A Promise Between Friends

by Carol Rivers

  And when, by the close of day, she was still waiting for his return, the sensation deepened. The warehouse was dark and full of shadows even though she put on all the lights.

  At the sound of someone banging at the outer door, she froze. Who could it be at this time?

  ‘Who is it?’ she asked through the small opening in the locked outer door.

  ‘Garry McBride,’ said the rough voice.

  Ruby was immediately afraid. Garry McBride had paid several visits to the warehouse. He was a loud-mouthed trader who had cut up rough once or twice, even though Nick had said he was harmless enough.

  ‘Nick’s not here,’ she answered. ‘Come back tomorrow.’

  ‘I’m off out of the country in the morning,’ he shouted impatiently. ‘And your boss wants to see the colour of the money I have stuffed in my pocket. Open the door and I’ll leave it with you. That way, everyone’s happy.’

  Ruby didn’t know what to do, but she supposed she couldn’t refuse him. Reluctantly, she pulled back the lock. To her dismay, McBride barged in, followed by four big men.

  ‘Where’s he gone?’ McBride demanded.

  ‘I don’t know. He had to go up West and see someone on business.’

  ‘When will he be back?’

  ‘It could be any time,’ she croaked, aware that his men were rifling through the warehouse. ‘If he knew you were coming he would have been here to meet you.’

  ‘This is a little surprise visit,’ McBride grunted, ‘an off-the-cuff hello.’

  ‘I thought you had cash in your pocket.’

  McBride laughed in her face. ‘Surprising what the mention of money will do!’

  She could smell alcohol on his breath and closed her eyes; she didn’t want to see or smell him! Where was Nick? Why wasn’t he here to deal with McBride?

  She heard a loud crack and when she turned round one of the men was forcing open a crate. Tossing out the furs packed inside it, he began to open others.

  McBride grabbed her arms and shook her. ‘Where’s the stuff gone?’ he demanded.

  Ruby shrank away. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘We’ll see about that. You’d better come clean or else!’ He shook her so hard her teeth rattled inside her head.

  Ruby gulped, trying to turn her face away as he shook his fist in front of her.

  Just then a loud noise came from outside. There was the sound of dogs barking and a high-pitched whistle.

  ‘The law!’ McBride pushed her aside. He signalled to his men and they all ran out of the warehouse.

  Ruby collapsed against the wall; her arms hurt and she felt sick with fear. When a tall figure approached, she closed her eyes and screamed.

  ‘It’s all right, it’s only me,’ Wally, the night watchman, said, wrestling to restrain two fierce-looking dogs on leads. ‘Are you all right?’

  Ruby nodded but she was terrified. All around the dogs’ jaws was bubbling white froth as they snarled and growled, pawing at the ground and drooling.

  ‘Don’t worry, these won’t hurt you,’ Wally assured her, although she found that hard to believe. ‘Who was that rum lot that just ran out of here?’

  ‘G-Garry McBride,’ she managed to answer, frightened to move an inch in case the dogs leaped at her.

  ‘I scared them off with my whistle. They thought I was the dock coppers with their dogs, see?’

  Ruby thought her legs were going to fold. She had had one terrifying experience after another; how could Nick let this happen?

  ‘Did they rubbish all these crates?’ Wally asked, looking at the chaos.

  Ruby nodded. She couldn’t find her voice.

  ‘I’ll go and make certain they’ve gone. Go to the office, love, have a seat and a tot of brandy if there’s a bottle around. I’ll be back when I’ve put me dogs away, all right?’

  A few minutes later she was sitting on the chair in the office, feeling dazed and tearful. There was no alcohol but she didn’t want any. She had come within a hair’s breadth of a beating and perhaps even worse if that thug had had his way. This wasn’t at all what she had imagined selling fur coats would be like. Ruby wiped her wet cheeks with a shaky hand. She hated this warehouse. She hated Nick’s customers. She even hated the fur coats.

  ‘You sure they didn’t rough you up?’ Wally asked as he came alone into the office, pushing back his cap and peering into her white face.

  ‘He might have if you hadn’t come along.’

  ‘I saw their motor outside and thought it looked suspicious at this time of night. So I got me dogs out.’

  ‘I’m very glad you did.’ She sniffed, managing a smile, but she had made up her mind now that when Nick came back she was going to tell him that working in the warehouse just wasn’t for her. And after he knew how Garry McBride had threatened her, she was sure he would understand why.

  Nick arrived back an hour later and Ruby was still close to tears. She jumped to her feet ready to throw herself into his arms as he walked in the office and tell him how badly she’d been treated. But before she could open her mouth, Nick demanded in an angry voice, ‘What the hell’s happened here? Wally says you let McBride in.’

  Ruby was so shocked she could hardly reply. ‘I didn’t want to, but he said he had money to give you.’

  ‘And you believed him?’

  Ruby choked back a sob. ‘You shouldn’t have left me alone, Nick.’

  ‘You’re a grown woman,’ he retorted coldly. ‘I pay you to do as I tell you. And that doesn’t include inviting in riff-raff like McBride.’

  Ruby gasped. ‘But you said he was harmless!’

  He waved his hand impatiently. ‘You should have used your common sense and kept the door locked. Now tell me what he said.’

  Ruby stood up, but her legs were shaking so much she sat down again. He didn’t seem at all concerned that she was upset and hadn’t even asked if she was all right. ‘Well, come on, Ruby, what did he say?’

  ‘He asked where the stuff was. He thought I knew.’

  ‘Did you tell him anything?’

  ‘No. What was there to tell him? He didn’t want the furs. They seemed to be looking for something else.’

  Nick growled under his breath, pushing his hand through his dishevelled hair. ‘You do realize he’s ruined all my stock because you acted so foolishly?’

  Ruby burst into tears. ‘It wasn’t my fault. You should have been here.’

  ‘Those bastards will pay for ruining my stock!’ He went to the safe and knelt down. When it was open, Ruby gasped when she saw what was in it.

  He slipped the gun into his pocket and rose to his feet. ‘We’re leaving,’ he snarled, snatching her coat from the chair and throwing it around her shoulders. ‘Don’t come to work tomorrow. In fact, don’t come here until I let you know when it’s safe to turn up.’

  She had no intention of ever setting foot in this place again, but she was too shocked to say so. ‘Take this,’ he said, pushing a tightly rolled bundle of pound notes in her hand. ‘Go shopping and forget about what you’ve seen here today.’

  She stared at the money. ‘But why—’

  ‘Shut up and get in the car. I’ll lock the doors behind us.’

  Tears stung her eyes as he pushed her roughly from the office. He hadn’t even given her the chance to say how McBride had frightened her.

  As tears rolled down her cheeks, she knew she had to face the fact that tonight the man she loved had seemed to turn into another person altogether.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Bernie was waiting outside the Bricklayer’s. He had paced the wet pavement for a good twenty minutes, wondering if Ruby would actually turn up. He consulted his watch under the lamplight. He had told her seven on the dot. What was he going to do if she didn’t show?

  The drizzle of rain was annoying and he was tempted to pop in the pub for a pint. But if she arrived, he might miss her. Knowing Ruby, she’d hightail it given half the chance.

  He ditc
hed the cigarette butt in the gutter and sauntered up the alley beside the pub where he’d parked his car. Then he walked back, turning up the collar of his coat to keep out the rain. Glancing along the street, he saw the tall, flat-fronted buildings where Kath and Ruby had lived. The bedsit hadn’t been much to speak of, but at the time he’d not had the resources to rent a better place.

  ‘Bernie?’ a voice said at his shoulder.

  Coming back to the present, he peered under Ruby’s dripping umbrella. ‘Didn’t think you was coming.’

  ‘I nearly didn’t.’

  ‘I’m glad you did. Come on, let’s go inside for a drink.’

  She shook her head firmly. ‘Not tonight, Bernie, I don’t fancy it.’

  ‘Nowhere else much to go except for my place.’

  ‘All right,’ she agreed hesitantly, ‘but will your girlfriend mind?’

  He kept a straight face. ‘What girlfriend?’

  ‘This Tina Shutler your sister told me about.’

  He laughed, wiping the rain from his face. ‘Jealous, are we?’

  ‘No, course not.’

  ‘All right, then. At least we’ll be in the dry.’ Taking her arm and dodging the spokes of her umbrella, he steered her to the car. He could have downed a pint easily to give him Dutch courage; she wasn’t going to like what he had to tell her. Not one bit.

  ‘Sorry the old drum is a tip,’ Bernie apologized as he swiped a paint-smeared sheet from the only chair in the front room. With a flick of his hand he dusted the cushion and stepped back. ‘Didn’t know I was going to have visitors or else I’d have tidied up.’

  His gaff wasn’t up to scratch and there were more pots of paint in the larder than spuds, but he had taken to the house like a duck to water. The upstairs had two good-sized bedrooms and downstairs was a kitchen and scullery. Every wall needed papering but he reckoned that by Christmas he’d have most of the work under his belt.

  Ruby sat down, pushing back her wet hair. ‘So this is all yours?’

  He edged the pile of unsightly rubbish out of view with the tip of his boot. ‘An old bloke was selling up, moving in with his daughter over Romford way, and needed to get rid of it on the quick. I asked him how much for cash. He said a grand. I said seven hundred. And the deal was done.’

  ‘Seven hundred pounds?’

  ‘Yeah, well it ain’t tanners!’

  ‘Seven hundred pounds is a lot of money.’

  ‘I’ve put in a lot of overtime.’

  She glanced at the stepladder propped against the paint-peeling wall. ‘You need a nice lampshade in here, one of them modern cone-shaped ones. And you could do with good-quality lined curtains to keep out the cold. And maybe you should consider buying one of them room dividers from G Plan. I’ve seen them in Selfridge’s and they’re all the rage. Not to mention a comfortable settee of course. Something that’s not heavy but easy to move around.’

  ‘Yeah, I’ve got my eye on one,’ he lied as though he knew what G Plan was. But if he didn’t know about furniture, he certainly knew about this do-it-yourself lark. He was learning to turn his hand to all manner of jobs. He got tips from his mates, who, like him, had invested their hard-earned savings in bricks and mortar.

  His plan had been to persuade Kath to move in with him; they’d never had a real home together, even the prefab had turned into a slum. Their dad had lived like the drunken pig he was and their mum, Molly, had been a drinker too. What with that and the TB that had killed her, she’d had no interest in homemaking. But now with Kath finding her feet at the Windmill, he was on his tod and enjoying his freedom.

  ‘I’m gonna buy an HMV telly too,’ he said with a grin.

  She looked impressed. ‘A telly?’

  ‘Yeah, and one of them record players hidden in a cabinet like you see on the films.’

  ‘You’ll be charging to walk in the door soon.’ She gave him a nervous smile. ‘So what is it you want to tell me?’

  He sat beside her, knowing this wasn’t going to be easy. ‘Last week, I was up in me cabin,’ he began awkwardly, ‘and there I was, minding my own business as usual, when I see this motor drive along the wharf. It stopped and a bloke I recognized got out. He walked up to this old rust-bucket and boarded her. But what struck me was that this foreign lump was sitting low in the water, you couldn’t even see her Plimsoll line. From where I was sitting it was obvious she was listing.’

  ‘So what’s this got to do with me?’ Ruby asked with a frown.

  ‘It was Brandon who boarded the vessel.’

  She gave a bewildered frown. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Positive. I had a gander along the wharf. The Buick had gone when along come the dock rozzers. They swarm all over the wharf and board the old girl. My gaffer told me she was heading north when an old Navy mine hit her bows, holed her below the waterline and forced her to limp back to port.’

  ‘So what are you saying?’ Ruby said in a whisper.

  ‘There was cargo found aboard, Ruby. Crates of fur pelts. She was a smuggler. Caught in the act in British waters.’

  Ruby jumped to her feet. ‘Are you accusing Nick of smuggling?’

  ‘Sit down.’ He pulled her beside him. ‘Listen, I ain’t accusing anyone. But the cargo was contraband. In view of the Cold War going on between Britain and the Soviet Union it’s a dangerous game someone’s playing. Added to which there’s always the risk of anthrax. The docks was on red alert after that. But I saw Brandon on board that vessel before the law arrived. He must have gone down to have a butcher’s, see if there was anything or anyone that linked the smuggler to him.’

  With a choked gasp, she whispered, ‘Is Nick in trouble?’

  ‘I’d say there’s a good chance.’

  She didn’t say another word and neither did he. After all, it was as plain as a pimple on a pig’s arse.

  Brandon was up to his eyeballs.

  Ruby sat very still, trying to understand what Bernie had told her. Her thoughts went round and round. Where had Nick been today? He had a gun. Why would he keep one in the safe? After all, he’d hired Wally to patrol the warehouse. And why had he been so angry that she’d let McBride in?

  ‘This could be serious,’ Bernie said quietly. ‘The coppers will tug someone’s collar. You don’t want to be involved.’

  ‘I’m not.’

  ‘I know that but they don’t.’

  ‘Nick loves me,’ she sobbed. ‘He wouldn’t do that to me!’ Ruby felt her head swim. She saw McBride’s ugly face with its flat bruiser’s nose and thick lips. She felt him shaking her and knew that he was about to strike her. This image floated in front of her eyes as she passed out.

  ‘Ruby!’ A hand was patting her cheek.

  She opened her eyes and everything flooded back. McBride, his gang, the broken crates and, worst of all, the memory of how, when they had arrived at the prefab, Nick had carelessly bundled her out of his car. He hadn’t even given her a kiss goodbye. It felt as if he just wanted to get rid of her.

  ‘Sit up,’ Bernie said, easing her gently forward. ‘And when you feel up to it, you’d better tell me what’s going on.’

  Taking a deep breath, she nodded. ‘Nick left me all alone today. I told him I didn’t like it there without him, but he said I had nothing to worry about. Then, just as it got dark . . .’ Ruby shivered at the memory, ‘there was a knock at the door. It was a customer who said he had money to give Nick. So I let him in.’

  ‘Oh Christ,’ Bernie said beside her.

  ‘I know it was stupid. Nick thought so too. But I wasn’t to know that he’d turn nasty and break open the crates.’

  ‘Did they touch you?’ Bernie asked in concern.

  Ruby swallowed as she remembered McBride’s raised fist. ‘No, but I think he would have if Wally, the night watchman, hadn’t turned up and frightened them off. He blew his whistle which must have made McBride think it was the police.’

  ‘Garry McBride from across the water?’ Bernie said in surprise.

&nbs
p; ‘Do you know him?’

  ‘Who doesn’t?’ Bernie replied shortly. ‘He’s a notorious villain who’s spent as much time in the jug as out. Whoever gets involved with him can only be up to no good.’

  Ruby felt sick. The more she was finding out, the deeper Nick seemed to be implicated.

  Slowly she told Bernie about the case full of money and the trade with the man from the Soviet Union. But it was when she added that she had seen Nick take a gun from the safe that Bernie’s eyebrows shot up.

  ‘A shooter?’ Bernie repeated. ‘Ruby, that’s bad news.’

  ‘I know. Oh Bernie, I can’t believe what happened.’

  Bernie sighed heavily. ‘Look, I know your heart’s set on him. But you gotta live in the real world. The more you tell me, the more it turns out he’s a wrong ’un. Whichever way you look at it, he’s trading dodgy goods with dodgy punters.’

  ‘But why does he need me to do that?’

  ‘Appearances, doll. You’re easy on the eye and can put a punter in a good frame of mind while he does them up like a kipper.’

  Ruby wanted to scream it wasn’t true. There was no proof, only what Bernie had seen at the docks. But that could be coincidence, couldn’t it? Even as she thought it, she knew she was lying to herself. She wanted to believe that Nick loved her and would never put her in danger. But events today had proved otherwise.

  ‘Look, I know you think I’m out of order,’ Bernie continued. ‘But who carries around that kind of money? Only the bank and major villains. The Russian fell into a trap. The money was just window-dressing. Canadian wolverine is a quality skin with a high value. What was found in the hull of the ship looked like wolverine, but was wolf. And wolves are as common as muck.’

  Ruby stared at Bernie. ‘You mean Nick swindled him too?’

  Bernie nodded. ‘This old vessel I saw is about as legit as Al Capone’s distillery. Brandon gets wind of it being towed into Tilbury, probably a porter or casual on his payroll. He boards it, knowing he’s for the high-jump if there’s anything to link him to the pelts.’

  ‘Do you think there was?’

  ‘Dunno, but it’s likely.’