was a rowdy crowd spilling out onto the landing outside their flat.
Renee was all dressed up with her hair in tight permed curls, and was standing in the hallway, but before she could even put her arms around her husband there was a ‘Welcome home’ bellow from his old pals. Clifford Bentley had always been a big cheese, and they treated him as if he was some kind of war hero rather than an old lag just out of prison. He walked right past Renee, without showing her the slightest affection, and joined his mates in the lounge.
After a few drinks and something to eat John led his father to the privacy of his bedroom to give him an update on the ‘decoration job’ at the café.
‘We come across a problem beyond the first brick wall and we’ve ended up breaking through to the bank’s basement, but—’
‘Jesus Christ — did you not read my notes properly?’
‘Yes of course I bloody did, but they were wrong. However, it’s not a problem and we can work round it.’
‘How long is it gonna take?’
‘We can’t work during the day — it makes too much racket. But we need to tunnel under the vault and cut through some iron bars—’
‘Iron bars! How you gonna cut them?’
‘Listen, I know what I’m doin’, Dad. Danny’s getting a knocked-off oxyacetylene torch to cut the bars. It’s nice and quiet, as well as quick.’
‘He’s a fucking electrician, not a welder, and they’re dangerous, ain’t they?’
‘Danny knows how to handle it — he used them when he was in the Army. We’re goin’ as fast as we can, but we can’t foresee every problem.’
Clifford shook his head. ‘Jesus Christ, you know I told you that we gotta get in there fast cos some of the fivers in amongst that cash will cease to be legal tender soon.’
‘Yeah, yeah I know — but let’s just forget about them and stick to the ones, tens and twenties.’
Clifford prodded his son in the chest. ‘No bloody way! There could be fuckin’ thousands worth of those fivers.’
‘But how we gonna offload ’em all by the beginning of September? I can’t just walk into a bank with a few thousand worth of fivers then open an account or ask for them to be changed for new ones in a shop.’
Clifford looked at his son knowing he’d made a good point. He screwed up his lips and frowned as he thought to himself.
‘Listen, when you divvy up the money after the job, offload the hooky fivers on Silas and Danny. It’ll be ages before they realize, and when they do you play dumb and lie about it, say you had a load as well and you had to burn ’em — yer with me?’
John nodded with a grin, realizing what a sly old dog his dad was.
Clifford patted him on the back. ‘Don’t waste any more time — the bloke in the nick who set the job up was a heavy for the Krays and still has some nasty contacts. I don’t want them coming here with baseball bats to beat the shit out of us cos we ain’t done a proper job.’
John sighed. They had only just begun the job and he knew it was going be at least another two or three nights before they could get to the concrete floor below the vault. Then they had the problem of cutting through that, but he didn’t want to tell his dad yet.
‘I’m gonna disappear for a couple of hours... she’s waitin’ for me.’
‘Christ, Dad! Can’t you wait one night?’
‘Listen to me, I been away eight years and I need a shag, so keep yer mother occupied.’
The drinking was in full swing. Elvis was crooning from the record player and most of the food had already been consumed. They had even sent out for more Watney Sevens, the empty ones stacked in a pyramid shape in the lounge for fun. Renee was in the kitchen clearing leftovers into a bin, plates and glasses stacked up on the sink waiting to be washed. David was leaning against the wall. He felt sorry for his mum. He knew his dad had skived off and she’d got herself all dolled up and spent a lot of time preparing the food for his homecoming, and he hadn’t even bothered to talk to her or ask how she was.
‘You don’t have to do all the washing up, Ma. Put the stuff into the new dishwashing machine.’
‘Not my good glasses, I don’t trust it. They’re all getting well pissed, and some dirty bugger was sick in the toilet.’
‘I’ll go and see if anyone wants any more food,’ David said.
‘Thanks, love. I’ll stay put in here washing up. Yer dad’s gone out, hasn’t he?’
David said nothing.
Renee frowned. ‘I know he’s gone to that slag — he’ll come back stinkin’ of her. Well, all I can say is she’s welcome to him.’
‘I love you, Mum,’ he said quietly and kissed her gently on the cheek.
She looked up at him and gave a weak smile.
‘Yeah, I know you do, son, and a long time ago I suppose I loved your dad. Worn it out of me, he has, but he looks well, doesn’t he?’
‘Yeah, he’s been workin’ out at the gym in the nick. He always took good care of himself.’
‘But he never took care o’ you,’ she said with a grimace.
‘Leave it out, Ma. I’ll bring you a sherry.’
‘Get me a stout, it’ll put some iron in me blood.’
John saw David in the lounge pouring stout into a glass. He leaned in close and said that he had been told by their father they couldn’t waste any more time.
‘He’s sayin’ we gotta get the fivers out before they get to be illegal, and he wants the job completed in the next few days.’
‘For fuck’s sake, John, he only got out this afternoon and already he’s throwin’ his weight around. Let’s just forget about the bloody fivers, they’re too much hassle. Besides, there’ll be loads of deposit boxes with nice jewellery in them.’
‘I know, I know, but it’ll take time to fence and sell all the sparklers, and we need the fivers to pay off Silas and Danny.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Dave, with all this new decimal currency shit the old fivers in the vault become worthless unless they’re cashed in or used by September.’
He shook his head. ‘It seems crazy to rush things, especially for pissin’ five-quid notes that will be useless.’
‘Yeah, well, Danny and Silas won’t know what’s in the bags until it’s too late, will they?’
He paused as it sunk in. ‘You crafty beggar, John.’
David limped into the kitchen. He’d poured the stout badly and spilt some of the overflowing creamy head down his fingers which he wiped on his trousers as he placed the glass down beside his mother who was washing the cutlery.
‘Use the dishwasher, Mum.’
‘Never gets between the forks, and there’s a few silver ones from your grandmother. You can’t put silver in the dishwasher.’
‘You should sell them, get some money.’
‘I might, but I’ve already got a little nest egg. Been saving all my earnings from cleaning for years — yer dad doesn’t know. God forbid he finds it — he’d be straight down the betting shop. I always saved, even my pension. It was always me that bought you boys your Christmas presents, and every time he was banged up I was able to save even more.’
‘Listen, I don’t even want to know where you’ve got it, but do you understand all this new decimal currency yet?’
‘A bit, but only cos I do the grocery shop. No more half-crowns, threepenny bits, or old pennies. Yer couldn’t buy nothin’ with a penny nowadays.’