‘I’ve let her down, I’m ashamed to say. All this time
I’ve done nothing to help.’ She flung both arms out fitfully, seeking confirmation from Lonnie about how wicked and uncaring she was. ‘From now on, I’m not going to stand by and let her suffer on her own. She’s in fear for her life. I only hope Miss Selina will know what to do.’
Both in the same mind, they set out heel to the ground in the direction of the Home for the Wayward & Fallen. They cut through Cumberland Place. New pots replaced Auntie Tilly’s flowers in her window box.
‘Hope Payne treats these ones better. Not likely though, is it? No one on Little Lon counts for much,’ Lonnie said glumly.
‘In God’s kingdom we’ll all be rewarded,’ Daisy assured him.
Lonnie sometimes wished he was more of a believer; he could do with a bit of help these days.
They soon arrived at Miss Selina Southern’s Home for the Wayward & Fallen, which stood directly across the way from the Carlton Gardens. Lonnie patted the mangy dog that lay on an old eiderdown alongside the doorway. ‘Must be under Miss Selina’s protection,’ he said. ‘Not such a bad life, fella.’
Three loud raps and the door opened.
‘Is Miss Selina here?’
‘And who may I ask is wanting her?’
‘Daisy Cameron and Lonnie McGuinness.’
‘I’ll check if she’ll see you.’
They heard the footfall of hurried steps. The woman who came to the door was regimental and straight-backed, her sleeves folded neatly to her elbows. Selina Southern may have been military in her stature, but she had the kindest eyes Lonnie had ever seen. When she smiled, goodliness shone out like sunshine. The smile was for Daisy. Towards Lonnie she was stern. ‘I hope you’re not here to fool around, Lonnie McGuinness. This is not the time for one of your practical jokes. I’m very busy. A young girl’s about to deliver.’
‘Aw, Miss Selina, I haven’t played a joke on you since I was twelve,’ said Lonnie.
‘And I still haven’t recovered from the scandal. All those cream cakes! You neglected to tell me they were taken from Mr Chamberlain’s store without his permission.’
‘But the cream was a day old and he’d piled them outside to toss away. I just thought it may cheer you up, doing such good work and all. I’m not messing around now, honest. Pearl could get herself killed if we don’t act fast.’
‘Pearl?’
‘She’s in grave danger.’
‘Still looking out for everyone I see.’ Miss Selina’s smile softened. ‘Come in both of you. Let’s see what we can do.’
‘We won’t keep you long, Miss Selina,’ promised Daisy, as she explained the dangers Pearl had faced of late. ‘You’ll help her, won’t you?’
‘Can you bring her here directly? Then I’ll do all within my means to help her.’
‘I tried to talk her into coming, but she won’t,’ said Daisy. ‘Can’t you come back with us, bring her yourself ?’
They could almost see her mind turning over.
‘I’m afraid not. For one thing, I can’t risk Pearl being injured because of me.’ Miss Selina made clear how it would jeopardise Pearl even more if she was seen meeting on the street with a child rescuer. ‘Only last week a girl was found dead. We’d been trying to steal poor Biddy away. They made it look like an accident, but it was a cover-up all right. Stopped her blabbing too much to the wrong people, you see. Where’s the law when you really need them?’ She sighed. ‘I guarantee that once Pearl steps foot inside here she’ll be safe. So the sooner you two persuade her to come, the better.’
‘Isn’t there anything else we can do?’ Daisy asked, growing more and more anxious.
There was a scream from the first floor of the building, so piercingly high that Selina Southern looked heavenwards. ‘I’m wanted upstairs. Sorry I can’t do any more. I’m afraid you’ll just have to convince her to come here.’
Dejectedly they took their departure.
‘She’ll have to do things Miss Selina’s way or she won’t have her full protection,’ Lonnie argued.
But Daisy was definite. ‘She won’t.’
‘She doesn’t have any choice.’
‘There must be another way to help,’ Daisy said. They walked in silence, both tossing ideas over in their heads. Eventually Daisy came up with a suggestion.
‘What about Madam Buckingham? She’s always helped me.’
‘Mrs B doesn’t treat you in the same way she does her girls,’ Lonnie reminded her.
A shiver ran down Daisy’s spine. The reason Madam Buckingham had taken such an interest in her over the past few years, setting her up at the Leitrim, giving her sewing work, was indeed a mystery. Daisy always half expected to be sent to work in the Big House, but it had never happened.
Lonnie saw her shudder and sympathised.
‘Someone must’ve walked over your grave.’
‘Feels more like my coffin’s been lugged out by body snatchers.’
They resumed their silence, both trying desperately to think of a speedy and absolute solution for Pearl.
Daisy threw him a troubled look. ‘What if Slasher gets wind of us seeing Miss Selina and comes after Pearl again? He terrifies her and with every reason. He’s an animal.’
Lonnie couldn’t argue with her. Even if Pearl did agree to go under Miss Selina’s protection, Slasher would always be a threat. What they needed more than ever was to protect Pearl from his torment. Her well-being, even her life, depended on it. But Lonnie knew he couldn’t take him on single-handedly.
Suddenly an idea flashed up at him like sunshine shining on a leather shoe. A two-tone shoe. ‘Maybe there is a way to fix things,’ he said thoughtfully. The way he was thinking of needed more muscle than he had alone. He would need help. This was where the Push came in. It was time to call in a favour from someone with spiv shoes and a bit of strength behind him. But it was safer if Daisy didn’t know all the details and even though she quizzed him, Lonnie kept his mouth shut.
VELVET DRAPE
Item No. 749
Fragment of red fabric with a thick, soft looped pile, used as curtaining. One of a great number of artifacts found in close proximity to Madam Buckingham’s establishment.
Daisy had a scheme of her own. She headed straight for the Big House in Lonsdale Street, planning to see Madam Buckingham. There were two things she intended to set straight, one about Pearl, the next about herself.
She was surprised to be led so quickly through a curtained doorway to a room where Madam Buckingham sat filling in a ledger. The madam kept writing and didn’t look up. ‘Well, Daisy Cameron, to what do we owe the pleasure?’
‘I’ve come to ask your help for Pearl.’
‘And why would she be needing my help, or yours for that matter?’
‘She’s my friend. And she works for you. Aren’t you concerned about her misfortune? Why are you being so unfeeling towards her?’
Madam Buckingham’s pen halted mid-sentence and she grew tetchy at the cheek. ‘Insolent imp!’ She had a mind to give that defiant tongue a different kind of licking. ‘I’ll tell you why,’ she snapped. ‘She’s an ungrateful double-crossing slut who’s sneaking off to work for that cow Annie Walker, so what am I s’posed to do? Send her flowers?’
‘You have a duty to protect your girls.’
‘Don’t you go attaching blame to me. If Pearl lies with dogs, she’s gonna get fleas.’
‘I don’t see why it’s so hard for you to help.’
‘Watch your lip, Daisy Cameron. It doesn’t pay to mollycoddle girls like her. You’ve not lived her life. She’s been taking care of herself well and good since she was twelve.’
‘Can’t you just help her out this once? She’s no match for Slasher. I don’t understand why you won’t, when you’ve always been so kind to me.’
‘What yer getting at?’ Madam Buckingham’s eyes were white-hot with suppressed anger. ‘I do no more for you than for anybody else. Perhaps I’m spoiling you. Perhaps I sh
ould do less for you.’
Daisy’s voice faltered. ‘No, I don’t mean …’ Madam Buckingham cut short Daisy’s words.
‘Do I have to keep every mewing waif in Little Lon who comes pawing at my door? If it wasn’t for your pa …’
‘What about him?’
Daisy’s sharp question made Madam Bucking- ham’s eyes narrow. ‘Yes, what about your pa? You tell me, Daisy Cameron. I’ve always wondered what you remembered about the night he left.’
Daisy shook her head. ‘I don’t remember anything.’
‘Nothing?’ Madam Buckingham rose out of her chair and stormed towards Daisy. ‘Well I’m beginning to think, missy, you know more than you’re letting on. Get out! Scarper! Stop wasting my time!’ Brusquely, she proceeded to shove Daisy out of the door.
Suddenly, her voice changed, springing from a kinder woman’s mouth, all traces of her fury disconcertingly pushed aside, as if they had never been arguing, ‘Daisy, me girl, I want you to make a new white dress for Ruby. There’s another parliamentary party coming here in a few days time and they’ll be expecting the best. Lots of frills and tucks, there’s a pet.’
Daisy didn’t know what to make of Madam Buckingham’s sudden mood swing. She left the Big House wondering why God had suddenly done a runner. Pearl was still without help, and Madam Buckingham was asking strange questions about her pa. She sneaked a look over her shoulder, half expecting Burke to be following behind. What a pigeon pair she and Pearl had turned out to be, one afraid of Slasher, the other of Burke. ‘Listen to me,’ she heard herself saying aloud, ‘waging war against the Almighty because I’m in such a frenzy.’
She should have taken heed of Lonnie’s advice in the first place and stayed clear of Madam Buckingham. At any rate, he had another scheme to help Pearl, although knowing him as well as she did, any solution he thought up was bound to bring its own share of trouble.
LEATHER SHOE
Item No. 5117
Dress shoe. Leather. Two-tone.
‘So me old pigeon, what d’ya want doing?’
George Swiggins rested a foot against the shopfront, his arms crossed leisurely. His small round hat was tipped at a hard angle, shading his eyes. With only a vague interest, he waited for Lonnie to spell out his request.
What had occurred to Lonnie when walking back from Miss Selina’s was that George Swiggins owed him a favour. The Push may indeed be the only ones who could help deal with Pearl’s situation. So he searched out George and found him camped with his gang on a street corner. However, the bustling centre of Melbourne was not, generally speaking, the most secluded place to make such a dangerous request known.
‘I was hoping for a quiet word. Alone.’
‘Spit it out, mate. There’s nobody around here listening except us, and my boys won’t breathe a word.’
Lonnie’s words came out like he was choking on a boiled lolly. ‘I may need some help … that is … to sort out a … let’s say difficulty … for one of my friends, er … that is, if you can help.’
The leader of the Push seemed sympathetic. He wrapped a firm arm around him and pulled him in so close that Lonnie’s nose took in the fresh starch of a cleanly pressed shirt. One thing about the Push, they liked to be as spick and span as the wealthy. George sniggered and a trace of spittle appeared at the corner of his mouth. ‘Another of your rich lady friends need rescuing? Hey, you never knocked her up?’ His voice darkened into a murky, uncharted space. ‘Is that what you want sorting?’
‘No. I need your help with … Slasher.’
‘Don’t tell me you’ve started walking the streets for Annie Walker? Well, I knew times were hard!’ George chuckled, enjoying his own joke. He stuck Lonnie a jab in the rib. ‘Or has he had his way with your pretty pound-note girl, given her one in the loins to remember.’ He jerked his fist at full throttle, loaded with insinuation.
The words hung accusingly in the air between them. It had been the wrong thing to come here. George was only having a laugh at his expense. It was bad enough asking the Push for a favour in the first place. All the reasons why Lonnie did not want to be a member of the gang came flooding back to him. ‘Forget it,’ he said, flustered and angry. ‘It’s a bad idea after all.’
George was not one to be put off. The suggestion of a bloodthirsty brawl with Slasher Jack had given his eyes a buoyant glimmer. ‘So, you asking us to get rid of him?’
‘Yes! No! Don’t kill him or hurt him, only scare him off.’
‘’Course we won’t hurt him. How about we send him a nasty letter instead? Can any of you write?’ he asked, turning towards his mob. Jeers and vulgar suggestions poured in before George silenced them with a wave of his hand.
‘Just keep him away from Pearl.’
George gave Lonnie a smirk. ‘Our little oyster gem? Why didn’t you say so in the first place? Thought you were doing it for that stuck-up bit of skirt you were hanging around with at the Australian Building. Leave Slasher to me, me old pigeon. I can take him with one arm tied behind my back.’
With George agreeing to the favour, another tremor of alarm passed through Lonnie. The Push were a sinister lot. They didn’t do things by half. Committing murder was not inconceivable. So there was no misunderstanding, Lonnie felt bound to repeat his concerns. ‘Just warn him off, agreed?’
‘What d’ya reckon? Let’s just say you won’t hear from him again. Consider it done. But this’ll make us even. No more favours. ’Course, if you joined the
Push, you wouldn’t have problems like this.’
Lonnie began to wonder what demon he had set loose. If Slasher died, and the finger pointed his way, he would be implicated, tried by a jury, found guilty and strung up alongside George on the gallows. The floor would drop beneath him, his neck broken; or worse, he’d be left hanging while his feet twitched and turned and he clung helplessly to life.
When they cut him down they would make a cast of his face, a death mask like Ned Kelly’s to display at the Town Hall. A line of spectators would come filing past, some aggrieved – his poor old mam for one, Pearl, Daisy, Carlo, Ned and Ronnie Alcock maybe; others taking pleasure in his fate – the Cricks, Rose Payne and her father, Postlethwaite, even the man with the mongrel dog; and some who would care less – like Billy Bottle and his gang. His body left to rot in an unmarked grave behind the prison walls.
Lonnie’s wild imagination took hold until his knuckles became tight and blanched, and his knees weakened and trembled to the marrow with the horror of his own death.
RED BAND
Item No. 4
Ribbon from a Salvation Army bonnet.
Pearl’s mouth formed into a sulky pucker. ‘Leave off about Miss Selina. She means well, but if either madam gets wind of me visiting a child rescuer they’d both be after my skin.’
Daisy perched dubiously on the roll of the chaise longue in the front room at number four, listening to Pearl’s refusal for the umpteenth time. She had deliberately dressed up in her navy woollen uniform and bonnet for the occasion; the red band and gold badge symbolising the force of the Army she had brought along with her as divine backup. Not such an easy task as things were working out. She sipped on a cup of tea, which had been left to stew in the pot until it was slap cold, tossing over whether a few more desperate, attention-seeking prayers would be needed in order to help Pearl change her mind.
‘You know as well as I do, I can’t go. At least, not yet. No matter where I hide, Slasher will come looking for me. He’s a bogeyman. He’ll sniff me out.’ Pearl’s thoughts rushed back to the bridge and the deep dark abyss of water.
Daisy touched her friend’s arm. ‘We’re not about to stand by and let Slasher Jack do anything more to harm you.’ However, Daisy knew as she spoke that what Pearl said was true. Her life was in jeopardy, putting even God to the test. Everyone in Little Lon knew Slasher attacked Annie’s wayward girls in the dark of night with boot or knife. Look at what he had already done to Pearl. She was lucky to have come out alive.
‘I wonder if we’ll be chased by demons and monsters in the afterlife,’ said Pearl. ‘As if we don’t have enough in this lifetime. Even you, a God-fearing soul, still have your nightmares.’
‘We are loved,’ said Daisy. ‘There’s always a guiding light.’
‘I’d rather God do something more down-to- earth, like make Slasher disappear forever.’
‘Pray to the Almighty. He always helps.’
‘Let’s hope he sends an angel.’
‘He will. But I’m afraid God’s chosen one isn’t Madam Buckingham. I already asked her to help, but she refused.’
Pearl sprang up in a panic. ‘You didn’t let on I was working for Annie, did you? You didn’t tell her about Miss Selina?’
‘No,’ Daisy reassured her on both counts. ‘I kept quiet about everything. But she already thinks you’re doubling up.’
Pearl’s face went ashen. ‘Madam hates Annie Walker with a vengeance.’
‘Steer clear of her temper. By the time I left she’d already started to turn. She was asking strange questions about the night I came to the Leitrim. Do you remember?’
As Daisy asked the question of Pearl she felt a sudden stab of fear in her chest. Her memory tumbled back to a moment from their shared past. She was ten years old again and waking up inside the room at the Leitrim. She must have fallen asleep for she had no idea how she’d come to be there. Pearl, still in the care of her own parents then, appeared like a little mother sitting by her side, anxiously stroking her hand. ‘Hush now, it’s all right.’
Daisy looked blankly at Pearl. ‘Why am I here?’
‘Don’t know. I saw you brought here so I sneaked in. I overheard Madam Buckingham tell the others to keep you here until you feel better and then they’re to take you over to the Big House.’
‘Has my pa sold me?’
In Lonnie's Shadow Page 16