by Pip Granger
The tears were streaming down Rosie’s face, and I found myself sitting beside her on the bed, arm around her heaving shoulders as she leaned in against me. It was good to have a child in my arms again, even a temporarily unhappy one. I knew Rosie well and was confident that her normally sunny nature would re-emerge. Yes, it was a tragedy about her mother, but Rosie was dearly loved and I hoped and trusted that it would be enough to see her through. Eventually, the heaving shoulders slowed to stillness and the sobs to snivels, then hiccups and finally to one almighty sniff. She mopped herself up with one of Bert’s large, masculine hankies, blew her nose and treated me to a watery smile.
‘It’s not that I don’t like you, Auntie Lizzie,’ she said in a small, still damp voice. ‘It’s just that I had hoped …’
I gave her a little squeeze. ‘I know, sweetheart. I like you too, you know I do, and I wouldn’t ever deliberately do anything to hurt you or without your permission, you know that.’
She nodded at me. ‘I know you wouldn’t. And honestly, if you do marry my dad, I won’t mind, I promise.’ She paused, then grinned a wicked grin. ‘As long as I can be your bridesmaid.’
‘It would definitely be a deal, if it ever came to that, but just because I have feelings for your dad, it doesn’t mean that he has feelings for me. It does take two, you know. Even if he does like me too, there’s no saying it’d come to anything. These things often simply fizzle out.
‘Anyway, I’m still married to Jenny’s dad, so marriage to anyone else is definitely not on the cards. You needn’t worry about that right now this minute, nor order a bridesmaid’s dress either. But I promise, if I ever do remarry, and you’re still interested, then it would be an honour to have you as my bridesmaid. I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather have.’ I gave her another hug.
Rosie’s expression grew serious again and she turned and looked me full in the face. ‘And I can’t imagine a better stepmother.’ Her voice grew smaller and more solemn. ‘And if I really think about it, Auntie Lizzie, I agree with Freddy the Frock. You would be better for my dad than Mum would be. You don’t drink a lot and there’s no other men. I think my mum likes men too much, and I know it hurts my dad. I’ve seen his face when she walks in with one.’
My heart ached for her, but I couldn’t tell her it wasn’t so, because it was. Rosie might have been young, but she was obviously far from stupid, and in certain ways perhaps a little too old for her years. She’d seen her mother’s behaviour, and there was absolutely no point in looking for a comforting lie. So I kept quiet.
Rosie was the one who finally changed the subject. ‘Has my dad found out where Peace is yet?’
I shook my head. ‘There’s been nothing new since we found out she’d taken the bus to Limehouse, and everyone is worried sick.’
I took a deep breath, knowing I was about to push my luck, but I decided that for Peace’s sake I had to. ‘If Peace told you all about the fluttering and heart racing that goes on when two people like one another, she must have been talking about the boy she went with. Rosie, I know you promised, but this is so serious. Peace could be in terrible danger and neither we, nor the police, can do a thing about it until we have a clue as to who she might be with.
‘If you know who this boy or man is, you really must say. She’d understand, I’m sure she would. She may even be longing for you to spill the beans, if she’s in trouble and can’t help herself.’ I could hear the pleading note in my voice and shut up. It was up to Rosie and all I could do was wait and hope.
‘I promised,’ she said stubbornly. ‘She’s my blood sister, the only one I’ve got, and I promised.’
‘I know you did, sweetheart, but sometimes, when the danger could be awful, it’s right to break such a promise. You are her blood sister, after all, and for all you or anyone else knows, she could need help desperately. Who better to help her than her own blood sister, eh?’
The pause seemed to go on for hours. All I could hear was her quiet breathing, the murmur of voices from the cafe and the loud ticking of the clock. I waited, and at last Rosie nodded to herself. She’d made a decision.
‘It’s Lucky. Lucky Wong, Mrs Wong’s oldest son. Don’t tell her I told you,’ she pleaded, sounding her age at last.
My heart began to hammer so hard, I could hardly speak. I should have known! First Bubbles, now Lucky. ‘I wonder why Mrs Wong didn’t tell us? She must know what it is to worry about the young,’ I said indignantly.
‘She doesn’t know,’ Rosie said miserably. ‘It’s a big secret. Peace met Lucky in the long summer holidays, and liked him a lot. I don’t think he even noticed her right away but he did in the end. Bubbles helped, I think, sort of made sure they bumped into each other and things.
‘That’s partly why Peace ran away from school. She hadn’t really wanted to go back there at all, but when she found her friend, Sally, had gone, she said that was the last straw. So you see, she just had to get away and come back to Lucky and Bubbles. They were her only friends in the whole world – until she met me and got to know you, that is.’
I took a deep breath. ‘Well I’m glad you told me, Rosie. You’ve been a wonderful help. I’ll find your dad and tell him straight away, so that he can get started on that avenue of enquiry. Meanwhile, try not to worry. I won’t breathe a word to Peace. If and when we find her.’
Just then Freddy’s voice floated up the stairs. ‘We’re off to work, Lizzie Robbins, if you’d care to join us.’
Rosie started. ‘Then it must be time I was getting off to school. I daren’t be late or there’ll be a black mark in the late book and if I get one more, they’ll write to Auntie Maggie.’
I could quite see why that was not to be contemplated and helped her to pack her P.E. kit into her satchel. She gave me one last grin, a smacking great goodbye kiss and said, ‘I feel better for telling you, Auntie Lizzie, and honestly, if you want my dad, I hope you get him.’ She giggled and rushed for the stairs.
I went to the bathroom and splashed water on to my face, then remembered the mascara and had to clear up the mess. Tears and mascara did not mix, I’d forgotten that.
I stood for a moment, longing for Jenny, and then pulled myself together, replaced my mascara, put my best foot forward and set off to work.
30
As it turned out I didn’t see T.C. during the course of the day as I had hoped, but the chances of seeing him later on were better, because it had become the practice for everyone involved with looking for Peace to meet up at the club in the quiet early evening. We would swap information, air new theories and bounce ideas around, in case we came up with any fresh suggestions.
T.C. was looking pale and tired when I arrived at the club. My heart sank when I saw Cassie sitting next to him at the bar, because I had been itching to pass on to him the news Rosie had given me about Lucky Wong. I was struck temporarily dumb by being so disconcerted to see him with Cassie once again. She was rapidly becoming his shadow and I, for one, was uneasy about it. I tried to be fair and told myself I would be worried about Cassie’s renewed interest in T.C. whether I liked him or not. She just wasn’t good for him: she wore him ragged, and she hurt him every time her drinking led her into the arms, and usually the beds, of other men.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. ‘Rosie’s told me who Peace may have gone away with.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake, don’t any of you people ever think about anything other than that wretched girl?’ Cassie said sharply. ‘She’s not the first to run away from home, you know. I did it, and so did Bandy here. It’s not the end of the bloody world.’
‘Yes, and look what became of you.’ The words were out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying. I could have bitten my tongue off.
Cassie eyed me narrowly. ‘And what, pray, did become of me? What are you suggesting?’
I turned scarlet. What could I say? I could hardly tell her the truth, that she’d become a dipsomaniac, a high-class tart and a rotten mother with an illegitimate child t
hat had to be cared for by others. Besides, I wasn’t at all sure that my opinion of her wasn’t rooted in bitterness: despite her appalling neglect, her child had lived, whereas mine had died, despite all my efforts to save her. The only times Jenny and I had ever been parted was when she was in hospital and they’d forced me to leave her at night.
I flinched from these awful thoughts. They didn’t mean I wished Rosie dead in Jenny’s place. But it didn’t seem fair, either, that I should lose the centre of my universe, when Cassie barely even noticed that she had one – or if she did, she thought it was a bottle of booze and a man with a wallet.
What on earth had got into me? I stood tongue-tied as the thought wormed its way into my mind that I was jealous of Cassie. It was as simple as that. I was jealous of her lovely daughter and I was jealous of T.C.’s love for her and, worse, I was jealous that she was just so damned beautiful. She seemed to have it all and care little for any of it. I wanted to stamp my feet like a spoilt three-year-old, and scream ‘IT’S NOT FAIR!’
At last, from a hundred miles away, I heard Bandy’s husky voice. ‘What she means, sweetie, is that you and I haven’t made much of a fist of things. And she’s not wrong, by her lights. We are a pair of gin-sodden baggages who tend to make a dreadful balls of our domestic arrangements, if you look on it in a certain way. The fact that you and I may prefer to see ourselves as a couple of independent gals who have chosen to live by our own rules could be seen, in some quarters, as an excuse for being a couple of soaks with messy love lives.’ She laughed heartily.
‘Well, I still don’t like to be judged by some mousy little shop assistant and found wanting,’ Cassie snapped back.
‘You take that back right now.’ T.C. stepped forward, his eyes flashing. ‘Lizzie is not mousy, and neither is she standing in judgement over you, and you know it very well. Shop work is honest employment, and I really don’t think you’re in a position to sneer at it, do you?’
For a moment, everyone froze; Cassie looked from T.C. to me and back again, shock etched on her face. But her mouth remained stubbornly shut tight – there was going to be no apology.
T.C. shrugged and turned back to me. ‘You’ve done something different with your hair.’ He smiled. ‘It suits you.’
I had my mouth open to thank him for the compliment, but Cassie butted in as if nothing untoward had happened, although her expression spoke volumes. ‘So, are you coming or not?’
‘Not.’ T.C. shook his head. ‘I don’t really feel comfortable in that crowd. You go and have a good time. I want to hear what Rosie told Lizzie.’
‘Please yourself. You’ve always been a crashing bore when it comes to having fun. Anywhere but in bed; there you excel,’ said Cassie, flashing me a triumphant look and leaning forward to kiss T.C. ‘I’ll be off, then. Harry said he’d pick us up at seven-thirty, and I’m not even dressed yet. Are you sure you don’t want to come with me? I know someone would lend you some evening clothes.’
‘I’m sure, but I can’t afford roulette.’ Did he sound a little weary, as if he was trying quite hard to get rid of her? I felt my heart lift hopefully and told it sternly to settle down again. I was almost certain it was wishful thinking. ‘And don’t you mean Neville’s picking you up?’
Cassie sighed. ‘I do wish you’d listen sometimes. Harry’s the member. We can’t get in without him.’ Cassie smiled a secret and rather unkind smile. ‘Anyway, Harry’s showing an interest again. He telephoned and said he’d be in town and fancied a night on the tiles, and as he can afford it, I thought I’d join him.’
She paused for a heartbeat. ‘It’s not as if you can afford to stand a girl a cup of tea, let alone a night at the roulette table, so a touch of luxury is just about due – I’ve slummed it long enough.’ And on that note, she swept out of the bar with barely a backward glance.
We all stared at the swinging door for a moment, then Bandy’s cut-glass voice broke the spell. ‘So, who is Peace’s boyfriend?’
‘It’s Lucky Wong, Mrs Wong’s eldest,’ I told her. ‘Rosie says Peace’s been in love with him for some time, and it seems likely that she’s gone with him to Limehouse.’
‘I wonder why Mrs Wong didn’t spit this little gem out at the start?’ Bandy barked angrily.
‘Perhaps she doesn’t know,’ suggested T.C. reasonably.
‘Children rarely tell their mothers everything,’ I reminded Bandy, ‘especially when they get older. It’s in their nature to be secretive; it’s a bid for independence.’ I didn’t add that I thought Mrs Wong was very frightened as well.
‘All right, oh voice of experience, have it your own way. But don’t think I’ve forgotten or forgiven the slur you cast upon my moral rectitude. I may have bailed you out with the lovely Cassandra, but that doesn’t mean the implication that I have somehow failed because I chose not to take the marriage and motherhood route, is not resented. For the most part I like my life, and don’t you forget it, madam,’ she said, trying hard not to laugh at me.
‘I didn’t mean …’
‘I know that, you idiot. You were referring to Cassie falling prey to a randy policeman who promptly got her in the family way.’ She chortled.
‘I didn’t mean …’ I began again. I could see my face reddening in the bar’s mirrors.
There was a cough behind me. I turned to T.C. ‘If we could get back to Peace and this Lucky fellow. How did you get Rosie to speak? I almost applied the thumbscrews and there was nothing doing, not a dickie bird, because she’d promised.’
‘We had a little heart-to-heart, that’s all,’ I explained uneasily. Then I changed the subject quickly. ‘So what do you think we should do now?’
‘I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it ever since the first suggestion of a Limehouse connection. We can’t go bursting in there, and we can’t infiltrate. If we did the first, there could be a bloodbath, with Peace, and indeed us, providing all the blood. And we can’t do the second, because we’re not Chinese.
‘If we inform the Force, they’ll be duty bound to investigate; which would certainly get them nowhere, but would tip off Peace and her friend. That’s if he is a friend, and she’s there voluntarily. And, of course, we don’t know for certain that she’s in Limehouse. We just suspect it. What we need is an insider.’
Bandy spoke up, obviously choosing her words with care. ‘Sugar and I think we may have a way in to Limehouse,’ she began cautiously. ‘That’s where he is now, trying to make contact with his friend.’
T.C. and I spoke at once. ‘Who? How? Which friend?’
Bandy sighed deeply. ‘You know I was brought up in Hong Kong?’
We nodded in unison.
‘Well, of course we knew some Chinese people. My father was, and still is, heavily involved in the import and export business, mainly export, with several prominent Chinese businessmen. And we mixed socially with some of the more cosmopolitan types. Well, you know that. Peace was the product of one such social contact, obviously.
‘So anyway, some of those contacts have found their way to Blighty. Quite a few years back now, I bumped into one of them, along with some of his family. And Sugar and one of these people formed what you might call a close bond. They’ve been having an affair for some time now, and that’s where he slopes off to when he gets the chance.
‘Naturally, it’s top secret stuff. It’s more than the lover’s life’s worth to be caught at it, so mum’s the word. Not a whisper outside of the three of us and Sugar. Understood?’
Again we nodded. I was too dumbstruck to utter a word. Sugar had been having a secret and dangerous affair with a Chinese man for years and I couldn’t utter a word to Freddy and Antony about it? It was almost more than flesh and blood could stand. I was so intrigued, I almost forgot all about my own problems.
‘He’s seeing if he can enlist some help inside the community, to see what’s what. But it’s tricky. Very tricky indeed. Delicacy is going to be required. That’s if he’s managed to make contact. Even if they arr
ange to meet, there’s no guarantees. It often doesn’t happen for one reason or another.’
‘How do they make the initial contact, to arrange their meetings in the first place?’ T.C. sounded as intrigued as I was. ‘If it’s all so difficult and dangerous?’
‘An old spy trick from the war. They keep in touch via a number of dead letter drops. One’s in the park, near the lake, so whoever leaves and retrieves the notes can look as if they’re feeding the ducks. There’s another in a suite my father keeps at Claridges. Father’s business associates often use it when they’re in town, and so do members of their families. Naturally, when there’s someone important in town, the local Chinese jump to it to make sure he’s comfortable and has all he could possibly need. Sugar’s friend is often at Claridges as part of the welcoming committee.’
Bandy paused, took a deep drag of her Passing Cloud and a sip of her gin.
‘Then again, in an emergency, I understand that Sugar is allowed to enlist the help of Mrs Wong to pass on a message. It’s dangerous, though, and he’s never had to do it until now. He’s off seeing if it got through.’
A penny dropped. If Sugar’s lover was Chinese it would explain why Freddy and Antony had never known who it was. It also explained how Sugar had always been able to get his hands on the silk for Bandy’s outfits, rationing or no rationing. We’d all been as jealous as anything and had never known how he did it. Now I knew.
As if he had heard his cue, Sugar came through the door and looked around him. Seeing no one but us three, he grinned.
31
I went upstairs to my flat and made a light supper of sardines on toast and a cup of tea. It was all that my larder could provide. I had been so caught up in the search for Peace that shopping had been the least of my worries.
When I finally sat at my little yellow table, my mind was free to concentrate on the events of the day. Although we were no nearer to actually seeing Peace in the flesh, she felt closer now that we knew about her and Lucky Wong. It was also a strong possibility that Sugar’s ‘friend’ could help us to make contact with Peace, or so Sugar and Bandy thought. We could at least find out if she was safe and happy, even if we didn’t manage to persuade her to come back to us.