Songbird

by Josephine Cox

  As they climbed out, so did he. Seeking Maddy’s attention, he handed her the watch. “Here you are, love. I can see this watch means a lot to you.” He had noticed how tearful she was when handing it over. “We’ll forget the fare. You keep the watch, and don’t go offering it to strangers.”

  Taken aback when she flung her arms round him and kissed him on the cheek, he simply nodded and hurried back round to the driver’s door. “Silly girls!” He watched the two of them go arm-in-arm down the street. “Let’s hope they learn how to keep out of trouble.”

  As he drove past them, he opened his window to offer a few words of advice. “I don’t know what you’ve been up to, the pair of you, but you need to keep your guard up. There are some real bad buggers out there!”

  Having sowed his seed of wisdom he moved on to his next fare, leaving Maddy and Ellen to head for the end terrace house, where they climbed the steps, waited while Ellen found the spare key in a secret place on a ledge by the front door, and went inside.

  “It’s nothing grand,” Ellen apologized, putting on the lights and setting a match to a gas fire in the cozy back room. “It was my Aunt Dora’s house. She wasn’t short of money, so when she moved abroad, she signed the deeds over to me.”

  While she flung off her jacket she explained, “I haven’t seen my dad for three years. He and my mum and I had a falling out and somehow none of us ever had the guts to apologize. You know how it is… things get twisted and nasty, and everybody digs their heels in. But I’m past worrying about it. The sad thing is that Mum died of liver cancer a year or so ago, before we’d made it up. But, you know what, Maddy, I didn’t cry. She and I never saw eye to eye, and Dad always took her side, even when he knew she was in the wrong – which was most of the time.”

  “Have you any brothers or sisters?”

  “A sister, Sally.”

  “Is she younger or older than you?”

  “She’s twenty-six – four years older and a great deal wiser than me.” Ellen gave a knowing smile. “A bit selfish too, as I recall.”

  “In what way?”

  “Well, for a start she never let the arguments upset her, the way I did. Instead she always managed to blame everybody else for her own shortcomings. Rather than try and make things better at home, she began making plans to get away from there. Eventually she went to Spain to live with my aunt. Last I heard, the two of them had gone into the hotel business and were doing very nicely, thank you. Mind you, I think she was jealous of me. I went to stage school and had extra music lessons while she had to go out to work in a boring office.” Ellen gave a chuckle. “I daresay I was a spoiled brat, and if I’d been her, I would have hated me too!”

  Maddy grinned, but then asked, “Don’t you miss them?” She would have given anything to have her parents back.

  Kicking off her shoes, Ellen fell into the big squashy armchair. “Oh, Sally always kept herself to herself, and Aunt Dora never had much to do with me. In fact, I reckon she only signed this place over to me because she felt guilty, seeing as she had already taken Sally under her wing.”

  She fell silent as she thought of it all. “I didn’t know Aunt Dora as well as Sally did, so I don’t really miss her. But if I’m honest, I do miss Sally. I reckon her and me could be friends, now that I’ve grown up a bit. No way do I miss my parents though. My mother was a secret drinker, you see, and as for Dad… well, he’d always idolized her. In his eyes, she could do no wrong. He was either too stupid or too besotted to stand up for himself. And now I gather he’s got himself into a similar situation with a new woman. No. I’m well out of it. I’m lucky enough to have the best grandad in the world, though. He’s my mum’s dad, but I wish in a way he’d been my father.”

  Clambering out of the chair, she gave vent to her curiosity. “What about you, Maddy? Are you still in touch with your family?”

  Maddy took a moment to answer; it was still painful to talk about it, especially with a virtual stranger. “My dad got ill when I was seventeen,” she answered softly. “It turned to pneumonia, and he went downhill so fast, it was frightening. He never recovered, and from then on, it was as if Mum had gone with him.”

  “In what way?”

  Maddy shook her head. “She just never got over it. It was as if her world had come to an end. She gave up her job, hardly ate or slept.”

  She remembered it as if it was only yesterday. “Sometimes early in the morning, I would hear her go out of the door, then hours later I’d find her up the churchyard, kneeling on his grave. It was awful, like she was a different person – someone I didn’t know any more.”

  Her voice broke. “I tried so hard to help her, stopped going to school and stayed at home to keep her company, but she didn’t want to be helped. She wanted my dad back, nothing else… just my dad.” She paused. “I miss her so much. I miss them both, every day, every minute. It’s like an ache that won’t go away, so if I feel like that, how must she have felt?”

  “Did you talk to her – about your dad, I mean?”

  “Time and again I tried, I really did! Sometimes when I heard her sobbing in her bedroom, I’d knock on her door and beg to be let in. But she wouldn’t open the door. In the end, there was nothing anyone could do for her.” She shrugged. “Less than a year later, she followed him. And left me behind.”

  “Oh, Maddy… I’m so very sorry.”

  Maddy didn’t hear her. She was back there, living it all over again. “The doctors said it was a massive heart attack that killed her, but others said she died of a broken heart. And the more I think about it, the more I believe they were right. It wasn’t her fault – she just couldn’t live without him.”

  “Have you any brothers or sisters?”

  Maddy wearily shook her head. “My parents married late in life. I was an only child.”

  “Are there any aunts and uncles?”

  “There’s nobody. For a time I really thought there might be a future and a family with – that man – but I was stupid even to entertain the idea. I should have seen through him a long time ago, but I didn’t, and now I’m carrying his child.” She looked up with soulful eyes. “Oh Ellen, I’ve been such a fool.”

  There was a timeless span of silence while Ellen and Maddy reflected on the evening and all its consequences, and possibly came to terms with some of what had happened.

  A moment later, without saying a word, Ellen crossed the room, wrapped her arms round Maddy, and held her for what seemed an age.

  To Maddy, already grieving for Jack and fearing for her darling Alice, that warm and sincere embrace meant more to her than Ellen could ever realize.

  A short time later, Ellen gave Maddy a quick tour of her two-up, two-down home. “This used to be my aunt’s bedroom.” She led Maddy into a surprisingly large room, with deep windows and homely décor. There were seascapes hanging on the walls, and a deep fluffy rug either side of the bed. “You should have seen it before,” Ellen revealed. “It was stuffed with all manner of old relics – and I’m not just talking about my aunt either!” When she laughed, it was a bright, infectious sound that set Maddy off.

  “That’s better,” Ellen told her. “A laugh is as good as a tonic. Now – how about a pot of tea and some beans on toast with a poached egg on top, eh? We’ll feel better when we’ve had some grab, and that nipper of yours probably needs feeding!”

  Before they went back downstairs, Ellen showed Maddy her huge collection of shoes and clothes hanging in the alcove cupboards. “There’s never enough room up in the wardrobes,” she explained with a grin. “So if you need to move in with me, I’ll have to sort myself out.”

  “Thanks, Ellen.” Though they had only just met, Maddy felt as if she had known the other girl all her life. “The thing is, I’m not sure what to do. I can’t go back to the flat, as it belongs to him, and the police are bound to be all over the place, they’ll probably be searching it before long.”

  Only now did she truly accept the enormity of her own situation. “For al
l we know, the police could be looking for us right now, wanting to question us. Then there’s him – he blames me for what happened, I know he does. He said so, and he’s a vindictive man. I know what he’s capable of, and I can’t put my baby in danger. So you see, I think it might be for the best if I heed Alice’s advice and get away from London altogether, at least until it all blows over. But I can’t – won’t – go, until I find out how she is.”

  Ellen understood her concerns. “What makes you think Steve Drayton would want to harm you?”

  Maddy described what had taken place earlier. “When they were taking him away in handcuffs, he said something to me. I can’t get it out of my mind. It wasn’t just empty words. It was a real threat, which I have to take seriously.”

  His words were emblazoned on Maddy’s mind. “He said I should look over my shoulder, because wherever I went, he would find me.” Her flesh crawled as she recalled the demonic look on Drayton’s face. “We both know what he meant by that,” she murmured. “He means to kill me, if he can. I’m what he would call ‘unfinished business.’”

  Ellen did her best to comfort her newfound friend. “He can’t hurt you if he’s locked up. And he will be – for a very long time, I reckon.”

  Maddy gave a sad smile. “You don’t know him like I do.” Many times she had overheard his conversations on the phone, and because she was so infatuated with him, had chosen not to believe what she was hearing. She knew now what an evil creature he was. “It won’t make any difference if they lock him up and throw away the key, he’ll still get to me,” she assured Ellen. “He’s pally with every lowlife in London. And because he knows their every secret, they owe him favors.”

  She let that piece of news sink in before she went on, “So you see, he only has to click his fingers and they’ll do whatever he tells them. One thing I know for sure is that one way or another, he will get to me. The word will go out, a contract will be made, and I’ll be as good as dead; and the baby with me.”

  Her voice shivered with fear. “The fact that I’m carrying his own flesh and blood will make no difference to a man like Steve Drayton.”

  Ellen too, was fearful, not so much for herself but for Maddy and the baby. “I don’t know him like you do,” she agreed, “but from what I’ve seen and heard tonight, I realize that you’re right. One thing though – I don’t believe the police will be looking for us, tonight at least.” She was convinced of that. “I reckon we managed to get clean away. Nobody took any notice of us; the ambulancemen were too intent on treating the injured, and when the police weren’t busy rounding up the mob, they had their hands full, keeping everyone back.”

  After a time, they made their way back down to the kitchen, where Ellen cooked them a delicious supper. “I know how concerned you are about your friend Alice,” she told Maddy, pouring out a second cup of tea, “but you can’t go to the hospital – it will be too dangerous. The police are bound to be crawling all over the place.”

  “I have to make sure she’s all right.” Maddy was desperately worried.

  “I can see how anxious you are, but you can’t risk it. Look, don’t worry,” she urged, “leave it to me. I’ll find a way.” Ellen had an idea, though until she had thought it through, she wasn’t going to mention it.

  Maddy’s thoughts now turned to Jack – kind, loyal Jack, who had helped her out time and again and was more of a man than his macho boss could ever be. “I can’t believe Jack was killed,” she said shakily. “It all seems so… unreal.”

  Haunted by images of him lying there in that filthy alley, his life ebbing away, and Alice – so frail yet desperate to know that Maddy and the baby would be safe – was all too much for her. Shock set in. Her body suddenly grew icy cold and she couldn’t stop shivering. Then she was sobbing, deep wrenching sobs that tore her apart.

  As the sadness overwhelmed her, she felt Ellen’s arms slide about her shoulders again, holding her, allowing her to cry it out until, after a while, she was quiet.

  “I’m sorry.” Her sore red eyes swept Ellen’s kind face. Maddy could never recall a time when she had not faced life and its troubles head on, alone and strong, with no one to share her burden; but now, she felt ashamed. “I never meant for that to happen.”

  Ellen shook her head. “You’ve been through a lot,” she told Maddy bluntly. “You’ve seen one friend killed, and another hanging on to her life by a thread. You’re worried for your baby, and in fear for your life.” She gave a wry little smile. “Lesser women than you would have broken down, long before now.”

  She regarded Maddy with admiration. Eight years older than herself, Maddy had a warm, kindly face with regular features and wide, honest eyes. Ellen took her hat off to her, for the way she had stood up to both the trials of that night and the bad times before, when Drayton had taken away her home, her livelihood, and cruelly dismissed his child as “somebody’s else’s bastard.”

  On top of all that were the beatings, still evident on Maddy’s arms and face. And now the threat to take the lives of both her and her child.

  From what she had learned about the man, Ellen had no doubts whatsoever that he would carry out his dark threat. It was a sobering thought. She could scarcely believe that, a few short hours before, she had been having passionate sex with him in a stinking alley: a murderer and a bully. There and then, Ellen promised herself, she would never sink so low again.

  Maddy’s voice interrupted her reverie. “What can I do? How can I find out if Alice is all right?” Try as she might, she could not get her dear friend out of her mind.

  “Well,” Ellen said sensibly, “we’re neither use nor ornament as we are, so why don’t we just try and get some sleep. Come the morning, we’ll have a clearer head. Then we’ll decide what’s best to do. And look – I’m certain that your pal is being well taken care of.”

  “But we don’t know that.” Maddy so much wanted to see Alice, to hold her and tell her that she wasn’t alone; that everything would work out all right. She began to cry again.

  “Maddy? What’s up? Is there something else on your mind?” Ellen asked, worriedly.

  A brief pause, before Maddy nodded. “Yes.”

  Paramount on her mind was the promise that had passed between her and Alice, in those few frightening moments when she held the wounded woman in her arms. Thinking back on it now, Maddy found it profoundly humbling, to realize that Alice’s own dire situation was secondary to her love and concern for Maddy and the unborn child.

  Needing to share her anxiety with someone, Maddy told Ellen everything.

  “She was desperate to know that I would be out of danger, so she made me promise to go away from London and never come back or make contact with her ever again. I expect she thought it was the safest and best thing to do.”

  “Don’t forget she was badly wounded when she took that promise from you,” Ellen reminded her. “She would never hold you to it, I’m sure.”

  “I gave my word,” Maddy sighed, “so until Alice tells me otherwise, I have to keep it.”

  “Do you always keep your promises?”

  Maddy shook her head. “I broke my promise to Alice only last night, and look where that has led us all.”

  “Did Alice hear Steve’s threat to you?” Ellen asked suddenly.

  “I don’t know. She may have.”

  “If she did, that explains it. She needed you to get away from him, to go somewhere you could never be found.” The more she thought about it, the more convinced Ellen became. “From what he told me, she’s been with Drayton for a long time. More than anyone else, she would know what he’s capable of… wouldn’t she?”

  Maddy agreed. “Yes. Alice was closer to him than anyone else. She virtually ran the club; she did his accounts and kept his address book. He was always suspicious of everyone, but not Alice. He trusted her implicitly. He told her secret things – sometimes they were bad things that she didn’t want to know, and which she never spoke about.”

  “Why did she st
ay with him?” Ellen asked curiously.

  “I’m not sure. Maybe because he paid her well and she’d been there a long time, I don’t know.”

  “Was she a part of the bad things?”

  “Never!” Maddy was horrified. “She kept as far away from his shady doings as possible.”

  In her mind, Maddy went over all their conversations. “Alice is a good woman – the best friend I have ever had, more like a mother than a friend. In fact, just lately I don’t know what I would have done without her. She knew how he went off his head, claimed that I’d been with some other man and the two of us were trying to land him with a brat that was none of his making. She found out he beat me up badly, and she was always there for me. So how can I desert her now, tell me that? I can’t… I won’t!”

  “I understand what you’re saying,” Ellen assured her, “but you’re up against a madman, and it seems that Alice knows that, better than anybody.” Ellen herself had not realized the mark of the man she had almost tied herself up with. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Maddy’s intervention, she might well have been caught up in that fateful shoot-out.

  Personally, Ellen thought that both she and Maddy were lucky to have got away so easily.

  Maddy had been thinking along the same lines. She accepted that the police would question the staff at the club, and though Raymond would not willingly give anything away, the others might not be so cautious. Unfortunately, it was common knowledge that she and the boss were lovers who had been going through a bad patch. It must also be common knowledge that he had boldly poached the new singer from under the nose of his arch-rival; the man he later shot dead in the alley.

  So, all was not cut and dried. Ellen was right: if she were to go to the hospital, she might well put herself and the child in jeopardy.

  “I’m glad he didn’t get his claws into you,” she told Ellen now. “He might well have ruined you, like he’s ruined me. But I have to be honest with you: I nearly didn’t tell you about him. It was only when I heard him weaving the same evil spell on you that he did with me, that I just knew I had to make you see what he was really like.”