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how could that happen?’
    â€˜I meant my hair!’ Kent was stomping round the room with no obvious purpose.
    â€˜You’re shitting yourself about it, aren’t you?’ Tracy said.
    â€˜Yes! And I don’t need you taking the piss and making me feel uneasy.’
    Tracy got up and went over to Kent and put her arms around him. ‘You’ll knock ’em dead, babe, don’t worry about it.’
    â€˜Will I?’ Kent asked forlornly.
    Bloody hell
, Tracy thought,
I bet Priscilla didn’t have all this aggro.
    *
    Markie walked into the foyer of Bolingbroke Lane Working Men’s Club. The tatty cork board that was hanging on the wall informed him that all non-members must be signed in by a member and that women were not allowed in the pool room. He shook his head and laughed.
What year was it in this place?
    â€˜Markie!’ a voice said from behind him. Markie turned round, to see his sister Leanne. She looked stunning. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail and her skin was tanned from the two weeks she’d just spent in the Seychelles with her boyfriend Tony and her daughter Kia. Markie hugged his sister.
    â€˜Where’s Tony?’ he asked.
    Leanne gave him a sarcastic look. ‘He’d love to have come but he’s washing his hair.’ There had been a lot of bad blood in the past between Tony and Markie. Tony had been cold shouldered by Markie after what Markie saw as a total betrayal of friendship. When Tony had got together with Leanne, this had enraged Markie even further. But it seemed like a long time ago and there wasn’t any sign of Tony and Leanne going their separate ways; they were stronger than ever. Markie knew that he needed to address this situation and be the bigger man about it. After all, he had been the one to cut Tony from his life, not the other way around.
    Markie took a deep breath; he didn’t want an argument with his sister. ‘Is he looking after Kia?’ he asked.
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜Mind if I phone him?’
    â€˜Why?’ Leanne looked shocked.
    Markie shrugged. ‘Bridge building.’
    â€˜Be my guest,’ she said, gratefully handing him her phone.
    Markie waited for Tony to answer the phone.
    â€˜It’s me, Tone. Markie.’
    There was a moment of deafening silence on the other end of the phone before Tony spoke. ‘Markie, what can I do for you?’ he asked flatly.
    â€˜I just wondered if you fancied coming down here for the night. Bring Kia, give her some pop and crisps, watch Kent make a tit of himself and I can buy you a few drinks.’
    Markie knew that Leanne was staring at him in disbelief but he chose to ignore her. ‘Great,’ he said, ‘we’ll save you some seats.’ He ended the call and handed the phone back to Leanne. Tony didn’t sound overly excited about the prospect of spending the night in his company but he thought it was time they buried the hatchet. Markie had enough enemies as it was without having a prospective brother-in-law that he never spoke to.
    â€˜So he’s coming?’ Leanne asked.
    â€˜Yep. What you drinking?’ He didn’t want to have a long, drawn-out discussion about why he haddecided to offer an olive branch to Tony. He and Leanne had always been close and, although he knew she wasn’t too impressed with the way he’d handled things with Tony, they had stayed close and Tony had taken himself out of the equation when it came to meeting up, just as he had done tonight. Markie knew that this couldn’t go on for ever, and he and Tony had been good friends once. Besides, there was a little job that Markie thought Tony might be good for . . .
    Markie held the door open for Leanne as they walked into the main room of the working men’s club. ‘Don’t be going in the pool room – no women allowed! Remember?’ Markie whispered. Leanne giggled. There were a few of the usual neck-cranes