by Joan Jonker
Molly chuckled. ‘Me and Nellie are making a list of all the things ye’re missing, so don’t worry, sunshine. And some of the incidents are so unbelievable yer’ll think we’ve made them up.’
Nellie decided she’d been left out long enough. ‘You’ll never guess where I ended up yesterday, girl, not in a million years.’
‘Doreen hasn’t got a million years right now, sunshine,’ Molly said. ‘But she will have in a week’s time. Right now we’ll let her get back to her work, she’s got enough on her plate.’ She reached up and stroked her daughter’s face. ‘Ye’re doing a good job, love, and I’m proud of yer.’
‘If I take after you, Mam, I’ll be going through this another three times, so I may as well get used to it.’
‘If yer Mam hadn’t been so daft, then yer’d only have to go through it twice, girl,’ Nellie piped up. ‘She should have been satisfied with three children like me, and kept her legs crossed.’
Doreen hadn’t had a good laugh for the last few days, but the look on her mam’s face brought forth a giggle. She looked so embarrassed, if looks could kill, Auntie Nellie would have been as dead as a dodo. And her mam couldn’t get away quick enough so she could tell her mate off.
‘We’ll be on our way, sunshine, ’cos we’ve got a few messages to go on.’ Molly gripped Nellie’s arm tight and began to frogmarch her down the street, while calling over her shoulder, ‘Ta-ra for now.’
Nellie did a little skip to get into step. ‘What’s the big rush, girl? And let go of me arm before yer cut off me circulation.’
‘I’ll cut off more than yer circulation if you ever again embarrass me in front of one of me children,’ Molly told her. ‘Me and Jack never talk like that in front of the children. Never have and never will.’
Nellie feigned innocence. ‘Talk like what, girl? I never said nothing to embarrass yer. I only told the truth. Yer can’t deny that what I said was true. If yer’d kept yer legs crossed yer wouldn’t have had your Ruthie.’
Molly pulled her to a halt. ‘What you think is funny doesn’t always amuse other people, Nellie, so while ye’re talking to any one of my children, watch yer words.’
The pair carried on walking in silence. It didn’t last long, however, for Nellie liked to hear herself talk. ‘Have yer fallen out with me, girl?’
‘Of course I haven’t fallen out with yer, soft girl, I wouldn’t be so childish. I was telling yer what I think, and now it’s over and done with.’
‘I’m glad about that, girl, ’cos I don’t like it when ye’re not speaking to me.’ Nellie tripped along by Molly’s side, happy now. ‘Are we going to do some detective work for Corker first, or get our shopping in?’
‘What I was thinking of doing, sunshine, was asking in Irwin’s if they knew of a family named Blakesley. My first idea was to ask Tony in the butcher’s, ’cos he knows nearly everyone around here. But I scotched that idea, ’cos Ellen would be bound to hear, and Corker might not want her to know what he’s up to. There’s no way we could get Tony on his own, so we’d better not mention we even saw Corker the other night. If he wants Ellen to know, he can tell her himself. Our best bet is Irwin’s.’
Nellie nodded, adopting her private detective stance. ‘I agree with yer, girl. That is definitely our best bet. But if we aren’t in luck there, we could always try our corner shop routine.’
Molly looked surprised. ‘There is no corner shop that I know of. Not on the main road, anyway. If it is the fourth street along, as Corker said, there’s a pub on each corner. And nothing yer say, Nellie, would coax me to go in a pub to ask questions.’
Nellie tutted. ‘I know ye’re clever, girl, but now and again yer can be as thick as two short planks. Have we got a corner shop at the end of our street?’
‘No, sunshine, we haven’t. We do have one on a corner, but it’s on the street which runs through the middle of our street.’
‘And that’s how it is in every street in the neighbourhood. Honest, girl, haven’t yer lived round here long enough to know the layout? I bet if we walk down the fourth street, we’ll find a corner shop halfway down. And I think we’d be better off trying that before Irwin’s. There’s always customers in there, and the manager doesn’t like the girls behind the counter to spend too much time talking to customers. He’s a miserable bugger at the best of times. Let’s try walking down the fourth street, which is Spencer Street, by the way. I’m surprised yer didn’t know that. You and Corker must walk around with yer eyes closed.’
‘All right, Nellie, I don’t take as much notice as you do, mainly because I’m not interested in the layout of the neighbourhood. As long as I can find me way to my own house, and to my family and friends, then I’m happy. I don’t ask much out of life, sunshine, only that me and mine are warm, have enough to eat, and love each other.’
The expression on Nellie’s face was comical. ‘Yer don’t half go on when yer start, girl. Ye’re worse than Miss Harrison.’
‘And who is Miss Harrison, for heaven’s sake? I’ve never even heard of the woman.’
‘She was my teacher in school, that’s who. She used to drone on something woeful. Half the class would go to sleep during her lesson, and she never even noticed. The trouble with her was, she liked the sound of her own voice.’
Molly pulled on her ear lobe as she stared into her mate’s face. ‘It’s thirty years since yer left school, Nellie, and I didn’t know yer then. So can I ask why yer felt the need to bring Miss Harrison into the conversation? I expect she’s forgotten you ever existed. In fact I’m sure she made a deliberate effort to put you out of her mind.’
‘I’ve told yer many times that being sarcastic doesn’t suit yer, girl. It’s the way you hold yer mouth. If yer want to be good at being sarky, yer have to curl yer top lip, and ye’re hopeless at that.’
‘I never knew a curl of the top lip meant yer were being sarcastic, Nellie, ’cos to me it looks like a snarl.’
‘Look, yer’ll be telling me off in a minute for talking too much,’ Nellie said, ‘when it’s you what’s wasting time. Let’s get walking, and we can make our plan when we see the corner shop. Ten minutes’ walk, and we’ll be there.’
Molly tucked her arm in. ‘Okay, sunshine, let’s put the open for business sign out, and Bennett and McDonough are ready for work.’
Oh, how Nellie loved the sound of that. ‘Ready, willing, and able, girl, that’s us. Best foot forward and we’ll tackle any case, no matter how hard. And we’ll win. We’ve never failed yet’
The pair were in confident mood as they walked down Spencer Street. It was a replica of their own street, and hundreds of others in Liverpool. The only difference to the mates was they knew every one of their neighbours, while here they didn’t know a soul.
Nellie pulled on Molly’s arm to slow her down. Nodding her head, she said, ‘There’s the corner shop, girl, on the other side. I told yer there’d be one, didn’t I?’
‘Yes, yer did, sunshine, and I should have had more faith in yer. But finding the shop was the easy part. Now we have to decide what our plans are, and how best to carry them out.’
Nellie looked up into her mate’s face. ‘Ay, girl, ye’re beginning to talk like a real detective. If yer talk like that to the woman behind the counter, she’ll twig there’s something fishy going on. Our best chance of finding out what we want is if yer let me do the talking.’
‘I’ll let yer do the talking, sunshine, with pleasure. As long as we both agree how to go about it. For instance, I don’t think we should just barge in and ask if they know a family called Blakesley, and where do they live. We need to be a bit more subtle, like, and talk about something else for a minute or two. Or use a name near enough to Blakesley, so we don’t land ourselves in trouble. We could perhaps shorten the name to Blake. What do you think, Nellie?’
‘I think that if yer don’t fancy doing the talking yerself, and yer want me to do it, then yer should shut up and let me do it in me own way. Find out the lay of the land,
like. I’ll buy something first, just to get talking.’
Molly nodded and looked through the shop window. ‘There’s two customers in now, and just a woman behind the counter. We’ll go in, eh? I’ll buy a packet of tea, as well.’
When Nellie pushed the shop door open, the bell inside tinkled just like the one in Maisie’s shop. They stood to one side to let the two customers who had been served get past, then they walked to the counter. The first thing to catch Nellie’s eye was the tray of cakes, and this paved the way to start up a conversation. ‘Ay, these cakes look nice, girl. Shall we buy two to have with our cup of tea when we get home?’
The shopkeeper walked down to where the mates stood. ‘They’re all fresh today. We get a tray delivered every morning with our bread.’
Nellie was licking her lips. ‘I’ll have that cream slice. What about you, Molly?’
Molly wasn’t as crazy about cakes as her mate was, but she had to agree it was a good way of making conversation easier. ‘I’ll have the Eccles cake, it looks very tasty. I like them with sugar on top.’
The woman pulled a white paper bag from the nail at the side of the counter, and was putting the cakes in when she asked, ‘Not from around here, are yer?’
Molly left the talking to Nellie, who didn’t find it a problem. ‘Not far away, girl, just ten or fifteen minutes’ walk.’ Then, with her mouth watering, she said, ‘Ay, girl, will yer put that cream bun in as well? My feller is very partial to cream buns.’
For a split second, Molly forgot she was supposed to be the silent partner. ‘You big fibber, Nellie, that cake’s for you. George won’t even get to see it.’
‘What he doesn’t see he’ll never miss, girl. Unless you snitch on me, that is. But as me so-called best mate, I don’t think yer’d be lousy enough to tell tales.’
While the two mates were facing up to each other, the shopkeeper was looking on with more than a little interest. There was something familiar about the scene, but she couldn’t for the life of her think what it was. ‘Was there anything else you ladies wanted?’
Nellie grinned at her. ‘There’s loads of bleeding things I want, girl, like a very rich man in his eighties. I’d love him to death and then have a bloody good time on the money he left.’
Molly tutted. ‘That’s a terrible thing to say, and it’s to be hoped Saint Peter wasn’t listening, Nellie Mack, or he’ll have moved yer chair to the back row and given yer harp and halo to someone more deserving.’
They both turned when the woman behind the counter said, ‘Well, I’ll be blowed! I knew there was something familiar about yer, but the last time I saw yer, yer were half the size. It is Nellie, isn’t it? Used to live in Cedar Street until yer got married?’
Nellie pulled a face. ‘That’s me, girl, but how do yer know me? Did I go to the same school as yer?’
The woman shook her head. ‘No, but I used to play skipping with yer. I lived at the top of the street. Me name was Ena Martin.’
There was a loud gasp from Nellie. ‘Bloody hell, Ena Martin! Yeah, I remember yer now. Ye’re a few years younger than me, aren’t yer?’
‘Only two years. I went to see yer getting married in St Anthony’s.’ Ena chuckled. ‘That must be twenty-five years ago, if not more. Yer were nice and slim in those days.’
It was Nellie’s turn to chuckle. ‘Yeah, I didn’t have this voluptuous body in those days. And it was nearly twenty-five years ago, it’s our silver wedding anniversary this year. Time flies over, doesn’t it, girl? But it’s nice to see yer again, and the more I look at yer, I can see yer in me mind as yer were then.’
‘What a coincidence, you walking in here. Me and Ralph, he’s me husband, we bought this shop about fifteen years ago. We manage it between us, and we don’t make a bad living out of it. But tell me, what are yer doing down this neck of the woods?’
Nellie sought Molly’s advice. ‘What d’yer think, girl?’
‘The truth, sunshine, seeing as she’s an old friend. It’s nice that yer’ve met up again after so many years.’
Her head nodding, Nellie pushed the cake bag out of the way, then leaned her elbows on the counter. ‘Ena, do yer know of a family round here by the name of Blakesley?’
‘Are yer having me on, Nellie? It must be a joke, for I don’t think there’s anyone in the district who hasn’t heard of the Blakesley family. They live in this street, but they’re known by everyone in the surrounding area for the tricks they get up to. What business do you have with them?’
‘I don’t have no business with them, girl, I wouldn’t know them if I fell over them. It’s a very good friend of ours who asked if we could get some information on them. But it’s all hush-hush, girl; we don’t want them to know we’re looking out for them.’ Nellie stood up and rubbed her elbows, which were getting sore with leaning on the counter. ‘Can yer tell us about them, so we can pass it on to our friend? You know, are they goodies or baddies, nice to know or horrible?’
‘They are the family from hell, Nellie. There’s only the three of them, father, mother and son. The father is a layabout, sits on his backside all day and never does a hand’s turn. Only to go to the pub every night with his good-for-nothing son, who I’ll come to later. And the mother is a big fat slob, with a mouth on her that turns the air blue right down from here to the docks. The house is filthy; yer can smell the dirt when yer pass it. The windows never get cleaned, and the curtains are falling to pieces. The house is a dump and spoils the other houses which are all neat and tidy.’
Molly had been listening with every intention of leaving the talking and questioning to her mate. But she couldn’t hold back any longer. ‘It’s a wonder the neighbours aren’t up in arms. I would be if the house next door was so dirty it smelled.’
‘Oh, the neighbours have had murder with them, and with the landlord. But as long as they’re paying their rent they won’t put them out. The police are often there, ’cos things are stolen from back yards nearly every day, but the police have no evidence that it’s the Blakesleys’ lad who steals them. They’re a crafty bunch, all right. Liars, cheats and thieves. The lad is out robbing every day, and sells the stolen goods to anyone who’ll buy them. Then the three of them are out boozing every night.’ Ena sighed. ‘The people who buy things off them, knowing they’ve been stolen from people who are living hand to mouth, are worse than the robber in my eyes.’
‘It’s the son our friend is interested in,’ Nellie said. ‘He thinks the lad robbed an old lady. She’s in her eighties, alone in the world, and was left penniless and terrified.’
The tinkle of the bell when the door was pushed open put a stop to the conversation. ‘Hang on until I serve these two customers, Nellie. I won’t be long.’ Ena walked down the counter with a smile on her face. ‘What can I do for yer, ladies?’
Molly whispered, ‘I think we should go now, sunshine. We’ve heard enough to pass on to Corker.’
Nellie shook her head. ‘He couldn’t do much on what we’ve been told. The address for one thing. And the lad’s movements, times and suchlike. We may as well stay another five minutes, girl, it won’t hurt us. In that five minutes we could find out enough for Corker to catch him. We do the footwork, Corker can do the rest.’
Molly could see the reasoning behind her mate’s words, and nodded. ‘Ye’re right, sunshine. It’s just that I feel conspicuous standing here. But wasn’t it a stroke of luck finding the shopkeeper was a friend of yours? And that she knows what goes on in the street?’
Nellie was feeling very important that she was the one who was able to make their search easier. Corker really would be proud of her. She smiled at Molly now. ‘I bet Saint Peter had a hand in this. I must thank him when I say me prayers tonight.’
The two customers had been served and Ena came back to the end of the counter. ‘I’ll have to be quick now, Nellie, because I start to get busy around this time. So tell me about the old lady that was robbed. It sounds like something Sid Blakesley’s known for. He picks o
n old people who he knows live on their own. And anyone who leaves their back yard door open round here is bound to come home to find the place ransacked. But how did yer friend come by Sid Blakesley’s name?’
‘A neighbour saw him leaving the old lady’s house. She described him as being about twenty, cap pulled down over his eyes, scruffy coat down to his knees.’
Ena banged a clenched fist on the counter. ‘That’s him! That’s all he ever wears. Yer can tell yer friend he need look no further.’
‘A few details would help, sunshine,’ Molly told her. ‘His address, which pub the family drink in, is the lad, Sid, out all day? Does he have a set routine?’
Ten minutes later, the shop was getting busy, and Nellie and Molly walked through the door with the answers to all their questions written down.
Chapter Fifteen
Molly closed the shop door behind her and mouthed the words, ‘Let’s walk up the street a bit, sunshine.’
Nellie nodded knowingly. She was taking her detecting work seriously, and looked left and right to make sure there was no one in earshot. ‘Should we cross over, girl, ’cos the odd numbers are on that side?’
Molly linked arms. ‘We don’t want to cross over, sunshine, we’ll be better off on this side.’ She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘We’ll see more from this side ’cos we’ll have a better view. If we stopped outside their house to have a good look, one of them would be bound to see us, and they’d come out and start asking awkward questions.’
‘Good thinking, girl, good thinking. From what we’ve heard, the whole family are ruffians.’ Nellie squared her shoulders, like a boxer. ‘Not that they’d frighten me, I’d take the three of them on and think nothing of it. But I know you don’t like to see anyone fighting, so for your sake I’ll go careful and not let them see us.’
‘That’s very thoughtful of yer, sunshine, but I won’t say any more right now, ’cos we’re almost facing number twenty-seven. So let’s slow down, then we can have a good look.’