much at the dinner table. 'He's had it too easy, Phillip. You've done the right thing planting him in there, he will finally see how most people really live.'
Philly wished the old fucker would shut up but he was too shrewd to voice that opinion, of course.
'That was the idea of it, Ted. The thing is with those people, it's the old chicken and egg – what came first, poverty or debt?'
'Too right, my son.' This from Phillip Senior who loved reminiscing about the good old days and how hard they had it. He looked at his three grandsons and said loudly, 'You lot don't know you're fucking born.'
'Oh, get the violins out.' Everyone laughed at Breda's words, and it broke the tension that was falling over the table.
Changing the subject, Phillip asked, 'I think we need to start up a new enterprise, anyone got any ideas? I need a new project.'
Jamsie put his hand up like a schoolkid and, to the amazement of the whole family, Phillip looked at him and said gently, 'What, Jamsie?'
Jamsie smiled uneasily and said in a low, quivering voice, 'Car fronts, prestige cars.'
Phillip digested the words for a few moments before saying with interest, 'What, selling them, you mean?'
Jamsie nodded. 'I already buy the cars for us all, don't I? I know the people to deal with, where we can get the deals et cetera. But there is also a hidden market, especially on the seafront, and I don't mean ringing motors, that's for mugs. Terry Dedham is coining it in, he nicks cars to order for the Arab states. Rollers the fucking lot, and he ships them there himself.'
'How do you know all this, Jamsie?' Phillip was genuinely interested in what he was hearing.
'I went to school with him, didn't I? I saw a fuck-off Bentley in one of his workshops, and I asked him if he was taking on the higher-end cars, and he laughed and told me the score. I thought then it was a good scam, because everyone's a winner really. People actually approach him to nick the cars when they can't fund the finance any more. It's a good business, I've had a little investigate, like. I was going to run it by Breda. I could sort that with me eyes closed, you know me, Phil, there ain't a car been built that I can't get into within seconds. But the thing that interested me most was, there's more car fronts in Southend than anywhere else in the country. People come from all over the country to buy their motors from there, so it's a perfect front operation. You expect to see cars on a car front. If you do it properly, you can turn the cars around in less than twenty-four hours. Nicked, logged and in a container from Tilbury docks before the fucking insurance company has sent out the forms.'
No one had heard Jamsie say so much in one go in sixteen years, and the table was shrouded in a deadly hush for a few seconds after he had finished. He was so nervous he was breathing through his mouth.
Phillip digested his brother's words for a few moments, before he broke into a beatific grin, saying happily, 'What a fucking good scam, Jamsie my brother! You have just redeemed yourself in one fell swoop. What a blinding little business for us. And while I think about it, why ain't that cunt Dedham been giving me a touch? If it's on the front then it comes by me. So that will be your introduction to becoming his business partner, Jamsie.'
Declan wasn't as sure as Phillip that it would go so smoothly; he knew for a fact that Dedham dealt with a serious firm from Liverpool, and they might not be as amenable as Dedham to sharing their operation. But he wasn't going to piss on anyone's firework just yet. This was Jamsie's moment.
Phillip picked up his wine and, holding the glass up to his little brother, he said generously, 'To Jamsie. I knew there was a Murphy in there somewhere, just dying to get out.'
Jamsie was red-faced with happiness, even his ears were glowing. And Veronica was so choked at the turn of events she was nearly in tears. What she had prayed for all these years had finally come to pass. Her boys were together again at last, Jamsie was back in the family again. God love him, he had paid a heavy price. And now it was finally all over, and her family was united again.
Christine poured herself another glass of wine and, laughing, she said to Jamsie, 'Good on you, Jamsie. See if you can get me a nice little Bentley Sport, I've always fancied one of them.'
Ted Booth hated that his daughter seemed to be accepting their criminality without a thought. He knew too, as well as his Christine did, that now she had mentioned wanting the car, she would be given it by her husband. And considering the amount of alcohol she put away on a daily basis, a powerful car was not something she should be in charge of. All the same he kept his own counsel; after all, what say did he have over a husband and wife? Phillip would give her whatever she wanted just as he had always done.
Chapter Ninety
'What a turn up, eh? Jamsie having a bright idea is like MPs telling the truth – it's a great concept but you can't imagine it really happening.'
Declan laughed out loud at the truth of Phillip's statement. 'It is a good idea and, in fairness to him, he had a good little root about before voicing it. And as he says, there's not a person alive who knows more about motors than our Jamsie. Remember when he was about thirteen and he nicked that squad car? I thought Mother would kill him that night.'
Phillip grinned. 'Fuck, I'd forgotten about that. He drove it into the pub and parked it up next to my motor. I thought I was seeing things.'
They chuckled together, then Declan said seriously, 'Remember, Dedham was away with me, I was in Parkhurst with him. He was a good mate in there, Phillip. Because we came from the same manor we sort of teamed up. You know what it's like.'
Phillip didn't actually because he had never gone further than remand, but neither of them mentioned that.
'Well, he got good mates with a Scouser called Jonnie Piper, you've met him a couple of times. He's been to the club.'
Phillip nodded. He had liked the geezer, he was sound.
'Well, the Pipers are a big force in Liverpool, and if they are behind the cars then we have to deal with them gently.'
It was the wrong thing to say and Declan realised that immediately.
'So what are you trying to tell me, Declan? We have to write to some cunt in Liverpool and ask for permission to trade on our own fucking turf? Or shall we invite him down for the day, and ask him why he has been having an earn on
Declan sighed in annoyance and it wasn't lost on Phillip. 'All right, Phillip, calm down. All I am saying is, the Pipers are like
'And they will get it, bruv, as long as they do what I fucking want. Fucking Scousers dictating to me, what next! The Welsh turning up mob-handed and taking over the nightclubs? Jesus wept, I've heard everything now.'
Declan laughed but he was still worried. Unlike Phillip, who had an infallible belief in himself and getting what he wanted, Declan knew that sometimes it was better to negotiate than it was to demand. But he had planted the seed, and he would leave it for now – that was the best way to deal with Phillip. Let him work it out for himself, and then act like it was his idea in the first place. But Declan was genuinely perturbed, because Dedham wasn't without his own little back-up. He was a shrewdie in his own way; after all, you didn't get where he was without a few Faces in your corner.
Declan would start his own inquiry first thing in the morning; in contrast to Phillip he liked to know everything there was to know about his adversaries. There were times when guns, anger and the belief in your God-given right to take what you wanted from who you wanted just wasn't enough.
Chapter Ninety-One
