by Lynda Paige
Had his father or anyone close to him walked into the hotel bar they would have had to look at him at least three times before they recognised the man at the bar to actually be Sonny. Gone was the fairground worker of earlier, in black trousers, white shirt – the sleeves of which were rolled up to his elbows – black string tie kept together with an American-style silver-plated bull’s head tie fastener, hair slicked up in a trendy quiff, sporting a five o’clock shadow and a permanent roll-up hanging from the corner of his lips. Now he looked very much a man of means, wearing a smart wide-shouldered, broad-lapelled, double-breasted dark blue suit under a long mohair camel-coloured coat, quality leather shoes, hair parted down the side and smoothed neatly with hair oil, clean-shaven chin, aftershave by Chanel, a gold cigarette lighter case and crocodile-skin wallet holding his illicitly gained money.
As he sipped on his drink, his good mood began to darken. This hotel bar was as unproductive as the last one he’d tried when all the clientele seemed to be elderly couples or old military types, one or two tartily dressed women obviously prostitutes on the prowl for clients, all of whom would never frequent the sort of place he was after help getting into. Then his spirits lifted as he spotted a man of around his own age, dressed similarly to himself, confidently weaving his way through the tables towards the bar. If there was any action of the sort he was after in this town then, to Sonny’s expert eye, this was the sort of man who would introduce him into it. He waited while the man ordered his drink, then struck up a casual conversation with him.
Putting on his perfected refined accent he said, ‘I’m a visitor to this town, here on business, any idea where to go for a bit of fun?’ He offered the man his hand. ‘Raymond Goodman. Ray. Pleased to meet you.’
Taking a sip of his rum and black, the man accepted his hand and they shook. ‘Charles Hillman. Charley. Good to meet you too. So what sort of business are you in?’
‘Cars. Buying and selling. Not your old bangers, mind. High-class models is all I deal in. Have you heard of Goodman Elite Cars? I’ve several garages across the country, mainly around the London area. I’m looking to expand up north and am here for the week to check out a few properties.’
The man looked thoughtfully at his swarthy companion. ‘Goodman Elite Cars?’ he mused. ‘Yes… yes… I think I have heard of your firm. I’ve friends in London and I think they bought a car off you a while back.’
Sonny thought, No they didn’t, because the firm doesn’t actually exist. He said, ‘Well maybe it’s time they renewed and came back to see what I can do for them. Mention it to them the next time you see them. What line are you in yourself?’
He looked a little cagey at that question. ‘Oh, this and that to do with finance, mostly business insurance.’
‘Well, when I’m looking to renew any of my business policies I’ll have to give you a call. Have you a card?’
Charley fished in his inside pocket and pulled out one which he handed to Sonny, who put it in his own inside pocket, then asked him, ‘Have you one in case I’m ever in the market for a decent jalopy myself in the future?’
Sonny fished around in his pockets and, of course, never found one because he hadn’t got any. ‘Ah, seems I’ve left them in my hotel room. Same again?’
‘Yeah, don’t mind, thanks.’
Their drinks refreshed from a well-stocked bar by the black-and-white-attired, polite bartender, Sonny prompted, ‘So… what has this town got to offer fun wise or is this it?’ He looked disdainfully around.
‘Depends what kind of fun you’re after, exactly. There’re a couple of dance halls where most of the youngsters go, a folk club, skiffle one too, or there’s a strip joint if that’s more to your taste.’
He eyed the man meaningfully. ‘Oh, I was thinking of somewhere a little more higher end.’
He looked Sonny over before he offered, ‘If you’ve the money… and I ain’t talking loose change here… I might be able to swing you entry into one I am off to myself after I’ve finished my drink.’
‘I’ve the money,’ Sonny assured him.
Charley downed his drink. ‘Then let’s go.’
From the outside the place looked similar to other clubs Sonny had gotten himself inside of; it was in the basement of the building, housed in an old and rundown part of town. They were met at the door by a bruiser type who looked him over suspiciously before his companion vouched for him, then let them through a heavy security door into a small, dingy anteroom. As soon as they passed through another door, that was where all similarities ended. The room was at least twice the size of any of the other clubs Sonny had been to before and the decor far more opulent, from the sparkling chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, red-and-cream flocked and Regency-striped wallpaper lining the walls to the gilt chairs at the matching tables. The bar was manned by white-shirted, black-trousered barmen, drinks and meals served by scantily dressed pretty women with model-type figures. Sonny didn’t like to guess the price of the drinks or food and worried now that he’d enough in his wallet to cover the cost of an evening here as he’d already parted with five pounds to get in. Sitting at one end of the bar on high seats were four women who, it was apparent to Sonny, were high-class call girls. A couple of equally scantily dressed usherettes were weaving through tables selling expensive brands of cigarettes and cigars from trays strapped around their necks. Three brutish-looking, suited men were stationed around the large room ready to deal with any trouble. There were thirty or so tables, several of which were filled with parties of wealthily dressed twenty- to late thirty-somethings. It was evident by their demeanour that the price of the food and drinks were of no consequence to them… would most likely be paid for by their affluent fathers. Other tables had obviously married couples seated at them as they were barely speaking to each other, and there were other tables with older men and far younger woman who were definitely not their daughters. A slinky-looking platinum blonde, dressed in a long figure-hugging sparkling evening dress was belting out a popular song, accompanied by a five-piece band on a stage at the back of the room. The singer and musicians were all very accomplished. There was a wooden-floored space before it for dancing, which several couples were taking advantage of. Charley had already informed Sonny that in another room there was a mini casino should he fancy a gamble and also in another room a strip show.
A man sitting at one of the tables caught Sonny’s eye. Others were dancing attendance on him. He was a small, rotund, ugly-looking gnome-type man of obvious foreign origin; Greek, Turkish or a mixture of both – it was hard to tell – dressed immaculately. He was accompanied by a young, stunning-looking woman in a very becoming evening gown, the type of woman that normally wouldn’t have given the man she was with the time of day had he not had money, judging by the wad he’d just pulled out of his pocket and peeled a few notes off to give to one of those pandering to him. It became apparent that this man was the owner of the club.
A sense of exhilaration filled Sonny then as it hit him just what kind of business he wanted to build himself with the proceeds of the sale of the funfair. A high-class club such as this was one that attracted the sort of clientele who didn’t need to worry one iota how much they spent on their leisure time. But he wasn’t going to stop at just having one club, he was going to have a string of them; one in every major town and city up and down the country. What better revenge would that be for him, knowing that the cream of British society were all kowtowing to him in order for them to be members of his clubs. And wouldn’t he have a field day letting it be known that the man they were having to ingratiate themselves with was just a lowly fairground worker from a group of people their sort despised. When Belinda saw just what sort of life she had thrown away when she had so callously turned down his offer to marry her, wouldn’t she then be spending the rest of her life deeply regretting it?
As he followed an usherette to a table with Charley, Sonny inwardly smiled to himself. He wondered if all these outsiders would be so accepting of him
being amongst them should they learn the truth of his heritage, how he lived and worked. No matter how smart he looked, how much money he had in his pocket, they would have him unceremoniously thrown out before he could blink and warned never to return or risk physical harm. But now he knew what line of business he wanted to be in, in the not-too-distant future, that would no longer be the case. That day couldn’t come quick enough for Sonny but, until then, the revenge he was reaping for outsiders’ misguided opinions of showmen that had resulted in the loss of the only woman he had ever loved and wanted to spend the rest of his life with, would continued to be reaped in secret.
The audience were clapping after the singer onstage had just finished a number when Charley leaned over and told Sonny he was going to the casino and was Sonny going to join him? He declined, as he’d a better offer. He’d caught the eye of a very attractive woman. He had noticed her immediately as he had first arrived at the club, sitting at a table amongst a party of her friends looking quite bored. It was apparent that the male companion sitting next to her was failing in his attempts to ingratiate himself with her; but her eyes had immediately sparked with interest when they had settled on Sonny, which they were still doing now. She was definitely giving him an invitation and it wasn’t to have tea and cake with her. Was a quick exit out of the tradesman entrance of a hotel on the cards for him tonight, leaving her to settle the bill? But then she wasn’t the only woman whose attention he’d attracted. The other woman was older than him, middle forties round-about, and in good shape for her age. She was sitting at a table with a man he had seen her dancing with when he had first arrived. The way they were together he was obviously her husband, who she would be leaving with at the end of the night. Evidently her husband was lacking somewhat to have his wife looking elsewhere for some excitement in her life. It would be very gentlemanly of him to give it to her, wouldn’t it! He mused over matters for a moment, then decided he would have the older woman first, then have himself some fun in the casino and, after, watch the strip show for a while. Then he would make the younger woman aware this was her lucky night… but not so lucky when she discovered he’d slunk away from the hotel room whilst she was asleep and left her to settle the bill!
He shot the older woman a look by way of telling her that her invitation was accepted and to indicate to him where she wanted them to meet.
Chapter Five
The next morning at just after eleven, wearing old brown overalls caked in grease and rubbing dirty hands on a grubby piece of cloth, Solly was making his way back to his living van for a wash, change of clothes and to have his dinner after overseeing the morning maintenance checks of all the rides Grundy’s owned personally. He’d also been lending a hand to several other ride owners who had need of it to ensure all were safe for the afternoon opening at two o’clock, when he spotted a figure skulking around the fairfolks’ private residence area; Solly instantly recognised the figure as Archie Cox. As he went over, he steeled himself for the confrontation he knew was to come.
Cox had just righted himself after fruitlessly crouching down to search under a van when Solly joined him, trying to keep his utter distaste for this bully of a man from outwardly showing. The man looked filthier and smelt far more disgusting than he had yesterday evening, if that was possible. He spoke evenly. ‘The general public aren’t allowed in the fair until opening time at two and this area is off-limits. You have to leave.’
Cox grunted. ‘Ain’t doing no ’arm. Just looking for me son.’
‘We’re closed so he won’t be here, will he.’
Cox glared at him darkly. ‘I can see that, you ignorant gyppo. He didn’t come home last night and the last place he wa’ seen was coming in here yest’day evening at about six.’
Solly stared stonily back at him, squashing down a surge of anger for him assuming what the majority of outsiders did; that showmen and gypsies were one and the same when, in fact, they were an entirely separate society of people with their own rules, regulations and traditions. He knew he would be wasting his time trying to educate this uncouth man, though. ‘We have a thorough check around after we close for runaways or vagrants thinking they can use any of the rides as a place to sleep and we make them leave so, if your son was hanging around after closing, he’ll be long gone now.’
Cox’s lip curled in a sardonic smirk. ‘The wily little bugger might have sneaked back when you wa’ all asleep.’
Solly shook his head. ‘He might have tried but our workers have a dozen or so dogs between them. Just one of them sensing an intruder anywhere on the site would have woken all of us up. The dogs would have all been let loose and if your son was here they’d have soon had him running, believe me.’ He then narrowed his eyes and looked at Cox coldly. ‘If…’ He just stopped himself in time from saying ‘Col’ as then Cox would question just how it was that Solly knew his son’s name, not that Colin was actually his son anyway. ‘…your son has any sense, he’d be miles away from you by now, somewhere you’ll never find him.’
Cox looked at him quizzically for a moment until a memory struck, then he stabbed a dirty finger at Solly and angrily blared, ‘You’re the bastard that stopped me chastising me son last night for disobeying me and gave him the chance to give me the slip.’
Solly pushed his face into Cox’s, recoiling at the foul smell of his breath and furiously hissed, ‘You’re lucky I didn’t knock you into kingdom come for what I found you doing to that boy.’ He grimaced disgustedly at the man. ‘Your type doesn’t deserve to be fathers.’ Not being able to suffer his bad breath any longer, he took a couple of steps away from Cox before telling him, ‘Me and my maintenance crew have been all over the place this morning checking the safety of the rides and if your lad had managed to escape the notice of the dogs, which is doubtful anyway, we’d have found him. You’re wasting your time looking for him here. Now I’ll ask you politely again to leave.’
Cox was glaring at him, clenching and unclenching his fists, desperate to lay into Solly, seeing him as being ultimately responsible for his loss of his lucrative asset in Colin. But, whereas he might have the upper hand with weaker types than himself, from his experience of last evening he was no match for this muscular man. He still wasn’t about to leave until he was absolutely convinced that he was not lying and Col was, after all, sheltering here. He scowled menacingly at Solly. ‘I know your fucking game. You’re hiding him yerself. In your van now, is he? Having a cup of tea? Plan to use him fer cheap labour or as part of yer gang when you go out on the rob, eh? He’s a good little tea leaf is Col and we all know what thieves you gyppos are. The fair is just your cover. Earn most of yer living robbing off good folks like me. Anyway, if yer ain't hiding him inside your van you'll have no objection to me having a look, will yer?’
Solly’s temper exploded to fever pitch then and how he managed to control it was all credit to himself. Cox had made it clear that he wasn’t going to leave until he was absolutely convinced they were not hiding Col and, in order to get rid of him once and for all, he had no choice but to do what he had asked and pray he wasn't that vigilent. He walked over to his own van, stood at the bottom of the steps and said, ‘Be my guest and search my home.’
Cox went over, climbed the steps and walked inside.
Gem was in the kitchen attending to pans bubbling on the small cast-iron stove, humming away to a popular tune being played by Billy Cotton and his Showmen over the crystal wireless set. She looked shocked at the dishevelled stranger that stepped in, wrinkling her nose at the nasty smell emanating off him. Turning down the sound on the wireless, she went to demand who he was when Sonny appeared and told her.
‘This man is looking for his son and has got it into his head we’ve kidnapped him and propose to use him as cheap labour and as a member of our gang when we go out thieving.’ He held up his hand to stop her responding and said meaningfully, ‘We’ve nothing to hide have we, love, so let the man nose around all he likes.’ He then addressed Cox, ‘I’ll accompany yo
u on your search as we don’t want to find any of our valuables gone when you leave.’
Cox inwardly fumed as his intention had been to swipe anything that he viewed would make him a few pennies, something he was desperately short of now he’d lost the help of his sidekick to line his pockets. He snorted nastily. ‘Huh! A junk shop sells better stuff than the crap you have in here.’ He then rudely pushed past Solly and began to nose around.
Although Gem was inwardly panicking that although the place they were secreting Col inside might have escaped the eagle eyes of a bully of a husband on the search for a runaway wife, that didn’t mean to say it would the beady ones of Archie Cox, she appeared to be unconcerned about the search and continued preparing their meal.
It didn’t take Cox long to hunt inside and under places in the van that might conceal a small boy and there was one instance when Solly held his breath whilst Cox took more of an interest in one particular place than he would have liked him to but, thankfully, Cox’s quest to find Col proved fruitless.
Back by the outside door, Solly said to him in no uncertain terms, ‘Now we’ve proved we aren’t hiding your son, I want you out of my home and off the site. If I see your face around here again I warn you you’ll be getting the same treatment from me that I caught you dishing out to your boy last night. Is that clear?’
Cox went to respond in his usual offensive manner but obviously thought better of it and hurriedly scuttled out.