by Anne Bennett
‘Of course not,’ Will said emphatically. ‘What in Christ’s name do you take me for?’
‘A fool, Will Baker, that’s what I take you for,’ Betty spat out. ‘A weak-willed and gullible fool who allowed himself to be sucked into such evilness and debauchery in the first place.’
Will accepted the censure, knowing he deserved that and worse. If he was honest, he had shocked himself. It was one thing going along each day and doing things alien to him, or just plain wrong, especially when he was mixing with people to whom those things were commonplace. It was quite another to sit before his wife and confess those things. It was the very first time he had put into words the things he had had to do, and if he was so disturbed, he could just imagine what it was doing to Betty, whose life up until then had been serene and unsullied. He was bitterly ashamed that he had brought disgrace into it and he told her this.
Betty looked at the man she loved with all her heart and soul – or at least she loved the man she thought he had been, the one she had considered honest and trustworthy – and felt a shudder run all through her.
Will saw it and his heart sank, but he knew he had to go on and tell all, and so he said, ‘I haven’t finished yet and this will explain why I needed the ladders.’ He went on to tell her what he had overheard and his meeting Ray after it.
Betty was astounded. ‘Why are you sitting here with such information?’ she demanded. ‘Go to the police.’
Will shook his head. ‘I can’t do that, Betty.’
‘Why not?’
‘Haven’t you listened to a word I have said?’ Will said. ‘If I did that your life wouldn’t be worth tuppence, and it isn’t as if I would be here to give you any sort of protection.’
‘Why not?’
‘Look, Betty, if I just trot into any police station and say I know of a girl that is about to be murdered and I have the address and all the details, what d’you think would happen then? Do you think that they thank me for the information, rescue the girl and that would be the end of it? Don’t you think it far more likely that they will haul me in and find out how I knew all this? Then everything would come out. By not speaking sooner about some of the other nefarious things I have been involved in, I am as guilty as the perpetrators, or that is probably how the police would see it. Face it, Betty, if the police ever got wind of any of this I would be looking at a hefty prison sentence. Far more important than that, though, what concerns me is what the boss would do to you as soon as the police began ferreting out their information. These people don’t mess around, you know.’
‘No, I don’t know,’ Betty snapped, but she realised with sudden clarity that Will spoke the truth. If he admitted to any of this then he would be locked up, and that thought sent cold shivers down her spine. Why the hell had he got involved in something like this?
She was suddenly blisteringly angry with him. ‘How would I be expected to know people like that or how they would behave?’ she burst out. ‘A short while ago, I would have said I knew you inside out. Now it is as if I am married to a stranger.’
‘Look,’ Will said, ‘Ray told me where the girl still is and I want to have a go at getting her out. That’s what the ladder is for.’
‘And won’t anyone watching think it strange to see a ladder up to a window?’
‘No one will see,’ Will said. ‘That’s part of the beauty of it. The side of the house is down a sort of alleyway and the bedroom window overlooks the yard of a factory. That’s how I can pinpoint the bedroom. I stepped into that alleyway for a bit of shelter and to light my fag out the wind, like, and I heard the first struggles and shouts. The factory is deserted now, though, because it was caught in a raid in the autumn and is not rebuilt yet. But there is a fairly high wall still standing and I will be able to hide the ladder behind there once I get the girl out of the building.’
‘Thought it all out then?’
‘Well, I only thought of it when I was given the day off,’ Will said. ‘I mean, I wanted to do something when I heard it first, but I didn’t then know how I could achieve it. I’ve been hatching the plan all the way home. What d’you think?’
Betty nodded slowly. ‘It could just work,’ she said. ‘And then what?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘According to you, they are out to kill this girl.’
‘They are. D’you think I would make up something like this?’
‘How would I know?’ Betty snapped. ‘But if you are right there are two major problems I can see. How will you release her and not have them come gunning for you? And if you should succeed in letting her go free, what will you do with her?’
‘The first point is easier to answer,’ Will said. ‘I am sure that I can cover my tracks so that it looks as if she got out of that place on her own, but after that I don’t know. I mean, I can’t bring her here. It would be far too risky for you.’
Betty nodded slowly. ‘Maybe not here, and not just for the risk to me either. I mean, they could search here,’ she said, ‘But what about my mother’s? Those thugs don’t know where she lives.’
‘Will she mind?’
‘Not when I explain it all,’ Betty said. ‘And as I will move in as well, she’ll probably be pleased. And it will satisfy the neighbours because what could be more natural than me staying with my mother now that I am seven months gone? Mom will likely be glad of the company anyway, because she has been lonely since Dad went two years ago. Always said she’d sell the house because she didn’t need all the space, but the war put paid to that and I’m glad of it now, for it is the safest place to hide that girl if you do manage to release her. And you could come up for your dinner at night and keep us abreast of things.’
‘Yeah, I can just see this working,’ Will said. ‘And it won’t be for ever. I mean, she must have plans and some reason why she came to Birmingham in the first place.’
‘How d’you know she did?’
‘Ray said,’ Will told her. ‘Him and Charlie picked her up at the station. It’s their usual haunting ground. He also said she came from Ireland.’
‘Ah, poor girl!’ Betty said. ‘You know I will have nightmares about those girls sent to the whorehouses.’
‘There is little we can do about those now.’
‘I know that,’ Betty replied. But here is one that we might be able to save. Come on, we haven’t got much time, because it will start getting light in an hour and things will be riskier then. Get going, and I will go along to my mother’s and alert her, even if I have to get her out of bed to do it.’
There were no blackout curtains drawn, or shutters at the windows of the house, Will noted, but it didn’t matter because the room was in darkness. Perched at the top of the ladder, he rapped on the glass quite loudly and saw an indistinct grey shape move slightly in the room. It came no closer, though, and Will couldn’t risk drawing attention to himself by shouting. After a minute or two he rapped again, thinking it would be a tragic irony if the plan failed because the girl was too afraid to come to the window.
The point was, really he couldn’t blame her. Why should she trust a strange man on a ladder outside her bedroom window rapping at the glass? Who would? Yet it was desperately important that she did trust him, came nearer and then maybe he could convince her that he meant her no harm.
Molly had woken in a lather of sweat and she had had the shakes ever since. She thought something was seriously wrong, that she was dying, and she felt so wretched that she wouldn’t have cared. She had no idea it was her body reacting to the absence of drugs it had become so used to over the weeks.
When she heard the rapping on the glass, she turned her head to the sound but did nothing further. She wasn’t totally sure she hadn’t imagined it, because strange things had been happening to her mind of late and she felt too ill, in too much pain to move. But the rapping came again and she decided to see what it was. She struggled from the bed and then had to hold on to it as her head swam and the room tilted and swayed in front o
f her. When she felt able to move again it was with the shambling gait of a very old and sick woman.
When she saw the man’s face the other side of the glass, she recoiled in horror. To her, men meant pain and suffering, and she had had enough of that to last her a lifetime, so when the man beckoned to her to open the window she shook her head wildly. Did he think her mad altogether?
Then she heard his voice. It was gentle, soothing, and it said, ‘Open the window. I swear I mean you no harm. I am here to try and help you.’
Oh, how Molly wanted help, someone to tell her what to do, because she hadn’t a clue. What have you got to lose? her mind screamed. Ray might be back any minute and he might start on you again. At the thought of that, she stepped forward and threw open the window, wondering if she was going from the frying pan into the fire, but too dispirited to care much.
Will was inside her room in seconds, pushing the haversack he carried through first. Though he couldn’t see the full extent of the injuries to Molly’s face, what he could make out made him feel physically sick. He could never raise his hand to a woman and couldn’t understand how any man could. And yet he told himself if he didn’t get this girl away from here, a battered face would be the least of her worries. He must make her see that.
‘Listen,’ he said, putting his hands on her shoulders, ‘your life is in grave danger.’ And when she didn’t answer he tried again, ‘Do you understand what I said?’
Molly nodded, and then was sorry because her head began thumping again. She said through thick lips, ‘You said my life was in danger.’
‘It is,’ Will insisted. ‘It is because of what you did to Collingsworth.’
He felt the shudder run all down her body and he added, ‘Believe me, I am his chauffeur and heard him talking to Ray. He wants you killed.’
Abject and absolute terror took hold of Molly then. ‘But … but what am I to do?’
‘I have come to get you out.’
‘But that won’t help. I have nowhere to go.’
‘Let me worry about that,’ Will said. ‘Will you trust me?’
Molly looked at Will’s open face and what she could see of it was full of concern for her. For that reason she knew that this man was an honest one. She said, ‘I don’t know why, but I believe you.’
Will sighed in relief. ‘Now, listen,’ he said. ‘You can escape from this room via the ladder, but it has to seem as if you got out on your own. If they were to think otherwise, my life, as well as yours, will be in danger. Do you understand that?’
Again there was that nod, as if it was too much effort for Molly to speak.
‘So,’ Will said, ‘we must tear the sheets up until we have enough to reach the ground, or near enough anyway, and as quickly as possible because time is against us.’
Molly needed no second bidding to do that. She took pleasure in tearing those black sheets into sizeable strips, which Will tied together, fastening one end of the rope to the leg of the bed.
‘That’s about it,’ he said at last, tipping the tied sheets from the window where they dangled just about a foot from the ground.
Then Will unpacked the haversack and inside was a woman’s coat, a scarf, hat and gloves and a pair of boots. He smiled at Molly’s puzzled expression.
‘They are from my wife,’ he said. ‘She thought you may have need of them and I’d say she was right.’
‘You’re married,’ Molly said, because to be married seemed a very safe and ordinary thing to be.
‘Well married,’ Will said. ‘My wife is seven months pregnant and that was her favourite coat, but it won’t go near her now. Mind you, it would fit you three times over. There isn’t much of you, is there, and the boots will probably be like boats, but they will be better than those fancy slippers. Mind you, we must take everything with us, because you wouldn’t leave without clothes. In fact, it might pay us to take some things from the drawers, as well, just to allay any suspicions they may have.’
Eventually they were ready and Will went onto the ladder first and guided Molly down gently. She was glad of it, for everything ached and the wind blew with such intensity it threatened to pluck her off it.
‘Won’t the ladder sort of give it away?’ she said to Will when she reached the ground, and she heard him give a throaty chuckle.
‘You leave the ladder to me,’ he said, as he lifted it and dropped it the other side of the factory wall. ‘It can bide there until it is safe to come and fetch it. Now we must be away from here, and as fast as we can.’
It wasn’t very fast, because Molly was in pain with every step and Will was soon aware of it. He knew it was a tidy walk to Aston, where Betty’s mother lived, and they daren’t risk a tram. They hadn’t set out far when it began to rain, icy, sleety rain with the gusty wind behind it. Will was glad of it, for it meant the streets were virtually empty, though the sky had begun to lighten and those that were out had little inclination to linger.
Molly had the hat pulled well down and the scarf pulled up, so it was when they arrived at 8 Albert Road, the little terrace house of Ruby Mitchell, Betty’s mother, and Molly took off her sopping things, that they saw the full extent of the injuries to her face. For a while they were all struck dumb, and then Will almost ground out, ‘God Almighty!’ He had seldom seen such savagery and knew without a shadow of a doubt that he had done the right thing. So did the two women.
‘I’ll make us all a drop of tea,’ Ruby said, knowing that it was the panacea for every ailment known to man.
‘Not for me, Ma,’ Will said. ‘I had better head back.’
‘Take a drop of tea at least.’
‘I daren’t,’ Will said. ‘When the balloon goes up it will be better for me if I am in my own home, with my coat and boots dry, so I can convince any that are the slightest bit interested that I have not left my own fireside since I was given the day off.’
The three women knew what sense Will spoke, for the safety of them all hinged on Will acting Mr Innocent and covering every angle.
There was consternation when Ray and Charlie turned up at the flat that afternoon to find the bedroom empty and the sheets dangling from the open window.
‘Christ, she’s done a runner,’ Ray said as he strode into the room and pulled in the knotted sheets.
‘Thought you said you had slapped her about a bit.’
‘Yeah, I did.’ Ray slammed the window shut. ‘Wouldn’t have thought she was in any fit shape to run off.’
‘Obviously you didn’t hit her hard enough,’ Charlie sneered at him, and added, ‘When I teach women a lesson, they really are ready to go nowhere for some time.’
‘Yeah, I know.’ Ray was opening and shutting drawers as he spoke. ‘I have seen the results of your handiwork. You really are one vicious sod.’
‘You be glad I am,’ Charlie said. ‘I was the one you came running to when you wanted help to do the girl in and what do we do now when she ain’t even here?’
‘We find her, what else?’ Ray said, flinging open the wardrobe door.
‘Better let Collingsworth know she’s gone walkabout.’
‘Are you mad?’ Ray cried. ‘Jesus, my life would be worth nothing if he got to know I had lost her. He’d turn me over to his bullyboys to beat me to pulp without a second thought and then probably feed me through the mincer.’
‘It will be worse if we don’t tell him.’
‘It couldn’t be worse,’ Ray said with a shudder. ‘Not for me it couldn’t.’
‘But what if we don’t find her?’
‘Course we will,’ Ray said confidently. ‘She has no money, and though she has taken most of the clothes from here they will hardly keep her warm. She has no coat or proper shoes and the day is raw. I expect that we will find her wandering the streets aimlessly and, by God, when I do find her, I will make her pay for this.’
‘And what if her aimless wandering leads her to a police station?’
‘What can she tell them if it does?’ Ray said. ‘She
can hardly remember the days of the week. She wouldn’t be able to tell them where she came from, nor what she is doing in Birmingham. And she won’t have a clue where this house is because it was dark when she came and she hasn’t left it at all since she came into it, so it will be highly unlikely to be able to pinpoint where it is, and she has no idea of the address.’
‘Even so …’
‘She’ll be wandering the streets, I tell you,’ Ray said. ‘Come on, we’re wasting time and we have only got an hour or so of daylight left.’
They hadn’t been back out long when icy sleet began to fall again, and they were soon wet to the skin and freezing cold as they toiled through street after street. They checked out alleyways and entries, and any other places where a person might hide, and their anger and annoyance increased at every step.
When the short winter day ended and the murky dusk turned into black night, the temperature plummeted further, and they were no nearer finding the girl. ‘We haven’t a snowball’s chance in hell of finding her now anyroad,’ Charlie said. ‘Not in the bleeding blackout.’
‘No,’ Ray agreed. ‘Mind you, if she is out in this, dressed in the type of clothes she had, she will be a stiff by morning.’
‘Yeah, and while that will save you a job, don’t you think it will raise questions if they find the frozen corpse of a girl dressed like a prostitute and with a bashed-up face?’ Charlie said. ‘Dead or alive, that girl has to be found.’
‘Not in this.’
‘Hardly,’ Charlie said. ‘When you can’t see a hand in front of you. But at first light – and I know how you feel about Collingsworth, and with reason I’d say – he has to know. We’ll need him anyway, because there is a limit to what the two of us can do.’
Ray knew what Charlie said made good sense, but he was dreadfully afraid of facing Collingsworth after the last time and admitting that he had let escape the girl he had been charged to kill. And he was right to be afraid, for his rage that day was frightening.
Ray thought that he had witnessed Collingsworth in a temper before but what he had seen then had been nothing to how the man reacted to the latest news. His face turned puce with anger, his eyes bulged, and spittle formed at the corners of his mouth as he listened to Ray’s bumbling tale.