by Joan Jonker
‘I’m delighted for yer, sunshine, and I know Nellie is too. Someone up there is looking after you.’
‘It’ll be my Wally. I bet he’s smiling now, knowing I’m happy.’
‘I’m glad we decided to call,’ Molly told her. ‘It’s wonderful news and I’m chuffed for yer. It was Nellie’s idea really, she’s the one who suggested we call before going to the shops. But I’m afraid we can’t stay any longer ’cos I must get me daughter’s shopping in and it’s almost closing time. So we’ll love yer and leave yer, sunshine, if yer don’t mind.’
‘Not at all, sweetheart, you see to yer family. But yer will be coming to see me again, won’t you?’
‘Sure as eggs is eggs, girl,’ Nellie told her. ‘Remember, ye’re my adopted mother now. Yer won’t get rid of me that easy.’
The two mates were stepping on to the pavement when Flora said, ‘I wouldn’t want to get rid of either of yer. Not after yer were so good to me when I needed help. You take care now. Ta-ra.’
On Saturday morning, Irwin’s was the last call for shopping, and as the mates stepped out of the shop Nellie said, ‘There’s Spencer Street across the road. It wouldn’t take us five minutes to nip down and have a word with Ena, in the corner shop. Just to ask if she’s heard any more about the shenanigans of the Blakesley lad.’
‘That’s an idea, sunshine, but don’t make a meal of it, will yer, ’cos we haven’t got a lot of time.’
They looked both ways before crossing the busy road, then linked arms to walk down Spencer Street. ‘Let’s stay on this side, girl, then we might be able to sneak a look in their window.’
‘Oh, I don’t fancy that, sunshine. They’re not the sort of people I’d like to tangle with. Let’s cross over and be on the safe side. We can still run our eyes over the house.’
Nellie whispered through her teeth, ‘Ye’re afraid of yer own shadow, you are. No one would dare lay a finger on yer when ye’re with me.’
‘Leave it, Nellie. We’re nearing the house now.’ Both women slid their eyes sideways, and both came to an abrupt halt. For the house they were looking at had no curtains on the window, and as they crossed the cobbled street they could see there was no furniture in the house. It was completely empty. ‘Well, I’ll be blowed,’ Molly said. ‘They’ve done a flit.’
The door of the next house opened and a woman stepped out. She had a basket over her arm and was clutching a purse. When she saw the two friends peering in the window, she said, ‘If ye’re looking for the Blakesleys, yer’re out of luck. They did a moonlight flit last night, and am I glad! It’s good riddance to bad rubbish. A bloke up the street was going on night shift at the docks, and he saw them loading what bit of furniture they had on to a handcart. Thank God for that, is what me and all the other neighbours are saying. They were a blot on this street, the neighbours from hell. I don’t know what yer business was with them, but yer’ve missed them. I hope they didn’t owe yer any money, ’cos if they did yer can say goodbye to it.’
Molly shook her head. ‘We don’t even know them, missus. We saw the house looked empty and were nosy. A friend of ours is after a house in this area, and she asked us to keep our eyes open. That’s all, love.’
Nellie pulled on her mate’s arm. ‘Come on, girl, we’re late as it is.’ They waited until the woman was out of earshot, then they looked at each other and grinned. ‘Well, that’s a turn up for the book,’ Nellie said. ‘But perhaps it’s just as well, eh? They won’t be robbing anyone else around here. We’ll have to let Corker know.’
‘I’ll keep me eye out for him coming home from work, and fill him in with all the news. He’s usually home half an hour later than Jack on a Saturday, so with a bit of luck me and Jack will have our dinner over before Corker comes. You can watch for him as well, and come down to ours. I don’t want you moaning, and calling me a sneak for going behind yer back. Now Flora has got her watch back, and the Blakesleys are gone, we can put an end to the whole thing.’
Nellie didn’t say so, but she was going to miss the excitement. Still, never mind. Something else would come along to keep her and Molly busy in the McDonough and Bennett Private Detective Agency.
Chapter Twenty Six
Most factories closed down at twelve thirty every Saturday, and it was a welcome break for manual workers whose jobs were tiring and monotonous. So when Jack arrived home at dinnertime, he was looking forward to a quiet afternoon and a peaceful Sunday, when he could sit in comfort in his fireside chair with his packet of Woodbines close to hand while he read the Sunday paper from cover to cover.
He let himself in, and slipped his jacket off while shouting through to the living room. ‘I’m home, love.’
‘I heard yer, sunshine,’ Molly answered. ‘I’m just seeing to the dinner. There’s only you and me today. Yer know Ruthie’s going straight into town after work, with Bella.’
Jack hung his coat up and walked through to the living room. ‘Have I got time for a cigarette?’
‘No, yer jolly well haven’t! I’m just putting the dinner on the plates, and it won’t kill yer to wait until we’ve eaten before yer light up.’
‘Don’t bite me head off, love, I was only asking.’
Molly carried two plates in, and set them down so she and Jack would be facing each other. ‘It’s bacon, sausage and egg, sunshine. I made it easy for meself. No point in making a pan of stew for just the two of us.’
‘I’m glad yer did, love, ’cos I enjoy a fried meal. And I’m ready for it. I didn’t realize I was so hungry until I smelt the bacon.’
Molly cut into a sausage, then dipped it into the soft yolk of the egg. ‘Me and Nellie have had a busy morning, but I’m not going into details now. I’ll wait until Corker and me mate are here.’
‘Is Corker coming here?’
Molly nodded. ‘He doesn’t know it himself yet, but yes, he is coming. He’s usually home later than you on a Saturday, so I’m hoping we’ve finished our dinner before he arrives. I’m going to keep me eye out for him passing the window, and I’ll give him a knock. And Nellie’s watching out for him as well.’
Jack chuckled. ‘What have the pair of yer been up to now?’
‘All in good time, sunshine. But as I said, there’s no point in going through the whole story twice. As soon as Corker arrives, all will be revealed.’
‘So what ye’re telling me is, I’ve got to eat me dinner in double quick time?’
Molly pursed her lips, wagged her head from side to side and glanced at the clock. ‘Yer don’t have to choke yerself and gobble it down, sunshine. I reckon yer’ve got about ten minutes.’
All the love Jack Bennett had for his wife could be seen in his eyes, and the tenderness of his smile. ‘Oh, that’s bags of time, love. I bet you and me could have the dishes washed as well, by then.’
‘I’ll wash, sunshine, and you dry.’ Molly returned his look of love. ‘We make a good team, you and me. By the time Corker comes, we’ll be sitting nice and comfortable, and no one would know about the mad dash we’ve had. You can be listening to the wireless, and I’ll be knitting a tea cosy.’
Jack was speaking with his mouth full. Well, he had to if they were to be finished in time. ‘I’ve never seen yer knitting a tea cosy, love.’
‘No, and ye’re not likely to! I did enough knitting when the children were little to last me a lifetime. I know me ma still uses a tea cosy, but I think they’re a nuisance.’ Molly popped the last piece of sausage in her mouth, then pushed her chair back. ‘I’ve got the kettle on a low light, so there’ll be hot water to wash these dishes in. I’ll start, you finish eating yer dinner. If we’re not finished when Corker gets home, why worry? He’s not likely to give the place the once over.’
‘You get cracking, love, and I’ll be with yer in half a mo. Or d’yer want me to watch out for Corker?’
‘No need to, sunshine, ’cos Nellie will have her eyes glued to the window. Corker wouldn’t have time to get his key out before she was standing at th
e side of him. She’s a woman of many talents, is my mate. She can see through walls and round corners, and is able to smell Elsie Flanaghan from half a mile away.’
Jack put his plate in the hot soapy water, and followed up with his knife and fork. ‘I’ll finish off here, love; you do what yer have to do in the living room. But yer need to wipe the side of yer mouth. Yer’ve left a bit of egg yolk there.’
Molly wiped a wet hand across her mouth. ‘Nellie’s often told me that one day I’d end up with egg on me face.’
‘So that’s another of yer mate’s talents,’ Jack said, as his hand searched the water for the dish cloth. ‘Is there no end to what she can do?’
There came a loud rattling of a window pane, and Molly hurried to the door, shouting back to her husband over her shoulder, ‘She’s also clever at frightening the life out of me. Yer’ll come home from work one day to find a big gaping hole where the window used to be.’
Molly had her hand on the latch when she heard Nellie say, ‘Tell her it was you what knocked on the window, Corker, or she’ll carry on something woeful.’
‘Oh, Nellie, much as I love yer, me darlin’, I don’t want to get on the wrong side of Molly. I’m afraid ye’re going to have to admit it was your fair hand that had the window frame rattling.’
Molly stood perfectly still, waiting to hear what her mate’s reply would be. And a smile crossed her face when she heard the familiar voice.
‘Well, is that all the thanks I get for standing like a ruddy lemon for the last half hour, waiting for yer?’
‘But why were yer waiting for me, Nellie?’ The big man was trying hard not to laugh at the contortions Nellie was putting her face through. ‘It’s very flattering, but if it happens again all the neighbours will be talking.’
‘Sod the neighbours, I don’t owe them nothing. And I’m not going to tell yer why I was standing like a lemon waiting for yer, not until we’re inside.’ Nellie put a finger to her lips and winked up at Corker. ‘And neither of us will get inside until my mate turns the handle and opens the door. She’s been standing there listening to every word we’ve said. She makes out she’s holier than thou, but believe me, she’s far from it.’
Dropping the smile from her face, Molly opened the door. ‘Hello, Corker. I see yer’ve got yer shadow with yer again. The neighbours will be talking about you behind yer back, no matter what Nellie says. She doesn’t worry about what neighbours and gossips say, but your Ellen will if she gets to hear that twice this week a female with a voluptuous body has been waiting for yer coming home from work. She’ll have yer bags packed in three minutes flat, and she’ll open the door wide and throw the lot into the street. You included.’
Nellie pretended to yawn. ‘Oh dear, yer don’t half carry on, missus, ye’re sending me to sleep. Will yer step aside and let me and me boyfriend come in.’
When Corker followed Nellie up the steps, Molly winked, and said, ‘I hope yer think what we’ve got to tell yer has been worth the effort. I believe yer will.’
In the living room, Jack said, ‘I’ll put the kettle on. I’m sure Corker could do with a drink after working all morning.’
‘That’s thoughtful of yer, Jack. I’d love a cup of tea. As yer know, Ellen works through her dinner hour on a Saturday.’ Corker lowered his huge frame on to the couch. ‘The kids will be in, but they’ll make themselves a drink and a sandwich. We have our dinner when Ellen gets home.’
Nellie was carrying the carver chair from its speck by the sideboard to the dining table. ‘I’ll have a cuppa while ye’re at it, Jack. If I’m going to be talking a lot, me mouth will get dry.’
Molly tutted. ‘Ye’re not backward in coming forward, are yer, sunshine? What excuse are yer going to give my feller when yer ask him to put a few biscuits on yer saucer? Yer can’t say it’s because yer mouth will be dry with talking, ’cos biscuits won’t quench yer thirst, they’ll make yer mouth more dry.’
‘Oh, I don’t want the biscuits for a dry mouth, girl,’ Nellie said, her eyes rolling. ‘I want them so I won’t starve to death with hunger. Can’t yer hear me tummy rumbling?’
‘No, but I can hear the kettle whistling. I’ll give Jack a hand with the cups, and I want you to be as quiet as a mouse while I’m in the kitchen. I know it’s asking a lot of you, but could yer keep yer lips together for a few minutes? I don’t want Corker to hear the news in bits and pieces, sunshine, I want us both to tell him the events in the order they happened.’
Nellie held a hand to her forehead as though giving the matter her consideration. Then she looked at her mate. ‘I’ll think about it, girl.’
Molly was willing to barter. ‘Two custard creams in return for two minutes’ silence?’
Nellie’s face creased into a smile. ‘Yer’ve got yerself a deal, girl.’
Corker guffawed. ‘I don’t know why anyone would want to go to the pictures when you two are funnier, and yer don’t cost anything.’
Molly’s head quickly appeared round the kitchen door. ‘What d’yer mean, Corker, we don’t cost anything? It costs me a fortune in custard creams. Being best mate with Nellie Mac doesn’t come cheap.’
‘Oh, she’s not getting away with that,’ Nellie told herself. The flaming cheek of her! ‘Aren’t yer forgetting something, Mrs Bennett? Yer’ve got a very convenient memory, you have. Yer only remember what yer want to remember. Why don’t yer tell Corker about the tea and toasted teacake I bought yer? Served by a waitress what was wearing a little lace pinny, and a lace crown on her head. Proper posh it was, with a serviette to wipe the butter which ran down yer chin.’
Nellie turned to Corker. ‘Living it up with the toffs we were, lad. Me and Molly were the only two women in that café what didn’t have fur coats on. Not that it worried me, like, ’cos I’m used to toffs. In the street where I lived when I was going to school, the woman next door always had butter on her bread, not dripping like all the other neighbours. And she had jam on her bread every Sunday. So I do know how the other half live. I’ve tried to teach me mate about heticat, but it’s like flogging a dead horse. She didn’t even know which knife to use in Reece’s, she was well out of her depth. Still, she’s me mate and I had to stick up for her. The snobs on the next table soon stopped laughing at her when I gave them daggers. Stuck-up cows.’
There was complete silence in the room for a few seconds, then Molly’s laughter bounced off the walls. ‘Nellie, you are priceless. I don’t know anyone who could have made that up without time to read their lines. That was worth every custard cream yer’ve ever had off me. And I’ll never forget Reece’s cup of tea and toasted teacake. And d’yer know why I won’t forget? Because yer ruddy well won’t let me!’
Jack wondered if there was any truth at all in what Nellie had told them. ‘Were all the women wearing fur coats? And did yer get mixed up over which knife to use, love?’
Molly had a stitch in her side with laughing, and she held a hand to it as she answered. ‘I didn’t see one woman wearing a fur coat, love. We’d have had to go in the restaurant on the next floor for that, where the real toffs go. And as for getting the knives mixed up, I’d have had a job because they only give yer one small knife to cut the teacake with. But Nellie’s version of events was much funnier than any I could have come up with at such short notice.’
Corker wiped his eyes with a hankie which was as white as snow and as large as a tea towel. ‘Yer should write a book, Nellie. You would make a lot of money.’ He grinned. ‘I’d buy one.’
Nellie chuckled. ‘I would do, lad, if I could spell. I’d fancy being famous and rich. But I’ve got a very good idea what has just come to me. I could tell me mate what to write, and she could do it for me. The book would have to be in my name, of course, but I’d share some of the money with her. That’s if she behaved herself.’
‘We’ll discuss your desire to become a teller of tales another time, sunshine. Right now I believe Corker would be more interested in the real life tale we have to tell him. The reason
for him being here now.’
‘Hang on a minute,’ Jack said. ‘What happened to the tea we promised Corker? I know the kettle boiled, but I don’t remember whether the tea ever got made.’
‘It didn’t, sunshine, and yer can thank Nellie for that. Once she started talking, everything else was forgotten. But it won’t take long to boil the kettle again; we can have cups of tea on the table in a matter of minutes. But I think it would be a good idea to put a scarf round Nellie’s mouth to shut her up. Otherwise she’ll be taking us on another journey with one of her fantasies.’
‘You can do that, love.’ Jack put his hands up to protect himself. ‘I’ll see to the tea.’
‘I’ll let you start, girl,’ Nellie said. ‘Then yer can’t say I talk too much. But I’ll help yer out if yer get stuck, and pull yer up if yer get anything wrong.’
They finally had their cups of tea in front of them, and were ready to start. Jack and Corker sat at one side of the table, with Molly facing them, and Nellie in her favourite chair at the end of the table.
‘I don’t know where to start,’ Molly said. ‘There’s so much happened I’m afraid of leaving something out.’
Corker nudged Jack. ‘I suppose you’ve been told the latest news, have yer?’
‘Have I heck! When I asked Molly what you and Nellie were coming for, and why I had to dash me dinner down, I was told that all would be revealed as soon as you arrived. That there was no point in going over the story twice.’
‘She put yer in yer place, did she, lad?’ Nellie was feeling mischievous. She wasn’t in a hurry, and wanted to stretch the proceedings out as long as she could. That was why she generously offered to let Molly speak first. ‘Yer want to put yer foot down with her, or she’ll be wearing the trousers next.’