Sadie screamed for Lemuel as Sarah did the same for her husband. Freda echoed her cries.
‘This is madness,’ Mike said as he was stopped from going after his friend.The small crowd watched as flames could be seen coming from the roof at the back of the building, lighting up the night sky.
Sarah turned back to Sadie, who by now was sobbing uncontrollably. ‘What were you doing in my husband’s workshop?’ she demanded again, almost at her wits’ end, wondering if Alan was all right. ‘Has this got something to do with you?’
‘Yes . . . I mean, no . . .’ Sadie stuttered before starting to sob once more.
Sarah was so angry that she took Sadie by the shoulders and gave her a good shake. ‘Tell me – you’ve got to tell me what happened!’
Sadie gave her a fearful look as if she’d done something wrong. ‘I came up to bring a bite to eat for Lemuel. He sleeps here, you know. We was just chatting, like, and then we heard someone break open the door and start to come in. Lem turned off the light and we sat and waited . . .’
‘A likely story,’ Maisie sneered.
Sadie ignored her words and continued, all the time looking towards the open door of the workshop and the black choking smoke pouring out, hoping that at any minute Lemuel would appear. ‘The next thing we heard was a bang, and then we saw flames. Whoever it was who’d broken in had started a fire. Lem grabbed me and pushed me towards the door, telling me to get to safety and call for help before he went for whoever it was who’d started the fire. I just ran and shouted for help as loud as I could. I’ve not seen him since,’ she finished before dissolving into sobs again.
Who would set fire to the workshop? Sarah thought to herself as she left Sadie to be cared for by a neighbour and joined Mike Jackson, who was describing the layout of the building to a fireman who was preparing to go inside.
‘There are two people in the building – Alan and Lemuel. Lemuel’s been in there the longest. Unless he’s managed to escape there might also be a third person in there who broke in and started the fire.’
‘What’s going on?’ a familiar voice demanded. ‘Sadie! What are you doing here, my girl?’
Freda groaned inwardly. It was Vera Munro, and she was bound to have something to say about all this. ‘The workshop’s on fire,’ she explained, stating the obvious. ‘Your Sadie’s all right, so there’s no need to worry.’
‘But why on earth would she be here?’
‘I was visiting Lemuel,’ Sadie told her defiantly. Of course it would enrage Vera, but at this point Sadie no longer cared.
‘Is that right?’ Vera hissed at her granddaughter.
Sadie raised her chin and looked Vera in the face, her hands twisting the handkerchief Betty had passed to her. ‘Yes. Lemuel is a friend – a very good friend – and neither you nor anyone else is going to stop me being his friend,’ she said, her voice raw with emotion.
Vera sneered and then, to the horror of everyone watching, she spat at Sadie, making them all step back in shock. ‘You’re no better than you ought to be, Sadie Munro. Already an unmarried mother, and now carrying on with a darkie. You’re scum, just like your mother was.’
‘Well, the apples didn’t fall far from the tree, did they?’ Sadie flung back at the bitter old woman. ‘It all had to start somewhere.’
‘Now, now, ladies,’ Douglas said, attempted to calm them. ‘There are men inside that burning building who we should be thinking about right now. Let’s leave family discussions to another time, shall we?’
‘As for you, Douglas Billington, you’re only here to fill a few coffins for your business. There’s always a profit to be made for Billington and Carlisle when people die,’ Vera shot back at him.
There was an audible gasp from the crowd, and Maisie, unable to hold back, stepped forward and slapped Vera across the face. ‘Someone should ’ave done that to you years ago, you interfering old bag,’ she said furiously.
‘Look what she did to me,’ Vera screeched, looking in turn at each of the faces surrounding her. No one made a comment until Betty stepped forward. ‘I’m afraid you asked for that, Vera. Emotions are high here just now as we wait to hear what’s happened to our friends. Why not take yourself back home, out of the way? You can apologize to Maisie later.’
Vera’s mouth opened and closed without a sound coming out. ‘Me, apologize to that trollop? Why Betty Billington, you’ve gone down in my estimations. Next one of you will be giving house room to the darkie – if he survives,’ she sneered, giving a nod of her head that showed she hoped Lemuel had died in the fire.
‘What a good idea. Thank you for suggesting it Vera. When Lemuel comes out of there, he’s welcome to use one of my spare rooms if someone else doesn’t beat me to it. Lemuel is well liked in Erith.’
Vera looked disgusted. ‘I’ve heard enough. Come along, Sadie; we are going home. I’ll be locking my door tonight in case we are murdered in our beds. There are some unsavoury people in the area and I want none of it.’ She grabbed the sleeve of Sadie’s cardigan, but her granddaughter pulled away.
‘I’m staying here, Nan. I want to know how Lemuel is. I’ll come home later.’
‘Then you’ll find the door locked and your bags on the doorstep,’ Vera snapped back, before flouncing off.
‘Blimey. I’ve never seen Vera walk away from something without seeing it through ter the end,’ Maisie remarked.
‘Can we please stop all this bickering? My husband is in there somewhere!’ Sarah shouted, causing the women to fall silent.
Freda hurried over to the firemen to see if she could help. Mike Jackson was nearby, and she could see his frustration as the minutes ticked by. The roar as part of the roof caved in near the front of the workshop made them all jump. There was now no chance the men could get out of the front door. ‘Mike, there’s a small back entrance to the building. Alan usually keeps it locked, but from what I can see, that part of the building isn’t alight. We can go down between the houses and along the back alley. It’s a small chance, but worth trying.’
Mike spoke to a fireman, who pulled out a hand-sized axe. ‘Will you show us the way, Freda? I have an idea of where to go, but it would save time if you were with us.’
Freda looked down at her smart outfit. What the heck, lives mattered here, and the wedding was all but over. ‘Follow me,’ she called over her shoulder as she started to run down Crayford Road to a narrow alleyway between the terraced houses. She could hear Mike and one of the firemen following behind her, and ran as fast as she could.
‘It’s a bit overgrown,’ Mike said as they stopped at the rear of the workshop, where Freda pointed to a narrow door covered by a bramble bush and long grass.
‘That won’t take long to clear,’ the fireman said as he set to with the axe and forced the weeds aside with his gloved hands. ‘Now stand back,’ he advised before hacking at the wooden structure. ‘Keep clear there inside!’ he bellowed, in case Alan or Lemuel were nearby.
It didn’t take long to break in through the wooden door, and with Mike stepping in to help pull piece of wood away with his bare hands they soon made a large enough hole to climb through. Even then, smoke had found the gap and was filtering out into the alleyway, causing the three of them to cough and their eyes to stream.
‘I’ll go,’ Freda said as she shoved in front of the two men. ‘I’m smaller than both of you, and I can start to look for Alan and Lemuel while you break more of the door away.’
Mike’s years of experience screamed at him not to let a young slip of a girl do what was, after all, a man’s job. But before he had time to argue, Freda had disappeared through the gap in the door.
Freda took a deep breath as she squirmed and wriggled her way through the gap and into the workshop. She’d expected to be able to find her friends with ease, but instead found herself stepping into a strange and almost silent world where all she could hear was the crackle of burning wood. Thick, black, acrid smoke stung her eyes and filled her very being, to the point tha
t she wondered if she would ever get out alive.
‘Alan,’ she shouted, before pulling her jacket up over her mouth and nose. A faint groan from nearby had her feeling her way a little to the right until she all but stumbled over a large pair of feet. ‘Alan? Lemuel?’ She reached down, feeling her way towards the head of the person lying on the concrete floor. Up close, she could tell it was neither of her two friends, and she pulled back as the stranger groaned again and tried to grab her hand.
‘Kid . . . is that you . . .?’ Alan called faintly from nearby.
‘Oh, thank God,’ Freda said aloud as she counted her steps over to where she’d heard Alan’s voice. ‘Oh Alan,’ she sobbed as she found him, and they clung together for a few seconds. ‘Mike and a fireman are breaking down the back door. You can’t get out the front way as the roof has caved in and blocked . . .’ She started to cough and covered her mouth for a little while. ‘Did you know there’s someone else over there on the floor?’
‘Yes, we’ve been trying to move an oil drum away . . . away from the worst of the fire . . . before it blew,’ he gasped. ‘Lemuel’s here moving Bessie . . .’
Even with her throat aching and her eyes streaming, she managed to laugh. Alan’s old bike, Bessie, meant the world to him. ‘We need to go now . . . before the fire spreads more. Keep to the wall and feel your way along as far as you can . . .’ she coughed. ‘What about that bloke on the floor . . .?
Alan cleared his throat before telling her to get out and they’d follow.
Almost tripping over the man for a second time, Freda felt her way back towards the door just as Mike and the fireman appeared through the smoke. Leaning in close to Mike, she told him what she knew and then made her way back outside where she fell onto the dirt path, gasping for air. Someone forced water through her lips before splashing her face. She rubbed her eyes to clear the stinging.
‘Don’t do that, love, you could make things worse,’ a kindly person said as they passed her a wet towel so she could wipe her face.
‘Where are they? They should be coming out by now,’ she said, looking back over her shoulder. ‘Please can someone go and look?’ she pleaded a second before there was an almighty roar, followed by screams that carried over from those standing at the front of the workshop.
Freda felt her heart skip a beat. ‘Please God, let them be safe,’ she said aloud before getting to her feet, heading towards the door, ignoring the calls to keep back. Then she froze on the spot as Mike staggered out, holding the legs of the stranger she’d almost tripped over. Alan followed behind holding the other end of the man, who had come to and was starting to protest.
‘Thank God,’ Freda said. The man seemed to be becoming more agitated by the second. Alan gave him a hard punch to the jaw, and his body went limp.
‘Don’t look at me like that,’ he said in a rasping voice, seeing Freda’s shocked expression. ‘This is the bastard who started the fire.’
Freda hurried to help drag the man out of the way as Lemuel’s head appeared in the doorway. ‘Can you give me a hand, man?’ he called to Mike, who was wiping his smoke-stained brow with a white handkerchief. Between them they dragged the bicycles belonging to Anthony to safety, and Lemuel went back into the burning building.
‘Lem, no – it’s not worth it,’ Alan called out before trying to follow him. Mike and Freda held him back. ‘Don’t be foolish! Think of your wife and children,’ Mike shouted above the roar of the fire.
Lemuel was soon back, pulling Alan’s motorbike through the small door aided by the fireman.
‘Oh, you’ve saved Bessie,’ Freda exclaimed, feeling tears start to prick her eyes. This time they weren’t caused by the smoke.
‘That was a damn fool thing to do,’ Alan snapped, but they all knew he was grateful.
As they stood in the alleyway, more police and firemen joined them, taking over and making sure everyone was safe.
Alan slung his arm around Freda’s shoulders as they returned to family and friends and gave her a big hug in front of them all. ‘You’re a hero, kid,’ he said, planting a large kiss on her cheek. ‘What would I have done without you?’
Freda shrugged, aware of the hurt look Sarah gave her before taking her husband in her arms and hugging him. ‘Alan Gilbert, you could have died,’ Sarah scolded him.
‘I had to do something. Lemuel was still in there. I couldn’t leave him to die,’ he exclaimed, pulling away from her.
‘At least everyone is safe,’ she said.
Alan gave her a tired look. Could she not show a little compassion? ‘My livelihood has gone. Please try to look just a little upset.’
Sarah was taken aback by his harsh words. ‘At least Bessie survived,’ she beamed, trying to show how much she really cared. ‘I can ask Betty again if she’d take you on,’ she added, dismissing what Betty had said to her before. Alan needed to be working back at Woolworths, needing a job more than ever.
Alan frowned before rubbing his grimy face and with both hands and giving a big sigh. ‘You’ve been discussing my business with Betty? What have you told her?’
‘Only that your dream had not really come to fruition,’ she said, looking around for her friend.
‘Just leave it alone, Sarah. You know nothing about my business. The workshop is man’s work, not some little job you go to when it pleases you to earn pin money,’ he told her, feeling angry that his wife had been discussing their private business with someone – even if that someone was a good friend of the family. She also had no idea of what was going on with the workshop. ‘Thank goodness Freda seems to understand how important the workshop is to me.’
Sarah looked at the man in front of her, not recognizing him as the man she loved and had married. ‘I’m sorry if you feel I’ve done wrong. I was only trying to help,’ she replied, doing her utmost not to cry. She was sad that the workshop had all but burnt to the ground, but she was just trying to help and was already looking to the future. A future that mattered because they had children and she had her own dreams of the four of them together. If she could get their marriage back on an even keel then her worries about Freda would be in the past.
‘Just leave it, Sarah,’ he said as he turned to where Mike stood with a fellow police officer.
‘I know you are exhausted from what you’ve been through, but it’s important that you tell us anything you know about the fire. We can speak to Lemuel and the other man after we have your information,’ Mike said as he nodded to his colleague to take notes.
‘There’s not much to say, really,’ Alan told him. ‘I came here from the reception, so I arrived around the same time you did. Lem will be able to tell you what led up to the fire starting. It looks as though Sadie Munro was with him at the time, so she may be of help.’
Mike raised his eyebrows but didn’t comment on why the girl had been in the workshop. He knew from past experience that Vera Munro would have plenty to say on the subject. ‘What about the other chap we found in the building?’ He leant over to where his colleague pointed to his notes. ‘A Mr Freddie Unthank . . . was he a customer?’
Alan froze. ‘Unthank? I thought I recognized the chap, but with all that was going on I didn’t give it much thought. I was more concerned with everyone’s safety,’ he said, waving over to where Lemuel was sitting on the pavement resting alongside Freda and beckoning for them to join him. ‘Lem – did you know that chap was one of the Unthanks?’
Lemuel nodded, a grim look on his face. ‘I thought as much.’
‘I’d seen him when I went to Frank Unthank’s office in West Street,’ Freda chipped in. ‘Was he there looking for Alan?’ she asked Lemuel.
‘No – he was surprised to find me there alone with Sadie. We caught him inside with a can of petrol. He’d already struck a match when I spotted him,’ he said, looking embarrassed to be mentioning Sadie. ‘We did our best to put it out, but it was futile.’
Mike gave Freda a sideways look. So he’d been right. Something was going on when h
e found Freda at Unthank’s. ‘How come he was still in the building, if he was up to no good?’
Lemuel rubbed the knuckles of his left hand and grinned. ‘He tripped over and knocked himself out.’
Sarah looked from Freda to Lemuel and Alan. How was it that they all knew what was going on while she, the wife of the owner, was completely in the dark?
Freda opened her front door and crept slowly inside. She didn’t wish to wake Anthony. The last thing she wanted was a grumpy man making comments about her staying out late.
She took off her shoes, and had all but passed the closed door to the front room when it opened, making her jump. ‘I’m sorry – did I wake you? I tried to be as quiet as I could.’
‘I was waiting up for you,’ he said, sounding concerned. ‘There seems to have been something going on a few streets away, and I was worried you’d not be able to get home.’ Then, looking closely at the bedraggled figure standing in front of him, he burst out laughing. ‘It must have been a merry affair.’
Freda froze. This was one of the times when she wished her road didn’t have electric lighting and she could have skulked away to her bedroom without anyone seeing the frightful state she was now in. Despite her best efforts, there was a wobble in her voice as she answered Anthony. ‘There was a fire at my friend’s motorbike workshop. The person who did it must have known he’d not be there, as his father was getting married – it was written about in our local newspaper. He has lost his business and his livelihood. Now, if you will excuse me, I’d like to have a wash and go to my bed. It has been a long and tiring day,’ she said, her voice all but a whisper. The Unthanks had done this to show Alan they meant business when he hadn’t paid his debt in full. What would they do next?
‘Come and sit down,’ Anthony urged her. Leaning heavily on his crutch, he took her hand and led her to the armchair she’d placed by the bay window. ‘I’m going to make you a hot drink. You look as though you need it. No, I can manage,’ he said as she started to object. ‘I have one leg that works, and with my sturdy wooden support I will find my way to the kitchen and make your drink. You are not to move. Not even to wash your face,’ he threatened as she started to object. He leant against the door and waved the crutch in her direction. ‘Rest for a few minutes. I’ll want to know all about your day when I return – and I don’t mean how pretty the bridesmaids looked.’
Wedding Bells for Woolworths Page 13