LITMIR.BIZ

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He’d done his homework. The nearest cab firm was a five-minute walk away, but unfortunately it was within spitting distance of Dagenham Police Station. Would the drunken mingers head there or would they walk home? The Enemy had learned Brenda lived in Oldmead House, which would be a bit of a schlep given the state she was in.

      He watched and waited while the girls sat on the pavement, mauling their food like animals. Realizing there were no people or cars in sight, the Enemy put his hand inside his satchel. It was now or never, he thought, as he ran towards Brenda.

      Ginger Sharon glanced up as he approached. ‘Buy your own fucking grub,’ she slurred.

      The Enemy didn’t reply. He aimed straight for Brenda’s stomach, plunging the knife in three times.

      When the ginger bird dropped her chips and started to scream manically, the Enemy turned on his heel and ran as fast as he could down Oxlow Lane.

      ‘Bobby Jackson’s son. Don’t tell the police – tell my brothers,’ Brenda gurgled. They were the last words she ever spoke.

      Having had no time to prepare for the disposal of this particular body, Vinny Butler ordered Carl to drive the Cortina to Purfleet. He knew the area reasonably well as that was where he’d killed Ahmed and Burak.

      Vinny hadn’t fancied sitting in the stolen car with his latest victim in the boot, so had chosen to accompany Jay Boy. His pal was driving and Carl was following them.

      ‘Do you wanna talk about what happened?’ Jay Boy asked Vinny.

      ‘No point, is there? She’s dead. As I told you earlier, it was a sex game that went wrong,’ Vinny lied, flicking another of Nadia’s teeth out the window as they cruised along the A13. It had been Jay Boy who’d dislodged the last of them. Bastards to get out, they’d been, especially the molars.

      ‘You should try and find yourself a decent bird, Vin. I’ve never been happier since I settled down with my Jilly. Playing the field ain’t all it’s cracked up to be at times.’

      ‘Tell me about it. Just drive and don’t lecture me, Jay. I’m so not in the mood. My love life has had disaster stamped all over it, ever since I found out what me cock was for. I think we turn off soon. Slow down a bit.’

      ‘I know exactly where to turn off. It’s not yet, Vin.’

      Eight minutes later, Carl Tanner pulled up behind Jay Boy’s motor. He’d felt no nerves driving about with a dead body in the boot. His previous career as a con man had taught him how to control any form of anxiety.

      The area Vinny had chosen was that desolate you could’ve heard a pin drop. ‘I think we should burn her separately. I need to make sure she’s totally unrecognizable. We can set fire to the motor afterwards,’ Vinny said.

      Jay Boy was worried. ‘Vin, it’s nearly four, and it’ll be getting light soon. Let’s just burn her in the boot and get the fuck out of here. We’ve got to go home in my motor – which happens to be registered in my bloody name.’

      ‘Want me to do the honours?’ Carl offered, waving a petrol container in the air.

      Ignoring Jay Boy’s advice, Vinny opened the boot and dragged the girl out. She was wrapped in a sheet. He urged Carl to help him pull her along the lane a bit, and with no remorse whatsoever, callously poured the petrol over her, then struck a match.

      Jay Boy gagged as the smell of burning flesh hit his nostrils. He was no wimp, but setting fire to random women was something he would never be able to get his head around. The poor bird had only gone out for a drink earlier, must have a family who would be devastated to never see her again. As much as he respected Vinny, now he was planning to marry Jilly and start a family himself, at times such as this Jay Boy did wonder if he should quit his job, while he was still able to.

      Vivian Harris had always been a light sleeper, and since her fall-out with Queenie, woke up sporadically throughout the night.

      Hearing a car engine, Vivian glanced at her radio/alarm clock, then got out of bed. ‘Oh no,’ she gasped, as she spotted two coppers get out of a marked car outside Queenie’s.

      Queenie’s heart beat wildly when she opened the front door. Surely Vinny hadn’t been arrested? Or worse still, was dead? ‘Whatever’s the matter?’ she asked.

      ‘May we come inside please, Queenie?’ DC Marriot asked. He knew the woman well, had often spoken to her around the shops and market.

      ‘It’s all right, Queen. I’m here,’ Vivian assured, leading her sister into the front room and urging her to sit down. She could tell by the look on the Old Bill’s faces that it was extremely bad news. They didn’t knock you up in the middle of the night for anything less.

      Queenie felt as though she was in a trance as she stared at Marriot.

      ‘I’m afraid we have some bad news for you, Queenie.’

      ‘Not my Vinny or Michael? Please tell me it ain’t my boys,’ Queenie gabbled.

      ‘There was an incident in Dagenham earlier. A woman received a fatal stab wound and we strongly believe that woman was your daughter, Brenda. Obviously, we will need somebody to formally identify the body,’ Marriot’s colleague explained.

      ‘Brenda! Stabbed! But she’s still alive, right?’ Queenie exclaimed.

      Their terrible row forgotten, Vivian held her sister in her arms. ‘No, Queen. Fatal means fatal. I’m so sorry, my darling. Poor Brenda.’

      Slumped in the armchair, Queenie shook her head in disbelief. ‘My baby girl. I did love her, ya know. In ’ere I always loved her,’ she wept, patting the left-hand side of her ribs.

      ‘What happened? Was Bren at home?’ Vivian asked. She couldn’t believe their family had been cursed with yet another death. It was surreal.

      ‘Brenda’s friend was with her when the incident happened. They’d been drinking in the Eastbrook pub. That is all the information we have at present, but I can assure you the police will do everything in their power to catch the person responsible.’

      ‘Bren’s boyfriend beat her up recently. Dave Green his name is. It’s got to be him who stabbed her,’ Vivian told Marriot.

      ‘Some officers from Dagenham are with Mr Green now. He was in the Cross Keys pub when the incident occurred, and is helping the police with their enquiries,’ Marriot’s colleague replied.

      The last time Queenie had laid eyes on her daughter was when she was lying in a hospital bed. As memories of her final conversation with Brenda came flooding back, Queenie sobbed uncontrollably. ‘I told Bren I wished I’d never given birth to her. Told her she was dead in my eyes, and now she is. What a terrible wicked mother I am.’

      When Marriot and his colleague glanced awkwardly at one another, Vivian shouted, ‘Make yourselves useful, will ya? Pour my sister a brandy, it’s in that cabinet. Can’t you see she’s in shock?’

      Jay Boy and Carl were absolutely knackered. After setting fire to the girl and the car, Vinny had insisted they accompany him back to the flat so they could scrub it from top to bottom and wipe away any trace of her. They’d also dumped his mattress and bedding for him. That too had gone up in a puff of smoke.

      ‘I’ll get Edna to come in later today and give this one last going over. And I’ll need you to pick me up a new mattress, lads. Thanks for your help. There’ll be an extra five grand in both your wage packets this week. Remember, nobody must get wind of this, Michael included. It’s to be kept between the three of us.’

      Jay Boy slouched on the sofa. ‘Are you sure nobody clocked you in the pub with the bird, Vin? You absolutely positive she was alone there?’

      ‘She told me she’d never been in that boozer before. Said she’d been out with a mate, they’d rowed, and she’d stumbled in there. We were both pissed, and I swear I only spoke to her for a minute before she suggested going somewhere quieter. I reckon she’d actually had a row

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