The Liberty Girls

by Fiona Ford

  ‘Only the top copy for the two hundred that Flo wrote down at the time which of course the Counting House kept,’ Percy admitted. ‘However, I suppose poor old Flo was having a hard time after her auntie died. It was lucky Mrs Claremont was there to sort it all out for her.’

  Alice bit her lip. ‘Yes it was rather lucky.’

  ‘She’s a good sort,’ Percy said as he turned to go. ‘Don’t worry too much about those missing papers. Perhaps have a word with Mrs Claremont if you get stuck? She’ll be only too happy to help you, I’m sure. She was so worried about letting Beath’s down that day.’

  As she watched Percy return to the loading bay Alice felt a knot of annoyance form in her stomach. She wasn’t quite sure what had happened, but she had a sneaking suspicion that Flo had been framed.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Arriving at the last stitching night before the parade to the sight of Arthur in Dot’s arms, with his gummy smile and chubby cheeks, lifted Alice’s spirits tenfold.

  Greeting Dot, she scooped her son into her own arms, and as she held him close, burying her head in his soft, fine hair, she inhaled the unique sweet smell that was pure Arthur and felt the knot in her shoulders loosen. For a brief moment she felt a pang of guilt that his father wasn’t able to enjoy these simplest of moments. After all, that had been all she had wanted when Luke was missing: for them to be one happy family. Who was she to put a stop to that? For her boy’s sake, shouldn’t she try to make things right one last time?

  ‘I thought you were going to be here for the whole evening, not the last ten minutes,’ Dot grumbled, interrupting her thoughts. ‘His lordship here has been getting right upset his mother isn’t about.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Alice said with regret. ‘There was something I had to do.’

  ‘Don’t tell me Percy had you sorting through even more paperwork!’ Mary smiled as she came across to greet Alice. ‘I popped in at lunchtime and he said you were too busy to take a break. What was so important?’

  Alice gave a knowing smile. ‘I’ll explain it all in a minute, but first is Rose here?’

  Mary shook her head. ‘She hasn’t been in all day. She was feeling very unwell when I left for work this morning and asked me to let the superintendent’s office know she was poorly.’

  ‘Why did you want her?’ Flo asked.

  ‘I didn’t,’ Alice replied bluntly. ‘I want to talk about her and for that I want to make sure she’s not here.’

  There was a pause as the last of the stitchers bade them all goodbye and made their way out of the door. The girls waved and said, ‘See you tomorrow night,’ then looked expectantly at Alice.

  ‘There’s no easy way to say this, but I caught Rose pickpocketing last night.’ As the girls gasped in disbelief, Alice continued grimly: ‘But that’s not what I’m worried about. When I spoke to her afterwards she told me she hated her life and that up until she had met Joy, she wanted to do away with herself.’

  ‘Why didn’t she tell us how she felt?’ Mary protested. ‘I know she hasn’t said a word to Malcolm; he would be devastated.’

  ‘I thought she was being so strong,’ Flo replied thoughtfully. ‘She seemed to have been remarkably accepting.’

  ‘I think she was too accepting,’ Alice mused. ‘She was screaming in the street last night that she felt Joy was the best thing that had ever happened to her. And if that wasn’t bad enough she told me she thought we were to blame for her blindness. She said she hated us for the fact we hadn’t lost our sight when she had.’

  ‘That’s terrible,’ Flo said sadly. ‘And that’s why she’s pickpocketing?’

  ‘I suppose she wants to feel something other than sorry for herself,’ Mary murmured. ‘Crime will do that, I suppose.’

  ‘But what’s she blaming us for?’ Dot cried indignantly. ‘I mean, what the hell have we done? It’s not like we poured the flaming whisky down her throat, is it?’

  ‘I don’t know, girls,’ Alice answered. ‘But I do know that something has to be done. We can’t let Rose fall through the cracks like this.’

  ‘What would her poor father say if he knew what she was up to? Or Tommy?’ Flo exclaimed.

  Alice shrugged. ‘She doesn’t care. Says she’s not remotely bothered what they think. Joy’s the only one she’s interested in, says she makes her feel as if she’s alive.’

  ‘And go hang the rest of us, I suppose.’ Dot sighed. ‘Well, I think you’re right, Alice, something has to be done but I don’t know what. I imagine that the more we tell her not to hang about with Joy, the more attractive she’ll become.’

  ‘Precisely,’ Alice agreed. ‘I don’t think we have to rush into this. Whatever we do now we need to think carefully about.’

  ‘I suppose having a word with Joy is out of the question?’ Mary offered, only to be met with a roar of laughter from Alice.

  ‘She was there when I tore strips off Rose. Looked at me all smug as Shirley Allbright told me not everyone is cut out to be a goody two shoes like me.’

  ‘Cheeky cows,’ Dot growled.

  ‘That’s what I said,’ Alice sighed. ‘Still, I thought we could try and put our heads together and help her. I mean, Rose isn’t Joy, she doesn’t have to end up going the same way.’

  ‘Perhaps a simple chat with her will do the trick?’ Flo suggested.

  Alice grimaced. ‘Based on last night’s performance I very much doubt it, but perhaps once the dust has settled?’

  ‘In the meantime that doesn’t explain why you couldn’t get to the stitching night, lady,’ Dot said. ‘So come on, what were you up to?’

  ‘And come to think of it, where’s Jean?’ Flo frowned. ‘She said she would be on hand to help tonight.’

  ‘These young kids,’ Dot snapped. ‘No sense of responsibility.’

  ‘Actually, Jean was helping me,’ Alice said in a hushed whisper. ‘I’ve asked her to get Mr Button for us; she should be along in a minute.’

  Flo frowned. ‘What on earth are you up to? And why do we need Mr Button?’

  Alice clapped her hands together excitedly. ‘Every cloud has a silver lining. Today poor old Percy felt so sorry for me in deliveries he asked me to sort through the department’s paperwork.’

  ‘That’s a silver lining?’ Dot scoffed. ‘I should hate to be around if Percy’s handing out treats.’

  ‘Wait!’ Alice insisted. ‘While I was going through the paperwork I found a discrepancy with the order that got Flo demoted.’

  ‘How do you mean?’ Flo asked quietly. ‘I know I made the mistake – I was distracted, finding the job too much for me.’

  Alice shook her head. ‘That wasn’t it at all. You didn’t make the mistake, Flo, but someone made it look as though you had.’

  Confusion crossed Flo’s face. ‘I don’t understand.’

  With that, Jean suddenly arrived clutching a piece of paper. Her face was flushed and she looked as if she had run a marathon.

  ‘Where’s Mr Button?’ Alice asked.

  ‘In with Mrs Claremont.’

  Alice gasped in despair. ‘So he’s not coming?’

  Jean shook her head. ‘He’s coming and he’s bringing Mrs Claremont too.’

  ‘Alice, what the hell is all this about?’ Dot cried.

  ‘I’ll explain when Mr Button gets here,’ Alice replied, turning her attention back to Jean. ‘What’s Mrs Claremont doing here?’

  ‘Ensuring preparations for the fashion parade are in order, Mrs Milwood,’ Mrs Claremont said crisply, approaching swiftly with Mr Button following closely behind. ‘We were in rather an important meeting when Miss Rushmore interrupted us saying we had to get to the crypt immediately.’

  ‘It’s all actually worked out rather perfectly, Mrs Claremont,’ Mr Button said smoothly. ‘You see, girls, I have some rather exciting news which I will make official next week; however, I don’t think Mrs Claremont will mind if I share it now?’ he asked, turning to the older woman.

  As she smiled and nodded her hea
d, Mr Button’s face broke into a broad smile. ‘I have great pleasure in announcing that the board, the Liberty family and I have all agreed that Mrs Claremont will become deputy store manager. She has proven herself to be an excellent leader and I’m thrilled.’

  As Mr Button finished, Alice and the girls looked anxiously at one another before realising that they were now supposed to congratulate Mrs Claremont.

  ‘That’s wonderful news, Mrs Claremont,’ Dot said, realising someone had to say something. ‘You must be very proud.’

  ‘I am,’ Mrs Claremont said evenly. ‘I’ve plenty of plans for this place. My replacement in fabrics will be announced in due course but in the meantime Miss Rushmore here will do a wonderful job of running the department.’

  Alice saw Jean had gone pale and she felt a flash of anger. Jean was a nice girl but too young and inexperienced to run a department. The responsibility was far too great, and Alice knew that Mrs Claremont had only suggested it so she could keep a firm grip on fabrics while she continued her bid to run the store. This had to stop.

  Drawing herself up to her full height, Alice felt a pang of worry. This wasn’t the way this was supposed to turn out at all. She’d been hoping for a private word with Mr Button with the rest of the Liberty girls around her for support.

  Nervously she cleared her throat and glanced at Jean, who nodded and pressed a heavily creased piece of paper into her hands.

  ‘I just wanted to talk to you about the incorrect order Beath’s received recently, sir,’ Alice said.

  ‘Oh?’ Mr Button frowned. ‘I thought we had dealt with this, Mrs Milwood. I’m not sure, for Mrs Canning’s sake, there’s a lot of sense in dragging it up.’

  ‘Actually there is, sir,’ Alice tried again. ‘You see, new evidence has come to light.’

  Mrs Claremont snorted. ‘New evidence! What do you think this is? A courtroom drama in the Old Bailey?’

  ‘What is this new evidence?’ Mr Button asked quietly, ignoring Mrs Claremont.

  ‘Today, whilst I was working in the stores, I was asked to sort through the deliveries paperwork. To cut a long story short, I was unable to find any carbon sales orders for either the two hundred or twenty rolls Beath’s ordered.’

  ‘You must have done,’ Flo insisted. ‘I wrote the order out for two hundred, which was entirely my fault as I knew Beath’s only wanted twenty. I remember speaking to them about it and being pleased it was such a big order. I must have been distracted, there was so much happening, and then of course Mrs Claremont was good enough to resolve it for me while I was away on compassionate leave, and I didn’t know anything about all this until they rang me. It was all my fault Alice. I knew they wanted twenty rolls but I wrote down two hundred. I made a terrible mess of it all.’

  ‘The thing was you didn’t make a terrible mess of it, Flo.’ Alice spoke evenly.

  ‘We’ve dealt with all this,’ Mrs Claremont said with a wave of her hand. ‘Mrs Milwood, I don’t understand why you’re pushing Mrs Canning like this. Forget it.’

  ‘I won’t forget it because I found the carbon copies that went missing. And they clearly show that Flo did write down an order for twenty rolls.’

  There was a collective gasp as Alice produced the carbon copies.

  ‘Let me see those,’ Flo demanded, taking the papers from Alice’s outstretched hand.

  ‘I’ve also got the original,’ Alice continued. ‘It was stashed with the carbon copies. It seems the Counting House never had the original order and were entirely reliant on a conversation with Mrs Claremont about the mistake. However, if you look at the original top copy in Flo’s order book you can see quite clearly that it states she took an order for two hundred; the only trouble is that where twenty has been crossed through and two hundred has been written in full in its place – as we must always do with orders for more than a hundred – you can quite easily see that firstly this isn’t Flo’s writing, and secondly this handwritten two hundred isn’t visible on the carbon copies as it should be.’

  ‘What on earth does that prove?’ Mrs Claremont scoffed. ‘Mrs Milwood, you’re wasted in deliveries. With these crackpot theories you ought to be Miss Marple.’

  Flo snapped her head up as she handed the papers to Mr Button for examination. ‘It proves that I didn’t make a mistake, but someone made it look as though I did.’

  ‘I must admit, Mrs Canning, this is all rather strange,’ Mr Button said hesitantly as he pored over the carbon copies and the original form. ‘But who on earth would do something like this?’

  ‘Can I see those?’ Mrs Claremont said, examining the papers in Mr Button’s hand. ‘I must say that this is all very strange. I shall make it a priority to look into it when I take up my new post properly next week.’

  As Mrs Claremont went to stuff the papers in her bag, Alice stretched out a hand to stop her. ‘I think we can clear up the mystery quite easily here and now,’ she said, turning to Jean. ‘Miss Rushmore, would you mind telling everyone how I knew where to find these papers?’

  ‘Because I knew they were hidden at the back of the cash register,’ Jean said in a small voice.

  ‘Are you admitting to this?’ Mrs Claremont gasped in surprise. ‘Why would you do this to poor Mrs Canning?’

  Alice glanced at Jean then, and saw her face flush with annoyance. ‘I never did nothing to Mrs Canning,’ she shouted suddenly. ‘I shoved them papers there because you told me to throw ’em away. Only trouble was, I didn’t think what you were doing was right. Unlike you, Mrs Canning and Mrs Milwood were trying to help me learn about fabrics; you just wanted me to be your lackey. So I hid ’em, because one day I knew the truth would come out that you were the one who made it look like Mrs Canning had made a mistake.’

  At that Mrs Claremont let out a short burst of laughter. ‘Don’t be so silly, Jean. I shall discuss this with you further next week. Don’t worry, Mr Button, I’ll get to the bottom of this.’

  Only Mr Button looked grave. Alice could see his eyes were filled with fury and his nostrils were slightly flared. She didn’t think she had ever seen him look quite as angry as he looked now. ‘This has been sorted out quite satisfactorily now, Mrs Claremont,’ he said slowly. ‘The words “two hundred” have been written in your hand.’

  Mrs Claremont’s hands flew to her throat. ‘Now, Mr Button, I can assure you that I had nothing to do with this and I’m shocked you think I would stoop so low.’

  ‘I don’t think it, I can see it with my own eyes,’ Mr Button snapped as he took the papers from Alice’s hands and jabbed at the offending numbers. ‘Mrs Claremont, I cannot believe what I’m hearing. You have been responsible for causing trouble for one of my most loyal and capable staff members when she was facing a particularly gruelling time.’

  ‘Please, Mr Button, it wasn’t like that. You must believe me,’ Mrs Claremont begged. But Mr Button shook his head at her in disgust. ‘It gives me no pleasure at all to say this, Mrs Claremont, but I’m afraid you have left me with no choice. As of this moment your employment is terminated. Don’t come back tomorrow.’

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Alice knew she ought to be delighted that not only had Mr Button thrown Mrs Claremont out on her ear but that she and Mary had been reinstated to fabrics. Yet somehow she felt surprisingly flat as she began her walk home, Arthur fast asleep in his pram, as she went over the events of the evening.

  As well as reinstating Mary and Alice, Mr Button had offered Flo the chance to have her old job as deputy store manager back but she had refused. Instead she had simply asked if things could go back to the way they had been with her in charge of fabrics and Alice as her deputy.

  Astonished, Mr Button had agreed, before commending Jean for her bravery in speaking out against her boss for wrongdoing. All in all it had been a success and with the fashion parade now only a day away Alice knew she ought to feel overjoyed with life when instead she felt listless: so much so that she had refused the other girls’ invitation to go for a celebra
tion drink, and instead insisted she needed to take Arthur home. The truth was she felt so deflated that even if she hadn’t had a baby to care for, she would have refused – she just wanted to be alone. There had been so much to think about lately, so much that had gone wrong, it felt as if her life was being continually upended and she needed a few minutes to take stock.

  Rounding the corner and heading in the direction of the Tube station, the sight of a young couple walking in front of her caught her eye. Dressed in his army uniform, he looked as if he was home on leave for a couple of days, while his wife, who looked just as smart, dressed in a navy tea dress, seemed torn between doting on the baby in the pram she was pushing and the husband with his arm wrapped around her shoulders. As she watched him drop a kiss lightly on the top of the woman’s head, she felt a stir of jealousy. That ought to have been her. She was supposed to have had that life, she thought bitterly. When Luke came home she’d thought she would be able to give Arthur the family she always wanted for him, but it seemed Luke had other ideas. A cheating father was not what she wanted for her child, but then again, she thought, looking into the pram where her son was sleeping contentedly, did she want a future for him where both parents were at war or, worse, living apart?

  Glancing again at the couple ahead of her, Alice felt a sudden resolve. She wanted to try and give that happy family to Arthur and she wasn’t ready to give up without a fight. She didn’t know what the future held for her and Luke, but she owed it to Arthur and to herself to find out.

  Before she could change her mind Alice made an abrupt turn in the street, almost waking Arthur in the process. Then, with a quick tug at the sleeve of her cardigan, she walked determinedly west in the direction of Mayfair House.

  Just half an hour later after catching a bus in Regent Street, Alice had arrived outside the red-bricked building, heart pounding as she tried to summon up the courage to step inside.

  She still hadn’t decided quite what she would say to Luke. Should she tell him that they ought to sort out their differences for the sake of their son, or should she admit to the kiss with Jack and reveal she was still hurt about Hélène but that she was prepared to try to forgive and forget?