by Anne Bennett
‘Oh, Stan!’
Stan attempted a wry smile, which was a bit lopsided due to his split lip, and said, ‘S’all right. You should take a look at the other fellow.’
‘What happened?’ Angela said. ‘Though really, I don’t need to ask … Connie saw you go after McIntyre. I suppose you fought?’
Stan nodded. ‘I know what I promised, and I intended to keep that promise, but I was in the entry and heard everything, and I just couldn’t listen to him abusing you so a minute longer. I followed him well away from here, though, before laying into him. One of my punches laid McIntyre out, so I pulled him into a nearby entry and hightailed it home.’
‘I thought you’d come and tell us,’ Angela said. ‘We waited for ages, Connie and I.’
‘You wouldn’t have wanted to see me, the state I was in,’ Stan said. ‘I cleaned myself up for Mass.’
‘I would have cleaned you up, Stan.’
‘It was better I kept away, because I don’t want you implicated in any way,’ Stan said. ‘I beat Eddie up, and if he comes around and is able to say who attacked him, then it is between him and me alone.’
‘Was he badly beaten?’
‘Bad enough,’ Stan said. ‘Do you care?’
‘Not for him, I don’t,’ Angela said. ‘He likely deserved that and more. I care only for you – any trouble you may get into because of it.’
‘Angela, he and I had a fight and I beat him. I used only my fists and when he passed out, I pulled him into a nearby entry. And that’s the end of the story as far as I am concerned. If he wants to make something more of it, then I will admit it, but will not mention your name.’
‘But I am involved, surely?’ Angela cried. ‘You fought because of me.’
‘And I shouldn’t have,’ Stan said. ‘I promised you I wouldn’t, but when I heard that filth spilling from his mouth, and directed at you, the woman I love who has agreed to become my wife … I’m afraid I just forgot that promise.’
‘Hush,’ Angela said, putting her finger gently on Stan’s damaged lips. ‘This is my fault more than anyone else’s, getting mixed up with that creep in the first place.’
Angela did feel guilty about the potential danger she had put Stan in, especially as Stan thought it was best to stay away from her, in case there were any repercussions from the fight.
Another week passed and Stan said, ‘I am going back to the entry where I left Eddie. I pulled him in there so he wouldn’t be found too quickly, but I did think he would have been discovered by now.’
‘Don’t go,’ Angela said. ‘I don’t see what good it will do. And what if the police are waiting? They might be expecting you to visit the scene of the crime.’
‘A fair fight between two evenly matched men hardly merits the term “crime”,’ Stan said. ‘The police have more to do than bother too much with the victims of such incidents. Anyway, I must go to satisfy myself.’
Angela said nothing further because she could see that Stan’s mind was made up. So he went under cover of darkness, armed with a powerful torch, but when he searched the entry, he found it completely empty. Stan wasn’t that surprised, but he did look all around the entry, just in case, but he found no trace of McIntyre or anyone else either.
This news unnerved Angela. ‘Where could he have gone?’ she asked.
‘Well, he could have got to his feet and made his own way to where he’s staying, but even the police won’t know where that is, so we can’t check,’ Stan said. ‘Or maybe someone else found him and called an ambulance, and that would probably involve the police.’
‘So, he could still talk, say who it was who attacked him?’ Angela said.
‘I suppose,’ Stan said. ‘If he was conscious enough, he could. We’ll just have to wait and see.’
The news did nothing to stop Angela’s nerves jangling. ‘What are you worried about?’ Maggie asked when Angela went to tell her friend what had happened after she had gone into the house on the night of the party.
‘The police coming to lift Stan, of course.’
‘Why would they?’ Maggie asked. ‘There is nothing to link Eddie McIntyre to either you or Stan.’
‘Maggie, he had a fight with him.’
‘And not before time,’ Maggie said. ‘A lot of people in the pub were surprised when he didn’t react to what McIntyre was saying about you then.’
‘He’d made a promise not to, but when I went home and found Eddie sitting there, as if he had a right … well, Stan heard the argument when I told Eddie to leave, because he was in the entry. I didn’t know he was there, but I suppose it was a good job he was.’
‘I advised him to bide there for a while after he walked you and Connie home,’ Maggie said.
‘Why?’ Angela asked. ‘Did you know Eddie was in the house?’
‘Course I didn’t,’ Maggie said. ‘But I knew he could probably get in easy enough if he wanted to, because you often leave the entry door on the latch. I thought he might waylay you on your way to the lavvy or something.’
‘He could easily have thought of that,’ Angela said. ‘Anyway, because Stan was there, he heard all the accusations Eddie levelled at me and was coming in then to chuck him out, but Connie and I between us managed to manhandle him out of the door, and he fell onto the pavement. Connie watched through the attic window and saw him get to his feet and shamble off, and she saw Stan go after him. He admitted they fought.’
‘What did you expect him to do – shake him by the hand?’
‘Well, no, but …’
‘But nothing,’ Maggie said. ‘It’s Eddie McIntyre we’re talking about, Angela, and he is a crafty, cruel devil of a man, and whatever you say, he still has a hankering after you, and you have to be on your guard.’
Angela nodded her head. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘And I can’t seem to ever be rid of him. He tried to spoil Connie’s party, and when I should be happily planning her and Daniel’s wedding, I’m worried that Eddie might come and make a scene. Even if he goes back to the States … I mean, he went there before and I thought I could draw a line under the whole episode, but then up he pops again and tries to ruin things between me and Stan. And I don’t want him involved in any way with Connie and Daniel’s wedding. Connie despises him.’
Maggie knew Connie despised Eddie McIntyre, and with good reason, so she couldn’t reassure Angela, but she hoped and prayed the man was gone from their lives for good.
‘Look Maggie, I know all you said is right,’ Angela said at last. ‘And I know Eddie deserved whatever Stan did to him. Stan’s face is a bit battered, and though he claimed he only used his fists, he knocked Eddie unconscious, and the police might think the force he used was excessive, and we might have to deal with the consequences of that before we are much older.’
However, one uneasy day followed another, and nothing happened. Then, just over a week later, a man’s body was found in the canal, pulled out by two boys fishing. Stan read the article in the Despatch and laughed. ‘Fishing! Bet they didn’t catch much. I can imagine few self-respecting fish will be residing in our oil-slicked canals.’
‘Well, these lads caught more than fish,’ Angela commented, looking at the picture of the boys over Stan’s shoulder.
‘They did indeed,’ Stan said. ‘The hook on their homemade line got stuck in the man’s shirt, and they dragged it in, and it was the body of a man. He’d been in the water some time, the police say,’ Stan said.
‘Maybe it’s Eddie,’ Angela said, and her voice had a hopeful note to it.
‘Why on earth should a body pulled out of the canal have anything to do with Eddie McIntyre? That canal is nowhere near where I caught up with him.’
Angela shrugged. ‘I dunno,’ she admitted and added, ‘Don’t suppose you dumped him in the canal at the end of the fight?’
Stan was appalled. ‘Angela, what do you take me for?’ he said. ‘I told you what I did with the man. I pulled him into the entry and left him there. Eddie McIntyre is probably ba
ck in New York now, and the poor individual in the canal is someone else entirely.’
However, no one knew who the man was, for he had nothing on him to identify him. In fact his pockets were empty, and the police were thinking it might have been a robbery gone wrong, or maybe the man had fallen into the canal accidently. But who he was remained a mystery, for there had been no reports of any missing person, and the police were baffled.
SEVENTEEN
A few days later Stan said, ‘I’ve something to tell you. It concerns McIntyre and an incident in New York. It was probably the reason he came to England in the first place. Do you want to know?’
‘Of course I want to know.’
‘I thought the man’s name might upset you.’
‘Not unduly,’ Angela said. ‘I did wonder why he suddenly just appeared in Birmingham that time. He was an affluent man and so was his uncle. I often wondered why a man of his standing, here on legitimate business, hadn’t booked into a hotel somewhere, instead of the seedy lodgings he had.’
‘Did you ask him?’
‘Well, yes, but he never liked discussing business,’ Angela said. ‘He made that very plain. But how would anyone know what happened all those years ago? Who told you this, anyway?’
‘A man called Archie Gilmore – he’s a friend of Len’s.’
As soon as Len was well enough and had left hospital, Stan, with Angela’s full approval, took he and Bobby into the shop. Len was taken on as his assistant, and Stan said he was shaping up very well. After their wedding Angela was going to teach him to drive the new van Stan had bought. Bobby helped generally in the shop, as well as delivering papers and groceries in the large basket at the front of the bone-shaker of a bike. Their mother was pleased and somewhat relieved that both her boys were in safer employment, and their respectable wages were supplemented by a big box of groceries every Friday night. That reminded Angela of having a similar perk when she had worked in the same shop when old George Maitland owned it.
‘So out with it,’ Angela said to Stan. ‘If this man is a mate of Len’s, I’m sure he must be an all-right fellow.’
‘He seems to be,’ Stan said. ‘Len doesn’t see as much of him as he once did, because Archie joined the Royal Navy. He was decorated in the Great War for continuing to lift sailors out of the sea when their boat was struck by a German U-boat. He carried on through heavy bombardment and saved a lot of men, who would have died but for his intervention. Anyway, he was given a medal but had been injured himself, and it was touch and go for quite a while. While his life was hanging in the balance, he unburdened himself to Len, telling him something that he said had lain heavy on his conscience for years.’
‘Oh, I’m so intrigued Stan,’ Angela said. ‘Do tell all.’
‘Right,’ Stan said. ‘It was like this. Archie had finished his tour of duty and had decided to head for New York to see if he could make a fresh start, earn some money – you know. Meanwhile his family had fallen on hard times, his father was out of a job and they had been evicted and were living on the streets. He had not known things were so bad, for they hadn’t breathed a word in their letters, knowing he could do nothing about it – a bit like you were told not to tell depressing news to Barry at the Front in the Great War.
‘He was making his way home in New York along the dockside late one evening, when he saw McIntyre approaching, and he decided to make himself scarce because everyone knew about McIntyre’s temper. He was the sort of person, Archie said, who would beat up a man just because he didn’t like the look of him. Anyway, Archie was taking no chances and he crept onto one of the smaller boats bobbing in the water on the dockside, and he hid under a tarpaulin he found on board.
‘From his hiding place he watched a man he knew called Tom Goldsmith also approach, and he knew him to be a decent enough fellow, by all accounts. Anyway, seems McIntyre had been with Goldsmith’s daughter and she was pregnant, and he wanted to know what McIntyre was going to do about it. Course, he said awful things about his daughter, saying it was all her fault, for she had chased him, not the other way round. He said the child might not be his at all, because she’d spread her favours widely. He made her sound really cheap, and Archie maintains she wasn’t like that at all. McIntyre said Goldsmith had to watch his daughter, for she was sex-crazed, and he’d have more than the one bastard to look after before he was much older.
‘Tom sprang at him. Archie said he wasn’t surprised – any father would have done the same. He raised this bar he’d got from somewhere. But McIntyre wrested it from him and beat him about the head with it, and put his boot in over and over when he fell to the ground.’
‘What did Archie do?’
‘Well, he said he couldn’t go to the police, for likely they wouldn’t take his word against McIntyre’s, because he was rich and powerful, and so was his uncle. And Archie might have got into trouble himself for breaking into someone’s yacht to hide. If it ever came to court, McIntyre could and would hire big-shot lawyers who would get the case dismissed. And then he’d know what Archie had said, and would have hunted him down, because he’s that kind of man. But he knew that Goldsmith needed medical attention. After McIntyre left, Archie went over and could see Goldsmith was in a bad way, but he did manage to croak out McIntyre’s name.
‘So, Archie scribbled a note on a piece of paper, saying a man had been beaten up on the dockside and needed urgent medical attention. He gave an urchin a tanner, or whatever the equivalent is over there, to take it to the police station, following him to make sure he did.
‘Tom Goldsmith died and Archie felt bad that he hadn’t done more to bring his killer to justice, but then McIntyre disappeared off the face of the earth anyway. People said he’d gone to England, but no one knew for sure.’ Stan added, ‘We know he came to England, don’t we, and continued to wreak havoc here.’
‘Oh yes,’ Angela said. ‘He did indeed, but no blame can be attached to this Archie.’
‘I agree,’ Stan said. ‘He’s back in the Royal Navy now, on active duty, but he still feels guilty that he didn’t do more for Goldsmith.’
‘I know about guilt like that,’ Angela said, ‘and he won’t rest until he confesses. Get Len to urge him to go to the police as soon as he can.’
‘That’s what I told them,’ Stan said. ‘Archie wasn’t keen on Len telling me at first, but of course Archie doesn’t know me. Len said I should be told and that I would never betray them, but I would know what to do. I said the first course open to them was the police. Len assured me they’d go straight to the police station, but they didn’t do that. I work beside Len every day and every time I ask him about it, he makes excuses. I don’t know what they intend doing about it.’
‘Well, we can do nothing other than advise,’ Angela said. ‘It’s not our tale to tell.’
‘No, we could never betray them,’ Stan said. ‘But like you said, if he doesn’t tell someone in authority who can do something about it, the guilt will stay and probably fester inside him.’
‘Yes,’ Angela said. ‘T’isn’t as if he’s done anything wrong.’
‘You didn’t do anything wrong,’ Stan pointed out. ‘But you carried guilt and shame for years.’
‘That’s because what I did caused hurt and misery to another, and that person was the very one I should have protected. It didn’t really matter whose fault it was in the end. As for Archie, I don’t see what else you can do that hasn’t already been done.’
Just a few days after this conversation, Len and Archie appeared at Angela’s door. ‘Come in,’ Stan said. ‘And tell me why you haven’t been to the police. You said you were going to go straight there.’
‘It was me,’ Archie said. ‘I got cold feet. And I had to tell Suzy first.’
Suzy was Archie’s wife and neither Angela nor Stan knew her, so Stan said, ‘Didn’t she want you to tell? Did she try to stop you?’
‘No,’ Archie said. ‘On the contrary, I got it in the neck from her for not telling what I
saw back then. She said if I had, McIntyre would probably have been caught, but there was little point of spouting about it now when McIntyre has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth again.’
‘Yes,’ Stan said, ‘probably high-tailed it back to America now.’
‘No one seems to know where he is.’
‘Well, wherever he is, you need to tell what you saw,’ Angela said. ‘There might be more urgency to the search for McIntyre if they know he is wanted for murder.’
‘If he knows that, then he definitely won’t want to be found,’ Len said. ‘It’s the death sentence for murder over in America.’
A shudder ran through Angela, but then she remembered all that he had done to her, and more importantly, what he had done to Tom Goldsmith. Killed a man without a thought as he tried to get justice for his pregnant daughter, and the condemnation and prejudice that daughter would face, all through her pregnancy. Knowing that she would give birth to a child who would be stigmatised and taunted all the days of its life. Eddie McIntyre deserved all that was coming to him, and if the court found him guilty, well so be it.
‘Will you come with us?’ Len said to Stan and Angela.
‘Come with you?’ Stan scoffed. ‘What’s up with the pair of you?’
‘Neither of us are used to going to a police station,’ Len said. ‘Not willingly, anyway. Whenever I was taken there as a nipper for playing it up, it usually ended up in a walloping from the old man.’
‘You’re a bit big for that now,’ Stan said. ‘Even if your dad was still around to try. And I can’t believe you’re scared to go to the coppers and tell them summat they should have been told years ago.’
Angela had seen the panicky look on Archie’s face and knew he was scared stiff of confessing what he had done. She knew first-hand how hard that was, and she scolded Stan, ‘Stop being a bully.’ Then she turned to Len and Archie and said, ‘We’ll both come with you as far as the station, but I’m afraid the rest you must do on your own. Deal?’