East End Trouble (17 page)

T
hey had all left him
. His mum, his dad and even his sister. And to make it worse, they’d left him with Rita from next door. He didn’t like Rita. She smelled funny. Mummy had said that was because she wore too much scent, but Trevor just didn’t like her.

Rita was calling his name now, but she’d never find him. He was hiding in his secret place. The same place he’d hidden during hide and seek games with Lillian, and she’d never managed to find him.

He shifted his position to get more comfortable beneath a pile of blankets at the bottom of the wardrobe.

Everything had gone crazy recently. Just after they’d been ill with measles. Mummy said Lillian had gone to heaven, but Trevor didn’t know whether to believe her or not. All of Lillian’s things were still in her bedroom as if she might come back. Trevor thought perhaps she’d gone to heaven for a visit. He liked the idea of that. When she came home, Trevor had lots of questions he’d like to ask.

“Trevor! Trevor!” Rita’s voice came bouncing through the walls.

Trevor rearranged his blankets to get more comfortable.

Mummy had said she’d only be an hour, but they’d been gone nearly all day. Trevor had eaten breakfast and lunch, and he knew it was almost dinnertime now because it was getting dark.

He hoped they hadn’t gone after Lillian. They’d always preferred Lillian to him, especially his dad.

Trevor felt very sorry for himself and rubbed his eyes with the blanket. He wasn’t crying. He didn’t cry anymore because he was a big boy.

“Trevor! Where are you, you little bastard?”

Rita was only calling him that because there was nobody else here. She was always nice to him when his mum or dad were around. She wouldn’t dare call him a little bastard then. But what if they never came back, and he was stuck with Rita for good?

The hinges on the front door squeaked as they opened, and Trevor’s heart soared as he heard the familiar booming voice of his father.

They were back!

Trevor pushed back the blankets and quickly sprung up from his hiding place, carefully climbing out of the wardrobe and shutting the door behind him. He didn’t want anything to give away his secret.

As he ran towards the kitchen, he could hear Rita talking, “He’s disappeared. I know he’s still in the house somewhere because I kept the door locked after last time.”

Last time Rita had been asked to look after Trevor, he’d taken himself off to his friend’s house down the road, and the whole street had been out looking for him. He’d gotten a slap on the backside from his mother for that one.

Trevor burst into the kitchen, saw his dad standing there and broke into a broad smile. They hadn’t left him. But then he peered behind his father and saw that his mother wasn’t there. And he promptly burst into tears.

D
ave had a banging headache
, and Trevor’s screeching went right through him.

He got down on his knees and wrapped his arms around his son. “Calm down, Daddy is here.”

He wanted to tell Trevor everything would be all right, but he couldn’t because nothing would be all right again.

He scooped the boy up in his arms and stood up.

“Thanks for everything, Rita. I can take it from here.”

Rita looked at him dubiously. “Are you sure? I could stick around and prepare something for dinner? I know Sandra probably—“

Dave cut her off. “I can manage. Thanks again.” He walked her to the door.

She reached up to ruffle Trevor’s hair before she left, but the boy flinched away from her, burrowing his head into Dave’s chest.

After Rita had left and Dave had shut the door behind her. He carried his son into the kitchen.

“Now, tell me what’s the matter,” Dave said although he knew exactly what the matter was. The little boy had just lost his sister.

“Where’s Mummy? Has she gone too?”

Dave sat down at the kitchen table and balanced Trevor on his knee. “She’ll be back in a week. She’s just had your baby brother. We’ll go and visit them tomorrow.”

Trevor looked up at Dave and blinked. “Is Lillian coming back, too?”

“No, come on, Trevor, we talked about this already. Lillian can’t come back. She’s gone to heaven with the angels.”

Little Trevor’s face screwed up as if he was concentrating hard and then he shrugged and nodded as if he accepted what Dave said was true.

Dave wrapped his arms around his son and kissed the top of his head. He needed to be strong for Trevor, Sandra and the new baby. He needed somehow to get back to a normal life, but he didn’t know how. He knew he would never feel right again. A part of him would always be missing.

A
s soon as Kathleen left
, Babs Morton gathered up the children, took them next door and asked old Mrs. Morrison to keep an eye on them.

She then marched straight to Martin’s club. It was still drizzling, so she pulled up the collar on her coat. With each step, she imagined stomping Martin’s face. It was quite therapeutic.

It only took her a couple of minutes to get to the club. She didn’t often make an appearance these days, but everybody knew who she was. She marched up to the doormen, and they stood aside to let her enter.

She didn’t even bother to look at their faces as she passed. She was just concerned about getting her hands on Martin. He was going to pay for humiliating her.

She scanned the club, but she couldn’t see him, and then she felt a large, meaty hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Big Tim standing there. Babs gave him a stiff nod. “Evening, Tim. I need a word with Martin.”

Tim nodded. “He’s still upstairs. He hasn’t come down yet this evening. Would you like to go up?”

The fact that Tim was asking that question told Babs that Martin didn’t have some floozy upstairs with him right now. Now that he’d gotten Kathleen in the family way, Martin had probably dumped her and moved onto some other tart.

“Who else is up there?”

“Tony. They are discussing business, but I’m sure Martin won’t mind you interrupting.”

Babs didn’t give a flying fig whether Martin minded or not.

She pushed up her sleeves. “I’ll have a drink. Tell Martin to come down here.”

Tim looked taken aback, but after a moment, he nodded and headed off behind the bar. He whispered Babs’ drink order to one of the barmaids and then slipped through the door to go and get Martin.

Although the bar was already busy, people made room for Babs. They were all younger than her, Babs noted, sourly. It wasn’t like the old days where she could go into Martin’s clubs and know everyone by name. These days it was all youngsters and blaring, modern music. All that rock ’n’ roll stuff. It made Babs feel old.

The barmaid pushed a port and lemon across the bar, and Babs thanked her and then swallowed half of it down in one gulp.

She didn’t want to go upstairs and have this out with Martin. She wanted him to come home tonight. For once, she wanted her husband to be under the same roof as her, so the gossips would be able to see that they were still together and stronger than ever.

It might not be true, but Babs cared about appearances. Fair or not, the woman always got sneered at if her husband strayed away from home.

Martin appeared in the doorway behind the bar and regarded Babs warily.

Babs gave him a tight smile, and Martin sauntered up to her. “Hello, sweetheart. What’s wrong?”

There was a time in the early days of their marriage when Martin would have been glad to see her, although that was a long time ago now. Now, when she came to visit him in the evening, he assumed something was wrong. That said it all.

“I’d like you to come home tonight, Martin,” Babs said.

She was well aware her voice sounded brittle, but she was doing her best to sound pleasant, even though she really wanted to throw the rest of her port and lemon in his face.

Martin frowned. “I was planning on staying at the club. I’ll be working late tonight, and you know I don’t like to disturb you.”

That was Martin’s way of pretending he stayed at the club every night out of consideration for Babs and the children. Even though his bloody club was just around the corner from where they lived.

“I don’t care what time you get back, Martin,” Babs said. “Just make sure you do.”

Martin frowned at the venom in Babs’s tone. “What’s the matter, babe? Tell me now, and we’ll sort it out.”

Babs shook her head. There was no way she was airing their dirty linen in public. Martin could wait until he got home. Only then would she really let him have it. She’d tear strips off the bloody bastard once they were in the privacy of their own home.

A
fter Babs had left
, Big Tim strolled up to Martin. “Is everything all right boss?”

Martin nodded. “Yeah, I think so. Babs has just got a bee in her bonnet about something.”

“About Kathleen Diamond? You know she’s been sniffing around recently.”

“Nah, Babs knows all about her. As far as she’s concerned that’s all over.”

“Anyway, I’d better get back to Tony.” Martin lowered his voice and leaned into Tim. “We’re discussing our options. Dave Carter is not on top of his game at the moment, so that means it’s the best time to exploit any weaknesses, if you know what I mean?” Martin winked at him.

Tim nodded. “Do you need me upstairs?”

“No, we are just bouncing around some ideas at the moment. You keep an eye on things down here, and I’ll fill you in later, all right?” Martin slapped him on the back.

W
hen Babs got home
, she collected the children from the neighbour and then put them straight to bed. She made a pot of tea and sat down at the kitchen table.

She poured herself a cup. She liked it strong and dark, with just a splash of milk, no sugar. She glanced at the clock and knew she was in for a long wait, but she was determined she wouldn’t go to bed before Martin came home. They were going to get this situation sorted out once and for all.

She took a sip of tea and then lit a cigarette, rehearsing what she was going to say over and over in her mind.

M
artin came
home at two in the morning. Babs ground out her cigarette in the glass ashtray and pushed the stewed cup of tea away from her.

Her eyes felt gritty and red, but she suddenly felt awake, ready for this confrontation.

Martin was creeping around, trying to be quiet. He obviously hoped Babs was asleep already. But he slowly eased open the door to the kitchen and then did a double take when he saw Babs at the kitchen table.

“Hello, Babs. Sorry, I’m so late. You didn’t have to wait up.”

“Sit down, Martin.”

She saw Martin’s body tense. He didn’t like being told what to do, especially not by his wife.

But he pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table opposite her, pulling out his own packet of cigarettes and lighting one up. He offered the packet to Babs, but she shook her head. She’d been chain-smoking all evening and the last thing she needed was another cigarette.

“What’s all this about then?” Martin asked.

“Kathleen Diamond,” Babs said.

“What? All that’s all over, Babs. We’ve talked about this. She didn’t mean anything to me. You know that.”

Babs waited for a moment to see whether or not Martin would confess that he was the father of Kathleen’s baby, and admit there was a little half-brother to Ruby, Derek and Emily living only a few streets away.

When Martin didn’t say anything, Babs shook her head.

“And when exactly were you intending to tell me that you’d fathered a child by another woman, Martin? It’s disgusting! There’s only a few days separating Emily and that little brat.”

Martin’s face looked like it had been set in stone. “Who the hell told you that?” he growled. “You know better than to listen to gossip, Babs.”

“I don’t need to listen to gossip, Martin. Not when the trollop comes around to show me her bloody kid! How do you think I felt when she kneeled down to show Ruby her half-brother?”

Martin shot up, knocking the chair back onto the floor with a clatter. “She did what?” he roared.

“Quiet!” Babs ordered. “You’ll wake the children, and they’ve had quite enough disruption for one day.”

Martin’s eyes were wild as he clenched his fists by his side. He’d obviously expected to be able to sweep this one under the carpet, and he didn’t much like Kathleen showing any backbone.

“I don’t believe it,” he muttered to himself.

“Well, you’d better believe it. She came to visit me early this evening. All the neighbours saw her. She is after money Martin. She says the baby is yours, and she wants you to support it. What I want to know is, what are you going to do about it?”

Martin, who had been angrily staring out of the kitchen window, turned slowly to face Babs. “What do you want me to do about it?”

“I want you to get rid of her! Send her and that baby off somewhere. I don’t want Ruby, Derek and Emily growing up with a little half-brother not five minutes’ walk away.”

Martin curled his lip in disgust. “I’ll sort it.”

“You’d better, Martin. I’m warning you. I’ve had enough. I’ve had it up to here with your antics.”

“Give it a rest. You’re lucky to have me, and you know it. All you do all day is sit on your backside, or go out shopping. You’d be nothing without me. You’ve got it easy Babs, and you know it!”

Babs folded her arms across her chest and stared at Martin with hatred. How could she ever have fallen for this man? Where had the charming, good-looking man she’d married disappeared to?

Martin always tried to win arguments this way. When he was at fault, he would just try and turn the argument around to something he could win.

Well, Babs wasn’t about to let him get away with it that easily. “I want to know what you’re going to do about it, Martin.”

“I said I would sort it, didn’t I? And I will.” Martin turned around. “I’m going back to the club. I can’t stay here tonight.”

He began to walk down the hallway towards the front door.

“Just you make sure you sort this out like you promised, Martin. Otherwise, I’m going to make you pay.”

Martin chuckled cruelly as he picked up his coat from the coat stand. “You’ll make me pay? Don’t make me laugh, Babs. You can’t do a bleeding thing about it. Just you remember that before you start mouthing off next time.”

After Martin stormed out and slammed the door behind him, Babs leaned against the wall. “Oh, you’d be surprised, Martin,” she muttered to herself. “You’d be surprised just how much I could make you suffer.”