She laid her hand on top of his. ‘Aled …’
He shattered the moment of intimacy by pulling his hand out from under hers. He moved in front of the mirror and busied himself, pushing collar studs into his shirt and cuff links into his sleeves. ‘You’ve just given me one more reason to teach Charlie Moore a lesson.’
‘Don’t, he’s influential …’
‘So am I,’ he said flatly.
‘Did he have David arrested?’
‘Not so anyone can accuse him outright. One of Anna Hughes’s girls pointed David out to a rookie cop. David’s been messing around with her ever since he came down to the Bay. She’s young and pretty, if you like the painted floozy look.’
‘Gertie?’
He looked back at her from the mirror. ‘I didn’t think respectable young ladies had anything to do with the Anna Hugheses of this world.’
‘I only know Gertie by sight, but I know Anna well. Everyone on the Bay does.’
Aled recalled Anna saying that Judy had bought dresses from her. ‘Don’t worry about David; I’ll get him out of gaol.’
‘Are you sure?’ Judy asked in concern.
‘I’m sure,’ Aled reiterated forcefully. ‘Even if the police insist on taking him and the others to trial they can’t refuse to set bail. Do you fancy dinner here tonight? And I mean in this suite,’ he added so there would be no mistake.
‘What would I tell my family – and Edyth?’
‘That you’re dining with me in the Windsor Hotel. Eating isn’t a crime – everyone has to do it.’
‘But they’d know that we didn’t eat in the dining room.’
‘How?’
‘Waiters talk.’
‘I’ll have their jobs.’
‘Please don’t make trouble for anyone.’
‘Then tell your family and Edyth the truth,’ he said irritably.
‘That we’re carrying on?’
He smiled at the old-fashioned expression. ‘Is that what we’re doing?’
‘It sounds better than you’ve taken me to be your mistress.’
He fell serious. ‘I didn’t think that I’d “taken” you anywhere you didn’t want to go, Judy.’
‘You didn’t,’ she admitted.
‘Tell them whatever you want,’ he said carelessly, ‘that’s if you want to have dinner with me here. But I wouldn’t be too worried about Edyth Slater, if I were you. As she’s “carrying on”, as you so quaintly put it, with Micah Holsten, she can hardly say anything about us.’
‘You know everything there is to know about everyone on the Bay, don’t you?’
‘I make it my business to find out.’ He put the finishing touches to the knot on his tie, picked up his jacket, looked at his panama, and settled on a more serviceable trilby. ‘I’ll send Freddie to pick you up at the baker’s around seven. If you feel the need to use an excuse, say we’re working on the repertoire for your broadcast.’ He kissed her lips. Pulling down her towel, he stroked her breasts and murmured, ‘That’s to keep me going until dinner.’ Then he left.
Judy sank on the bed and looked at the door. The unthinkable had happened. She had promised her grandmother that she would never make love to a man until she was married and now – now – she was living in sin. No, she wasn’t. Living in sin implied that two people were living under the same roof, which she and Aled certainly weren’t. She had become Aled James’s mistress and if Pearl King had still been alive she knew that her grandmother would regard her as a fallen woman.
She had allowed – no, not allowed, that suggested some kind of pressure – she had willingly made love to a man who hadn’t as much as hinted that he loved her or might at some time in the future consider marrying her.
Ignoring the lift, Aled ran down the stairs into the foyer. Freddie was waiting for him in the car outside the entrance.
‘I’ve sent a solicitor to the Maria Street police station to meet Aiden and told him to post whatever bail the police set.’ Aled climbed into the back seat.
‘They won’t bail until the morning, boss.’
Unused to having his plans thwarted, Aled’s face darkened. ‘How do you know?’
‘A copper was waiting for us in the foyer when we left your suite. He was looking for Aiden. He said that David will have to go to the magistrates’ court and they won’t be meeting until tomorrow morning. They’ll set his bail, and until then he’ll have to stay in the cells.’
‘There has to be some way to get him out.’
‘Not before morning, boss. A rookie constable arrested David in the Mount Stuart in front of everyone in the Gentlemen Only. There’s no way it can be kept quiet. And the copper hadn’t just been sent there to look for Aiden. He’d been told to warn you to stay away from Maria Street for your own sake as well as David’s and the other two boys.’
‘After you’ve dropped me off, go to the station and see Aiden. Talk to him yourself and don’t take no for an answer, whatever excuse the police try to give you, understand?’
‘Yes, boss.’
‘Tell Aiden to get anything David wants and make sure he has a cell to himself and a decent meal tonight. After you’ve done all you can for David, drive Aiden to Anna Hughes’s. Tell him to walk straight in and meet me in her kitchen.’
‘I will, boss.’ Freddie pressed the ignition. The engine roared into life. He leaned back in his seat. ‘I take it you still want to go to Anna Hughes’s place?’
‘As quick as you can make it, Freddie.’
‘Micah, I wondered when you were going to turn up.’ Inspector Cummings wandered out of his office, a cup of tea in one hand and a Chelsea bun in the other. ‘Want one? Constable Murphy’s wife just sent down a batch from upstairs.’
‘No thanks. I’ve heard that you’re holding David Ellis.’
‘Popular young lad, that one. His solicitor and Aiden Collins are with him and the arresting officer and the sergeant in the interview room now.’
‘You got him for running a book?’
‘You a betting man?’
‘You know I haven’t two halfpennies to rub together,’ Micah answered.
‘That’s never stopped a man from gambling. If he hasn’t the money he gambles with thin air. The trouble starts when the bookie won’t take thin air as payment.’
‘Are you or are you not holding David Ellis?’ Micah questioned impatiently.
‘He’s being charged now and he’ll be held overnight for the magistrates in the morning.’
‘Release him into my custody.’
‘Give me one good reason why I should do that, Micah?’ the inspector asked.
‘As a personal favour to me. I’ve done enough for you over the years – patching up the drunks in the cells and coming out at all hours to act as an interpreter whenever you’ve needed one.’
‘It’s been useful having a pastor who speaks ten languages on the Bay. The only thing is, I’m not too sure you’ve always translated what I’ve said correctly or, come to that, whatever the people we were questioning said to you.’
‘Have you ever been left with a mess to clear up as a result of my translations?’
‘No, but there is such a thing as the letter of the law. And we have just told the fancy solicitor Aled James hired to represent David Ellis that we’re keeping Mr Ellis in the cells overnight.’
‘Since when has anyone in this station liked fancy solicitors, or listened to what they have to say?’ Micah asked. ‘Please …’
‘Tell you what I’ll do,’ Inspector Cummings beckoned Micah forward and lowered his voice to a whisper, ‘if you disappear for a couple of hours and come back at eight o’clock after the senior officers go off duty I’ll release him into your custody on two conditions.’
‘What are they?’ Micah asked suspiciously.
‘That you keep him in the mission overnight.’
‘Done.’
‘And get him to the court by eight thirty tomorrow morning.’
‘Agreed.’
&
nbsp; ‘And don’t tell anyone about it, or crow that you can wrap me round your little finger.’
‘Would I do that?’
‘No, Micah, you wouldn’t, which is why I’ll grant you the first favour you’ve ever asked of me. Just make sure that you don’t ask me for another in a hurry,’ the inspector said seriously.
Chapter Nineteen
As Anna was lolling on the sofa, Aled sat on one of the stiff, Rexine-covered chairs in her front parlour. The absence of dust on the mantelpiece and the Victorian walnut table and chairs in front of the window suggested that the room was cleaned on a regular basis. The musty smell, however, indicated that it was rarely, if ever, used. ‘If what everyone on the Bay is saying is right and David was caught red-handed with his book and betting slips in the pub, there’s no way that the police will be able to ignore it, Aled, no matter who you have bought,’ Anna warned.
‘Someone put your Gertie up to this.’
‘Possibly,’ she conceded cautiously.
‘Definitely, Anna. She must have a regular –’
‘More than a dozen at the last count,’ Anna interrupted.
‘You’re not going to help me, are you?’ Aled said testily.
‘I look after my girls, I give them sound advice. If they choose to ignore it, that’s their affair.’
‘Gertie’s ignored it?’
‘She was brought back here by the police this afternoon. They searched her room and found David’s wallet. Gertie insisted he left it there when he visited her yesterday before they went to Barry. Apparently David insisted he had it in Barry and used the money in it to buy their train tickets. As it’s her word against his they’ve let her off with a caution. But I warned her if she brings the police to my door on official business again, she’s out.’
‘Never mind that: she’s committed the worst crime someone on the Bay can. Especially a girl in her profession. She’s grassed to the police, Anna.’
‘You don’t know that.’
‘How much more proof do you need?’ Aled hadn’t raised his voice but there was an undercurrent of steel in his quiet tone.
‘Talk to Gertie about it, not me. I’ve said all that I’m going to say to her today. She’s upstairs. You know her price; two bob will buy you an hour.’
‘Is anyone with her now?’
‘Her number one regular. He calls to see her most days, not that he pays.’
Aled remembered what Anna had told him the last time he’d spoken to her. ‘She’s with Charlie Moore?’ he guessed.
‘If you want to talk to Gertie when they’ve finished, be my guest. You want to talk to Charlie Moore, do so outside my house. I don’t want any more trouble here. Not today – or ever.’
Edyth grasped the telephone in her hand and shouted down the line. ‘No, Harry, please don’t leave the farm and travel down here, not tonight … There’s nothing you can do that Micah hasn’t already done for David … Micah has been to the police station … He’s arranged with the inspector for David to be released into his custody at eight o’clock tonight and Micah and I will go to the magistrates’ court with David tomorrow morning … The bakery is the least of my worries, trade has slackened off and Kristina and the boys can manage without me for a couple of hours … Harry … please.’ She turned around and looked imploringly at Micah, who was leaning in the doorway of her office, listening. ‘Micah is with me now … talk to him … it would be better, Harry, as he is the one who has made all the arrangements … Remember, David is going to be feeling very ashamed of himself and embarrassed after all the warnings we gave him not to work as a bookie’s runner … Yes, here’s Micah.’ She handed the telephone receiver to Micah. ‘The line is terrible. You’ll have to shout.’
To give Micah privacy, Edyth went upstairs. Judy was kneeling on the window seat in the bay that overhung the street in the sitting room. She had changed out of the expensive black day dress she had worn to lunch in the Windsor Hotel and was wearing one of her own dresses. A simple floor-length cream shift belted low at the hip with a wide cream and brown belt. The style had been fashionable two or three years before, but it suited her slim figure.
‘Are you going out again?’ Exhausted more by the news of David than her long day in the shop, Edyth sat in one of the easy chairs that flanked the fireplace.
‘To a business dinner at the Windsor Hotel. I didn’t tell you earlier because it seemed wrong after hearing the news about David. Aled has arranged for me to sing on the wireless.’
‘That’s marvellous, Judy,’ Edyth said enthusiastically.
‘It’s just the kind of good news I need after what’s happened to David.’
‘We’ll be going through the repertoire I’ll be singing in the studio. I have four four-minute spots, which means four songs. And the producer is anxious that they should show off the range of my voice. Lennie has been given two two-minute compère spots in the same show.’
‘I am so pleased for both of you. I wish you had told me earlier.’
‘It was awful to see you and Micah looking so upset.’
‘I’m beginning to think that’s the normal effect David has on people.’
‘I could ask Aled to arrange this dinner for another evening and stay here,’ Judy offered.
‘Absolutely not.’ Edyth shook her head. ‘There’s nothing you could you do if you stayed. Micah has done everything that can be done now the worst has finally happened. David chose to ignore the advice we gave him. He’s been arrested and he’s going to have to suffer the consequences.’
‘I feel sorry for him. I’m fond of David,’ she said absently, suddenly realising that she meant what she’d said, for all of David’s irritating ways.
‘We all are. Is Aled James going to be hosting this dinner?’
‘Yes. As he pointed out to Lennie and me, he gets ten per cent of any fee we earn working outside of the Tiger Ragtime, and that includes wireless performances.’ Judy crossed her fingers behind her back and hoped that Edyth wouldn’t ask for a list of the other guests.
‘David worked for Aled and look where he is now,’ Edyth warned.
‘David said that Aiden runs the bookie side of the business.’
‘Aiden Collins might be concerned with the day-to-day running of the bookie’s business, but I bet he was running it with Aled’s money.’
Judy couldn’t contradict Edyth or say anything in Aled’s defence, when on Aled’s own admittance he had bankrolled Aiden. ‘You’re probably right.’
Edyth went to the window seat, sat beside Judy, and caught hold of her hand. ‘I know that Aled James has given you the break into show business you were looking for and that working in the club is the culmination of all your dreams. I couldn’t be more pleased for you that you’re going on the wireless. You’ve worked hard for your success, Judy, you deserve it. Just one thing, please, don’t get any more involved with Aled James than you have to.’
‘How can I not, Edyth? He’s my boss.’ Judy felt the blood rushing into her cheeks. She turned aside, but not quickly enough.
‘My God!’ Edyth clamped her hand over her mouth.
‘I’m stupid as well as blind. You’re already involved with Aled, aren’t you?’
Judy met Edyth’s steady gaze but she couldn’t lie to her friend. She said nothing.
‘Judy, darling, I love you as much as I love my sisters. Truth be known, a lot more than my younger sister, Maggie. But then she always was the most difficult one of the five of us. I’d hate to see you make the same mistake as David, and trust the wrong man, only to get hurt.’
‘I won’t be going to gaol.’
‘No, you won’t,’ Edyth agreed, ‘but look at what’s happened to David and learn from it. Men like Aled James use women and discard them with no more thought than they’d give to a worn-out suit. You only have to look at the way Aled behaves, the way he throws money around. The men around him – Freddie Leary, Aiden Collins – everyone knows they’re hired thugs. That night in the hotel, the way
the head waiter and everyone else fawned over Aled. They only do that because he has bought them with his tips and tickets to his nightclub. Judy, darling, now that David’s been arrested you don’t need me to tell you what the man is capable of. Please, I’m begging you, don’t see any more of him than you have to.’
‘I work for him. I see him in the club five nights a week.’
‘But you don’t have to have lunch and dinner with the man.’ Edyth lifted her legs on to the seat and wrapped her arms around her knees.
‘I do when he arranges meetings and lunches with BBC producers and impresarios like Stan Peterson. It’s business, Edyth.’
‘I can see that I’ve spoken too late. I should have said something sooner.’
Judy felt remorseful enough without having to cope with Edyth’s guilt. ‘You couldn’t have stopped it from happening.’
Edyth left the window seat and returned to the chair. ‘You saw what my marriage to Peter was like. If you get involved with the wrong man, as I did, you could be letting yourself in for a lot of heartache.’
‘I’m old enough to know my own mind, Edyth.’
‘I thought I was when I married, Peter,’ Edyth said with a touch of bitterness. ‘I just don’t want you to end up unhappy and full of regrets.’
‘I doubt I’ll end up regretful,’ Judy said wryly. ‘I’ve gone into this with my eyes wide open. I know that men like Aled James use women; I also know that they’re not the marrying kind.’
‘You know that,’ Edyth said wonderingly. ‘And yet –’
‘And yet I made love to him,’ Judy said defiantly. ‘It wasn’t one-sided, Edyth.’
‘You love him?’ Edyth asked wonderingly.
‘I suppose I must do.’ Judy was as amazed by the idea as Edyth.
‘How could you? You’ve just said he’s not the marrying kind and that means you’ll never be anything more to him than a mistress.’
‘Like you with Micah?’ Bitterly ashamed of the silence that followed her outburst, Judy said, ‘I’m sorry. I had no business to say that. But a person would have to be blind and deaf to live in this house and not know what was going on between you and Micah Holsten, Edyth.’
Tiger Ragtime Page 33