All is Fair

by All is Fair (retail) (epub)

  Fran looked bemused. ‘Him?’

  ‘Yes, him.’ Gem pointed across to the entrance to the skelter. ‘The one who pretended to have been sent from the council this morning.’

  Fran turned her head to see the man’s legs disappearing up the steps, then turned back to look at Gem. ‘The chap who robbed you, you mean?’

  Gem nodded. ‘Yes. Absolutely it is.’

  ‘He’s some brass neck coming back here,’ Fran said incredulously.

  Gem spoke urgently. ‘We’ve no time to discuss his cheek, Fran. He’ll be back down in a minute and I mean to make sure he doesn’t leave the fair without giving us our money back. I’m going to go and round up a couple of our boys to grab him when he comes down. If I’m not back in time, do whatever it takes to keep him here.’

  Leaving Fran staring at her open-mouthed, Gem sped off. The ride nearest to the skelter was the sky planes. There was a crowd around it several deep and she had to push her way through to get to the front, much to the displeasure of some of the punters, who thought she was queue-jumping. The ride was in progress and she found Owen leaning against one of the support posts smoking a cigarette as he waited for it to finish. He didn’t question why she wanted him to go with her; she was the boss’s wife after all and her commands were to be obeyed.

  En route to the next nearest ride, the dive bomber, to commandeer another of the gaff lads, she bumped into Tom. He had started his new job as Gully’s assistant and hadn’t been required that night to help out on the rides, so not having anything better to do, he was wandering around watching the punters enjoying themselves. For the same reason as Owen, he did not ask the whys and wherefores when Gem requested him to come with her.

  Meanwhile, back at the skelter, Fran was frantic for Gem to return with help to apprehend the young man who had fleeced her. She prayed that this group of youngsters would linger around at the top of the slide, but unfortunately, within a matter of only a minute or so, the first of them started to arrive down. Gem still hadn’t returned by the time the young man appeared, laughing as he jumped up and rejoined his girlfriend, who had slid down in front of him. Most of his group had started to move away by now, and Fran watched in panic as the couple joined the rest of their gang, her thoughts racing frantically. There was only one way she could think of to stall him.

  Running over to him, she grabbed his arm as though she was about to tell him something, then screamed piercingly and did a very theatrical slow faint to the ground. Stunned by what had transpired, the group stared down at her for several moments, all unsure what to do. Then one young woman knelt down beside her to take a closer look, feeling Fran’s forehead and trying to find a pulse on her wrist, announcing to her friends that she had seen it done this way on the television programme Emergency – Ward 10. Having no medical training, she declared that she thought Fran was dead until another of her friends pointed out that she couldn’t be as her chest was still going up and down. How Fran stopped herself from bursting out in laughter she would never know, but she wished that Gem would come back, because she wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep up her play-acting.

  Chapter Twelve

  When Gem arrived back to find three young men and the same number of young women gathered around the prostrate figure of Fran on the ground, a surge of panic immediately seized her that something terrible had happened to her sister-in-law during her absence. But then it struck her that Fran must have pretended to faint in order to keep the young man here. She would thank her later for her cleverness and no doubt have a laugh over it, but right now she had a far more important matter to deal with. Quickly she instructed Tom and Owen that she wanted them to apprehend one of the young men so she could bring him to task for a grave injustice he had done against the fair. It was apparent they were both intrigued as to just what that was but knew it wasn’t their place to question her.

  Without a word they seized the man Gem had singled out, each grabbing an arm and pulling them up his back.

  His cry of shock alerted his friends to his predicament, and whilst the girl crouched next to Fran jumped up to join her two girlfriends in a frightened huddle, the two other men immediately went to tackle the pair strong-arming their mate, one of them lunging for Owen whilst the other tackled Tom, crying out, ‘We ain’t about to let you rob us without a fight, you thieving gyppos.’

  Owen was too quick for his attacker, kicking him hard in the shin and sending him falling to the floor crying out in agony. Tom wasn’t so lucky and received a hefty punch on the nose from the other man. Although it hurt like hell and was pouring with blood, the blow wasn’t enough to make him release his grip on his prisoner. Instead he balled the fist of his free hand and, as the man went to thump him again, managed to smack him in the face, hard enough to topple him backwards to land awkwardly on the ground.

  Gem meanwhile urgently shouted at Fran to get up and run to fetch Solly. Then she spun to face the men on the ground and snapped angrily at them, ‘For your information, you ignorant flatties, we aren’t gypsies, we’re showmen, and we work hard for our money, unlike your mate here.’ She then turned to face the man being held captive by Tom and Owen and snarled at him, ‘It’s you that’s the thief. And a stupid one at that if you thought us fair folk wouldn’t recognise you.’

  As his friends looked over at him in stunned astonishment at Gem’s accusation, the man cried out, ‘What the hell are you going on about? I’m no thief.’ He looked appealingly at the girl he was with. ‘I ain’t, Sandra, honest. These people have me mixed up with someone else.’

  Gem placed her hands on her hips and thrust out her chin. ‘So, your name isn’t John Smith and you didn’t come to the fair this morning and take two hundred and fifty pounds from me on the pretence it was the council fee you were collecting?’

  Looking bemused, he nodded. ‘Yeah, my name is John Smith and I did come here this morning… Oh, I recognise yer now. You’re the lady I collected the money from.’

  So, he was admitting stealing the money from them! Something was amiss here, or else the man was just brazen, believing there was nothing they could do about it. But before Gem could say anything more, a panting Solly arrived with Fran, equally out of breath, followed by Jenny and Robbie. Jenny, who was working on the House of Fun, had happened to spot her father and aunt as they belted past on their way to the skelter and immediately realised something was wrong. Summoning her brother, she’d ordered the gaff lad working alongside them to take care of things and run after Solly and Fran to see if she could help.

  Locking his eyes on the man Tom and Owen were holding onto, Solly said, ‘That’s him, is it?’

  Gem nodded. ‘Yes. He’s admitted coming here pretending he was from the council and stealing the money from us.’

  Looking wild-eyed, John Smith cried out frenziedly, ‘I didn’t steal no money off anyone.’ He glanced over at his friends, who were gawping back at him, bewildered and appalled at what he was being accused of. ‘You all know I’m no thief.’

  Solly grabbed his collar, pushed his face close and snarled, ‘The game’s up, matey. You admit coming here this morning claiming you were from the council and walking away with two hundred and fifty quid in your pocket. Well you’re a liar, because the real chap from the council turned up a bit later. Your mistake was taking us for mugs and thinking you wouldn’t be recognised, otherwise you’d have got away with it.’ He shook his head incredulously. ‘And what a bloody nerve you’ve got, coming back here to spend some of the money where you stole it from. Now hand it over or I’ll just have to take it back myself.’ He added grimly, ‘And that won’t be none too gently. Your choice.’

  Jenny said to her mother, ‘This man stole off you? I saw you at dinner time and you never said a word.’

  ‘Yeah, Mam, why didn’t you tell us?’ Robbie demanded.

  Gem cast down her head in embarrassment. ‘Because I was far too ashamed of myself for allowing that man to con me out of fairground money.’

  T
hey both put their arms around her and held her close. Jenny told her, ‘You’ve nothing to be ashamed of, Mum. Con people are clever.’

  Robbie said ruefully, ‘Yeah, they are. Remember the bloke who sold me that wallet in the pub? Swore blind it was good-quality leather. I thought it would make a great present for Dad at Christmas. The one he showed to me and all the other people that bought a wallet off him might have been leather, but the one he sold me was nothing more than cheap plastic. A whole quid I paid for a wallet that wasn’t worth half a crown. By the time me and the others realised, the man was long gone. So, don’t feel bad, Mam, ’cos you ain’t the only one that’s been fooled by someone like that.’ He nodded his head in John Smith’s direction.

  Smith’s girlfriend spoke up in tones of disgust. ‘I thought you were honest and decent, John. I thought you were the one for me. I was going to ask you to come and meet my mam and dad. I can’t believe you’re just a common thief. Shame on you robbing off these people just to line your own pockets.’ With that she stormed off and the rest of them followed suit.

  John shouted after them. ‘But I’m not a thief, I’m not. You have to believe me.’ When none of them turned around but continued on their way to be swallowed up by the crowd, he pleaded with Solly, ‘I was just doing a job for someone. Honest I was. I thought it was all legit. I got a fiver for it.’

  ‘Who? Who were you doing it for?’ Solly demanded.

  ‘Well, I… Look, if I tell you then he won’t put any more work my way. I’m employed by a taxi firm and don’t earn that much, so these little jobs I do on the side now and again come in handy. My firm doesn’t know I do them and they’ll sack me if they find out.’

  Gem spoke up. ‘If you don’t tell us who paid you to do this job, you’ll not be in a position to accept any more because you’ll be in jail.’

  John Smith’s face paled. The threat of jail was enough to loosen his tongue. He blurted, ‘Ernest Dunster. Councillor Ernest Dunster. It was him I did the job for. He’d call the taxi office and say he wanted a lift somewhere and tell them it was me in particular he wanted to drive him. I often drive him to places when he doesn’t want to be seen in his own car. Usually when he visits a certain brothel. He’s well known in Huddersfield, being the leader of the council, and he wouldn’t want to be noticed coming and going from a place like that. Sometimes he asks me to collect packages for him and deliver them to him. I know it’s money inside those packages. Backhanders most likely from favours he’s done for people. He pays me well for these jobs so I never ask questions. I didn’t ask questions this morning when I arrived at his office and he told me what he wanted me to do, not when there was a fiver involved.’ He eyed Solly pleadingly. ‘That’s the truth, honest it is.’

  Gem was conscious that members of the public had begun to take an interest in the proceedings, so she hurriedly pulled Solly aside. ‘We’re starting to get an audience, Solly, and I don’t like the look of some of them. They’re the types that would use their fists first and ask questions later. It must look to them like we fair folk are setting on one of theirs.’

  He looked over at the gathering crowd and nodded. ‘Yes, I see what you mean. I can’t get to grips with what this man is telling us, though. If this Ernest Dunster is leader of the council, what is he doing paying someone to collect the dues from us that he knows the accounts department deals with? And why didn’t he hand the money over to the accounts department after he’d had it collected? Then there’s the fact that he made us pay a lot more than what was actually due. Well, I can only see one way of getting to the bottom of this.’ He stepped back over to face John Smith. ‘Whether you like it or not, you need to take us to see this Ernest Dunster and get this matter cleared up, or it’s you I’ll be looking at to pay back the money. I trust as you admitted driving him about that you know where Ernest Dunster lives?’

  John Smith’s whole body sagged as he saw his little earner coming to an abrupt end. He replied dejectedly. ‘Yeah, I know where he lives.’

  As a precaution in case John Smith decided to try and make a bid for escape, Solly asked Tom to accompany him and Gem, and whilst the others went back to work, they all clambered up into one of the fairground lorries and set off for Ernest Dunster’s house.

  Jenny had watched closely as Tom helped her father escort Smith to where the vehicles were parked. Her emotions were playing havoc with her. Despite Tom’s assurances to Solly that the injury he had suffered to his face was just a scratch, she knew it must be extremely painful and needed attention, yet he had opted to suffer in silence in order to assist her father. She hardly knew this man, yet she was having to fight an overwhelming need within herself to rush to him now and minister to his injuries. Why? She didn’t need to ask herself that question, though, as the answer was glaringly obvious to her. She fancied him and wanted the chance to get to know him better. She made a plan to begin the process. She would keep an eye out for his return and offer to attend to his injury, and hope that by the time she had finished, she would have made a good enough impression for him to ask her out on a date.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The lorry drew to a halt in front of a house in a leafy suburb of the town where only professional people could afford to reside. It definitely wasn’t the sort of area where fairground people would be welcome. The red-brick double-fronted three-storey Victorian villa was set back off the road, with a short shrub-lined gravelled drive leading up to the three stone steps that accessed the front door.

  Tom and Solly closely shepherded John Smith between them up the steps, Gem bringing up the rear. They were playing safe just in case he did try to escape. The subdued man seemed resigned to his fate, though, and had told them that he was desperate to clear his name in order to regain the trust of his friends and his girlfriend. He couldn’t bear the thought of them believing him a criminal when he’d thought he’d simply been doing a favour for a prominent public figure.

  The door was answered by a large matronly woman dressed in a tweed suit and brogues, her greying hair expertly coiffed. She was heavily jowled with small grey eyes. She obviously wasn’t amused to find that her visitors were not the sort she’d like her neighbours to witness calling on her, and hurriedly snapped, ‘What is it?’

  In her previous life as the daughter of a prosperous businessman, before she had married into the fairground community, Gem had come across women like this one on many occasions, including her own mother. They were all lucky enough to have married ambitious men, but then chose to forget their own lowly beginnings and instead replace them with a self-imposed superiority because they now had the money that enabled them to move amongst those whom previously they would have served.

  It was Solly who responded. ‘It’s urgent we have a word with Mr Dunster.’

  The woman snorted with derision. ‘Councillor Dunster doesn’t conduct business at home and especially not at this time of the evening. Call at the offices tomorrow, where I am sure one of the clerks will deal with whatever it is.’

  She made to step back inside and shut the door, but Solly stopped her. ‘It’s only Mr Dunster that can sort this matter out, as according to this young man…’ he gave John Smith a slap on his shoulder, ‘it was the councillor himself who hired him to do the job in question.’ He paused, then added, ‘But if this man is lying to cover his own back, then—’

  John Smith erupted. ‘I ain’t, honest I ain’t. It was Mr Dunster that hired me.’

  Gertrude Dunster’s brow furrowed quizzically as her eyes settled on John Smith. ‘Just what job did my husband hire you to do?’ she demanded sharply.

  ‘Collect the fee due from the fairground folk for the use of council land. Easy fiver for me, so ’course I jumped at it.’

  Mrs Dunster puffed out her chest and snorted. ‘My husband is the leader of the council and doesn’t get involved with day-to-day matters like that. There are council clerks who attend to that sort of thing in any case, so why would he need to hire you to do it?’ she chall
enged.

  ‘That’s what we’d like to know, Mrs Dunster.’ Gem spoke up. ‘Something isn’t right, is it? Either your husband or the chap from the council that came calling after John here has money of ours in his pocket that we can’t afford to forget about.’

  Gertrude Dunster looked momentarily shocked to hear Gem’s genteel accent. She’d believed that all travellers were ignorant illiterates, but obviously she was wrong, as this woman had certainly been educated to a high standard. She gazed at them all blankly, her brain whirling as she tried to figure out just what was going on. Then a spark ignited in her eyes and a look that could only be described as excitement beamed from them. ‘I agree,’ she said. ‘Something isn’t right. Mr Dunster is working late in his office, or that’s what he informed me when he telephoned earlier and said he wouldn’t be home for his supper, so I suggest we all go to there to speak to him.’

  ‘Oh, but there’s no need for you to have your evening disturbed, Mrs Dunster,’ Solly said politely.

  Her lips twisted into a secret smile. ‘This might turn out to be the opportunity I’ve been praying for, and I’m not about to let it pass. Anyway, at this time of night the general public are not allowed into the town hall unless they’ve been specifically invited, so you’ll need me to get you past security. Wait for me in your vehicle while I get my coat and bag and you can follow me there.’

  They all wondered what she had meant by her comment about an opportunity, but they knew better than to ask. The four of them went back out to the lorry to wait for her, and five minutes later she pulled out of the drive in a Morris Minor. Bemused at how she had managed to squash her large bulk inside the little car, they started the engine and followed her.

  * * *

  Inside Ernest’s office, the councillor was sitting in his chair, while Lena, her skirt hitched up to show a good portion of her shapely thighs, was perched on the edge of his desk. She really should just collect her blackmail money and leave, but she couldn’t resist goading him one last time about his gullibility over her plan to extort him.