Memories Are Made of This

by June Francis

  ‘I sneaked out because the old witch locked me in my bedroom. Hester let me out because I’d found myself an extra job, working part time in a milk bar. I didn’t want Aunt Ethel knowing because she’d take all my earnings.’

  Sam’s lips set in a grim line. ‘I bet she didn’t mention locking you in your room to Dad.’

  Jeanette sighed heavily. ‘I suppose I’d better go down to the bridewell and make a statement. Will you be here when I get back?’

  ‘Probably not. Do you want me to come with you? I can do without the tea and butties if you’re desperate for my company,’ said Sam, his stern features suddenly relaxing into a smile.

  Her eyes brightened. ‘Oh, I do love you! I know I shouldn’t expect any favours because three members of my family are in the police force, but I admit with you there I’m hoping they’ll be lenient with me. I’d best get my coat.’

  ‘Don’t expect me to defend your actions,’ he warned, switching off the gas under the kettle. ‘You should have come straight home after the pictures, knowing Aunt Ethel would be watching out for you.’

  ‘I didn’t expect there to be a fight at the chippy.’

  ‘All right. Now get a move on.’

  She got a move on.

  As they walked to the bus stop, Jeanette asked if he knew whether the priest had been questioned yet. ‘That I don’t know,’ replied Sam. ‘Tell me exactly what happened.’

  She told him most of it. Sam looked disturbed. ‘Nasty. And like you, I hope the priest’s words got through to the injured man and he went to the hospital.’

  ‘I’d like to know what happened to him.’ Jeanette sighed.

  He fixed her with a stare. ‘Don’t go getting ideas about him, just because he came to your rescue. There’s plenty of blokes who would have done the same where someone looking like you was involved.’

  ‘There’s nothing special about me,’ protested Jeanette.

  ‘You’re petite and your figure’s not bad at all. You’ve got a cute nose and unusual green eyes and there’s an air of innocence about you. You stir up the protective instinct in men.’

  Jeanette was so taken aback that she could not think of anything to say immediately. They walked on in silence for a while. Then she blurted out, ‘I’m not an innocent, though! I know there’s a lot of nastiness in the world and people can’t always be trusted. I don’t normally need a bloke to fight my corner.’

  ‘Maybe not. I would hope you’d use your common sense and stay out of trouble. In the normal way of things, I’m here if you’re desperate. You could have got the woman behind the counter to phone directly through to me.’

  ‘But you mightn’t have been available. I mean, you’re going to be out this evening.’ Jeanette glanced at him. ‘I don’t suppose you can tell me what it’s about?’

  He smiled slightly. ‘Why d’you need to know?’

  ‘I don’t. I’m just interested.’

  ‘All I can tell you is that I was down at the docks this morning.’

  ‘On a job? Thefts from warehouses or ships?’

  ‘We’ve been working in cahoots with the Customs on a case.’

  ‘You mean smuggling?’ Her eyes sparkled.

  ‘I’m saying no more.’ Sam changed the subject. ‘You need to prepare what you’re going to say to Dad when you see him. Aunt Ethel was going on at him about you running wild, saying you’re completely out of control. You have to prove to him that you’re not. Make sure there’s no getting involved in incidents such as last evening again. And if you’re a witness to such an event, no running away! You do the telephoning.’

  Jeanette flushed. ‘There won’t be a next time,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Aunt Ethel will see to that. I’ll be on bread and water and locked away.’

  ‘Don’t be melodramatic. She’s no fool and knows she wouldn’t get away with it these days.’

  Jeanette stared at him and said seriously, ‘You can say that, but she still hurt me and locked me in my bedroom last night. You can’t always be there and neither can Dad. I have to find a way of dealing with her myself.’

  Sam frowned. ‘You know, there was a helluva row going on between her and your mother that evening she disappeared.’

  ‘You’ve never mentioned that before.’

  ‘That’s because it was a terrible day for me and I don’t like talking about it.’ Before she could ask, he added, ‘And I still don’t!’

  She dug her hands deep in her pockets. ‘OK! I won’t nose into your affairs. The day will come when the old witch pops her clogs and until then I’ll put up with her. Unless—’

  ‘Unless what?’

  Jeanette’s green eyes glinted. ‘Unless she goes completely crackers. Then I’ll have to retaliate in a way she’d never expect.’

  ‘She’s not worth swinging for, our kid.’

  ‘I know that,’ said Jeanette.

  For a while they were both silent, and then she said, ‘You don’t think the old witch followed my mother and did something nasty to her?’

  ‘You mean murdered her?’

  Jeanette nodded. ‘She could have removed all identification and hid the body. I hate to think of it and I suppose I’m talking nonsense in the light of what she says about my mother having upped and left because she had another man. I get the impression she still thinks she’s alive.’

  ‘Yes, and it’s a mystery to me why she says it,’ said Sam tersely. ‘Your mother wouldn’t have upped and left you.’

  ‘So where was she going that evening? You’re the detective!’ burst out Jeanette. ‘Can’t you solve this mystery?’

  ‘I wish I could find out the truth for you, but right now I have other things that need my attention.’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Jeanette, biting her lip. ‘That was unfair of me.’

  His face softened. ‘No, I can understand your frustration, but digging up the past takes time, our kid.’ He placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘Here’s our stop. Have you worked out exactly what you’re going to say?’

  ‘I’m going to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,’ she said, taking a deep breath.

  Jeanette had expected to feel much better when she emerged from the bridewell, and she did. Of course, having Sam with her had made a difference and, as it turned out, Billy had confessed to being in possession of a dangerous weapon and admitted to unintentional grievous bodily harm. It could be that he and his mate would be treated less severely than they might have been in the circumstances when they appeared before the magistrate at the juvenile court on Monday.

  Four

  As Jeanette closed the back door, she could hear Ethel talking, and then came the low rumble of her father’s voice. She filled the kettle, expecting them to come rushing into the kitchen at any moment. She could feel her heart thudding in her chest and told herself that it was stupid to be so nervous. With her father present, Ethel was not going to hurt her.

  She knew as soon as they realized there was someone else in the house. They went quiet, and despite their attempts to open the sitting room door without making a noise, she heard a hinge squeaking. Then came the sound of her father’s size elevens and Ethel shuffling along in her slippers. Jeanette did not wait for her father to fling open the kitchen door, but did so herself and pinned on a smile.

  ‘Cup of tea?’ she asked.

  ‘Don’t you cup-of-tea me, my girl,’ said Ethel, wagging a finger. ‘Where’ve you been? We’ve been worried about you.’

  ‘At the bridewell in town giving a statement. Our Sam went with me as I was a bit nervous about going on my own.’ Jeanette poured milk into cups. ‘I wanted to do my duty, but I was apprehensive. Who’s to say that one of the youths involved in the fight won’t come after me. What do you say, Dad?’

  George felt a catch at his heart as he stared at his younger daughter – so like her mother when he had first seen her. He would never forget the fear and defiance in Grace’s green eyes. She had reminded him of a stray cat he had once found in an o
vergrown garden. The animal had given birth to kittens and was prepared to defend them with her life. In Grace’s case, the only life she had been defending was her own against a drunken ex-soldier from the Great War. She’d had a penknife and her hand was clenched so tightly on the shaft that George had a job persuading her to hand it over to him. He remembered she had been wearing a worn floral frock of red and green that was much too small for her, so all the more revealing of the feminine form beneath. He was newly widowed with two young children and she was a waif living on the streets, so she told him. Two months later he had asked her to be his wife.

  ‘Cat got your tongue, George?’ said Ethel. ‘You’re not going to believe all that, are you? It wouldn’t take her all day to go to the bridewell and give a statement. You do realize that she lied to me last night!’ Her voice sounded like a rusty nail being pulled out of a plank.

  ‘That’s not true!’ Jeanette avoided looking at her great-aunt and concentrated all her attention on her father. ‘I didn’t tell any fibs, Dad. I just didn’t tell Aunt Ethel the entire truth. I thought she might have nightmares, thinking how close I’d come to being killed. If you’d seen that bicycle chain flying through the air, Dad, you’d have been terrified for me.’

  Aware that the kettle was boiling, Jeanette paused to give herself time to think; she switched off the gas and warmed the teapot, knowing that from the way he was looking at her and ignoring Ethel, her father was hooked. He really enjoyed a good story, consuming crime novels and westerns from the library at the rate of two a week. ‘If I hadn’t have ducked,’ she continued, ‘it would have been me who was hit in the face.’ She shivered. ‘Scarred for life! All my looks gone. If you could only have seen that young man, Dad, you’d have pitied him.’

  ‘That still doesn’t explain where you’ve been all day,’ said Ethel, snatching the teapot from her and swirling the water around before emptying it in the sink.

  ‘I returned to the scene of the crime, although I didn’t go inside,’ lied Jeanette. ‘I also contemplated visiting the priest.’

  ‘The priest!’ exclaimed Ethel. ‘Since when has this household ever had anything to do with priests?’

  ‘Never! I know that, but needs must when the devil drives. Isn’t that what people say when it’s an emergency?’ said Jeanette.

  ‘Humph!’ exclaimed Ethel. ‘Do we believe that, George?’ She stared across at her nephew who was pulling out a chair.

  He sat down and his gaze rested on his daughter’s face. ‘Aunt Ethel thinks you might have known this young man already and the fight broke out over you, Jeannie, love.’

  Jeanette’s eyes widened. ‘That’s not true! You ask my friend Peggy.’

  ‘My sources say she wasn’t there for the fight,’ said George.

  ‘No, but we went into the chippy together, glad to get out of the rain. The young man came in shortly after. He was wearing oilskins and I thought he looked like a sailor and said it must be terrible being at sea in such weather. Then we were interrupted by Greg dragging Peggy out. There wouldn’t have been a fight if it weren’t for him,’ said Jeanette.

  ‘She denied having anything to do with him,’ said George.

  ‘I don’t believe it!’ said Jeanette, taken aback.

  George said heavily, ‘Actually, she admitted lying later when told there were those who swore they’d seen him there. She’s not exactly what you’d call a reliable witness.’

  Jeanette’s eyes darkened. ‘I’m going to have it out with her on Monday! What does she think she’s playing at, telling such lies?’

  ‘Never mind what she thinks,’ said Ethel, pouring boiling water into the teapot. ‘You shouldn’t have been in that chippy. You knew I’d have your supper waiting for you.’

  ‘Burnt to a crisp,’ said Jeanette beneath her breath.

  ‘What did you say?’ snapped Ethel, rearing her head like a cobra ready to strike.

  Jeanette met her great-aunt’s eyes squarely. ‘If you remember, Aunt Ethel, when I came in you didn’t offer me any supper but hustled me upstairs. You didn’t even give me the chance to go to the lavatory or clean my teeth.’

  George placed a hand on his daughter’s wrist. ‘She’s explained that, Jeannie, love. She’d been worried sick about you with it being so late and decided it was necessary to teach you a lesson.’

  ‘That’s true,’ said Ethel, nodding several times. ‘I’ve been thinking, as a treat, not as a punishment, you understand, Jeanette, you can accompany me to the pictures to see The Weak and the Wicked this evening.’

  ‘But you know I saw that yesterday,’ protested Jeanette, her heart sinking at the thought of sitting through the film with the old woman.

  ‘Then you can see it again,’ said Ethel softly. ‘Anyway, to make up for your having no supper last night, you can help me make supper this evening.’ She went over to the vegetable rack and returned with a full colander and placed it in front of Jeanette. ‘Peel them!’ She sat at the table and, staring at her great-niece, added, ‘And you’ve yet to tell us what you said to this priest.’

  Jeanette wished the old witch would remove herself. She could not resist criticizing the way Jeanette did things. According to her, Jeanette always removed too much of the white flesh from potatoes.

  George intervened. ‘Well, Jeannie, did the priest have anything more to say about the young man who got hurt?’

  Jeanette inwardly counted to ten. ‘I only thought about going.’

  ‘I see. So you don’t know the name of this young man?’

  Jeanette shook her head. ‘I barely got the chance to thank him, and I doubt I’ll ever meet him again unless he gets in touch with the priest.’

  ‘Well, I hope he does. I’d like to shake his hand for coming to your rescue,’ said George.

  ‘I don’t know why,’ said Ethel. ‘When sailors come ashore they’re looking to get into mischief. Wine, women and song, that’s what they want. No doubt he was trying to get round our Jeannie and have his wicked way with her. No doubt she was flattered by his attention.’

  George frowned. ‘That’s a bit prejudiced, Aunt Ethel. If you haven’t got something good to say about people, don’t say it is what I say!’ He rose from the table and left the kitchen.

  ‘Now see what you’ve done,’ said Ethel wrathfully, glaring at Jeanette.

  ‘It’s not my fault if Dad wanted to get away from you. And he’s right – you shouldn’t tar all sailors with the same brush. It isn’t nice.’

  Ethel cuffed her across the head. ‘Don’t you be giving me cheek! And while I remember, how did you get out of your bedroom? I swear I locked you in.’

  ‘Well, you could have been imagining you did,’ said Jeanette, rubbing her head.

  Ethel’s eyes narrowed into slits. ‘Are you suggesting I’m going senile? Well, let me tell you, girl, that I never forget a face.’

  What had never forgetting faces to do with her escaping her bedroom? It was interesting, though, Ethel talking of going senile. Jeanette determined to watch for any sign of it and decided she must mention it to Hester and Sam, too.

  As she peeled the vegetables, her thoughts were now of them. It was possible that they were working together, doing their part to catch those men whom the Customs had their eye on for smuggling in goodness knows what!

  Hester glanced at her brother as he banged the knocker for a second time. After several minutes, the door opened in what could only be described as a furtive manner. Sam thrust his foot into the opening and produced a sheet of paper from an inside pocket. ‘I have a warrant to search this house.’

  ‘There’s nothing here! You’ve come to the wrong address.’ The owner of the voice was invisible to Hester, but she detected a trace of fear amid the bluster.

  ‘We’ll see about that,’ said Sam calmly. ‘Step aside, please, if you don’t want to be hurt.’

  A head peeped round the door and Hester found herself being inspected, along with the three uniformed male officers. ‘You’re making a mistake!
’ shouted the man.

  Sam pushed him aside and told a constable to watch him. Entering the house, he ordered another policeman to check the front room whilst the other searched upstairs. Sam told Hester to follow him and headed for the rear of the building.

  This was not the first time she had been on a raid, but even so, Hester’s heart was beating rapidly. She was close on her brother’s heels as he flung open a door. ‘So what’s going on here?’ he said quietly.

  Standing at his shoulder, Hester was aware of a sweet pungent odour that was quite pleasant. She stared at the Chinese couple who were lying on blankets on the floor. Between them was a spirit lamp, and the man was in the act of taking a pipe from his mouth. Near to hand were two open packets, one of which had been used.

  ‘Search the room, Constable Walker,’ ordered Sam.

  Hester did so whilst her brother spoke to the couple who appeared to be in a daze. On the mantelpiece she found two needles and a file, and on a ledge behind the window shutter were two opium pipes. She searched the wardrobe and discovered inside a coat pocket some raw opium and a tin containing five packets of prepared opium. She could hear one of the men saying in fractured English that he smoked opium to relieve the bad pain in his stomach. She might have felt sorry for him if her brother had not already told her that he had previous convictions for possession of drugs in London. He had also been convicted of gaming offences, so it wasn’t as if he was unaware that he was breaking the law. She found another spirit lamp under the bed and that seemed to finalize everything.

  After the arrests were made she accompanied the female prisoner, whilst two of the male officers dealt with the men. They travelled in a Black Maria to the bridewell in Cheapside, while Sam and the other officer went down to the docks. It was not long before her brother returned and she was told the white man who rented the room in the house was a ship’s steward, and the Chinaman was a ship’s cook and brother-in-law of the woman. She was pleased that everything had been accomplished without any violence.

  ‘You can go off home now, Hester,’ said Sam, stifling a yawn. ‘I’ve some paperwork to do here.’