Eve of the Isle

by Carol Rivers

  ‘Thank yer, m’lud,’ said the old man grinning toothlessly. ‘Gawd bless yer and may yer have many ’elfy offspring and they grow’d up as ’andsome as their dad.’

  Charlie smiled as he walked on. Offspring, eh? Well, that was a thought. He’d not given much consideration to kids of his own. Growing up with twin brothers, older by ten years, their children had become his, nieces and nephews that seemed to come along each year without fail so that he often forgot which one was which. But he hoped he made a good uncle and loved being with them, especially the boys who often came to the matches. He taught them how to bounce a ball on their toes and to dribble it and give a good header. Not to be afraid to attack. Yes, he’d plenty of experience with nippers. The thing was, they weren’t his.

  Perhaps that was why he’d taken such a shine to the Kumars. Being twins, he was familiar with their patter and both were good-looking boys, like their mother.

  What had their father been like?

  During his enquiries, Charlie had tried to put a picture of him together as he’d been taught whilst in training. Suss out your man and get to know him before nicking him. That way you saved a lot of time and trouble asking daft questions. As far as he’d gathered, lascars were industrious and loyal by character, hard workers and the last to cause trouble in a foreign country. If Raj Kumar’s boys were anything to go by, their dad was a good all rounder.

  As he entered the Commercial Road, he considered a drink with his mates. They would be putting the world to rights over a pint right now. But coppers’ talk didn’t interest him tonight.

  He wanted to analyze his motives . . . he paused for a moment, then laughed to himself. Wasn’t that a copper through and through? Perhaps the answer was he couldn’t help himself from being a policeman when he smelt something fishy.

  And what was nailing in a few slates for someone? The girl never asked for a favour and was going to put disinfectant down herself. He hadn’t said, but that stuff wouldn’t help. The rats would lap it up!

  No, first thing in the morning, he was going to cycle past Poplar town hall and make an unofficial call.

  And make sure the Kumars were moved to the top of the fumigation list.

  Chapter Ten

  ‘Clocking off early, then, gel?’ Archie Fuller raised a bushy eyebrow. ‘It ain’t twelve yet.’

  ‘Me roof is being mended today.’

  ‘You going up the ladder an’ all?’

  Eve laughed as Archie helped her to stow her baskets on board the cart. ‘I want to see if this person’s turned up to do it.’

  ‘You wanna watch out. There’s a lot of wallahs out there that will rook you. And if you get someone that knows what he’s about, it could be expensive. Me brother had his done and he had no change from a pony.’

  ‘A pony?’ Eve was shocked. ‘I can’t afford that.’

  ‘Why don’t you get the council to do it?’

  ‘They don’t do anything round our way.’

  ‘Well, you’ll have to give the roofer one of your pretty smiles and get him to do it on the cheap.’ He laughed. ‘See you on Monday then.’

  Eve said goodbye and hailed herself a ride on one of the many carts leaving the market. After what Archie had told her, she was more suspicious of Charlie than ever. Twenty-five pounds was a fortune. Did mending roofs really cost that much? Perhaps Charlie Merritt had thought it over and decided against it.

  There was a breath of spring in the air as they travelled home. The old horse’s rhythmic plodding and the noise of the cart melted in to the Saturday morning hustle and bustle. There were buses, taxis and vans mixed in with the horse-drawn vehicles. The smell of horse manure and traffic fumes added to the underlying aromas of the docks and the thousands of smoking chimneys. In the Commercial Road they passed the pie and eel shops, the mobile coffee stalls and the thriving back street markets. She wondered if she might see the shop that belonged to Charlie’s family. The name written on the side of the van was Merritt’s Bakery and Provisions. But didn’t he say it was just off the Commercial Road? That could be anywhere.

  ‘I’ll drop you off here,’ shouted the costermonger over his shoulder as he pulled up the horse. ‘I’m going straight on, down the East India Road.’

  Eve handed him the bag of carrots she had brought for the horse. ‘Thanks for the lift.’

  ‘Ta, he’ll have them for his supper.’ He touched his cap and clicked his tongue, slapping the reins over the horse’s rump. ‘Get up there, gal,’ he shouted as the cart rumbled off.

  Eve always gave something in exchange for transport. Even if it was only small. It showed you appreciated the ride and guaranteed you a lift again. As she walked down the Westferry Road, she wondered if the young policeman had turned up. She didn’t have long to wait to find out. Samuel and Albert rushed out to greet her. ‘Charlie’s mending our roof and we’ve been helping.’

  Eve followed them as they jumped over the broken bricks of the wall and ran into the yard. Charlie Merritt was sitting high up on the roof.

  He saluted her. ‘Afternoon, Mrs Kumar.’

  So, he had turned up after all! Eve saw all the neat rows of slates nailed back to the rafters.

  ‘The bug man come too,’ Samuel told her.

  ‘The fumigator?’ Eve asked, surprised he had visited them so soon.

  ‘It don’t half pen and ink.’ Albert giggled.

  ‘Has he sprayed inside the stove?’

  The twins nodded. ‘They ain’t quite stone dead yet. Charlie told us to chuck ’em in one of Jimmy’s paint pots.’

  Eve shuddered. She wondered how long it would be before they knew the fumigation had been a success.

  Inside the cottage, they trod carefully over the crunchy dying bodies. For the first time since the flood it smelt of something other than drains. The fumigation wasn’t a pleasant smell but it was an improvement.

  They went slowly up the stairs, knocking the dying bugs off the banister as they went. Jimmy’s room was full of slates, dust and dirt. Eve looked at the chest in the corner. Was it locked? Had Charlie seen it? She immediately became suspicious again.

  ‘I’ve got an old tarpaulin up here to cover the roof whilst it’s being done,’ called a voice from above. Charlie’s head poked through the hole. ‘It’ll keep out the bad weather.’

  Eve saw there was a lot of empty space to go.

  ‘Don’t worry, it won’t take too long,’ he assured her as he wiped his dirty forehead with the back of his arm. ‘Should have it all done in a few weeks.’

  ‘How much will it cost?’

  ‘I can salvage a lot of the slates. They didn’t break, just got blown off where they were loose. And I’ll be able to replace the broken ones from a yard over East Ham where me brother works.’

  ‘It’s your time I was thinking of.’

  He grinned. ‘I’d better be getting on.’

  Eve went into their own room and gazed up at the big hole in the roof protected by the tarpaulin.

  ‘Charlie’s coming again tomorrow,’ Samuel told her.

  ‘It’s Sunday.’

  Samuel grinned. ‘He don’t go to church or nothing like that, he only plays football.’

  ‘You found out a lot in one morning.’

  ‘Can we go and watch him?’

  ‘No, of course not. We don’t know him and he don’t know us.’

  ‘He said we’re like George and Joe,’ Albert told her. ‘They’re his twin brothers. Only they ain’t kids like us, they’re grow’d up and have got kids of their own.’

  Eve felt they were getting too friendly with Charlie. She had insisted they tell no one he was a policeman.

  ‘Charlie said he wouldn’t mind but to ask you first,’ said Albert, glancing slyly at his brother.

  ‘Ask me what?’

  ‘If we could go to watch him play football. We ain’t never been to a proper match. We ain’t even got a proper ball.’

  ‘You haven’t complained up till now.’

  ‘Charli
e said he might be able to get one for us.’

  ‘The answer is still no.’

  Eve vowed to have words with Charlie Merritt who seemed to have stirred up this unrest. Why had he filled their minds with grand ideas? Why was he mending the roof without asking for payment? And most of all, why did he want to further Raj’s case? Like Peg said, it was suspicious.

  Albert sulked at her refusal and Samuel turned away. Eve wondered what else Charlie had been saying behind her back. What questions had he had been asking? Was it to get information? She would have a word in his ear as soon as he came down that ladder.

  ‘Now go home both of you.’

  ‘Why can’t we stay here?’ They looked rebellious.

  But one glance from Eve’s flashing eyes had them obeying. When they were gone, Eve brushed the bugs off her bottles and personal effects. She would take them with her as she didn’t want prying eyes to see what she had.

  Eve’s cheeks were flushed and not with the cold as she faced Charlie Merritt.

  ‘It’s not right for me not to pay you,’ she told him as they stood in the bitter cold of the yard. ‘For your time and for the new slates.’

  ‘They won’t be new, they’re off old roofs. As for my time, I’ve got nothing more important to do with it at the moment.’

  ‘We aren’t a charity case.’

  ‘We could do a trade if it makes you feel better. You could sort me out a decent bunch of flowers for me mum’s birthday in March. There’s nothing she likes better than a big vase of April showers.’

  ‘Flowers aren’t much.’ Eve gripped her bag; the bottles inside felt heavy suddenly as if they were a reminder of her distrust and suspicion when he was being so nice.

  He smiled. ‘Is there anything else? If not, I’ll pull the tarpaulin over the rest of the roof till tomorrow. I’m off to football now.’

  ‘The boys told me.’

  He stopped. ‘I get the feeling you are upset about something.’

  ‘My boys don’t get many offers to go to football matches. And if they did I would expect that person who offered to ask me first.’

  ‘I told them it wasn’t up to me.’ He shrugged his broad shoulders under his dirty white shirt and began to roll down his cuffs. ‘It was just they saw me boots tied on the bike and told me they was mad keen on football. I said I had nephews, all little footballers in the making and that me brothers took ’em once in a while to a couple of the matches. When I saw the looks on their faces I said I’d be happy to take them too – with their mum’s permission of course.’

  Eve’s mouth tightened. ‘I’d rather you didn’t.’

  He frowned, his gaze intent of her face. ‘Don’t tell me this is all about me being a copper! Are you really that bothered what people would say?’

  ‘You don’t understand,’ Eve answered coldly. ‘You don’t live round here. Samuel and Albert have been called names by the kids just because their skin ain’t the same colour. I have to protect them as best I can, they don’t have anyone else to do it.’

  ‘Yes, but as boys, they’ll need to fight their own battles. Standing up to bullies is the only way to prove yourself.’

  Eve was annoyed. Like all policemen he thought he was right. How could he know what life was like for those who had grown up on the other side of the tracks? ‘As for the football,’ she added quickly, ‘I don’t want them to start something and be disappointed it can’t be continued.’

  He frowned. ‘Who says it wouldn’t be? Football is a good sport for any kid to follow.’

  ‘I told them and I’m telling you, my answer is no.’

  He stepped back and nodded. ‘If that’s what you want. Now, I’ll pull over the tarpaulin and put the ladder away.’

  Eve watched him climb back up the ladder and work quickly to secure the roof. Why was she feeling so upset? Was it because she didn’t like someone telling her how to bring up her children? Or that he thought he knew best?

  When the work was complete and the ladder put away, he walked over to his bicycle propped against the cottage wall. He wound his boots securely over the front and turned the handlebars towards her.

  ‘I apologize for the trouble I seem to have caused you,’ he said quietly. ‘But I’d like you to know that being a copper is only my job, not all of my life. When I walk out the station door at night, I’m not P.C. Plod, but Charlie Merritt, an East Ender born and bred, just like you. I’m glad to say that your lads took me at face value and didn’t think of me as the enemy. You’ve got great kids there, a real credit to you and I wanted to return their friendship. If we’re talking honesty here, I’ll come clean.’ His blue eyes were penetrating as he spoke. ‘One of the reasons I took an interest in your case was because of them. I felt the law owed them and you an explanation. But now I see it wasn’t up to me to make that decision. I realize I’m just a copper to you and always will be, both on and off duty. The fact is I don’t want to embarrass you or put your boys at risk of abuse. So perhaps we should call this the parting of the ways?’

  Eve didn’t answer. She hadn’t expected that and didn’t know what to say.

  He nodded slowly. ‘I’ll take that as a yes, then.’

  He pushed his bicycle over the crumbled wall and stopped. ‘I’ll come back for dad’s stuff as soon as I can borrow the van. Say cheerio to the boys for me,’ he called over his shoulder.

  Eve watched him cycle off, aware of a sinking sensation inside her. Gazing up at the roof she realized that her pride had cost a lot. What would happen to the roof now? And what about the enquiries he was following? Would they stop?

  A feeling of gloom descended as she made her way back to number seven. Charlie’s words came back to haunt her. Even though she tried to tell herself this was for the best, his explanation that he had investigated Raj’s death for their benefit made her feel ashamed. Apparently there was no ulterior motive for befriending them. All the suspicion was on her side and not on his.

  That night, she and Peg were sitting in bed once more, talking in whispers. The room was full of smoke and Peg’s roll-ups were mounting in the saucer. The boys had wanted to go to the cottage tomorrow to meet Charlie and Eve had told them he wasn’t coming. Albert had refused to say his prayers.

  ‘Don’t worry about them, the boys’ll soon get over him. You can’t have a copper telling you how to bring up your kids. They can tell you not to sell your bloody flowers on a street corner and to move on, all right, but one thing they can’t do, is to interfere in family life. You done right, gel,’ encouraged Peg as she inhaled deeply. ‘As for the cottage roof, don’t worry. I’ll go up to the council next week and tell them that now they’ve done the bugs, they can nail the slates back on. When they’ve done that to my satisfaction, they’ll get the rest of their rent.’

  ‘I thought you’d paid it all,’ Eve said in alarm.

  ‘I ain’t that daft. I’ll give it to them when they deserve it. Till then I’ve put the rest away in me tin.’

  Eve felt it was dangerous to challenge the system when your home depended upon it. She had heard of rent books being taken away if the arrears mounted. She felt Peg had acted unwisely. A lapse in the paying of the rent would put them all at risk. But she couldn’t tell Peg how to do things.

  ‘Wonder how old Joan and Harold are?’ Peg said suddenly.

  ‘We’ll pay them back one day.’

  ‘What for? They don’t deserve it.’

  ‘Well, they did put us up,’ Eve said uncertainly. She still shivered when she thought of Harold.

  ‘Yes, but look what happened,’ said Peg, pulling the covers over and yawning. ‘You don’t have to like someone ’cos they’re family and one day she’ll find out the truth about her randy old man.’

  Eve tried to put the thought of Harold out of her mind. ‘Night, then.’

  ‘Night, love.’

  Eve snuggled down. She was asleep in seconds.

  It was Sunday and the boys and Peg were asleep as Eve quietly got dressed. Downstairs she
found Joseph making the tea.

  ‘Ah, my dear, the brew is nearly ready.’

  Eve sat at the table.

  ‘You are looking pale, Eve. Did you sleep well?’ He placed the china cups on the table. It was a habit he had formed since they’d come, using the best china rather than enamel mugs.

  ‘I had things on me mind.’

  ‘Can I help? Would you like to discuss them?’ He sat beside her.

  Eve nodded. Joseph was always easy to talk to. ‘Yesterday, I was annoyed with Charlie,’ she began.

  ‘Oh? Was it over the mending of the roof?’

  ‘Oh, no, I wish it was that straightforward.’ Eve sighed. ‘It was over the boys. He told them they could go to watch him play football and I refused.’

  Joseph’s silver eyebrows knitted. ‘Why is this?’

  ‘I don’t want Charlie to start something he can’t finish. They’d be really disappointed if that happened. But most of all I don’t want them ridiculed by anyone when they find out Charlie is a copper.’

  Joseph leaned on the table and pleated his fingers. ‘Eve, this young man is a decent sort, yes?’

  Eve nodded. ‘I think so.’

  ‘Have you any doubts?’

  ‘No, not really.’

  ‘You have nothing to hide.’

  ‘I did think he might be after Jimmy.’

  Joseph smiled. ‘But Charlie’s intentions are not to throw Jimmy in gaol.’

  Eve smiled. ‘No.’ She began to tell him what Charlie had said about why he had followed up Raj’s case. ‘He said he thought we was owed an explanation, that he was fond of the boys.’ Leaning her elbows on the table, she rested her chin in her hands. ‘What upset me next was he told me my kids had to fight their own battles. He couldn’t see I was only trying to protect them.’

  Joseph stroked his chin thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps it is your own tender heart you are protecting?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You have become both mother and father to your sons and done a wonderful job,’ Joseph assured her. ‘But Charlie is right, sooner or later they will have to stand up for themselves.’

  ‘I know. That’s why I used to take them out selling with me on Fridays, even though Albert hated it. As young as they are it’s good training for them. When they get older they’ll realize why I made them do it.’ She paused. ‘I suppose I didn’t like Charlie telling me what to do.’