Bright Young Dead

by Jessica Fellowes

  Permission gained, it needed only one telephone call and Guy was on his way to Holloway Prison, where Dulcie Long waited for him in an interview room. He felt a pang of guilt that he hadn’t asked if Constable Moon could come with him but he wanted to do this alone.

  The white sky highlighted the dark prison’s stark reality of its purpose, unnerving Guy as he approached and serving as a grim reminder as to why he was on this side of the law. There were no signs of the coming Christmas in Holloway, only keys that rattled on the warden’s belt as she led Guy through several long, grey corridors with doors that closed heavily behind them. In the interview room, Dulcie Long was waiting, handcuffed to a chair, looking slight and defeated. Guy nodded to the warden standing in the corner and sat down, pulling out his notebook.

  ‘Thank you for seeing me, Miss Long,’ said Guy.

  Dulcie’s mouth made a quick downturn. ‘I don’t think I had any choice.’

  Guy coughed and decided not to press the point. ‘I’m here to see you about your connections with the Forty.’

  ‘What?’ It was clear that Dulcie hadn’t been expecting this. She tried immediately to cover up her shock. ‘I don’t have no connections with the Forty.’

  ‘Miss Long. I’m a good friend of Louisa Cannon’s. She’s told me everything. It really isn’t going to help you at this point to deny it.’

  Panic showed then. Guy saw that this shared knowledge, intended to protect her, had left her feeling even more exposed.

  Tears started to roll down Dulcie’s face. ‘My family…’

  ‘We’ll do what we can to protect them,’ said Guy.

  ‘How?’

  This left him stuck for words, so he took the easy way out. ‘That’s confidential.’

  ‘You ain’t going to do nothing.’ Fear had turned to fury. ‘You’re all bent. You don’t care for my kind.’ She spat at Guy and the warden stepped forward.

  Guy put out his hand. ‘Leave it.’ The warden went back to the corner and Guy wiped the spittle off his glasses.

  ‘Miss Long, I strongly suggest you co-operate with me. That will give your family the best chance of our protection.’ He picked up his pencil and notebook again, as if starting afresh. ‘We know about your son.’

  ‘Has that bitch told you everything?’ said Dulcie. She looked genuinely surprised now, as if it hadn’t occurred to her that she could be so deeply betrayed.

  ‘She has told me what she needed to in order for us to prevent you from being sentenced to death.’

  ‘There’s no point,’ said Dulcie flatly. ‘If you lot don’t get me, they will.’

  ‘Your son proves that Adrian Curtis and you had … an understanding,’ said Guy. ‘It might make a jury look on you more favourably.’

  ‘It won’t stop them thinking I’m guilty,’ said Dulcie.

  ‘Then you need to tell me about Billy Masters,’ said Guy.

  At this Dulcie’s attention was held.

  ‘His name has been given to us in connection with you. How do you know him?’

  ‘I don’t.’ She stopped, watching Guy’s reaction.

  ‘I only need you to tell me how I can find him,’ said Guy. ‘You’re in here, you’re safe from the Forty, aren’t you?’

  At this Dulcie gave a hollow laugh. ‘I ain’t safe nowhere and I ain’t telling you nothing. You need to leave me alone.’

  ‘Miss Long,’ said Guy, ‘your boy Daniel is with your sister, Marie. She’s looking after him now. If I’m going to keep them safe, you have to tell me what you know.’

  ‘Not Daniel.’ Dulcie’s voice cracked. ‘He can’t be there. If anyone finds out that you’ve talked to me, then he’s in danger. I mean it.’ She started to gasp for breath as the panic took her body over. ‘Please, don’t let anything happen to my boy.’

  ‘Tell me where to find Billy Masters and I won’t.’

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  Dolly Meyrick sat on the sofa at the back of the 43 and regarded Guy with a steady gaze. ‘The name might be familiar,’ she said at last. ‘But I couldn’t tell you any more than that. As I told you before, while we have many loyal clients come through the doors, we don’t know each of them personally. Besides, it’s usually my mother who is here. I’m just looking after things until she returns from Paris.’

  Guy had refused to fight with the soft cushions this time and stood opposite her, holding his policeman’s helmet in his hands. ‘I believe he may be one of the Elephant and Castle gang,’ he said.

  ‘We don’t like those boys here.’

  ‘But they have been here.’

  Dolly shifted slightly and crossed her legs. ‘Yes, but not by invitation.’

  Guy decided to try another route. ‘What about Alice Diamond and her girls? The Forty Thieves.’

  ‘We’d hardly have all of them here at once.’ Dolly laughed, as if Guy was being puerile. He swatted away the annoyance.

  ‘But you have had Alice Diamond here.’ It wasn’t a question.

  ‘Yes, we have. She behaves herself. We like to welcome everybody, if they keep to our rules.’

  ‘And your rules are on the side of the law, Miss Meyrick?’ Guy could be wry if needed.

  Dolly wouldn’t be drawn into this. ‘Sergeant Sullivan, it’s very nice to chat but I do need to get things ready for tonight. Is there something I can specifically help you with?’

  ‘I need to know where to find a man called Billy Masters. If you can’t tell me, perhaps you know a man who can?’

  Dolly stood and smoothed out her skirt. ‘Fine, let’s talk to German Albert. Follow me.’

  * * *

  Downstairs, in the basement, there were various people at work setting up the club for later. The floor was being swept, the ashtrays cleaned, the lamps dusted. Without the dancers there or the music playing, a dazzling electric bulb hanging from the ceiling with no shade revealed the rather tired paint on the walls and scuff marks on the floor, a stale smell of cigarettes lingering in the air. German Albert was sitting in the corner reading a newspaper, drinking coffee out of an incongruously tiny cup. Not dressed in black tie or looming by the front door, he looked a rather more manageable size. Dolly interrupted him, introduced him to Guy and then left them to it.

  German Albert regarded Guy suspiciously, saying nothing. Guy nearly began by apologising and then reminded himself that he was here as the law and had nothing to be afraid of. Not even a doorman that measured six foot six at fully drawn height.

  ‘I’m trying to find someone called Billy Masters,’ he said.

  German Albert looked at him blankly.

  ‘He’s one of the Elephant and Castle gang but I believe he may operate alone,’ Guy pressed. ‘He knows a maid that used to work for another of your regular customers, Miss Charlotte Curtis.’

  ‘I don’t know their names.’ True to his nickname, there was a strong German accent. ‘Not my business.’ He turned to pick up his newspaper again.

  Guy was really feeling exasperated now. ‘Sir, I’m not here to cause any trouble but it wouldn’t be difficult for me to do so if I wished. I suggest that you help me here.’

  The doorman looked up to the ceiling and seemed to think it over, then dropped his chin and looked at Guy with cool blue eyes. ‘No. I don’t know who he is. I cannot help you.’

  Guy took a beat of his own. ‘I arrested a man not long ago for selling drugs outside here. He came from inside the club, with one of your more regular clients. Samuel Jones.’

  German Albert showed no response to this but kept a dead-eye stare at the wall. Guy continued as if they were chatting. ‘We found several packets of cocaine on him. I wonder where he gets his supply from? We’ve been reading in the newspapers lately that Germany produces the most cocaine. There are rather more lax laws over there and it gets sent here through various channels.’

  A corner of German Albert’s mouth twitched involuntarily.

  ‘I wonder,’ carried on Guy, ‘if we were to take a look through your rooms upstairs, whe
ther we might find something to help us with our enquiries?’

  ‘You have no warrant,’ he said thickly.

  ‘Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about that,’ said Guy. ‘I think I can drop by here any night and find that you have allowed one or two activities to go on after midnight that might not be looked on too kindly by any court.’

  ‘What is it that you want?’

  ‘Tell me where to find Billy Masters.’

  ‘I don’t know where you find him. Sometimes he comes here.’

  ‘Is he coming here tonight?’

  German Albert shrugged. ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Then I will come, and you can point him out to me.’

  The mouth twitched again. ‘If you like.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Guy, ‘you’ve been most helpful.’

  At last, he was one step closer.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  The morning after the seance had been a subdued one. Naturally, Nancy declared to her mother that the dinner had been a great success. Pam told Louisa that they had stayed up for another hour, trying to regain something of a more carefree atmosphere, which hadn’t quite been attained. The two of them were talking in the linen cupboard after breakfast, a place they had now become accustomed to meeting each other.

  ‘Farve was awful this morning,’ Pamela giggled. ‘Called Seb an absolute sewer because he saw him preening in front of a looking glass.’

  ‘If anyone can cope with Lord Redesdale, it’s that one. How was Lord De Clifford this morning?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Her face changed. ‘Not you as well, Lou? I do wish everyone would stop trying to match me up with someone. He’s engaged to Dolly Meyrick.’

  ‘I’m not.’ Louisa smiled. ‘Sorry, it’s only because he looked a bit shaken up last night.’

  ‘He did, didn’t he? He seemed fine this morning; quiet, perhaps. We should never have done that last night. I feel terribly about it now.’

  Louisa folded the last of the pillowcases in the pile. ‘I’d better get back to the nursery. See if anybody needs me.’ She gave a rueful smile. ‘I don’t expect they do.’

  But when she got there, she saw a letter waiting for her, propped up against Nanny Blor’s carriage clock. It was stamped Holloway Prison and when she opened it she found only a very short note:

  Louisa

  Get Daniel now.

  Dulcie.

  Shaking, Louisa put the note back in the envelope and then into her pocket. That Dulcie had genuine cause for concern was clear. Beyond that, she couldn’t think straight. Hurrying, she ran down the stairs and into the hall, which was thankfully empty. Sneaking into the telephone cupboard, her voice quavered when she got through to Vine Street station and asked for Sergeant Sullivan.

  He wasn’t there.

  Louisa left a message, telling him that she’d had a note from Dulcie warning her that she had to get Daniel.

  ‘Is that it?’ asked the officer at the end of the line.

  ‘That’s it,’ said Louisa. What else could she say? But if she couldn’t get Guy to Johanna Street quickly, she was going to have to go there herself. The question was how. She couldn’t ask for another day off without Mrs Windsor sacking her for it. Louisa thought. Sebastian was returning to Oxford, and Ted was going with him. Charlotte was staying, of course. That left Clara; Louisa was going to have to get her help.

  * * *

  Louisa knocked on Clara’s bedroom door. ‘Come in,’ came gaily from the other side.

  ‘Oh, it’s you,’ said Clara when Louisa came in. ‘What can I do for you?’ She was bent over her suitcase, open on the bed, folding into it her pastel coloured dresses.

  Louisa hesitated then reminded herself that Dulcie – and Daniel – had a lot more to lose than she did. Of all of them, she thought Clara was the most sympathetic; perhaps because she was American she seemed to see Louisa less as a servant and more as a person. And her desire to be an actress meant she enjoyed a little drama and intrigue.

  ‘I do have a favour to ask.’

  Clara looked at her, open but not yet quite willing to commit herself.

  ‘I need to go to London but I can’t ask Mrs Windsor – that’s the housekeeper – for time off.’

  ‘Why do you need to go to London?’

  ‘I can’t say why, Miss Clara. I promise you I would if I could but it is serious.’

  ‘I don’t see how I can help.’ Clara closed her case and snapped the locks shut.

  ‘I thought, perhaps, you could say to Lady Redesdale that you felt ill and you needed assistance to get home, in case you fainted or were sick on the train, and then I could volunteer to go with you.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know…’ Clara trailed off but Louisa could see the idea had taken root.

  ‘I thought of you, you see, because of your acting work.’

  Clara smiled at the flattery. ‘It’s true. And I’m a proper actress, not like Phoebe. She used to be a dancer at the 43, did you know that?’ She put her finger to her lips, don’t tell. ‘She thinks that’s why Adrian turned her down when she made a pass. She was so angry! Of course, it wasn’t that at all and she moved swiftly on to Seb—’ Clara stopped suddenly, remembering who she was talking to. ‘I’m sorry, forget all that.’ Embarrassed now, she smoothed her hair and rubbed her lips together. ‘Yes, let’s do it. I’ll help you.’

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  For hours, Louisa had gone over Dulcie’s note in her mind, wondering what she had been told that had prompted her to send it. She’d hinted that the Forty had been able to get to her inside, so if they were planning something, they would be able to let her know about it. Would they do something if they knew a child was in the house though? Surely not. But Alice Diamond believed she had been betrayed and Louisa knew how those networks operated. Loyalty was thicker than blood.

  Clara’s acting skills hadn’t let them down and Louisa had been rapidly given permission to accompany her on the train. What she hadn’t quite explained to Mrs Windsor was that she wouldn’t be returning on the next train back. No matter. The train journey had felt like a long one with Clara asking Louisa what the emergency was and Louisa having to deflect every question until the American was quite offended. From the station, having waved Clara off at the earliest opportunity, Louisa had tried again to get through to Guy to no avail.

  Now, at last, she stood in Johanna Street and wondered if she’d made a fool of herself, rushing down there. There was nothing obviously untoward; the lamps threw their lights on a swept and tidy street. Nevertheless, she shivered as she stood outside number thirty-three, nerves and the cold evening making light work of her wool coat. She’d knocked and waited as the sounds of someone moving in the hallway came closer. William Long opened the front door, a napkin still tucked into his shirt collar, the bemused look on his stubbled face that one had when unexpectedly interrupted in a task. There was a tiny residue of mustard in the corner of his mouth.

  ‘Louisa.’ He sounded neither pleased nor annoyed at her appearance. ‘Has something happened?’

  She looked behind her, as if confirming that she had indeed come of her own free will and there was nobody there to urge her on, then turned back to him. He hadn’t been sent a note by Dulcie, then. Why not? ‘No, not really. I just … I wondered how Daniel was getting on.’

  William broke into a wide grin. ‘Ahh, he’s a good lad. Come on in, then. We’ve almost finished our tea but there might be a spare bit.’

  Louisa half-heartedly started to say that they needn’t bother but she could smell the sausages as she came in and her mouth watered. In the kitchen at the back of the house was a wide square table, around which sat Marie, with Daniel on her lap and a young man who was introduced as Eddy, Dulcie’s brother. He paused only briefly in his eating to grunt hello, bent low over his plate, using his fork as a shovel. Louisa had become so used to the straight-backed table manners of the Mitfords, she’d forgotten that her father used to eat like this too, famished at the end of a worki
ng day.

  Louisa didn’t know what to think. After the hours of panic and worry she had had on the way here, she had arrived to a scene of domestic harmony. Had Dulcie been imagining things? Had she, Louisa, misinterpreted the note? She felt for it again in her pocket, as if touching it might give her an answer. If William and Marie were unconcerned, she didn’t think she should frighten them unnecessarily.

  In the absence of any other clear plan, she decided to sit down and wait it out for the time being. Perhaps something would reveal itself. Daniel had been chewing on a bit of sausage that he held on to like a miniature Henry VIII but when he saw Louisa he held his arms open. Marie passed him over and Louisa saw relief flicker on her face. Her own stomach protruded roundly and now her hands were free, she rubbed it. ‘He’s getting too heavy for me,’ she sighed.

  Louisa held the boy easily but took a chair indicated by William and they sat together.

  ‘How’s he settling in?’ she asked, needing conversation to distract her thoughts.

  ‘Fine,’ said Marie. ‘Poor love, he’s been moved about like a puppy sold at market but he’s home now.’ She stood and took away her brother’s empty plate to the sink. ‘Do you want some tea?’ she said to Louisa. ‘Won’t take a minute. Frying pan’s still hot.’

  Louisa felt her stomach gurgle. ‘If it’s no trouble…’

  Marie smiled. ‘No, no trouble.’

  William pulled the napkin out of his collar and pushed his chair back noisily. ‘I’ll leave you girls to talk. Eddy and I are going to sit next door.’ He nodded at his son who got up wordlessly and followed his father out of the room.

  ‘Have you heard from Dulcie?’ asked Louisa, when the men had left.

  Marie was prodding the sausages, already spitting in the fat. ‘Not a word. I wrote her to let her know Daniel was with us and she wasn’t to worry. You don’t never know if they get their letters though. If she’s lashed out or something, they punish you like that and we wouldn’t know about it.’

  ‘Lash out?’ said Louisa, trying not to sound too alarmed.