Someone to Trust

by Someone to Trust (retail) (epub)

  He scowled at her. ‘OK, OK. Danny once worked for Green’s but he left after an accident at sea when the boss did the dirty on him and stole his girl. Funny how life repeats itself, isn’t it?’ His upper lip curled and his eyes narrowed. ‘The thing is, Green got his comeuppance and ended up dead on his estate in Ireland. Interesting if it happened to the real guilty party in the Winnie Jones case, too.’ He slammed the door in her face.

  Lucy let out a sigh of relief and patted the door. Callum had given her much more information that she’d expected. It had to be of some use. As she retraced her steps to Scotland Road she had another idea and headed for Maggie Block’s refreshment house on Athol Street.

  The eating house was just as steamy, smelly, smoky and noisy as she remembered it. The last time she had entered its portals Mick and Shaun O’Neill had been sitting in a corner plotting mayhem. Even now the thought of that day clouded her spirits. Would she ever forget? She ordered a mug of tea and sat down in the muggy atmosphere, prepared to eavesdrop on any conversation that caught her interest. Maggie’s was popular with many a seafarer and docker and that was why Lucy was here. In no time at all she was listening to a heated discussion on conditions at sea and the money creamed off by the shipowners to line their own pockets while the men worked their guts off.

  ‘D’you mind if I butt in?’ said Lucy, getting up and smiling at the two men. ‘I need some information. There’s another cuppa and a wet nelly in it if you can help me.’

  They eyed her up and down. One sniffed and wiped his bulbous nose with the back of his hand. ‘That’s a nice piece of cat you’ve got on your head, girl.’

  ‘It’s rabbit actually.’ Lucy grinned and pulled her chair up to their table. ‘What d’you know about a shipping line called Green’s?’

  The other sailor looked at her sharply. ‘He was murdered over in Ireland. He was a tight-arse to work for. His widow’s much more reasonable and so’s her new hubby. Used to be one of us.’

  Lucy could have kissed him. ‘Have they changed the name of the company?’

  ‘Naw. Still Green’s.’ He cocked an eyebrow. ‘Do we get the tea and wet nellies now?’

  ‘I’ll get them myself,’ said Lucy, picking up their empty mugs.

  She left them eating the wet nellies, dripping in treacle, and bought some spare ribs, having them wrapped to take out, before she returned to the flat. She reached the top of the staircase only to find the door locked and when she hammered on it there was no reply. Rob must still be out, she thought, and sat down on the platform at the top of the steps. She opened the newspaper, took out a rib and bit into it.

  It seemed like she had been there for ages when Rob finally arrived. By then she had eaten most of the ribs and immediately felt guilty. ‘You found out anything?’ she called.

  He came up the stairs towards her. ‘Have you been eating?’ He touched her cheek and they both looked at the gravy on his finger.

  ‘Sorry! But I was hungry. I did save you some.’

  He took out a handkerchief and wiped round her mouth. ‘I thought you’d have been longer at Dilys’s.’

  She quivered slightly at his touch. ‘I didn’t go after all.’ She was uncertain whether to tell him she had seen Callum.

  ‘Was that because of Owen?’ Rob’s eyes were slightly anxious. ‘You don’t feel something for him, do you? I know Dilys was jealous of you for a while.’

  Lucy wondered if it was a good idea for Rob not to take her love too much for granted until she was sure of him. ‘Owen’s good-looking and a lovely mover and he did fancy me… If you don’t want me…’

  Rob was silent as he unlocked the door. She followed him inside. Then he said, ‘You can’t want Owen. He’s married to Dilys now.’ He frowned at her.

  Her heart jerked in her breast and she wanted to wipe the frown away. ‘Why not? I wanted you when you were engaged to Blodwen.’

  ‘I wasn’t married to her! Besides, what about last night? I thought we were getting somewhere.’

  Lucy said in an amused voice, ‘Love’s strange, isn’t it? We often want what we shouldn’t or can’t have.’ She changed the subject. ‘Did you find anything out?’

  He shrugged and went into the kitchen. No more was said until they were sitting across from each other at the table.

  ‘About last night. I’m glad you stopped when you did or you might have had to marry me.’ She softened the words with a smile. ‘Now are you going to be long eating? We’ll have to be going soon if we’re going to catch that matinee.’

  Every seat in the auditorium appeared to be occupied. Rob and Lucy sat near the back. He held her hand and she found it difficult to concentrate on the screen. She kept getting Valentino confused with him. Both had a way of looking at the object of their desire with an upward sweep of narrowed eyes which set the heart aflutter. She remembered Valentino dancing the tango in another film when he’d unashamedly used his body in a way that was - well, it caused the breath to catch in the throat. A girl yearned to find a man who would desire her in such a way. He was strong, graceful, passionate, virile, and on the screen submissive only to the heroine’s power.

  ‘He’s dead, you know,’ whispered Rob in her ear.

  Lucy smiled. ‘You’re tickling my ear.’

  He nuzzled her neck and she would have been putty in his hands if they were at his flat.

  A woman in the row in front of them turned and glared at them. Rob trailed kisses down the side of Lucy’s face. ‘It’s disgraceful in public,’ hissed the woman.

  ‘You’ll be getting us thrown out,’ whispered Lucy. ‘And I must see Barney. He’s got some shares of mine.’

  Rob apologised to the woman and subsided in his seat. He did not speak again until the interval when Barney came clumping up the aisle, an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth. Lucy could hear his breathing before he reached them and she felt a rush of sympathy and warmth at the sight of him, remembering all he had done for her.

  ‘I wonder what his first words’ll be and if he’ll cry?’ murmured Rob.

  Lucy pretended she hadn’t heard that and stood up as Barney drew level with them. ‘Barney!’ she said in a low voice.

  He heard her and looked in her direction. She saw his mouth quivering and, excusing herself, squeezed past people to step into the aisle. He came towards her with hands outstretched and she took them. ‘Oh, girlie, you’ve come back! I thought you might for Christmas but I’m glad you’re here now. I’ve missed you terribly.’

  Lucy thought he looked awful. His eyes were bloodshot and he had put on weight. She became aware they were now the centre of attention and suggested moving to the foyer. ‘I’ve missed you, too. But why didn’t you answer my letter?’

  ‘I’m not a letter writer, lovey. But not a day went by when I didn’t think of you.’ He looked at her and nodded several times.

  Lucy couldn’t help thinking, When you weren’t messing with Blodwen. ‘I often thought of you,’ she said truthfully. ‘But I never thought I’d come back and find you’d moved.’

  ‘Yes,’ he sighed. ‘That house had a curse on it. I couldn’t bear it any longer. D’you know, they even thought at one point I was responsible for you going off. I was living on a knife edge. I kept seeing Irishmen with knives and guns everywhere. I sometimes thought of doing away with myself.’

  That last sentence shocked her. Barney was someone she had always considered a lover of life. ‘You musn’t think like that.’

  He squeezed her hand. ‘I wouldn’t if you’d come back and live with me?’

  She hesitated. ‘I’ve promised my gran I’ll be back in a few days. I came hoping to have news of Mam.’

  ‘There’s been none!’ His face crumpled. ‘I’d do anything to have you back, girlie. I’ve got rid of some of my property and my shares in the Trocadero and I’ve bought a cinema of my own. If you come back you could manage it. Isn’t that what you used to dream about?’

  Lucy was aware of a sensation similar to that she’d fe
lt when Barney and her mother had married: the joy of a dream come true. Then Rob’s voice dropped like a fishing weight into the pool of silence.

  ‘Why don’t you jump at it, girlie? It’s the kind of happy ending you see on the screen in there. You can be an old man’s darling!’ He jerked his head in the direction of the auditorium.

  She looked at him, unable to believe he could say such a hurtful thing.

  ‘He’s jealous,’ said Barney, giving Rob a venomous look. ‘His sister’s married and his aunt’s gone off to Wales. Even that young woman he was engaged to finished with him. He’s got a violent temper.’ He tugged on her arm. ‘Listen to me. There’s nothing wrong with your coming to live with me. I’m your stepfather and your mother would have approved. She didn’t like your father’s mother! You shouldn’t have gone there.’

  Lucy did not know what to think. What if Shaun O’Neill turned up again? No, she mustn’t worry about that. She would find his whereabouts and have him arrested but would keep quiet about him to Barney for the moment, not wanting to upset him further.

  Barney was leaning heavily on her and she couldn’t take his weight anymore so steered him to a sofa and told him to sit down. She didn’t look to see if Rob had followed. ‘Barney, I can’t live with you,’ she said in a trembling voice. ‘Gran needs me. Her husband’s dying and I have to get back. He’s crippled too, you see?’

  Barney shook her head. ‘I don’t believe it. How can he be more crippled than me? He’s got a wife. My wife’s gone. It’s me that needs you most.’

  ‘But Barney…’ She tried to explain again why she couldn’t stay with him.

  He interrupted her. ‘You’re a fool to yourself! Think of the future. You’ll end up with nothing if you stick by them. It’s a lovely kind act, your wanting to help your gran, but families can stink! They’ll leave you empty-handed and I know how terrible that can feel.’

  ‘You’re wrong!’ said Lucy, feeling as if she was being pulled apart. ‘I’d like to help you. Perhaps if Gran came and lived here in Liverpool - but then there’s Wesley,’ she added doubtfully.

  ‘I don’t care who there is,’ said Barney, lighting a cigarette. ‘You think over what I said, Lucy. Come home with me after the performance and we can talk properly.’ He looked at her with a hound-dog expression. ‘I need you. There’s no one like you, girlie, whatever Rob’s told you. You’re a sensible girl. Think about it. Promise?’

  She promised and when he’d finished his cigarette saw him back to his seat at the piano. Rob seemed to have vanished and Lucy had no desire to take her seat in the auditorium again. She needed fresh air and to think. She left the cinema only to come face to face with Rob. His expression was strained. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, straightening up from against a wall. ‘I’d rather have put that look on your face, that’s all. It was like a boat had come in, full of your dreams.’

  ‘It had!’ she snapped. ‘But it didn’t mean I was about to climb aboard and jettison other people I care about!’ Her cheeks were the colour of wild roses.

  He said abruptly, ‘You look lovely when you’re angry.’ And took hold of her hand.

  She dragged it away. ‘You made me sound not just a money grabber but a whore!’

  ‘I said I’m sorry!’

  ‘I heard you.’ She began to walk in the direction of the tram stop. ‘I need to go back to your flat and fetch my suitcase.’

  He fell into step beside her and said irritatingly, ‘You’re going to Barney’s? You’re an idiot!’

  She compressed her lips and didn’t answer.

  ‘It’s not wise, Lucy. He can’t be trusted.’

  She turned on him. ‘Is staying with you any smarter? I was going to leave tonight anyway.’

  She had silenced him and he didn’t speak again until they arrived back at the flat. As Lucy picked up her suitcase she was near to tears with anger, frustration and disappointment. He could have trusted her not to be tempted by wealth and material things, but there was another dream down the Swannee!

  Rob refused to let her carry her own suitcase and dragged it clean out of her hand. ‘I want to see you get there safely.’

  ‘I thought it was after I get there you were worried about,’ she snapped.

  He brought his face down close to hers. ‘Don’t get smart with me, Miss Linden! Fortunately I’ve thought again and I don’t actually believe you’re in any danger from Barney. I just don’t like the idea of your staying under his roof. I’m sure he cares about your opinion of him.’ Before Lucy could respond to that Rob said, ‘Do you want to go on the ’bike?’

  She drew her head back and tried to look haughty. ‘Your ’bike! Now if you’d offered to drive me in a roadster I might have said yes.’ There was a pause and she could tell he was trying to decide if she was joking or not. Then she smiled. ‘What about your shoulder? Will you be OK? Will it be safe?’

  He looked relieved and said cheerfully, ‘I’m not going to swing it or you over my head. Besides, it’s not that far.’ He put down the suitcase and left the room, returning with a cushion, helmet, long mackintosh, gauntlets and goggles, and then ordered her downstairs.

  She felt a stir of excitement and thought it was a good job her skirt was of the new pleated kind. He threw the cushion at her and donned his gear before wheeling the motorbike out of the yard and telling her to put the cushion on the carrier and climb aboard. He placed the suitcase in front of him. ‘You’ll have to put your arms around me. Think you can bring yourself to do that?’ He pulled down the goggles and kickstarted the engine without waiting for an answer.

  Her heart seemed to melt like toasted marshmallow. Placing one foot on the wheel hub, she swung her other leg over, adjusted her skirt and put her arms round him, looping her fingers through the belt of his raincoat. She pressed her lips against the back of his neck. They were off!

  Lucy yelped as they narrowly avoided scraping a wall, expecting to come a cropper at any minute as the motorbike roared up the entry. Rob slowed down as they approached the street but as soon as they were out of the entry they were off again. She let out a whoop of excitement and then clutched him tightly as he came to a stop. ‘You OK?’ he shouted, over the noise of the engine.

  ‘Just fine!’ she called. ‘Carry on, James!’

  It was a journey full of stops and starts but enough speed to thrill. It wasn’t until they came to a sudden halt in front of the house she and her mother used to live in on Northumberland Terrace that she fell off.

  He looked over his shoulder and lifted his goggles. ‘What are you doing down there?’

  She rubbed her bottom and rolled her eyes. He grinned. ‘Perhaps you’d like another ride tomorrow? You could help me find Daniel O’Neill.’

  ‘No, you refused my help this morning,’ she said sweetly. ‘I’ve my own plans. I have to see my man of business. I do have some money of my own. I’m not dependent on sugar daddies.’ She looked up at the house. ‘So this is where Barney’s living?’

  Rob nodded. ‘I believe he has the ground and first floors.’

  It seemed a strange choice for her stepfather to make, thought Lucy, taking her suitcase from Rob. She thanked him and hurried up the steps.

  The front door was open so Lucy walked straight on in. ‘Anyone at home?’ she called.

  A door opened on the ground floor and a woman came scurrying out. It was Agnes and she let out a cry of delight. ‘Miss Lucy! So you’ve come! I am glad.’

  ‘How could I not after your letter? Are my things here?’ ‘They are, miss. Mr Barney made sure everything you left was packed carefully and they’re in a room on the first floor.’ She beamed at Lucy. ‘Give me your suitcase and I’ll take it up. Then I’ll make you a nice cup of tea.’

  ‘I can carry it myself. You lead the way.’

  ‘I’m sure now you’re here you’ll soon get to the bottom of things,’ said Agnes, throwing open a door.

  Lucy hoped so. She went round the room lifting up things she had bought or Barney or her m
other had given her, which included a porcelain figurine from Bunty’s and a beautiful glass paperweight and several books and games. The curtains she and her mother had chosen before the wedding hung at the windows. Fortunately they fitted. She felt a deep sadness, remembering how they had planned to put the past behind them and looked forward to happier days. But the past wasn’t so easy to get rid of.

  Lucy opened her suitcase and took out her soap, flannel and towel. Her nightdress she hung over the foot of the bed. Two nights she would stay and then back to Yorkshire unless something happened – such as Rob proposing – to stop her. She had decided to go to the registrar’s office in the morning and see if she could find the marriage certificate of Mrs Green and Daniel O’Neill.

  Lucy did not take long getting washed and changed. In no time at all she was downstairs, finding out Barney no longer had a separate music room. He had got rid of most of the parlour furniture and just kept what had been in the music room. He had bought a dropleaf table and another comfy chair. The fire was lit and she curled up in an armchair and attempted to forget her worries for the moment by reading Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, but it wasn’t easy. There were too many unanswered questions in her mind. When she heard Barney outside in the lobby shouting for Agnes, Lucy got up and went out to welcome him.

  His face was a picture. ‘So you came, girlie. I thought Rob might put you off… but I always knew you had commonsense. You know which side your bread’s buttered on.’

  Do I? thought Lucy, helping him off with his overcoat and hanging it up. ‘Come and sit down by the fire and I’ll make you a cup of cocoa.’

  He patted her arm. ‘No, I have Agnes to do that. You come and sit with me. Agnes!’ he shouted.

  The maid appeared, carrying a tray. ‘It’s all ready, Mr Jones. I’ve put a cup on for Miss Lucy, too, and a nice big slice of meat pie.’ She placed the tray on an occasional table and left them.