by Joan Lingard
‘It takes a lot to kill a man.’
‘Not always. It can happen in a second.’
‘Only with a gun or a knife.’
‘Kevin didn’t have a knife, did he?’ said Sadie slowly. ‘He wouldn’t have taken a knife with him, would he?’
‘Sadie, you know him better than I do.’
‘No, he wouldn’t have had a knife.’ She bent over a deep red rose and took a deep breath. ‘What a smell!’
‘It’s rich, isn’t it?’ Mr Blake smiled. ‘I must say I enjoy my roses.’
‘It’s nice being in a garden.’
‘I was thinking it would be a good idea if we were to go out into the country tomorrow. It would do us all good.’
‘What a lovely idea!’ cried Sadie.
Kevin slept through the morning and afternoon. Sadie peeped round the door to look at him before she went to Moira Henderson’s, and after she returned. He lay on his back, mouth slightly parted, his long lashes resting on the edge of his cheek-bones. She closed the door quietly behind her.
‘He’s sleeping like a baby,’ she said to Mr Blake.
There’s nothing better than sleep for him. Let him lie awhile yet, Sadie.’
Her mother was expecting her home to tea but she said that she would come back afterwards. When she got off the bus near her street she saw Tommy coming out of the hardware shop with a bottle under his arm. He waited for her.
‘Do you know what this is?’ he held up the bottle.
She sniffed. ‘Smells like turpentine.’
‘Right first go. Come on and I’ll show you why we need it.’
‘What’s the big mystery?’
‘Come and see.’
He walked past the house, round the corner. He pointed at the gable wall. Below the picture of King Billy someone had written in white paint: A TRAITOR LIVES HERE.
‘Honest to goodness!’ Sadie rested her hands on her hips.
‘Aye, honest to goodness!’ said Tommy. ‘But if we don’t get it off here fast two people we know are going to have a stroke.’ He pulled two rags from his pocket, threw one at Sadie. ‘Better get started.’
‘I’ve a good idea who might have done this,’ she said, as she scrubbed at the word “traitor’.
‘Done what?’ asked her father’s voice behind her.
She dropped the rag. ‘What a fright you gave me!’
‘What are you up to?’ Mr Jackson tried to edge round her.
‘Some eejit’s been writing on our wall,’ said Sadie. ‘That’s all.’
‘And what have they been writing ?’
‘Just a lot of rubbish.’
She had obliterated the first three letters of the word. Mr Jackson stared at the other four.
‘We couldn’t make out what it was at all,’ said Tommy, who was scouring the rest of the words.
‘Terrible bad writing,’ said Sadie. ‘Somebody’s dead ignorant obviously.’
Mr Jackson humphed and frowned, then went into the house. Sadie leaned back against the flank of the white horse and let out her breath. ‘Whew!’
‘He knew what the words said, Sadie,’ said Tommy quietly, ‘I wish you would give up seeing Kevin before any worse trouble happens.’
‘I’ve no intention of stopping seeing him,’ she said. ‘Do you think I’d give in that easily.’
Tommy sighed and put some more turpentine on the rag.
Next morning, Sadie got up at the same time as her mother. ‘I’m going to work early today,’ she said. ‘And I’ll be late back tonight.’
‘What’s up today?’ Mrs Jackson cracked an egg and slid it into the frying pan.
‘We’re going to do some spring-cleaning.’
‘In July?’
‘It doesn’t matter when you spring-clean, does it?’
Mrs Jackson shook her head, cracked another egg. Tommy came into the kitchen yawning. Sadie combed her hair in front of the mirror beside the sink, humming a tune inside her head. It was a lovely morning, it would be fresh and sweet in the country and she would have a whole day with Kevin and Mr Blake away from the town and all the people she did not want to see. ‘Don’t comb your hair in the kitchen,’ said her mother, who always combed her hair in front of that mirror and in fact kept it there for that purpose. Mrs Jackson set a plate of fried potato bread and an egg on the table for Sadie.
Sadie ate quickly and was finished before Tommy’s breakfast was ready. She avoided looking at him.
‘What are you smiling about?’ asked her mother. ‘I never thought I’d see the day when you’d be grinning about the prospect of spring-cleaning someone’s house.’
‘It’s just that it’s a nice morning.’
She wanted to skip as she went up the street. She did not go round by the side of the house so she did not see that the word TRAITOR had been repainted on the gable wall. She rode out to Mr Blake’s house on the top front seat of the bus pitying all the people she saw hurrying to spend such a day in a dingy shop or office. Her mother thought she was going regularly to the Labour Exchange to look for a new job.
Mr Blake had taken his car out of the garage before she arrived. It stood in the street looking shiny and clean. Kevin had washed it only two days before.
‘Good morning, Sadie.’ Mr Blake was cheerful. He always was.
She went straight to the kitchen to start making a picnic lunch. When Kevin arrived she ran to meet him in the hall.
‘How’s Rafferty?’ she asked at once.
‘Still alive.’
Thank goodness for that!’
‘But a bit bashed about, so I hear. They tell me he has a few stitches and has taken to his bed.’
‘Bed’ll be a good place for him,’ said Mr Blake. ‘Keep him out of trouble.’
His friends would not be lying in their beds though, thought Sadie, but she did not say it for she did not want the day spoiled. Kevin was looking much better. He had slept all night as well, he said.
They loaded up the car and Mr Blake fetched some maps from his bedroom. They did not know where they were going; they wanted to wander off without any set ideas. Moira Henderson walked along with the baby under her arm to watch them getting ready. Deirdre and Peter played in and out of the car.
‘You’re lucky to be going away for a whole day,’ said Moira. ‘I wouldn’t mind it myself.’
‘Sorry we can’t take you all with us,’ said Mr Blake. ‘Not enough room. Unless you’d like to sit on the roof!’
They set off in high spirits. Moira and the children waved until they turned the corner. Kevin and Sadie settled on the back seat to enjoy the trip. Jack lay on the front passenger seat beside his master.
‘I think we’ll head north,’ said Mr Blake. ‘Up towards the glens of Antrim maybe?’
‘Anywhere at all,’ said Sadie. ‘I don’t mind a bit.’ Her hand lay in Kevin’s. He looked at her and smiled.
They took the road that ran close round by the coast, winding and twisting beside the sea. The water looked green today, tipped with white.
Mr Blake exclaimed suddenly.
‘What’s the matter?’ asked Kevin, leaning forward.
‘Don’t know. Just felt a wobble. There it goes again. Think it might be a flat tyre. I’ll pull in.’
Mr Blake pulled on the steering wheel, braking gently, and then the car lurched violently, sending them spinning straight across the road. The tyre was not flat: the off-side front wheel careered on down the road leaving the car behind.
17
The car lay crushed against the sea wall on its off-side, the near-side wheels spinning in the air. Two cars stopped and the drivers ran to help release the occupants. The dog would not stop barking and yelping. He was trembling with fright. Sadie scrambled out first, and then Kevin. They helped to ease out Mr Blake. He was dazed and could not stand. They set him down by the edge of the road. Jack sat beside him licking his face.
By now several other cars had stopped, and soon a police car came along the road. The policema
n sent out a call for an ambulance.
‘I’m all right.’ Mr Blake kept muttering.
‘We must have you all checked up,’ said the constable.
Sadie and Kevin were bruised and a little shocked but nothing more. Mr Blake had kept his head and controlled the car as far as it was possible so that they had not been travelling very fast when they hit the wall.
‘Lucky escape,’ said the constable. ‘You don’t often have much of a chance when a wheel comes off.’
‘Can’t understand it,’ said Mr Blake. ‘A wheel coming off.’
‘Somebody hasn’t tightened it up properly,’ said the constable. ‘We’ll have to check at your garage.’
‘Haven’t had the wheel changed for months,’ said Mr Blake.
‘Never mind,’ said Sadie. ‘Don’t think about it any more just now.’
They were taken to the nearest hospital by ambulance. The doctor cleared them but stressed that Mr Blake should rest for a few days. ‘After all, you’re not twenty any longer,’ he said. ‘You’re a bit shaken up. But sound as a bell otherwise.’
They returned to Belfast by taxi and Sadie insisted that Mr Blake go straight to bed. He went meekly, falling asleep almost at once.
The police came next morning. There were two of them in plain clothes. Sadie and Kevin looked at one another after the men had shown their cards. Mr Blake got up and sat in his armchair in the sitting-room to receive them.
‘I suppose it’s about the accident,’ said Mr Blake.
‘It was no accident,’ said one, who did most of the talking. The other took notes and watched the faces of Mr Blake, Kevin and Sadie.
‘No accident?’ said Kevin.
‘No. When the car was examined it was discovered that the nuts of all the wheels had been loosened. It was only a matter of time before one or more of the wheels came off.’
Sadie held her hands clenched tightly together in her lap. She was thinking of Steve. Could he do a thing like that? Could he really have wanted to kill her, or did he think that only Mr Blake would be in the car? Was Steve capable of being a murderer? She did not know. She had known him a long time, they had played together, but she did not know what he was capable of.
Beside her on the settee sat Kevin, his forehead creased. He was thinking of Brian Rafferty. Could Brian have come in the night with a spanner and systematically loosened every nut, thinking as he worked in the dark garage of the possible death that would result? No, Brian could not have done it, since he had been in bed, but he might have sent his friends, the two who had beaten Kevin up. Kevin was not sure who they were. He had not seen their faces and they had not spoken. They might be any two boys he had played with or gone to school with or they might never have seen him before. They were anonymous; he could not decide if they were capable of it.
Mr Blake reached for his pipe, lit it, puffed slowly, staring into the grate. He was thinking of the letters that had come four mornings in a row. ‘You have been warned.’ He could almost smell the singeing paper. Many wrote letters and did not act, but then some did.
The detective looked from one face to the other.
‘Have any of you any idea who might have done this?’ he asked.
Sadie started, roused from her thoughts. ‘No,’ she said quickly. ‘I mean, who would want to do a thing like that deliberately?’
That’s what I’m trying to find out. Have you any suggestions, Mr Blake?’
Mr Blake shook his head. ‘I don’t know anyone who would want to kill me,’ he said with a little smile.
‘No enemies?’
‘Not that I know of.’
‘Someone must have been after you for something. Are you a member of any political party or organization?’
‘No. I’m not a joining man. Organizations aren’t in my line.’
‘What about you two?’ The policeman swung round on Sadie and Kevin. ‘Do you belong to any groups? Have you ever?’
‘I was once a Girl Guide,’ said Sadie, and Kevin’s mouth twitched. ‘But that’s all.’
‘And you?’ The policeman asked Kevin.
Kevin shook his head.
‘Perhaps it was just some hooligan and they happened to pick on me by chance,’ said Mr Blake.
‘I feel there’s more to it than that. You keep your car in the garage at night?’ Mr Blake nodded. The policeman continued, ‘So some person or persons went to the trouble to get into your garage and loosen all the wheels, doing it carefully, replacing the hub caps, clearing away any evidence afterwards. That’s not the work of hooligans. They might break one of your windows or score a knife across the bodywork but they don’t plan anything carefully.’
‘Seems a bit of a mystery then,’ said Mr Blake.
‘One we intend to clear up if possible. You were lucky you all got out alive. We might have been looking for murderers this morning.’
Sadie stirred uneasily. Should she tell him about Steve? But what was there to tell? She had no proof, no idea even if he was guilty.
Kevin thought of Rafferty’s gang. Should he give Brian’s name to the policemen? But then he would have to say that Brian Rafferty the night before had been lying in his bed too ill to come out. How could he say that there were two other boys who might have been involved but he did not know their faces or their names?
Mr Blake thought of the letters but there seemed little point in mentioning them. He had burned them anyway so there was no evidence left. And he did not want Sadie and Kevin to be upset by knowing of them.
They all three kept quiet. The detective looked thoughtful.
‘I think it would be helpful if I could establish the relationships between the three of you.’
‘That’s easy enough,’ said Mr Blake. ‘Sadie works for me in the mornings, she does a little cleaning and cooking. And Kevin is a friend.’
‘Of yours or Sadie’s?’
‘Both.’
‘I see. Well, let us take down some particulars.’
They wrote down Mr Blake’s name, address, age, occupation. Then it was Sadie’s turn. She spoke quickly : the policeman wrote slowly and had to ask her to repeat some of the answers.
‘Right.’ The policeman looked at Kevin.
When Kevin gave his address the detective stopped writing. He repeated the name of the street and then Sadie’s street.
‘I think that’s a piece of information you might have given me earlier.’
‘You didn’t ask,’ said Sadie. ‘And I didn’t think it would be of any interest.’
‘So you didn’t think it would be of any interest? You say you’re friends? How many people in your street have friends in his street?’
‘Well… none that I know of.’
‘Does your family know you’re friendly?’
‘Sort of.’
‘Does yours?’ he asked Kevin.
‘I’m not sure.’
‘You’re not trying to say that either my family or his would try to kill us both to stop us seeing one another?’ Sadie burst out.
‘I wouldn’t have thought so. But families can do strange things when their blood is up.’
‘Nobody in mine would do such a thing,’ said Sadie indignantly. ‘I can tell you that for a start.’
‘And no one in mine,’ said Kevin.
‘What about neighbours?’
He questioned them for another hour, asking who their friends were, insisting on names and addresses. Sadie did not mention Steve and Kevin did not mention Rafferty.
‘These are friends,’ said Sadie. ‘You’re not going to go round questioning them, are you?’
‘Probably not. But we’ll check records for any troublemakers. What about enemies?’
Kevin shrugged.
‘Never come up against anyone?’
‘Oh, well, of course. The odd fight, you know.’
‘You’ve got a bandage on your head. Get that in a fight? When? How?
Kevin told him he had been beaten up by three boys but that he did not
know who they were.
‘Expect me to believe that?’
‘Can’t help it if you don’t,’ said Kevin wearily.
At the end of the hour the detective stood up. He said that he would leave it at that mean time, but he would be back.
‘I’ll go as far as the gate with you,’ said Mr Blake.
‘Are you sure you can walk that far, Mr Blake?’ said Sadie.
‘Yes, yes, now don’t fuss, there’s a good girl. Go and make us some tea.’
Mr Blake went down the path with the two policemen.
‘I presume you have something you want to say to us alone?’
Mr Blake nodded. He rested against the gate and told them of the letters. ‘I didn’t want Sadie and Kevin to be disturbed by them. They’re a nice couple of kids and I want them to have a chance to be friends.’
‘It would have saved you a lot of trouble if they hadn’t, Mr Blake. And us too. Coming from streets like theirs they must have known it would be like lighting a fuse. Good day, Mr Blake.’
He watched them drive off in their car. Moira was coming along the road with her children. He waited to speak to her.
‘I’m glad you and Mike are happy,’ he said.
She looked at him in surprise.
‘Against all the odds,’ he added.
‘We have a few troubles, you know. Sometimes we argue and even fight.’ She laughed. ‘But we make it up again. You’re looking sad today. Are you still shaken up by your accident?’
‘A bit, I suppose. I’m worried for Sadie and Kevin. I don’t think they stand much chance. They have too much against them.’
That’s why you’re helping them, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, of course. But I like them both too. They’ve become real friends to me.’
He went back to the house. Sadie and Kevin were in the kitchen, their faces serious.
‘We’ve been thinking, Mr Blake,’ said Kevin, ‘and we feel we shouldn’t meet one another here any more.’
‘Why not?’
‘We don’t want to get you into any more bother,’ said Sadie. ‘Sure we all know why the wheels were loosened.’
Mr Blake sighed. ‘I would be sorry not to see you both. And I’m not afraid to go on having you here. I think it’s important to stick to your principles.’