Born Bad

by Josephine Cox

  After a while, she collected the tray and went out to the garden, where she set the tray down on the little wooden table. She called him over. ‘This tea will be stone-cold if it’s left much longer!’ she chided, ‘I thought you had things you wanted to discuss?’

  Harry turned and looked at her, then he nodded, and now he was on his way over, ‘Sorry, Kathleen,’ he apologised, ‘how long have you been there?’

  ‘Long enough,’ she said, ‘Now come and sit down, and tell me what’s bothering ye?’

  While he talked, she poured the tea, and when she took a sip of it, she made a miserable face. ‘Whoo! It’s mashed in the pot, so it is!’

  Harry took a sip of his own. ‘Tastes all right to me,’ he said. ‘Thank you, Kathleen, this is a lovely way to round off the evening.’

  ‘So, what’s on your mind?’ she wanted to know. ‘All through dinner you were listening to Tom and talking to me, and sure ye weren’t even with us at all. You were someplace else … back there with Judy, I shouldn’t wonder.’

  He nodded. ‘Are you ever wrong?’

  ‘More often than not.’ She laughed. ‘More times than I care to remember.’

  Harry fell silent for a moment, and during that tense moment, Kathleen sipped on her lukewarm tea, and waited.

  After a while Harry spoke. ‘It was amazing, seeing Judy today,’ he told her. ‘I’m still shaking inside. Oh, I knew straight off it was her. She has a way with her – the way she stands, the way she holds her head slightly to one side as though considering something. How was she, Kathleen? Really, I mean, and don’t just tell me what you think I want to hear.’

  ‘Well now, let me see,’ Kathleen answered carefully. ‘She seemed all right, I suppose, but …’

  Harry prompted her. ‘But what?’

  Kathleen took a deep invigorating breath. ‘Don’t get all riled up now, but I’m not altogether sure she’s happy. But then, I can’t be sure she’s not.’ Winking knowingly, she went on, ‘She’s always held her cards very close to her chest, so she has.’ She distinctly remembered Judy being that way as a young girl.

  ‘You both saw him, didn’t you,’ Harry prompted, ‘wanting to settle things with his fists? Accusing me of seeing Judy behind his back.’ He gritted his teeth. ‘I should have taken him outside and thrashed him!’

  ‘Oh, aye? And what would Judy have thought to that, eh? Moreover, what would it have solved?’

  Harry shook his head. ‘Nothing, but it might have given me some satisfaction.’

  ‘He hasn’t changed then?’

  ‘No. If anything, he’s got worse. The thing is, Kathleen, I’m concerned that he might be taking out his temper on Judy. He’s such a big brute, and she looked so fragile.’

  Judy’s image washed through his senses. ‘It all seems so long ago, and yet it was like only yesterday …’ He began to reminisce in his mind. ‘I can’t get over the fact that I’ve actually seen her,’ he said with a fleeting grin. ‘Except she looked so vulnerable. What if Saunders is making her life a misery? What if he’s going at her like he went at me?’

  Seeing how agitated he was, Kathleen calmed him down. ‘Now stop that,’ she warned. ‘Getting all worked up won’t solve a bally thing.’

  ‘Did she happen to tell you where they lived?’ he asked.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Or whether she was happy?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Does she intend seeing you again?’

  ‘She didn’t say, and I let her be the judge of that. It’s never wise to force things.’

  Harry was both hurt and puzzled. ‘There were things Saunders taunted me with – about me deserting Judy and all that awful business. He said Judy went to him; that she never wanted me. It was him she wanted all the time, that’s what he said.’

  Kathleen tutted. ‘What utter tosh!’ she exclaimed. ‘The man is deluded, so he is. To my dying day, I will never understand why she ever agreed to marry that monster in the first place. It’s almost as though she didn’t care what happened to her after you were gone.’

  ‘How long after I was gone did she go to him, I wonder?’

  Kathleen shrugged. ‘Who knows? All I know is that she never once mentioned him to me. Then some two years after you left, a neighbour told me she and Saunders were wed. Sure, I don’t rightly know whether they meant Judy and Saunders had only just got wed, or if they’d wed some time ago. I was so thrown by the news, I just wanted to get home and think about it.’

  She loudly tutted and tutted. ‘Married to that ne’er-do-well! Whatever was she thinking?’

  Harry too, was deeply unsettled. ‘I have to find her, Kathleen,’ he said. ‘I need to know she is safe.’

  Kathleen understood, but: ‘Is it wise to interfere though?’

  Looking at it from both sides, the little Irishwoman could see the pitfalls. ‘If Judy was unhappy, or being ill-treated, I think she would have confided in me when we met; and the very fact that she did not, leads me to believe one of three things. Firstly that she thinks it is none of our business; secondly that she does not want to draw us into it or thirdly, that she’s capable of handling it herself.’

  She finished with a possibility that Harry found difficult to accept. ‘On the other hand, she and Saunders might be getting along reasonably well, as married couples go.’

  The truth was, while trying to put Harry’s mind at rest, Kathleen herself had much the same concerns as Harry.

  ‘Maybe it’s best left alone?’ she wondered aloud. ‘To my thinking, Judy must be all right with him, or she would have said. Think about it, Harry. If she needed help, she knows where you are. She knows where I am, and I’ve already told her she is more than welcome here any time she wants. So far, she has not taken me up on it. So, tell me, what are we to make of that?’

  ‘She could be afraid.’ Harry could not let it go. ‘He might have threatened her in some way – doesn’t want her to have friends, maybe. He’s always been a bit crazy, we know that.’

  ‘Yes, that’s true – But have you thought of the possibility that she might really love him; that she’s put her past life behind her and feels the need to settle down? Have you thought of that, Harry?’

  ‘Of course I have, but I just can’t make myself believe she’s in love with him.’

  ‘Is that not your manly pride talking?’

  ‘No. I’m saying she’s too gentle to love a man who is so cruel and brutish, a man who would rather fight than talk. A man who has no compassion for anything or anyone – including his wife.’

  Detecting his pain, Kathleen smiled on him, in that sincere way she had. ‘You still love her, don’t you, Harry?’

  Unable to speak, he merely nodded.

  ‘Maybe that’s it,’ she said. ‘Maybe you love her so much, you can’t stand any other man being with her – especially if that other man is your old arch-enemy?’

  Harry knew it was more than that. ‘There is something going on between Judy and him,’ he said. ‘Something bad is happening, and Judy is caught right in the middle of it. She’s in danger, Kathleen, I know it. I can feel it!’ Scrambling out of his seat, he began pacing the floor. ‘I have to find her!’ he declared urgently.

  ‘Ah sure – and how do you propose to do that?’ Kathleen was really concerned for him. ‘Judy has deliberately refrained from giving me any insight as to how things are between her and Saunders, or why she wed him in the first place. I’m like you; I can’t imagine she can be in love with him. She has not mentioned where she lives, nor has she has taken me up on my invitation to come and see me here.’

  ‘So doesn’t that tell you something?’ Walking over to Kathleen, he leaned forward and looked into her eyes. ‘Think about it. Does that sound like the Judy we know? Does it even sound like any other person who’s just met up with an old friend again? No, it does not! It sounds like a frightened woman, trying to hide the truth. I’ve given it endless thought, and I’m sure there are bad things going on.’

  ‘You thin
k he’s beating her up, don’t you?’

  He began pacing again. ‘Yes.’ He didn’t really know what else to think. ‘Something in the back of my mind keeps telling me that she needs us. Judy is a frightened woman, I just know it.’

  Seated at the little table, Kathleen was thinking, about whether he might be right in what he felt. After all, she had seen the bruises on Judy’s face. When Tom’s balloon floated off and Judy stepped out of the corner with it, she had a feeling that Judy had been hiding there.

  Then, when she mentioned the marks on her face, Judy seemed embarrassed, even afraid. She had been too quick to say it was some new powder she’d been trying. Firstly, Judy did not seem a person to use much make-up, and secondly, Kathleen did not know of any face powder that would do such a thing.

  But why would she lie?

  Though Kathleen herself had misgivings, she had no wish to fuel Harry’s concerns. But she had to ask herself; what caused the marks on Judy’s face, and why was she hiding in the corner? Was she there merely to steal a look at Harry? Or had she come to ask for help and lost her courage in the moment? Either way Kathleen was convinced that, for some reason she had not yet fathomed, Judy was afraid to be seen.

  Before she could talk with her she was gone, like a will-o-the-wisp. She scurried away, just like she did in that café on the High Street. Did something frighten her off? It was odd, how just then Saunders showed up.

  From that very first meeting with Judy in the High Street, Kathleen had her suspicions, though she had tried to convince herself she was being silly, that if Judy had problems then she would surely confide in her old friend.

  One thing Kathleen was thankful for, and that was the fact that Harry had not seen the bruises on Judy’s face. If he had, he would surely have got the truth out of her – and then there might well have been serious repercussions.

  Should she tell Harry about the bruises, and to hell with the consequences? she fretted.

  Back came the answer. NO!

  ‘There’s something I haven’t told you,’ Harry said suddenly, interrupting her train of thought. When he explained his findings, she began to understand why he was so desperately worried. He told her how Amy had seen Saunders drunk and abusive outside a pub in Bedford Town. ‘She said he was fighting-mad and like a crazy man, hitting out at passers-by and creating havoc in the street. The police were called, and they took him away.’

  Though the news was alarming, Kathleen was not surprised. ‘He was always a bit crazy,’ she commented, ‘but it doesn’t mean to say he’s hurting Judy, does it?’

  ‘I don’t know about that,’ Harry declared. ‘If he can make trouble with strangers in the street, and want to fight me for what happened all those years ago, who’s to say he wouldn’t take his frustrations out on Judy?

  ‘Think about it, Kathleen!’ he urged. ‘If he’s harbouring suspicions about me and Judy, it stands to reason he must be tackling Judy about it, and if he is, do you really think she’s able to stand up to him, like I did?’

  Kathleen had to admit he could be right. ‘All I’m saying is, don’t jump to conclusions. He might be totally different with Judy. He must love her, after all. Sure he’s wanted her since you were all in your teens.’

  ‘He only ever wanted her because he couldn’t have her.’ Harry was sure of it. ‘Anyway, about this pub … Amy said I can’t miss it. It’s the nearest one to the Boulevard.’

  Oh, dear Lord. Harry would be off creating mayhem if she didn’t put a stop to it, Kathleen thought. Swiftly, she devised a plan. ‘Oh dear me!’ She leaped up as though she’d had a fright.

  ‘What is it?’ Now it was Harry’s turn to be worried. ‘What on earth is wrong?’

  ‘Good heavens above – I completely forgot.’ She scrambled out of the chair and grabbed her coat. ‘I promised to go and see Lorna Smith – you know, my dear friend who lives in Woburn Sands. What with everything, I’ve been sadly neglecting her of late. I bumped into her husband yesterday and he told me she’d been very ill – that she would really love me to pay a visit. I promised faithfully that I would.’ She looked up at the mantelpiece clock. ‘Look at that, I’m late already.’

  Harry was sympathetic. ‘Oh, Kathleen, you must go.’ In a softer voice he murmured to himself, ‘Shame. I really needed to go into Bedford, to that pub, but it can’t be helped.’

  Kathleen had sensed that was his intent. It was why she had devised the plan. ‘Oh, of course,’ she said as she heard his quiet murmurings. ‘The pub. You needed to speak with the landlord, didn’t you?’

  She meekly laid her coat over the chair and sat down again. Remembering to put on a sad little face, she told him in a sorry voice, ‘Oh look, Harry. You go, me darlin’. I can see Lorna tomorrow. She’ll understand, I’m sure.’ She completed the picture by picking up her knitting and started to work on the pattern.

  Ashamed, Harry would have none of it. ‘No, you go and see your old friend. The pub can wait until tomorrow.’

  ‘It’s Sunday tomorrow,’ she reminded him. ‘They’ll be closed.’

  ‘I know, but thinking about it, that might be the best time. If I go mid-morning, I’m sure there’ll be someone there. Besides, they’ll be so busy tonight, they won’t have time to talk to me, even if I do go. Yes, tomorrow will be best. You go and see your friend,’ he instructed firmly. ‘Tom might still be awake. We’ll run you to the bus stop.’

  ‘All right then, I’ll go, if you really don’t mind. But there is no need to run me to the bus stop. Sure, it’s only at the end of the street and the walk will do me good. Besides, I imagine Tom is fast asleep by now.’

  Harry collected her coat and held it out for her. ‘If you want me to come and pick you up, give me a ring,’ he said. ‘Tom won’t mind if I get him out of bed. In fact, it’ll be a treat for him.’

  ‘Right, well, I’d best get off,’ she told him. ‘There’s a bus leaves the bottom of the street in about ten minutes – goes straight through to Woburn Sands.’ She collected her bag. ‘I’ll see youse two later.’

  The walk to the bus stop took no more than eight minutes.

  As she turned the corner, her poor old legs were beginning to ache, so she was more than grateful to see the bus pulling in. Clambering aboard, she found herself a cosy seat by the window. With her plan already in place, and thankful that, for now at least, she had managed to stop Harry from pursuing Phil Saunders’ whereabouts, she took out a pen and paper and, recalling the detailed instructions Amy had given to Harry, she wrote them all down.

  When the conductor came along to collect her fare, she paid for her ticket into Bedford. ‘There you are, my beauty!’ he said. Handing her the ticket, he gave her a wink that made her blush.

  ‘Don’t you be making eyes at me, young man.’ Wagging a finger at him, she couldn’t help but smile. ‘I’m old enough to be your grandma, so I am.’

  ‘Ah, but it’s the eyes,’ he sighed. ‘You’ve got the prettiest, sparkly eyes. My grandmama was hairy and miserable. You’re a beauty queen compared to her.’

  With a mental picture of his grandmother in mind, Kathleen chuckled to herself.

  Amy didn’t know the name of the pub, but it was in the centre of Bedford town, directly opposite the Boulevard. She remembered that much at least, and if Harry could find it, then so could she.

  She had been so busy perfecting her plan that she had not realised how quickly the time had passed.

  ‘Bedford town centre!’ The bus was slowing down and the conductor was shouting, ‘End of the line! Everybody off!’

  As she made her way down the bus the conductor gave her another wink. ‘Bye, sweetheart,’ he said. ‘See you on the way back, will we?’

  ‘You might,’ she answered, winking back mischievously, ‘if you play your cards right.’

  As she went away down the street she could hear him laughing out loud. ‘You little beauty!’ he shouted. ‘I reckon you and me might have a future together!’

  She was still laughing to he
rself as she left the Boulevard.

  Being Saturday night, the place was heaving with people. Digging out her spectacles from her bag, Kathleen glanced at her untidy scribbles. ‘Opposite the Boulevard,’ she mumbled. ‘The pub is opposite the Boulevard.’ Looking about, all she could see were shops, people and buses. ‘Which way?’ she asked herself. ‘Right, left or straight on?’

  She waylaid a passer-by, a young fella with a miserable face, but when he smiled as he did now, his whole face lit up. ‘There’s only one pub that I can think of that’s close enough to the Boulevard, and that’s the Bedford Arms. But it’s not opposite like you said. It’s a five-minute walk that way … towards the river.’ He pointed to the far end of the Boulevard. ‘Go through there, turn right and keep going … onto the High Street, then over the river bridge. You can’t miss it.’

  Kathleen thanked him and set off.

  Ten minutes later, she came onto the High Street. ‘Him and his five-minute walk!’ she tutted. ‘That might be the case if you’re young and fit, and got legs up to your elbows, but it won’t do for an old ’un like me.’

  She noticed the bus stop. ‘That’s where I’ll get the bus home,’ she decided. ‘It’ll save me old legs, so it will.’

  Then, just as the young man had promised, there in front of her was the Bedford Arms.

  With renewed vigour she made her way there, pushing the door open rather shyly. There, perched on stools by the bar, a group of men were talking and drinking, with the occasional burst of laughter. But from what she could see, there was no one behind the bar.

  ‘Excuse me.’ She tapped the nearest man on the shoulder. ‘Do you happen to know where the landlord is?’

  Before he could answer, a head popped up from behind the bar. ‘I expect you’ll be wanting my husband.’

  Lifting out two crates of lemonade Pauline plonked them down with a grunt. ‘I’m afraid he’s locked in the cellar,’ she teased. ‘When he misbehaves I shut him away until he cools down.’

  Realising that Kathleen was not a regular customer, she apologised. ‘Sorry about that,’ she said. ‘Me and my warped sense of humour. Can I help?’