A Safe Harbour (53 page)
Authors: Benita Brown
Tags: #Technology & Engineering, #Sagas, #Fisheries & Aquaculture, #Fiction
The cathedral clock struck three as Jane walked through the gateway that led into the church garden, or Amen Corner as it was known. A damp mist hung in the bare branches of the trees and the public seats were unoccupied. The only other person in the garden on this last day of November was an old woman wrapped up in a voluminous shawl. Jane watched as she spread a newspaper out on the damp wood of one of the benches and then sat down. There was a bulging patchwork bag at her feet. Goodness knows what was in it but Jane suspected it was all her worldly goods. From the look of her the old woman was one of the many homeless souls who lived on the streets of Newcastle.
Then, as Jane watched, the old woman reached down into her bag and brought out a crust of bread, curled and stale-looking. She began to crumble it up between her gnarled fingers and scatter the crumbs to the sparrows who had gathered in anticipation. Jane guessed they must have been waiting for her.
She was distracted by the sound of footsteps. They were unmistakably William’s, even though they seemed to be limping. The way he walked, the way he talked, the way he laughed, the way he breathed, all were familiar to her. Part of her. They would be for ever and yet now he was proposing to leave her. She turned to face him.
The old woman shuffled off and Jane noticed, inconsequentially, that her swollen feet were protected from the cold weather by nothing better than an old pair of carpet slippers with newspaper showing through the ragged tears in the fabric. When she had vanished into the mist-filled streets of the city William spoke.
‘I’m sorry I’m late,’ he said.
‘Is that all you’re sorry for!’
‘Jane, please don’t. You know I’m sorry for all of this mess. But if my mother told you what happened you know there’s nothing else I can do. I’ve just been to the shipping office. My bundle is already on board. I sail tonight on the midnight tide.’
‘So soon! Do you really have to go? Isn’t there any alternative?’
‘The alternative is the gallows.’
‘But you’re innocent!’
‘Don’t you see, to prove my innocence would be to condemn Thomas and Matthew to hang. And they’d probably hang me anyway. But at the moment no one knows there was anyone else involved except me.’
‘That man might not have drowned. He could have washed up safe somewhere.’
‘Even if that were true – and I hope with all my heart it is – I think they’d still hang us for attempted murder.’
‘But, William, just think. If he is alive he would tell the police there were more than one of you.’
‘I’ve thought of that and I don’t think he would be able to identify the two he was fighting with. It was dark on deck. And another thing . . .’
‘What?’
‘There was a smell of drink on him. He was staggering.’
‘He was fighting!’
‘I know, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t have all his wits about him. So long as they can’t find me, Thomas and Matthew are safe.’
Jane sighed. ‘You’ve made up your mind, haven’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘So where are you going?’
‘I can’t tell you. It’s best that you don’t know in case the police question you.’
‘I wouldn’t tell them!’
‘Of course you wouldn’t. But I wouldn’t want you to have to tell lies for my sake.’
‘William – take me with you. I could buy a passage – I have the money.’
‘I can’t ask you to throw in your lot with a fugitive.’
‘I’d do that gladly so long as we could be together.’
‘We will be one day, whichever way things turn out. But now you must continue with your plans for your shop. It’s what you’ve always wanted.’
Jane could have told him that what she’d always wanted was William himself but that she had baulked at the idea of being a fisherman’s wife. She had planned a better life for both of them. But now that everything was being snatched away from her she realized that she would go anywhere, live anyhow, if it meant she could be with William.
‘I’ll open the shop, William. I’ll work as hard as I can and save money for us both until I hear from you.’ She panicked when she saw the bleak look in his eyes. ‘I am going to hear from you, aren’t I?’
‘Yes, but I don’t know when that will be.’
‘So I can’t write to you and you can’t write to me? William, I can’t bear this!’
As she spoke, the birds who had been pecking up the crumbs flew up as one to perch in the bare branches of the trees.
‘Whisht, whisht, my bonny lass,’ William said. ‘You’re frightening the little birds. And don’t despair. Kate is going to write to me—’
‘Oh, so your sister will know where you are but I am not to!’
‘I’ve told you why. I don’t want you bullied. Kate will tell you when it’s safe to write to me.’
‘And when it’s safe to come to you?’
‘If you still want to.’
‘How can you say that!’
William took hold of her arms and drew her close. He looked into her eyes. His own were full of pain. ‘I must go now, sweetheart,’ he said and she noticed how his breath misted in the cold air. He kissed her only once and then broke away.
‘I love you, William,’ she whispered and watched how her words, too, turned to vapour and vanished in the air between them.
Without looking back William walked out through the gateway and turned to walk downhill towards the river and the ship that would soon be taking him away from her. A sudden shaft of sunlight pierced the mist to bring a little warmth to Amen Corner. And in the quiet that followed William’s departure the birds hopped down from the trees again to garner the last few crumbs. But Jane didn’t see them because her eyes were full of tears.
The undertakers had come and gone discreetly through the little-used house door at the side of the shop, and now Charlie Willis lay in his coffin on a black-swathed trestle table erected in the room where he had passed his last months on earth. Alice and her daughter were sitting at the kitchen table and Susan was trying to persuade her mother to eat some of the broth she’d made.
‘I’m not hungry, pet,’ Alice told her.
‘Hungry or not, you need something inside you if you’re going to keep vigil tonight.’
‘You’re a good lass. I can see you’ll look after your mother.’
‘Of course I will. And, Ma, I’ve been thinking about that. What if Seth and me and the bairns moved in with you after all this is over? This is a big house. I know most of the ground floor is taken up with the shop, but think of all those empty rooms upstairs. Seth and me could have our own sitting room up there so’s you could have a bit of peace and quiet.’
‘Peace and quiet?’
‘Well, you’re not used to the bairns, are you? You’d want your own place to sit.’
‘I suppose you’re right.’
‘I could help in the shop whenever I could and Seth could chop the wood, make the fire, do the heavy work.’
‘I thought you liked living in Belle Vue Cottage.’
‘Oh, I do. But families are important, aren’t they? And if we move in here, you’ll be able to rent the cottage out again. Bring some more money in.’
‘I’ll think about it, Susan, but not tonight.’
Susan could see that she would get no further tonight but she was satisfied that she would get her own way sooner or later. ‘Whatever you say, Ma.’
Her mother picked up her spoon and began to sup her broth. In a little while she said, ‘Eeh, this broth is lovely, Susan. I’m glad you persuaded me to have some.’
Susan saw that her mother was trying to please her so she took the risk of adding, ‘And just think, if we did move in, I’d be able to do all the cooking. Make sure you eat properly. You’d have gone without tonight if I hadn’t been here, wouldn’t you?’
‘Eeh, no!’ Her mother had put her spoon down and raised a hand to her mouth.
‘What is it? Was the broth too hot? Have you bitten on a bone?’
‘No, it’s not that. We’ve forgotten about Kate, haven’t we? She usually has a bite to eat with me before she goes up to her room. Susan, you’d better go up and get her.’
Susan looked down at the table. She didn’t want her mother to see how much this displeased her. ‘She eats in the stockroom, doesn’t she? Do you want me to put something out for her?’
‘If you wouldn’t mind, pet. But there’s no need for her to eat alone. Tell her to come and join us.’
‘Well, you know, when she closed the shop I thought she looked very tired. And upset and all.’
‘Upset?’
‘About her brother.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Well, of course you don’t. You’ve been back here all day. You haven’t heard the talk in the shop and I didn’t want to bother you.’ The truth was that Susan had been waiting for the right moment to bring this up and now it looked as though it had arrived.
‘It’s nothing bad, is it, Susan?’
‘Very bad, I’m afraid. Her brother has run off, God knows where.’
‘Why on earth would he do that?’
‘Because he went and sunk the pride of Mr Adamson’s fleet, the
Tyne Star
, and mebbes murdered a man while he was about it.’
Tyne Star
, and mebbes murdered a man while he was about it.’
‘Murdered a man?’
‘Aye. The watchman said he heard an almighty yell and a splash. That’s what brought him to the scene. He couldn’t see anyone in the river but he could see the trawler sinking. And who should be climbing up on to the quay but Kate’s brother!’
Her mother shook her head. ‘Poor Nan,’ she said. ‘Ever since the demonstration outside Mr Adamson’s house she’s been worried that Thomas would cause more trouble. Do something rash. But she couldn’t have foreseen this.’
‘It wasn’t Thomas, Ma. The man the watchman saw was William Lawson.’
‘William? I don’t believe it!’
‘Well, it’s true. And that’s why he’s run off. And that’s why I said Kate had better go straight up to her room. She might not want company at the moment, might she? Ma – what’s the matter? Have you taken a turn?’
‘No, pet, but I’ve just remembered something. I saw this when I read Kate’s cup. I saw it in the tea leaves.’
‘What did you see?’ Susan had never been sure whether to believe in her mother’s gift of sight but she knew that others in the village were impressed by it. And it brought custom to the shop so she didn’t want to disparage it.
‘I saw a warning – saw the letter W clear as clear. I asked Kate to look and she said she couldn’t see it. But it was there, I swear it was. I warned Nan about it. And now look what’s happened!’
‘Yes, well, perhaps they should have taken notice of what you said.’
‘Some people never do.’ Alice sighed. ‘But now you must take something up for Kate.’
‘Take something up?’
‘Make some nice sandwiches – enough for two in case Nan calls to see her. Use the boiled ham and cut a slab off the Madeira cake.’
Susan was vexed that what she had told her mother had only made her more sympathetic to Kate but she set about cutting the cake and making the sandwiches. She kept quiet as she did so but her mind was working. She wanted to move in here and she wanted to be sure that her mother had only her to rely on.
Seth was a good-natured, happy-go-lucky fellow but he wasn’t all that keen on going to work and he might end up losing this job just as he had lost the last one. But if they lived here with her mother they wouldn’t want for anything and Susan would gradually take over the running of the shop – and she’d be able to make Seth help her.
So now she would do as her mother had asked and set a generous tray and make sure her mother saw it before she took it up.
Kate had hardly moved since she came up to her room. She hadn’t even taken off her pinafore before sitting down by the fire. She was tired, but then she always seemed to be tired these days. But most of all she was worried.
Her mother had called into the shop just before it closed to tell her that Jane had promised that she would go to meet William. Kate could hardly bear to think of how heartbroken her old friend must be. Almost as heartbroken as Kate had been herself when Jos had drowned. The sea was taking William away, too, but in this case to a land far away and an uncertain future.
Jane must be wondering whether she would ever see William again. Ever marry the man she loved, make a home, have children . . . What torment she must be suffering. But I will do my best to see to it that they are united in the future . . . as soon as William is settled . . . as soon as he is safe.
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