Memories Are Made of This (7 page)

‘That still doesn't explain where you've been all day,' said Ethel, snatching the teapot from her and swirling the water around before emptying it in the sink.

‘I returned to the scene of the crime, although I didn't go inside,' lied Jeanette. ‘I also contemplated visiting the priest.'

‘The priest!' exclaimed Ethel. ‘Since when has this household ever had anything to do with priests?'

‘Never! I know that, but needs must when the devil drives. Isn't that what people say when it's an emergency?' said Jeanette.

‘Humph!' exclaimed Ethel. ‘Do we believe that, George?' She stared across at her nephew who was pulling out a chair.

He sat down and his gaze rested on his daughter's face. ‘Aunt Ethel thinks you might have known this young man already and the fight broke out over you, Jeannie, love.'

Jeanette's eyes widened. ‘That's not true! You ask my friend Peggy.'

‘My sources say she wasn't there for the fight,' said George.

‘No, but we went into the chippy together, glad to get out of the rain. The young man came in shortly after. He was wearing oilskins and I thought he looked like a sailor and said it must be terrible being at sea in such weather. Then we were interrupted by Greg dragging Peggy out. There wouldn't have been a fight if it weren't for him,' said Jeanette.

‘She denied having anything to do with him,' said George.

‘I don't believe it!' said Jeanette, taken aback.

George said heavily, ‘Actually, she admitted lying later when told there were those who swore they'd seen him there. She's not exactly what you'd call a reliable witness.'

Jeanette's eyes darkened. ‘I'm going to have it out with her on Monday! What does she think she's playing at, telling such lies?'

‘Never mind what she thinks,' said Ethel, pouring boiling water into the teapot. ‘You shouldn't have been in that chippy. You knew I'd have your supper waiting for you.'

‘Burnt to a crisp,' said Jeanette beneath her breath.

‘What did you say?' snapped Ethel, rearing her head like a cobra ready to strike.

Jeanette met her great-aunt's eyes squarely. ‘If you remember, Aunt Ethel, when I came in you didn't offer me any supper but hustled me upstairs. You didn't even give me the chance to go to the lavatory or clean my teeth.'

George placed a hand on his daughter's wrist. ‘She's explained that, Jeannie, love. She'd been worried sick about you with it being so late and decided it was necessary to teach you a lesson.'

‘That's true,' said Ethel, nodding several times. ‘I've been thinking, as a treat, not as a punishment, you understand, Jeanette, you can accompany me to the pictures to see
The Weak and the Wicked
this evening
.
'

‘But you know I saw that yesterday,' protested Jeanette, her heart sinking at the thought of sitting through the film with the old woman.

‘Then you can see it again,' said Ethel softly. ‘Anyway, to make up for your having no supper last night, you can help me make supper this evening.' She went over to the vegetable rack and returned with a full colander and placed it in front of Jeanette. ‘Peel them!' She sat at the table and, staring at her great-niece, added, ‘And you've yet to tell us what you said to this priest.'

Jeanette wished the old witch would remove herself. She could not resist criticizing the way Jeanette did things. According to her, Jeanette always removed too much of the white flesh from potatoes.

George intervened. ‘Well, Jeannie, did the priest have anything more to say about the young man who got hurt?'

Jeanette inwardly counted to ten. ‘I only thought about going.'

‘I see. So you don't know the name of this young man?'

Jeanette shook her head. ‘I barely got the chance to thank him, and I doubt I'll ever meet him again unless he gets in touch with the priest.'

‘Well, I hope he does. I'd like to shake his hand for coming to your rescue,' said George.

‘I don't know why,' said Ethel. ‘When sailors come ashore they're looking to get into mischief. Wine, women and song, that's what they want. No doubt he was trying to get round our Jeannie and have his wicked way with her. No doubt she was flattered by his attention.'

George frowned. ‘That's a bit prejudiced, Aunt Ethel. If you haven't got something good to say about people, don't say it is what I say!' He rose from the table and left the kitchen.

‘Now see what you've done,' said Ethel wrathfully, glaring at Jeanette.

‘It's not my fault if Dad wanted to get away from you. And he's right – you shouldn't tar all sailors with the same brush. It isn't nice.'

Ethel cuffed her across the head. ‘Don't you be giving me cheek! And while I remember, how did you get out of your bedroom? I swear I locked you in.'

‘Well, you could have been imagining you did,' said Jeanette, rubbing her head.

Ethel's eyes narrowed into slits. ‘Are you suggesting I'm going senile? Well, let me tell you, girl, that I never forget a face.'

What had never forgetting faces to do with her escaping her bedroom? It was interesting, though, Ethel talking of going senile. Jeanette determined to watch for any sign of it and decided she must mention it to Hester and Sam, too.

As she peeled the vegetables, her thoughts were now of them. It was possible that they were working together, doing their part to catch those men whom the Customs had their eye on for smuggling in goodness knows what!

Hester glanced at her brother as he banged the knocker for a second time. After several minutes, the door opened in what could only be described as a furtive manner. Sam thrust his foot into the opening and produced a sheet of paper from an inside pocket. ‘I have a warrant to search this house.'

‘There's nothing here! You've come to the wrong address.' The owner of the voice was invisible to Hester, but she detected a trace of fear amid the bluster.

‘We'll see about that,' said Sam calmly. ‘Step aside, please, if you don't want to be hurt.'

A head peeped round the door and Hester found herself being inspected, along with the three uniformed male officers. ‘You're making a mistake!' shouted the man.

Sam pushed him aside and told a constable to watch him. Entering the house, he ordered another policeman to check the front room whilst the other searched upstairs. Sam told Hester to follow him and headed for the rear of the building.

This was not the first time she had been on a raid, but even so, Hester's heart was beating rapidly. She was close on her brother's heels as he flung open a door. ‘So what's going on here?' he said quietly.

Standing at his shoulder, Hester was aware of a sweet pungent odour that was quite pleasant. She stared at the Chinese couple who were lying on blankets on the floor. Between them was a spirit lamp, and the man was in the act of taking a pipe from his mouth. Near to hand were two open packets, one of which had been used.

‘Search the room, Constable Walker,' ordered Sam.

Hester did so whilst her brother spoke to the couple who appeared to be in a daze. On the mantelpiece she found two needles and a file, and on a ledge behind the window shutter were two opium pipes. She searched the wardrobe and discovered inside a coat pocket some raw opium and a tin containing five packets of prepared opium. She could hear one of the men saying in fractured English that he smoked opium to relieve the bad pain in his stomach. She might have felt sorry for him if her brother had not already told her that he had previous convictions for possession of drugs in London. He had also been convicted of gaming offences, so it wasn't as if he was unaware that he was breaking the law. She found another spirit lamp under the bed and that seemed to finalize everything.

After the arrests were made she accompanied the female prisoner, whilst two of the male officers dealt with the men. They travelled in a Black Maria to the bridewell in Cheapside, while Sam and the other officer went down to the docks. It was not long before her brother returned and she was told the white man who rented the room in the house was a ship's steward, and the Chinaman was a ship's cook and brother-in-law of the woman. She was pleased that everything had been accomplished without any violence.

‘You can go off home now, Hester,' said Sam, stifling a yawn. ‘I've some paperwork to do here.'

‘It's a pity you can't come with me,' she murmured. ‘You work too hard.'

He put down his mug and stared at her. ‘I enjoy my job. You're not worrying about facing Aunt Ethel on your own just because you let Jeanette out of her bedroom, are you?'

She flushed and fiddled with her whistle. ‘I know I'm stupid. I'm glad you were able to be of some influence, so Jeanette won't have to appear in court.'

‘It had already been arranged that the evidence of the two women who saw everything would suffice,' he said, toying with a pencil. ‘I do think she has too much to say for herself sometimes, though. One day it could get her into real trouble.'

‘I agree. But I'd hate to see her put down so badly that she'd be scared to open her mouth.'

Sam agreed, leaning back in the chair. ‘I'm fond of the kid. But you know what she said to me today?'

‘What?'

‘She wondered if the old witch had followed Grace and murdered her!'

Hester's eyes flared wide. ‘What do you think?'

‘Aunt Ethel did go out for a while. If I hadn't been so wrapped up in myself I might have asked not only her where she was going, but Grace as well. Jeanette reckons that with three members of the police force in the house, we should have a go at finding out what happened that evening.'

Hester pulled a face. ‘As if we didn't have enough to do.'

‘But you can understand why she said it,' muttered Sam. ‘Three coppers in the house and we have no proof that Grace is dead or if she went off with another man. Surely Dad should have been able to find some trace of her?'

‘Perhaps he never searched thoroughly enough because he believes there could be some truth in what Aunt Ethel said about Grace having someone else. It could be that she was seeing someone but had no intention of leaving Dad and Jeanette for him. Maybe she was with him when a bomb fell and destroyed wherever they were and that was the end of them,' said Hester.

‘From what I remember she appeared to be very fond of Dad. I don't recall them ever arguing.'

‘They might have done when we weren't there. So what are we going to do?' asked Hester.

Sam yawned and rubbed his face with his hands. ‘I didn't say we had to do anything. I was just telling you what Jeanette said.'

‘Yes, but you don't generally say something unless you feel something needs to be done about it,' persisted Hester.

‘OK! I don't like it that Jeanette might believe we've failed her. I do have trouble accepting that our stepmother would have walked out on us, never mind her own daughter and Dad,' said Sam. ‘Yet how well did we really know her? I know nothing of her background. She never mentioned family and we didn't ask. We were just glad to have a younger woman in the house who was on our side.'

‘I'd like her to be alive,' said Hester softly. ‘Perhaps she got caught up in the bombing and was so badly injured that she lost her memory? The only difficulty with that idea is that she would have had her identity card with her.'

Sam's eyes glinted. ‘She kept it in her handbag and I'm sure she didn't have that with her that evening. I watched her from the window. She was carrying a shopping bag flat on her hand as if she was making certain whatever was inside would not spill or break.'

‘She must have been going to visit someone.'

‘But who? She never had visitors as far as I know,' said Sam.

‘So what if she did have a friend and is walking around today, not remembering any of us, and has taken on a new identity?' suggested Hester.

Sam laughed. ‘You're not thinking, our kid! If she had a friend from the time before she knew us, then the friend would know who she is.'

Hester smiled faintly. ‘Could be that after losing her memory she took up with another man and married him and has another family. The old witch might have seen them together but has no intention of ever telling us the truth or informing Grace who she is and where we live now. Don't forget we were living in a different house back then.'

Sam reached for his mug. ‘It's a lot to think about.'

‘Then let's just mull it over. I'll see you later. Don't work too hard.'

‘And don't you let the old witch get you down.'

Hester waved and left the office. Sam had given her a lot to think about but she had no intention of mentioning what they had discussed with Jeanette. And she was not going to be scared of her great-aunt either. So what if Ethel had worked out it could only have been Hester who had enabled Jeanette to escape? She should show some guts and tell Ethel what she thought of her.

As it was, when Hester returned home, it was to find that her father was the only one there. Immediately she relaxed, although she felt sorry for Jeanette when she heard that she had gone to the pictures with their great-aunt.

While Hester ate her meal, she told her father about the raid. He showed interest, and she might have gone on to put to him Sam's idea of what might have happened to Grace if he had not switched on the wireless to listen to
In Town Tonight
. She went upstairs and had a quick bath before going to bed with a Mills & Boon romance from the library. She fell asleep after reading only five pages to dream that she was marooned on a tropical island with a mystery man.

She was roused the following morning by the sound of church bells and her half-sister bringing her breakfast in bed. ‘I believe you and Sam made several arrests,' said Jeanette.

Hester sat up and yawned. ‘Who told you?'