Christmas to Come: a heartbreaking coming of age saga set in London's East End by Carol Rivers (first e reader txt) 📕

Bella gasped, horrified. 'A gun?'

Lenny nodded. 'I told him that if he pulled the trigger the shit would hit the fan as I'd written everything down on paper for Old Bill to find.'

'What do you mean everything?' Bella said looking from one to the other.

Gina lifted her eyes. 'Go on, Lenny, you'd better tell them what you told me.'

Bella listened to Lenny speak in a low, halting tones as he described how Micky had organized a robbery and got Terry, Milo, Lenny and another man to help him to rob a country house in Downey Wood. When Lenny explained about the safe and the counterfeit notes she knew it was true as Detective Inspector Reynolds had already told her about the forged money. But when Lenny came to the part about Terry being shot, tears filled her eyes.

'How could you let that happen, Lenny?'

'I swear I didn't know Terry was coming on the job. Micky sprung it on us.'

Bella sniffed back her tears. 'You should have stopped him somehow.'

Lenny wiped his own eyes. 'I know. I'm sorry girl, I really am.'

'What good is sorry now?' Gina demanded. 'It's too late for remorse.'

For a moment everyone was silent.

'What made you do the job in the first place?' Ronnie asked as Lenny tried to compose himself. 'I would have thought after the still you'd learned your lesson.'

'I dunno,' Lenny said miserably. 'Micky took me to this coal yard that was for sale. Said it could be mine if I helped him nick some money from this old girl's safe. He said when I bought the coal yard it would prove to Gina that I could be successful. And I was daft enough to believe him.'

'Daft is not the word,' Gina said as her eyes flashed accusingly. 'I can think of a few better ones.'

Lenny shook his head wearily. 'I was all mixed up with what Micky kept telling me.'

'So you're putting the blame on him?'

'No, course not.' Lenny's head sunk lower. 'I've no one else to blame, only myself.'

'What a fool you are!' Gina exclaimed, red spots of anger on her cheeks.

'What mystifies me,' Ronnie said wearily, 'is how you all got away with it.'

Lenny swallowed and cuffed his nose. 'Micky said we'd never be rumbled if we swapped straight money for funny money. He knew a bloke that printed it. An Alfred someone.'

'Where is this Alfred now?'

'Not got a clue, Ron.' Lenny lifted his hands. 'He was a bit of a shrewd operator, I reckon.'

Bella dried her tears. Now she was angry. How could Micky do such a thing? He'd kept quiet all through the investigation and had taken Terry on what was a mission to either death or imprisonment. 'Do you know who it was that shot Terry?' she managed to ask.

'It was like the police thought. A poacher or someone. There was a couple of shots as if someone was after animals.'

'What did Micky mean about Milo?' Gina asked.

Lenny drew his hands over his face. 'Milo was the driver. Micky promised him a bundle, but in the end, only bunged him a few quid and they had a blooming great row. Milo threatened to expose Micky. The next I heard Milo was dead.'

'Inspector Reynolds told me it was a road accident,' Bella said, so shocked she could barely speak.

'Did Micky put the finger on Milo?' Ronnie asked bluntly.

Lenny looked straight at him. 'You'll have to make up your own mind on that one, Ron.'

Looking pale and angry, his grey eyes full of sadness, Ronnie shook his head. 'You are a fool, Lenny, but it's Micky who has to answer for all this.'

'What are we going to do?' Gina wondered aloud.

Ronnie stood up. 'He'll be at one of the clubs. I'll try the Fortune first.'

'I'm going with you.' Bella rose too, trying to grapple with the painful truth that made Micky not only a thief and a liar, but a murderer too.

'No, way!' Ronnie's refusal was final. 'Michael needs you now. Lenny, lock up after we go and don't open the door to anyone.'

Gina drew Bella to her. 'Do as Ronnie says. Take care of yourself and the boy,' she whispered in her ear.

Bella sat quietly in the car as Ronnie drove back to Piper Street. She was afraid, desperately afraid. Not for herself, but for Ron. Would he find Micky and what would happen then? Ron's face was set, as if he had made up his mind to do something terrible. If only she could speak to Micky first and try to talk a bit of sense into his head.

Chapter 30

Bella watched Ronnie drive away down Piper Street. The night was very still, despite the light showers of rain and inside Daisy's house she could hear Michael and the girls' laughter drifting from the top window. She knocked on the door.

Daisy smiled as she opened it wide. 'Come in. The children are playing upstairs.'

Bella stood in the hallway. It was a house just like their own with two floors above ground and one below. A pleasant smell of cooking was coming from the kitchen and Daisy's husband Leonard strolled out, his tall, lean frame clad in a pair of dungarees. He was a dustman and often brought home things for the house, hence every corner was filled with an ornament of some kind.

'Hello Len.' Bella smiled.

'Wotcher, girl.'

Daisy frowned when she saw Bella's strained face. ''What's happened?' she asked when they were alone in the front room.

'I'll tell you later, Daisy. But could I ask a favour?'

'Course you can.'

Bella hesitated, as she knew that Ronnie would be annoyed if she followed him. But she couldn't help herself. She had to see Micky.

'Would you have Michael a bit longer? I wouldn't ask, but I must do something important.'

'That's not a favour, it's a pleasure. But it's you I'm worried about. You look dreadful. Would you like some supper first?'

Bella shook her head. 'No, thanks all the same.'

They went to the front door. Daisy patted her shoulder. 'Don't worry