Lena Summers looked at her eldest daughter in abject disbelief. 'You are joking?'

Jackie Jackson laughed noisily. She had a loud laugh that made her sound very jolly. Very happy. It was a laugh that belied the vindictive nature beneath it.

'He'll love it, Mum, and after six years in poke he'll be ready for a party.'

Lena shook her head at her daughter and sighed. 'Are you off your head? A party for him after the stunts he's pulled over the years?' The anger was in her voice now. 'He was still romancing trollops while he was banged up!'

Jackie closed her eyes as if the action would blot out the truths her mother was pointing out to her. She knew him better than anyone, she didn't need this constant barrage about her husband.

'Will you stop it, Mum. He's me husband, the father of my kids. It will all work out now he has learned his lesson.'

Lena puffed her lips out in astonishment. 'Are you on drugs again?'

Jackie sighed heavily, trying her hardest not to scream at the woman in front of her. 'Don't be silly. I want to welcome him home, that's all.'

'Well, I ain't going.'

Jackie shrugged her ample shoulders. 'Suit your fucking self.'

Joseph Summers snapped his head above the newspaper as he growled, 'Don't you talk to your mother like that.'

Jackie stretched her face in comic surprise and said sarcastically, as if talking to a baby, 'Aw, I see, Dad. Need to borrow a few quid, eh?'

Lena suppressed a smile. Jackie, for all her faults, had an uncanny knack of hitting the proverbial nail right on the head. Her husband shoved his face back in the paper and Jackie grinned at her mother.

'Oh, come, Mum, all his family's going to be there.'

Lena tossed her head and, picking up her cigarettes, said nastily, 'All the more reason to keep away then. Nothing but fucking trouble, the Jacksons. Look at the last time we got together with them.'

Jackie was annoyed again and it showed, her heavy features screwed up as she tried with obvious difficulty to suppress her fury.

'You caused all that, Mum, and you know it,' she said through gritted teeth.

She was clenching her fists now, and Lena stared at her eldest daughter, marvelling at her colossal anger. Even as a child she had been like that, one word and off she went into a frenzy of rage.

There were tears in her daughter's eyes. Lena knew she had to diffuse the anger now or face the consequences, and quite frankly she was tired, tired and more than a little interested to see what prison had done to her son-in-law.

'All right then, keep your hair on.'

'Well I ain't fucking going.' Joe got up and stamped from the room, and they heard him putting the kettle on in the kitchen.

'I'll get him mere, don't worry.'

She was regretting her decision already.

'Look at him, anyone would think he'd just got out of prison!'

The men laughed.

They could see their friend's spotty behind pumping away at the small Asian girl they had purchased for him the night before. He had actually been released the previous day from Shepton Mallet, where he had spent the last six weeks. It was an open prison, and his friends had picked him up in a limo with his girlfriend Tracey and a large amount of alcohol in tow. Tracey had been worn out before they had even reached Dartford toll tunnel and he had dumped her at the Crossways Hotel, much to her chagrin. They had then made their way into London where he had shagged anything with a pulse. He was overdue for going home but not one of them had the guts to point that out to him. He was drunk, aggressive drunk, and no one wanted to start him off. Freddie Jackson was a handful, and as much as they loved him he was also an annoying fucker into the bargain.

He had just done six years of a nine-year sentence for firearms, attempted murder and a malicious wounding charge and he was proud of that fact. Inside he had mixed with what he saw as the cream of the underworld and he had come out of there thinking that he was now one of them.

The fact they were all doing in excess of fifteen years made no difference to Freddie Jackson. He was Sonny Corleone in his mind. He was a man to be reckoned with.

Freddie Jackson had worshipped Sonny, had never understood how they could have killed his character off. He had been the business, far more menacing than that short-arsed runt Michael. Freddie saw himself as the Godfather of the Southeast. Righting wrongs, causing untold hag and making his fortune into the bargain.

No more fucking about for him. He was after the main prize these days and he was determined to get it.

He rolled off the sweating girl. She was pretty and her vacant face reassured him of the usefulness of women.

He glanced at his watch and sighed. If he didn't get his arse in gear Jackie would have his nuts. He smiled at the girl, then, jumping from the bed, he said heartily, 'Come on boys, chop chop, I have to see a man about a witness statement!'

Danny Baxter groaned inwardly but outwardly he looked thrilled at the prospect. He had forgotten how frenetic and dangerous life with Freddie Jackson could be.

Freddie's cousin Jimmy Jackson smiled with the men. He was a watered-down version of Freddie and wanted to be like him. He had visited his cousin religiously and Freddie had appreciated that fact. He liked the kid, he had heart. Plus he was only nine years younger than Freddie. They had a lot in common.

Today he would show Jimmy just what he was capable of.

Maggie Summers was fourteen but appeared eighteen. She had the look of her older sister but she was a tinier, sleeker version. She still had the wonderful skin of extreme youth and dainty white teeth that had not yet been tarred by years of smoking or neglect. Her blue eyes were big, wide-spaced and kind. Like her older sister she could take care of herself; unlike her older sister she didn't often have to. Yet.

At just five feet tall, she had long legs for her height and was completely unaware of how lovely she actually was. In her school uniform of black miniskirt, white shirt and navy-blue sweater she looked as if she was coming home from work instead of school, and that was the look she tried to create.

Lisa Dolan, a sometime friend and occasional enemy, said gaily, 'Your sister having a party tonight, then?'

Maggie nodded. 'I am just going to give her a hand. Want to come with me?'

Lisa grinned happily. 'Yeah!'

If she helped she was guaranteed an invite. They dropped into step beside one another. Lisa, a dark-haired girl with buck teeth, said quietly, 'Here, Maggie, according to Gina, Freddie Jackson got out yesterday. That can't be true, can it?'

Maggie sighed. Gina Davis was Tracey Davis's sister, which meant there might be a grain of truth in her claims. It also meant Jackie would go ballistic if she heard about it. Tracey had been seeing Freddie when he had been arrested, but she had had the sense to keep away from the trial. Maggie had assumed it had fizzled out, but it seemed she was wrong. Her Mum had gone on and on about it, hating the way her sister's husband humiliated her all the time. Lena had gone round after the girl herself and been assured it was well and truly over by Tracey's irate father. Tracey had only been fifteen at the time. In the last four years she had produced twin boys and Freddie couldn't get the blame for them as they were only eighteen months old. Truth be told, even Tracey had no idea who the father was, but she was Freddie Jackson's type, big, breathing and with a pair of breasts. Those, according to Lena, were all the criteria needed.