Blue Moon (33 page)

‘I shall cross my toes as well,’ said Ruby.

They finally arrived at Nelson’s locker, but as there was nobody about, she guessed that the fishermen must be on the water. She hadn’t a clue when it was high tide, but it looked fairly high right now. The men would have pushed off their boats as soon as the tide turned. There were a few lights out on the water, which only confirmed her worst fears.

‘Looks like we’ve missed them,’ she said. ‘I’ll have to come back tomorrow sometime.’

Jim was examining the locker. ‘Ruby, I hate to say this,’ he began, ‘but it looks as if someone may have already pipped you to the post.’

‘What do you mean?’

He was pointing to the name on the locker. Nelson Bateman’s name had been painted out, and the name
William Reed
put in its place.

Ruby gasped in horror. ‘When did this happen?’ She looked around wildly. ‘Father’s boat has gone too!’

‘It looks to me as if Percy has already sold the boat and locker,’ said Jim. ‘Unless William Reed simply helped himself?’

‘He wouldn’t do that,’ said Ruby. ‘I know the Reeds and they’re honest people. But Percy had no right to sell that boat. If it belonged to anyone, it belonged to my mother.’

‘Let’s not think the worst yet,’ said Jim. ‘He may already have given your mother the money.’

‘Yes,’ she said, feeling relieved. ‘That’s what he’s done.
He’s gone back home and told Mother he’s sorry and given her the money.’ She shivered with the cold.

‘Come here and let me warm you,’ said Jim, opening his coat.

She snuggled into him and he drew his coat around them both. ‘Oh, Ruby,’ he sighed. ‘I love you so much.’

When they got back to Ruby’s home, Percy hadn’t returned, so it followed that he hadn’t given her mother any money. They didn’t say anything, preferring to wait until the next day when Ruby had had the opportunity to question the Reeds. Instead they stood together, holding hands and looking coy, as Ruby told her mother that Jim had asked her to marry him and she had accepted. Bea was thrilled.

‘Mum, I won’t leave you in the lurch, I promise. But if at all possible, please don’t make me wait until I’m twenty-one,’ said Ruby. She remembered poor Edith’s predicament. ‘We are perfectly sure.’

‘If you have good prospects and can provide for Ruby,’ Bea told Jim, ‘then I’ll give you my blessing.’

Ruby and Jim glanced anxiously at each other. ‘I’ll move heaven and earth to be a good provider,’ said Jim stoutly.

The next day Bea didn’t seem to notice when Ruby went to work earlier than usual. But before going to the hospital, she made a long detour to the beach, where the fishermen were preparing their catch for sale. Once she’d chatted to them, her worst fears were confirmed.

‘He sold it to me a couple of days ago,’ said Silas. ‘I
give the boat and locker to my boy. What Percy done with the money, I don’t know, lass. ’Tain’t none of my business.’

‘It’s fine, Mr Reed,’ Ruby smiled. ‘I just wanted to know what was happening, that’s all.’ She was having a job keeping her voice even.

How could Percy do such a thing? Surely he knew how difficult things were for her mother and May. She waved cheerily and set off for the hospital. Her heart was sinking, but it was no good getting upset about it. What was done was done, and they would just have to manage until May was old enough to go out to work. She could only hope that their run of terrible luck would end soon, but as she walked through the gates she would have given anything to give Percy a good biff on the nose.

Ruby hurried into the hospital. There was a familiar figure just in front of her. What was Mrs Fosdyke doing here? She was carrying a bunch of flowers. Ruby grinned to herself. Whoever she was visiting, the ward sister would be sure to turn her away until proper visiting hours began. Mrs Fosdyke hesitated at the crossroad in the corridors and, as she turned round to get her bearings, Ruby ducked into a doorway. She had no wish to speak to her old supervisor and she couldn’t help feeling that Mrs Fosdyke might make trouble for her. As a result, she was a bit late arriving on the ward, but luckily nobody seemed to notice and, once she was working, her angry thoughts soon dissipated.

It was five-thirty and John was sitting on the train from Brighton. He had had a day to remember. He had worked
solidly and without a break since coming to Newlands Road and business was good. Of course he charged rock-bottom prices, but he had repaired a good few boots and shoes and had mended someone’s Gladstone bag. He was also getting orders for leather-work, mending broken straps on laundry baskets and travelling cases, and such. His close proximity to the railway station worked to his advantage.

Mrs Bateman and her family were kindness itself and he was grateful, but John was lonely. He often thought of his beautiful wife Griselda, his sister-in-law Rachel, and Reuben, his little boy. He should have been there to protect them, but what could he have done? He had been working in his shop when the Hitler Youth had spotted Griselda, Rachel and the baby. What seemed at first like silly skylarking had quickly turned into something far more serious. Eyewitnesses said it was because one of the men did, or said, something she didn’t like that Rachel slapped him across the face. God alone knew what he’d said to her, but his sister-in-law had always been quick-tempered. The young man had been furious, and he and his Hitler Youth friends had chased them all, like frightened rabbits. They had found Griselda’s and the baby’s bodies a week later. God alone knew what had happened to Rachel.

John had been angry and outspoken – probably too outspoken, because he’d ended up having to flee for his own life as a result. He missed Germany, and he missed Griselda and his little son dreadfully; and he missed his sister-in-law too. He often wondered what had happened
to Rachel. There was nothing left of the old life now. Nothing except the little place mat that his wife had embroidered; and he only had that because, when he was getting ready to run away, he was looking for something to wrap up some jewellery in. The place mat was the first thing he’d laid hands on. The jewellery was all gone; sold to pay his passage to England. Only the pretty mat remained. He also missed his faith, and he missed the Jewish community.

That’s why he had decided to take the train to Brighton to give himself a little break. He wandered beside the sea, although, being so early in the year, there were few people about. At lunchtime he sat on the Palace Pier and ate a pie, and, after a short doze on a bench, ventured inland and wandered along King’s Road. From there he turned up Middle Street and, to his utter joy, came across a pale-yellow brick building with a rose window. There were six windows on the ground floor and eight on the first floor, all topped with red-and-blue tiles. The heavy wooden door was flanked by pink columns, with fruit and flowers from Israel crowning the tops. What thrilled him most was the inscription over the door, which included the year when the building opened. The English would have written 1875, but the number above the door was 5636 – the date according to the Hebrew calendar. It was at this moment that he realized he had stumbled across a synagogue.

He didn’t have long to wait before a fellow Jew came along and John was taken inside. He stood just inside
the door, taking in the sights and smells of all that was familiar and precious to him. The synagogue was very ornate. The women’s galleries were held up by cast-iron columns, and the paintwork had a marble effect. The whole place shimmered with gold and gilt. Up the marble steps, where the Torah Ark was kept, he could see a heavy brass Menorah. John could feel tears trickling down his cheeks.

They made him very welcome and, when he told them where he lived, someone offered to put him up on Fridays so that he could go to synagogue on Saturdays. Everyone, including John himself, agreed that to travel all the way from Worthing would break the conditions of the Law of Moses; but John, by now sorely tempted to revert to his real name of Isaac, could think of nothing he would like more than to be with his own people on the Sabbath. On the train back home he was a contented man, and the happiest he’d been since coming to England.

The night-nurse had done her rounds. Linton Carver still felt as if he was in a fog, but things were beginning to register at last. His breathing was easier since they’d filled the room with steam and it felt like he was emerging from a tight cocoon.

He’d been aware that young Ruby Bateman had been visiting him for some time. He couldn’t talk to her, because it taxed him too much, but he was comforted to have her sitting next to him, sometimes holding his hand. She had come every single day since he’d been
here. Tomorrow he would try and communicate with her. Linton liked her. She was a rare beauty, all the more attractive because she was totally unaware of the effect she had on men. He hadn’t appreciated a good-looking girl for a long time, but now that his head was a little less muzzy, he wanted to tell her. He wanted to give her fatherly advice. Perhaps now that Nelson wasn’t there any more, she’d let him. Nelson never had a good word to say about the girl. Linton couldn’t understand why. Now if she was his daughter …

The door opened and someone slipped inside the room. The light was very dim, having been left that way so that he could sleep. Linton didn’t like sleep. When he slept, he relived the horrors of war all over again. In his dreams he could smell the mud, the shit, the rotting bits of the bodies of men who had once been his friends; and sometimes he could even smell the bloody gas again. If he wasn’t reliving the trenches, he was thinking about that girl in the farmhouse. She didn’t deserve to die like that. Every time he thought of her, the shame of what they’d all done overwhelmed him. God would punish him for his part in it. That’s why he fought to stay awake all the time. He was doing that now, staring at the cracked ceiling with its single light and plain white shade, and willing himself not to drift off.

A figure moved silently towards the bed and leaned over him. He couldn’t see the face because she was wearing a face-mask, but he smelled the cheap perfume. Matron wouldn’t like that. He’d heard nurses being told
off for lesser crimes, like wearing hairslides or talcum powder. But perfume? He could almost hear Matron hissing, ‘Go home and wash, Nurse. This is not a brothel.’

He heard a rattle as she picked up his notes on the clipboard at the end of the bed to look at them. Then she slipped a cool hand under his head, lifting it slightly to remove the pillow underneath. When it had gone, he was lying very flat and it wasn’t so easy to breathe. The figure reappeared over his face again, and this time he looked up.

‘Goodnight, Linton,’ she said harshly. ‘It’s time for you to sleep.’

He didn’t recognize her, but for some reason he suddenly felt very afraid. ‘Do – I know – you?’

She shook her head and leaned closer. ‘But you remember Victor, don’t you?’

Panic rose in his chest. His eyes grew wide. He tried to shout, but his chest felt as if she’d put a boulder on it. He tried to sit up, but she had her hand on his shoulder. He felt the bed dip a little as she pressed the pillow over his face, and then he couldn’t breathe at all. As he struggled to free himself, the sounds of battle grew louder and louder in his ears. He could hear men screaming, the relentless pounding of the guns, and Captain Markham barking his orders: ‘Over the top, my lads. Over the top.’ He clawed the pillow frantically. He knew he was suffocating. His head was banging and the pain in his chest was terrible. Then he heard the girl in the barn sobbing again. She was begging them to stop, but then Nelson said, ‘Go on, lad. You know
you want to.’ His strength was ebbing away. He fought it as long as he could, but it was no use. Gradually the sounds of battle and the sobs of the girl faded as he embraced the welcoming silence.

CHAPTER 29

Ruby was so anxious to tell her mother about the boat that she could hardly wait to get home that night. She burst into the house, making Bea, who was helping May with her reading, jump.

‘Sorry, Mum. Do you want me to finish that for May?

Bea shook her head. ‘Your tea is on the plate on the top of the saucepan. I’ll take May to bed.’

‘Mum,’ Ruby began again, when Bea returned about ten minutes later, ‘remember we said no more secrets? There’s something else I have to tell you.’

‘Oh?’

‘It’s about Percy.’

‘If it’s about the boat,’ said Bea, ‘I already know.’

Ruby was startled. ‘But how?’

‘Silas Reed came to see me,’ she replied. ‘He told me that you’d been to see him on the beach. He said that when he told you he’d bought the boat and locker, he could tell by your face that it was a surprise.’

‘Oh,’ said Ruby. She didn’t know whether to feel angry or sad. After all, Percy had betrayed their mother most.

‘He’s a good man, is Silas,’ her mother went on. ‘He was very upset that Percy has gone off with the money. I told him he was under no obligation, but he wants to give us the occasional fish.’

‘That’s nice of him,’ said Ruby.

‘And I’m getting stronger every day,’ said Bea. ‘If I can, I shall get a bit of work myself in the summer.’

Ruby didn’t argue. She couldn’t imagine Bea getting a job and keeping it; her health was too up and down. But she gave her mother another hug and said encouragingly, ‘Perhaps our luck has turned the corner at last,’ even though she didn’t for one minute believe it herself.

The next day Ruby was about to go in and see Linton and clean his room, but the door was locked.

‘Mr Carver was found dead after the night-sister’s ward round,’ the sister told her. ‘I understand he was a friend of yours, and that it was because of you that he was admitted in the first place.’

‘Not exactly,’ said Ruby, trying to take in what she’d just been told. ‘My father …’ She faltered, remembering that Nelson wasn’t her father at all, but it would take too long to explain all that. ‘My father served in the same regiment with him in the Great War. My mother asked me to check up on him, because she was indisposed.’

‘The police may want to talk to you,’ said the sister.

‘The police?’ Ruby was shocked. ‘Why?’