‘Let me tell you something for nothing, Nurse Robertson. Had Jenny done what you’re accusing her of doing, then considering the unbearable agony her mother was suffering, which was only going to get worse before she eventually died, to me that was an unselfish act of mercy, and should I ever, God forbid, find myself in the same situation, I hope she would do the same for me.’ Her eyes darkened warningly. ‘Now I’ll give you two seconds to get yourself out of this van and off the fairground, or I am calling the police to have you arrested for blackmail. And be warned, I’d better not ever see your face again, or I won’t be responsible for my actions. That clear?’
The woman snatched up her handbag and rushed out, nearly knocking Jenny over as she pushed past her in the doorway in her haste to leave.
Gem immediately crossed to her daughter, put her arms around her and pulled her close. ‘I meant every word I said, love,’ she murmured.
‘You … you don’t think I’m a murderer then? You’re not afraid I might—’
Gem snapped, ‘Stop that. What you did for your mum was an act of love. Her life must have been purgatory for her, and she asked for your help to end that. You could have taken the money from the safe and made it look like we’d had a robbery, but you didn’t; you came clean to me, ready to take the consequences, and that shows to me what an honest, loyal person you are.’ She kissed her cheek before adding, ‘As if I didn’t know that already. Next time we’re back up that way, would you take me to your mother’s grave? I’d like to put some flowers on it and thank her for raising you to be such a wonderful young woman.’
Jenny’s whole body sagged in relief. ‘Yes, of course I will, Mum.’
Gem pulled away from her daughter and held her at arm’s length. ‘I don’t keep secrets from your father – well, not after the mistake I made in not telling him about you – so I will tell him about this, but don’t worry, he’ll see it in the same way as I do: that what you did was an act of kindness and certainly not what that diabolical woman accused you of. No one else needs to know, not even your brothers, though I have no doubt they would agree with me and your father. That time was a bad one for you, and it needs to be put to rest so that you can get on making a good future for yourself.’
Jenny heaved a deep sigh. ‘I’m glad you now know what I did, and I can’t tell you how relieved I am that you understand why I did it.’
Gem smiled tenderly at her. ‘I’m so blessed having you for a daughter. Now, I have a serious problem on my hands I need your help with. I’ve three hungry men about to arrive any minute expecting their dinner on the table, and I’ve hardly made a start on it.’
Jenny chuckled. ‘Then we’d better hurry and get cracking, hadn’t we?’
As they made their way back to Gem’s van, she couldn’t believe that twice in a very short space of time, two individuals had tried to blackmail fair folk in order to line their own pockets. Thankfully, both had discovered they had made a grave mistake.
Chapter Twenty Two
Solly Grundy lived and breathed the fair. It had always been his first love – that was, until he met Gem. Despite being the owner, there was no job he felt was beneath him, nothing he would expect any of his employees to do that he wouldn’t: digging holes to house support posts for the rides; fixing a broken engine; helping to push a lorry that had become stuck in squelching mud… There was only one job he couldn’t bear, and that was to sack someone.
He treated every member of the community – from the old retainers of many years’ standing to newly joined gaff lads who might only be with Grundy’s for a matter of weeks – in the same congenial manner. Unlike many other fair owners, who dealt with their employees like they were ten a penny and easily replaced, Solly believed, as his father had done, that if you looked after your staff and trusted them, they would be loyal to you. Those in his direct employ might not receive top wages for their labours, but he paid them as much as he could afford to. The vans he provided for their living accommodation might not be in the best of condition, but he made sure they were well maintained. He treated all the stall and sideshow owners equally fairly, rotating their businesses around so that no one could complain that a favourite few were getting the best positions, and any trouble that arose between them he would deal with impartially, in as fair and just a manner as possible.
Therefore, if he found out that a member of his staff had acted inappropriately in any way, risked harm to another member of the community or done anything that could damage the good name of the fair, he took it personally.
It was just before dinner break on a Wednesday in the middle of July when he found himself confronting a lad of eighteen who had only been with them for a few weeks. The young man had been reported to him for not doing a job properly and putting at risk not only his fellow workers but members of the public too. The previous night, as he’d been having a bottle of beer and a chat with Gem before they retired to bed, Solly had been telling her what a good lot of lads they had at the moment, all hard workers, not one he could find any fault with, only to discover the very next morning from Toby Gittings, one of his long-standing and very diligent labourers with several gaff lads under his charge, that this wasn’t entirely the case.
It seemed Gittings had asked one of the lads to check the ghost train and report any problems he found. The young man in question, Rod Mathers, returned a short while later to say he’d found nothing amiss. It was niggling at Gittings that the lad hadn’t been inside the ride long enough to have inspected it thoroughly, so he went and had a look for himself and immediately spotted that a bolt securing one of the support struts had somehow worked loose. Had it been left unattended, the vibrations of the carriages rattling past could have loosened the bolt further, eventually bringing the strut down and possibly part of the roof with it. Had a carriage been passing at the time, the passengers inside could have been seriously hurt, even killed.
Solly immediately went to find and confront the lad concerned. He had been told that he was washing down the carriages of the waltzer, but when he found him, he was flicking water from a bucket with a sponge at another lad who was trying to get on with washing down another carriage nearby by. Rod Mathers was a good-looking, Jack-the-lad sort, tall and muscular. Solly immediately assessed that he belonged to a group of lads who perceived working for the fair as an easy life, away from their parents’ rules and regulations, with a steady supply of women with whom to sow their wild oats. What the staff did in their spare time, providing it didn’t bring disrepute to the good name of Grundy’s, was their business as far as Solly was concerned, but what they did during work time was most certainly his concern.
Solly had to call his name three times before Rod stopped his shenanigans, almost leaping out of his skin when he realised just who it was that was summoning him to join him on the steps of the waltzer.
As he arrived next to Solly he said jocularly, ‘Sod’s law, ain’t it? Been working like a navvy all morning and the boss catches yer just as yer letting yer hair down for a couple of minutes. So what d’yer need me to do, Mr Grundy?’
Solly eyed him blankly. ‘Before I tell you what I want you do to, I just want to satisfy myself that you did thoroughly check over the ghost train this morning as Toby Gittings asked you to do?’
Rod looked insulted that he was being asked such a thing. ‘Yeah, course I did, boss. Every nook and cranny.’
‘Every nook and cranny, eh? So, in that case, how come you never spotted that a dirty great bolt in a support structure had worked loose a few feet inside?’
Rod’s eyes darted wildly as the significance of what Solly was saying registered. ‘Er… well… it weren’t loose when I checked, Mr Grundy. It must have happened after I’d done me inspection.’
‘How?’
‘How?’ repeated the young man.
‘Yes, how? The bolt had obviously worked loose through the vibrations of the carriages, but the ride hadn’t been in operation between you supposedly checking it and when Toby wen
t in to re-check, as he was worried that you hadn’t been in long enough to do a proper inspection. When he went in, he found it straight away. So, this is what I think, Mr Mathers. You just stood inside the entrance, flashing your torch here and there, saw the ride was still standing and then skived off for a fag somewhere you couldn’t be seen.’
The lad shuffled his feet awkwardly. That was exactly what he had done.
Solly went on. ‘Thank goodness Toby takes his job far more seriously than you obviously do and put a stop to a possible major accident. Customers and staff could have been badly injured, not to mention the damage done to the good name of Grundy’s.’
Rod looked visibly shaken. ‘It… it won’t happen again, boss, I promise.’
Solly said flatly, ‘No, it won’t. While my employees are working, I need to know I can trust them to do what is asked. Obviously, you’re not the type I can rely on. I’d like you to pack your stuff and leave. I’ll give you ten minutes to be out of the fairground.’
Rod went to plead again for another chance, but by now Solly had had enough and held up a warning hand to stop him. He’d only been having a quick check around before going back to his van for a spruce-up. After dinner, he was due to set off for another fair fifty miles away where he had arranged to inspect a second-hand ride called the Cage, a giant wheel with compartments for punters to stand in while it whirled around at great speed, which he had spotted advertised for sale at a very good price in the World’s End newspaper.
This outing was proving emotional for him. It would be the first time since his father had died that a ride he had wanted to buy had come up for sale. Big Sam had always taken charge of buying rides and suchlike, and had proved a formidable opponent when it came to haggling. He had been known to walk away from buying a ride he was desperate to own because the seller was demanding a shilling more than he was prepared to pay for it. Big Sam was a hard act to follow, but Solly was determined to give it a go.
He had conferred with Gem about how much they could afford to pay without causing any damage to the fair’s finances, and was taking Jimmy and Robbie with him, not just for company but to expand their knowledge about managing the fair, which hopefully both would do when the time came for Solly to hand over the reins. He meant to leave it to them jointly, whilst providing for Jenny in other ways.
Lying in bed the previous night, he and Gem had had a discussion about Tom. It had not escaped their notice that their daughter was becoming very attached to the young man. This did not displease either of them. They both liked Tom very much, seeing the qualities in him that had attracted their daughter. He was definitely several cuts above the usual type of casual fair worker, most of whom had petty criminal records and couldn’t get jobs easily anywhere else. He had proved himself to be dependable, willing and conscientious, and a thoroughly pleasant young man to be around. He had certainly impressed Gully, who was not the easiest of men to get on with. In turn, Tom did not hide the fact that he was becoming attached to Jenny.
But when all was said and done, he was a temporary worker, and come the end of the season, he would move on the same as all the others would. They both suspected this would devastate their daughter, and Tom too. He could return the following year, but being parted for four months would seem like a lifetime to a couple in love. And there was the possibility that he might find a permanent job during the winter, and perhaps ask Jenny to marry him, and then Solly and Gem would see little of her or any children they might have. Considering they had been deprived of her for the first twenty-two years of her life, they certainly weren’t willing to miss any more if they could help it.
They were both aware that they might be jumping the gun, but nevertheless, they decided that if by the end of the season Jenny and Tom were still as attached as they were now, Solly would offer him a job over the winter during their lay-up. There was always plenty of work to do on the rides and vehicles that couldn’t be done during the summer, and the stall and sideshow owners who rested up along with them were glad of help with repairs on their own equipment. They would keep this to themselves for the time being, though, for fear of being thought interfering.
Gem had suggested that by way of showing Tom, and Jenny in turn, that they approved of him, Solly should invite him to accompany them on this afternoon’s jaunt. The young man had been delighted to be asked and readily accepted. Jenny showed her appreciation with a hug for them both.
Solly said with meaning to Rod now, ‘Ten minutes. Any longer and it’ll be my boot up your arse kicking you out.’
The lad realised that no amount of pleading or persuading was going to make the boss change his mind, and head hung low, he hurried off to do his bidding.
Solly returned to his van, arriving at the same time as Jimmy and Robbie. Gem was busy finishing off preparations for the meal, and as soon as Tom had freshened himself up, he would be joining them along with Jenny, who at the moment was helping Fran clean the skelter and get the coconut mats out ready for opening at two.
Solly was knotting his tie when he came out of his bedroom to join his sons in the living area, both of them dressed casually but smartly in black trousers, Robbie in a red jumper and Jimmy a grey one. Jimmy took one look at his father and quipped, ‘You look like you’re off to a funeral in your suit, Dad, not a jolly to another fair.’
Solly looked hard at him. ‘It’s a business meeting I’m going to, not a jolly. How do you expect the seller to believe I’ve got the money for the ride if I turn up looking like a ragbag?’
Gem glanced over at him then, a warm tingle shooting through her at the sight of her handsome husband, and said jocularly, ‘I’d marry you if I wasn’t already married.’ She added worriedly, ‘We’ve gravy with the pie.’
Solly licked his lips. ‘Lovely. You’d win prizes for your gravy… well, since Velda gave you her recipe anyway.’
Robbie chuckled. ‘Dad, what Mam’s getting at is should you be wearing the shirt you’re going out in while you’re having your dinner? You know how you dribble sometimes.’
Solly glanced down at himself. ‘Er… oh, that’s a thought.’
Gem suggested, ‘Save you changing again, why don’t you do what Velda does when she’s having gravy with her dinner, and drape a towel around the front of you. She’s a dribbler too.’
He nodded. ‘Good idea, love.’ He went back into the bedroom and came out again with a hand towel tucked into the neck of his shirt and spread across his chest, the bottom tucked into his waistband.
Gem said, ‘Dinner will be a good twenty minutes yet, so—’
She was interrupted by a tap on the door. It was open in this warm weather and they all looked across expecting to see either Jenny or Tom arriving in, but instead it was the face of a stranger that greeted them.
‘Can I help you?’ Solly asked.
The newcomer was a man in his early thirties, clean-shaven with a shock of unruly black hair, dressed in cheap black trousers, black waistcoat and a white shirt open at the neck, showing a scattering of dark chest hairs. He had a black pork pie hat pushed back on his head. He smiled at Solly, showing a row of uneven yellowing teeth. ‘I was told to enquire here for Samuel Grundy. Is he here, as I need to speak to him?’
‘Samuel was my father. I’m afraid he died last year. I’m Solly Grundy. Maybe I can help you?’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ The man hesitated. ‘Well, it’s rather difficult. Don’t know where to begin really. It’s about the fair… your father and my grandfather and the deal they made.’
In the kitchen, Gem carried on with her meal preparations whilst listening to the conversation going on in the living area.
Solly frowned, puzzled. ‘What deal? Look… er, you’d better sit down and explain what this is all about. Oh, these are my sons, Jimmy and Robbie, and my wife Gem.’ He nodded over at the kitchen area.
They all said hello, and the man sat down in Gem’s armchair. ‘My name is Barry Topper. My grandfather was Nev Topper.’
&n
bsp; Solly frowned thoughtfully. ‘Nev Topper,’ he mused. ‘That name rings a bell. Oh, is he the Topper of Topper’s fair that operates down south?’
Barry nodded. ‘He was. He died five years ago and my dad inherited. Within four years he’d gambled and drunk everything away, leaving me and my mam without a penny. Me and me mam just work for a fair now and things are very tough for us. Thankfully we did manage to keep hold of the family van, so at least we have that to live in.’
‘Yes, I remember hearing about it now. It was a very sad affair, Topper’s going under like it did. At one time it must have ranked with the best.’ Solly realised that he still had the towel draped over his front and whipped it away to stuff it down the side of the chair before asking, ‘But what’s this deal you mentioned between your grandfather and my father?’
‘We knew nothing about it until last week. You see, my father had always been a gambler and a drinker. Grandpa should have left the fair to me, but he was a showman through and through, so to him the eldest son was his heir no matter what. When he died, all Dad was interested in was finding the will and claiming what was his; the rest of Grandpa’s paperwork was packed away to be sorted out later. I’ll cut a long story short, but watching my dad ruin the business Grandpa had built up from scratch was awful for me and Mam, and to be honest, it was a relief to us when he died too. But by then it was too late to save the business. Most of the old stall owners who’d been with Grandpa for donkey’s years had already left and found pitches with other fairs, and the rides were so badly maintained they were hardly worth the price as scrap. We were lucky that anyone was interested in buying it. The bloke who did had his own successful fair and was looking to expand. Topper’s had the rights to play in forty or so additional towns and villages, and that clinched the sale.
All is Fair Page 24