A Change of Fortune (33 page)

With her feet still not touching the ground, she kicked for all she was worth, catching one of them a good crack on the shin. He grunted and used his free hand to give her a hard slap across the face. Her struggles became frantic now, and she bellowed at the top of her voice. ‘Help me! Help!’ But the street was quite empty, as most people were at the centre.

‘Shut up or we’ll hurt you bad. That bloke don’t care what state you’re in, just so long as he gets you.’

It was the same man who spoke; the other one remained silent and seemed to be enjoying himself. Jenny was terrified and intent on doing as much damage as she could. When they released their grip on her slightly and her feet touched the ground, she managed to pull them for a few yards back to the top of Forest Road, where she felt sure someone would help her. There must be someone around. She was just about to shout again when a car screeched to a halt beside them
and Matthew leapt out. He began to throw punches at the two men, but two to one were not good odds, and he was soon receiving the worst of the punishment.

The man who had spoken still held her arm in a cruel grip and was hitting out at Matthew with his other hand. The silent man now had a knife in his hand, and an evil look on his face.

‘No!’ Jenny screamed. ‘Run, Matthew, run!’

What happened next was a blur to her. The man was stabbing at Matthew, people were running up the street, there was shouting and screaming – or was that her? The grip on her arm was suddenly relaxed, and she fell to the pavement with a bruising crash. She dragged herself away from them and stood up, using the wall of a house for support, sobbing in terror.

‘Get the coppers, Jimmy,’ someone shouted. ‘We’ve got them now.’

Apart from some cursing, the fight was over.

‘Are you all right, Jen?’

Still feeling disorientated and stunned, Jenny gazed up at Stan and nodded. It was only then she took in the scene. The two men were pushed against the wall, hands tied behind their backs with belts and surrounded by her friends and neighbours. And Matt? Oh, dear God! He was being supported by Fred, blood spreading in a dark stain down his sleeve and across his chest. He was a terrible grey colour.

‘Oh, you shouldn’t have tried to rescue me on your own.’ She stumbled over to him, but he didn’t seem to know what was going on. ‘Please get him to a hospital!’

‘We’ll take him to St Thomas’s.’ Stan got in the front of Matt’s car and Fred in the back with the badly injured man.

Jenny tried to get in the car as well, but Fred shook his head. ‘No, Jen, you stay here. The coppers might want to talk to you.’

Glad appeared and put her arm around Jenny. ‘Ma’s asking for you. She’s heard the commotion.’

Jenny was torn between Ma and Matthew. Who should she be with? Both, but that wasn’t possible. She turned in circles, agitated because she didn’t know what to do. The decision was made for her as Stan drove away.

She watched them disappear up the street, relieved that they had been around to help Matthew. ‘Why aren’t Fred and Stan at the market?’ she asked Glad.

‘Business was slow this morning, so they popped home for a bite to eat. And a good job they did.’ Glad put her arm around Jenny, who was now shaking.

Jimmy arrived back, gasping for breath after running. ‘The coppers are on their way, and I’ve told Mrs Stannard.’

Before the police arrived, Jenny wanted some answers. She walked over and faced her attackers, anger out of control. The two men had taken a beating, she saw, and that was no more than they deserved. They had stabbed Matt. He might die. There wasn’t an ounce of compassion in her for these villains. ‘What did you want with me?’ When they didn’t answer she raised her fist and the man who had spoken flinched. The last
thing he obviously wanted was another punch in the face. His lip was cut, one eye was closed, and it looked as if his nose was broken. Even a woman could add to his pain now. ‘Tell me!’

‘A bloke called Greaves gave us twenty quid to take you to him.’

Greaves? Her hand dropped to her side in surprise. ‘What on earth for?’

‘Dunno.’

A car pulled up with Luke driving and Mrs Stannard sitting beside him, deathly pale. ‘Where have they taken Matt?’ she asked, her voice trembling.

‘St Thomas’s.’ Ron leant on the window and explained briefly, then stepped back as the car sped off.

‘Jen.’ Glad touched her arm. ‘Come on, Ma’s worried.’

‘You go,’ Ron said. ‘The coppers are just arriving and we’ll deal with this lot.’

‘Thanks.’ Jenny began to run home, anxious to let Ma see she was all right.

Ma held out her hand as soon as she entered the bedroom. ‘Tell me,’ she croaked.

She knelt by the bed and cradled Ma’s hand in her own, explaining what had happened. By the time she’d told her about Matthew being stabbed, the tears were flowing down Ma’s cheeks. ‘You go see. Now!’

Ivy came up the stairs at that moment. ‘I’ll stay with Ma, Jen. Go to the hospital.’

Without a moment’s hesitation Jenny was off and running for the bus stop. She was lucky as one was just arriving. It would have been agony if she’d had to wait.

Arriving at St Thomas’s, she rushed to Accident and Emergency, guessing that was where they would have taken him first. The sight that met her brought her flying feet to a sudden halt, and she whimpered in panic. Mr and Mrs Stannard, Luke and John were all there, grim-faced with anxiety. The three men were standing, shoulders drooping. Mrs Stannard was sitting, head bowed, obviously trying to hold back the tears.

Jenny forced herself to move and fell to her knees in front of Mrs Stannard, quite expecting to be told to get out of their sight. But she had to know. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she gasped. ‘How is he?’

‘He’s lost a lot of blood and they’re working on him now.’ John made her stand up and then sat her beside his mother.

She brought Mrs Stannard’s cold hand to her cheek and held it there, desperate to give some kind of comfort if she could. ‘You must regret the day I came into your life. I’m so sorry, so sorry.’ How inadequate that sounded, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say. If they lost their fine son because of her, they would never forgive her.

‘None of this is your fault,’ Mr Stannard said gruffly. John and his father appeared to be the only ones capable of speech. Luke and his mother were lost in silent misery.

‘Will you tell us what happened?’ John stood in front of her, but spoke gently and didn’t appear to be angry with her.

Jenny explained as much as she could remember, but
she faltered when she got to the part she still viewed with horror. ‘When Matthew tried to rescue me, I told him to run. I did! Those men were really nasty. I saw one of them pull a knife out of his pocket and I was frantic. I fought as hard as I could, but …’ She shook her head in despair. ‘He shouldn’t have risked his life for me. I yelled at him to run. He should have run!’

‘Matt wouldn’t have left you at the mercy of those thugs.’ Mrs Stannard spoke for the first time. ‘You mustn’t blame yourself. We’ve brought up the boys to oppose wrongdoing of any kind.’

Jenny gazed at each face in turn and saw only kindness towards her. They should hate her.

‘Do you know why those men attacked you?’ Luke had now found his voice.

‘One of them told me that Greaves had paid them to catch me.’

‘Greaves again!’ John was obviously furious. ‘What is that bloody man playing at?’

‘I don’t know but I’m certainly going to find out!’ Jenny was on her feet now with fists clenched. ‘As soon as we know how Matthew is, I’m going round there.’

‘You mustn’t do that!’ John and Luke spoke together.

‘The boys are right,’ Mrs Stannard said sternly. ‘For some strange reason Greaves will do anything to get hold of you. If you go to his house, you might not leave it again.’

That was sensible, of course, but she wanted answers from that obnoxious man. For some inexplicable reason, Greaves was going to dangerous lengths to
catch her. The question ‘why?’ thundered through her mind. ‘I can get a couple of the men from my street to come with me.’ Her gaze was pleading. ‘They’re tough and used to trouble, and they won’t let anything happen to me.’

Mr Stannard sighed, shaking his head. ‘You mustn’t go anywhere near him.’

A doctor strode towards them and everyone leapt to their feet.

‘I’m Dr Sterling, Mr and Mrs Stannard. We’ve managed to stop the bleeding and no vital organs were damaged, but your son is very weak. We’ve had him transferred to a private room, where he’ll have round the clock nursing.’

‘Is he going to be all right?’ Matthew’s father asked gruffly.

The doctor smiled. ‘With plenty of rest he will make a full recovery.’

The sighs of relief all round were audible, and Jenny felt tears gather in her eyes. She sent a silent prayer of gratitude upwards.

‘We’d like to see him.’ Mr Stannard looked as if a weight had been lifted from him as he straightened up.

‘Of course.’ The doctor cast Jenny a glance. ‘Family only, of course.’

The disappointment was crushing, because Jenny knew that unless she could actually see Matthew it would be hard to believe he was going to be all right. There had been so much blood … Of course she knew why the doctor had given her such a strange
look. This scruffy dishevelled girl could not be one of the family. She bowed her head mournfully and stepped back. The doctor had said he was going to recover, and she would just have to cling to that.

Then Mr Stannard took her completely by surprise by saying, ‘This is the young lady my son was trying to save. I think it would make him rest easier if he could see she was unharmed.’

‘Very well. Please come with me.’ Dr Sterling led the way. ‘He has been taken to a room on the next floor.’

Jenny hesitated, still uncertain what she should do. The doctor had clearly agreed with reluctance to let her see Matthew.

‘Come on, my dear.’ Mrs Stannard took hold of her arm, and they all made their way up the stairs.

Matthew was obviously exhausted after his ordeal and having great difficulty keeping his eyes open, but he did manage a brief smile that quickly turned into a grimace.

‘Don’t worry,’ he assured his family. ‘There’s no great harm done.’

‘The doctor told us.’ Louise kissed her son on the forehead. ‘We won’t stay long. We just wanted to see you for a moment, then we’ll let you sleep.’

Jenny hung back by the door while the rest of his family greeted him. He was still terribly pale, but a slightly better colour than immediately after the attack. Her relief was overwhelming. He would be taken good care of here. She started to leave the room.

‘Jen?’

At the sound of Matthew’s voice she stepped towards the bed, her whole body trembling with emotion.

‘Are you unhurt?’

‘Yes,’ she whispered, ‘thanks to you. I’m so sorry …’

‘That’s all she keeps saying,’ Luke teased, appearing to be back to something like normal now that he knew his brother was going to survive.

‘You don’t need to apologize,’ Matthew said firmly. ‘Tell Ma I’ll be along to see her as soon as I’m on my feet again.’

The doctor checked his patient. ‘You must all leave now. Come back tomorrow when he’s more rested.’

After taking their leave, they filed out of the room. Jenny glanced back and saw that Matthew was already fast asleep.

‘I’ll drive you back,’ John said, when they were outside the hospital.

‘I can catch a bus.’ Now that Jenny had seen Matthew, the anger was building inside her against Greaves. How dare he send thugs after her armed with a knife!

John’s eyes narrowed. ‘I’ll take you home because I want to be certain that you don’t charge off to confront Greaves on your own.’

How had he guessed that’s just what she was planning to do? He held her arm, and she allowed him to lead her to the car without further protest. This eldest brother was not someone you argued with. His strength of character and determined nature were clear to see. Each son was different in character, but
all were fine men. Their parents must be so proud of all three.

‘I’ll come with you.’ Luke held open the passenger door of the car. ‘Dad can take Mum home in my car.’

After saying goodbye to Mr and Mrs Stannard, Jenny was made to sit in the front, with Luke in the back.

As they drove away from the hospital, John said, ‘Have you any idea why Greaves wants you so badly?’

‘None at all.’ She was completely bewildered by what was happening. It just didn’t make sense after two years. Surely he couldn’t still want to marry her?

Luke leant forward until he was looking through the two front seats. ‘You’ll have to do some more digging, John.’

‘I intend to,’ was the curt reply, ‘but it might just turn out that having set his mind on Jenny, he’s not prepared to give up.’

‘I must admit that it does seem the only logical answer.’ Luke rested his hands on the back of John’s seat. ‘But sending murderous villains after her is rather desperate, isn’t it?’

The conversation came to an end as they pulled up outside Ma’s house. The street was immediately alive with people wanting to know how Matthew was. There were smiles all round when told that he would make a full recovery.

Fred hugged Jenny. ‘And what about you, dear, are you all right?’

‘I’m fine, but I’m so angry …’

Luke gave his easy laugh. ‘Jenny’s fuming and wants to go to tell Greaves just what she thinks of him, but she mustn’t do that. It’s far too dangerous.’

‘I’d like to give that devil the thrashing he deserves,’ Ron growled. ‘It was bloody lucky no one was killed today.’

‘I understand how you feel’ – John gave a grim smile – ‘but I should hold off on that, if I were you. While we were waiting for Matt to be patched up, the police arrived. If it can be proved that Greaves is behind this attack, the law will deal with him.’

‘And if they don’t, then we’ll give him something to think about!’ Jimmy looked around for approval and smiled when Fred, Stan and Ron nodded.

Jenny was alarmed; her friends could end up in serious trouble. ‘I don’t want this turning into another fight and you all ending up in prison. I’ve caused enough trouble for everyone.’