Memories Are Made of This (24 page)

‘But . . . but what about my Saturday job?' cried Jeanette, starting to her feet.

‘I presume they have a telephone? You can give them a ring and tell them you won't be in,' he said.

Tears started in Jeanette's eyes and she shrugged off Hester's arm and marched out of the kitchen and upstairs. She slammed the bedroom door and then threw herself on the bed and wept.

Downstairs in the kitchen, Hester managed to restrain her father from going upstairs after Jeanette when the bedroom door slammed. ‘Leave her be, Dad. She's had a terrible fright. You heard what she said – she thought she was going to die. This Billy is the one who used the bicycle chain.'

‘I know that,' growled George. ‘Now, is one of us going to see to his being brought in?'

She nodded. ‘I'll make the call.' As she made for the door, she stopped and turned. ‘Where's our Sam?'

‘He had to go out again.'

She looked thoughtful but did not say anything and left her father alone. He sank down onto a chair and put his head into his hands, glad that Hester was there and a woman of such good sense.

‘Our Jeanette had a lucky escape,' said Hester.

It was the following morning and she was at police headquarters talking to Sam. He gazed at her pale face and rubbed his unshaven jaw wearily. ‘Do we tell her about the stabbing or not?'

‘I think we're going to have to. Her friend Peggy's brother was at the Stadium and most likely he'll be aware of what happened,' she said, slumping in the chair on the other side of his desk.

‘Until the doorman comes around from the anaesthetic, we've no proof that it was Billy who did it,' said Sam.

‘Surely the fact that he didn't come home last night and is still missing says something,' said Hester.

Sam nodded, knowing a watch was being kept not only on Billy's mother's house, but on that of his former mates. ‘I wish I knew where the hell he was because I feel our Jeanette won't be safe until he's found.'

‘He'd be a fool to go after her,' said Hester.

‘I agree. But he's already shown that he lacks any self-restraint and common sense.' Sam leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. ‘Bloody hell, I'm tired.'

‘You need your bed,' said Hester, getting up. ‘I'm off home. I need some shut-eye myself.'

Sam opened his eyes. ‘Hang on a mo! You never told me how you got on with Cedric on Tuesday.'

‘I finished with him. I told him there was someone else.'

‘I bet that didn't please him.'

Hester smiled. ‘No, I don't think it did. Anyway, it's over.'

‘Good.'

She took a deep breath. ‘I feel so much better. I was thinking of dropping in on Wendy later. I'm off duty until early tomorrow morning. She just might have something to say about Ally.'

Sam grinned. ‘Give her my regards.'

She nodded. ‘D'you want me to tell our Jeanette about the stabbing?'

‘If you would. You'll do it so much better than me. But I'll phone through to Dad at the bridewell and let him know.'

‘See you later,' said Hester.

Sam nodded and reached for the telephone as she left the room.

Jeanette wiped her sweaty forehead with a damp arm, seemingly unaware of the soapy water dripping from the scrubbing brush onto her apron as she looked up at Hester. ‘You don't think the man is going to die, do you?' she asked, a tremor in her voice. ‘I'll feel it'll be all my fault if he does.'

‘Don't be daft!' said Hester, resting her feet on the crossbars under the kitchen table as she returned Jeanette's regard. ‘The person responsible is the one who stabbed him. Anyway, the man's still alive.'

‘I hope he stays that way.' The scrubbing brush slipped from Jeanette's fingers and dropped into the bucket of water, splashing her front. ‘I wish—'

‘Wishing does no good,' said Hester briskly. ‘What's happened has happened and now I'm going out and leaving you to get on with washing this floor.'

Jeanette pulled a face and fished out the scrubbing brush. ‘At least Mrs Cross accepted that I couldn't go in with an upset stomach. Can't be passing on germs to the customers.'

‘Too right you can't,' said Hester, getting up and carefully stepping over the wet patches of tiles onto a sheet of newspaper and another until she reached the door. ‘See you later and no skiving off!' She heard her half-sister sigh as she closed the door and headed off to catch the bus to Charley and Wendy's flat.

‘I'd been wondering when you'd come,' said Wendy, grabbing Hester's sleeve and pulling her inside. ‘How long can you stay?' She beamed at her friend. ‘Oh, I do miss you and work!'

‘And we miss you,' said Hester, following her upstairs to the flat over the shop below. ‘I can stay long enough to have a cup of tea and a chat. Is Charley in?'

‘No, he's gone to watch Liverpool play away,' replied Wendy. ‘Why, did you want to speak to him as well?'

‘No, I just don't want to be interrupted,' said Hester.

‘Is it police business? Because I tell you now he'd go mad if it was and he was here. He said I've got to forget all about criminals now I'm married and just concentrate on looking after him. I love the bones of him, but I'm not going to have him telling me what to do when he's not here.'

‘I'm glad to hear it,' said Hester. ‘Just let me get my coat off.'

‘I'll put the kettle on,' said Wendy.

A quarter of an hour later the pair of them were sitting on the sofa in front of the fire with cups of tea and a plate of biscuits to hand.

‘I hear you went to the flicks with Ally,' said Wendy, smiling.

‘Not from him, surely?' said Hester, startled.

‘No, from one of Charley's cousins. Ally's gone back to Germany. I thought he might have been in touch with you.'

‘Not so far,' said Hester, ‘although we did talk about meeting up again when he comes home.' She sighed. ‘I really like him.'

Wendy reached for a biscuit. ‘I'm glad. What about Cedric?'

‘I've finished with him. I told him I'd met someone else.'

Wendy smiled. ‘I'm glad. Ally's a good egg, so Charley says.'

‘Hmmm! But I'm not seeing him at all right now,' said Hester forlornly. ‘Even when he comes back, I don't know what will happen between us. He's considering emigrating but I like my own country. To go so far away from my family would take some doing.'

Wendy's smile vanished. ‘You're not regretting giving Cedric up, are you?'

‘No! He didn't like it, though,' said Hester. ‘He's a liar and I can't abide liars. He's what Charley would call a rotten egg.'

Wendy stared at her. ‘Are you going to tell me why you say that?'

Hester hesitated. ‘Sam told me he's under investigation. I know he's lied to me, and not only to me. But worse than that was when I had that rotten cold, he asked our Jeanette to go to the pictures with him in my place!' Her voice rose with indignation. ‘Now don't you think that's definitely unacceptable behaviour? Besides, any decent caring bloke would have taken a risk and come to see how I was.'

‘I'm sure Ally would have,' said Wendy. ‘What did Cedric lie to you about?'

‘His mother. He makes her his excuse for not being places when all the time she's dead.'

Wendy's eyes widened. ‘You're joking!'

‘No, honestly. When I started going out with him, our Sam made enquiries about him. He used to be a member of the Liverpool force before he went to Bootle and some of the PCs remembered him. Apparently he used to live with his mother but she died and he took time out to attend her funeral.'

‘That's really, really odd,' murmured Wendy. ‘Who'd lie about their mother like that?'

Hester nodded. ‘Sam reckons it's to give himself an alibi.'

‘How does Sam work that out? If it was checked out, it would be known his mother is dead.'

‘I know! It could be he thinks nobody would check whether he has a sick old mother. He could be using her to take suspicion away from what he's doing when he's supposed to be with her.'

‘Did Sam find out anything else about him?'

‘Apparently he has an eye for the girls, and his beat when he was in Liverpool was the Canning Street district.'

Wendy took a deep breath. ‘Seamen's Club and prostitutes. He could have been accepting backhanders to turn a blind eye or taking advantage of what's on offer.'

Hester nodded. ‘The thought had crossed my mind, although I admit I didn't want to believe it. It bothers me that my judgement was way out when I agreed to go out with him. Anyway, the ball's in Bootle division's court now.'

They were both silent for several moments. Then Hester said, ‘Before I forget, I must tell you that Ally's met Cedric. Remember that accident between the bus and the car? He was the soldier who was on the scene and helped out. How's that for a coincidence?'

Wendy's eyes sparkled. ‘Well, his dad and uncle lived here in Liverpool, didn't they? You could have easily bumped into Ally anywhere in town.' She dunked a fig roll into her tea. ‘It seems that you and he were fated to meet. How did he react when you told him you'd been out with Cedric?'

‘I don't think he was pleased, but he behaved in a civilized manner. After all, it was our very first date and he was returning to Germany. Even so, I'm sure he didn't take to Cedric – and, thinking about it, his judgement was better than mine.'

‘A bit of competition makes a bloke all the keener,' said Wendy. ‘You'll see – Ally'll be in touch. He obviously likes you,' she added, offering the plate of fig rolls. ‘And hopefully you won't hear from Cedric ever again.'

Hester bit into a fig roll, hoping Wendy was right and remembering how Ally had said that he could easily fall in love with her. ‘Ally and I both like musicals and he has a sense of humour.'

‘And Cedric doesn't?' asked Wendy with a smile.

Hester rolled her eyes.

‘What about your Sam and Dorothy Wilson? Are they still in touch?'

‘Yes, but if it's love between them it's not going smoothly,' said Hester. ‘She's away so much.'

‘The woman's a fool! A gorgeous bloke like your Sam and she's not spending every second she can with him,' cried Wendy.

Hester sighed. ‘I understand why you're saying that, but I like her and I think she has a right to follow her star. Even so, he could do with getting married and having a home of his own and kids.'

Wendy agreed. ‘Someone has to give in and do what the other one wants if a marriage is to work.' She did not wait for Hester to come back at her about that but said, ‘What about your Jeanette?'

‘Our Jeanette!' Hester groaned. ‘I don't know where to start with our Jeanette.' And she proceeded to tell Wendy all about the Stadium episode and their great-aunt being convinced that Jeanette was the long-lost granddaughter of a wealthy suffragette who had recently died.

Wendy laughed about the latter, but just like Hester was concerned about the attack on Jeanette and the stabbing of the doorman. ‘You have to find that Billy. He's trouble with a capital T. You haven't heard the end of him. You need to keep your eye on her.'

‘Can't do that all the time,' said Hester, draining her teacup. ‘So tell me, how's married life treating you when Charley's not telling you what to do?'

Wendy proceeded to advocate the marital state, obviously convinced that a husband was what Hester needed to be truly content. This despite the fact that Wendy was obviously not completely fulfilled being a stay-at-home wife. Hester sighed and thought of her brother and Dorothy. She found it hard to imagine Dorothy ever willingly giving up her career for the love of Sam, and wondered why it seemed so hard for men and women to achieve a successful compromise. Was it one she would be called upon to make herself one day?

It was not until Monday morning that Jeanette accepted that her punishment could have been a lot worse. She might have the beginnings of housemaid's knee and her hands looked little better than wrinkled monkey's paws despite her having rubbed lemon and glycerine into them, but she still had her Saturday job. Her father had not insisted on her giving in her notice.

And she had been able to catch up on a few things over the weekend, such as writing a rough draft of the notice she planned to put in the
Echo
about her missing mother. She had also recovered somewhat from the shock of Billy almost throttling her. The news that the doorman had recovered consciousness and been able to give the police a description of his assailant had made her feel better; she had been so worried he might die.

Hester had come with her on the bus to work, and Jeanette suspected that her half-sister would do this as often as she could until Billy was caught. They spoke scarcely at all. Hester seemed to have a lot on her mind.

When Jeanette entered the office, humming the latest hit in the pop charts, the other typist was already putting up the ships' arrivals and departures on the board. She glanced over her shoulder at Jeanette. ‘You sound cheerful.'

‘The fog's lifted, that's why, and it looks like the sun's going to come out.'

‘That wind's sharp, though,' said Elsie, ‘and have you heard about the
Royal Iris
and the
Egremont
colliding at Seacombe in the fog?'

Jeanette thought of Jimmy. ‘Was anyone hurt? I know someone who works on the ferries.'

‘I don't think so. It says that the boats were only slightly damaged.'

‘That's a relief. Even so . . .'

Elsie stared at her. ‘Even so . . . what?'

‘I might nip down to the landing stage in my lunch hour and see if I can find out anything more,' said Jeanette.

The door opened even as she spoke. ‘Find out about what?' asked Peggy, standing in the doorway.