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Authors: Anne Baker

A Liverpool Legacy (29 page)

BOOK: A Liverpool Legacy
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Nigel was truly shocked when he heard what the police had to tell them and though he protested his innocence, he went voluntarily to the police station to be interrogated.

Chapter Thirty-One

The day following Marcus’s death was Denis’s last day at work. A few days after his twenty-first birthday he’d received his call-up papers. Sylvie told herself the fun was over and now she had to be brave. He’d been for his medical examination and been graded A1. He was told he’d be sent to Taunton to do his basic training.

‘Such a long way,’ Sylvie mourned to the girls at work. ‘I won’t be able to see him all the time he’s there.’

‘It’ll only be for six weeks,’ Connie told her briskly, ‘then he’ll be posted somewhere else. At least the war’s over and you don’t have to worry about him being injured or killed.’

A few weeks ago, Millie had asked Sylvie to help her buy a pewter tankard and have it engraved as a gift from William C. Maynard and Sons, and she had ready a certificate duly signed to prove he’d completed an apprenticeship with them.

Having decided it would be too dangerous to have a crowd in the lab, she’d asked Nigel if they might open up the boardroom during the afternoon tea break so the twenty-four office staff and the half dozen or so in the factory whose work brought them into contact with Denis, could say goodbye to him. She’d ordered three dozen assorted fancy cakes from Sayers to be delivered today, and sent out a general invitation.

Millie’s throat still hurt when she swallowed and her neck now looked worse than it had yesterday because the bruising had come out. Everybody was in a subdued frame of mind. Nobody was in any mood to enjoy a party. ‘But we’ll do it,’ Millie said, ‘we have to.’

They gathered in the boardroom at three o’clock, all looking rather glum, and Millie made her farewell speech to Denis, though she had to break off twice to clear her throat and take a mouthful of water. She made the presentation, wished him well on his National Service, and told him the company would welcome him back.

Only twenty of the cakes were eaten. Millie told the younger staff members to take the rest of them home.

On his first day back, Andrew had been in his office for only ten minutes and was thinking of going to the lab to see Millie when the door opened and she was there smiling diffidently at him. ‘Such a lot has happened while you’ve been away,’ she said. ‘I must bring you up to date. I really missed you last week.’

He had hoped she might be pleased to see him, but what she told him was a catalogue of work-related disasters. She hadn’t missed him in the way he’d missed her.

‘I was trying to talk to Marcus about that merger we discussed and he suddenly went berserk.’

‘Berserk? What d’you mean? He didn’t attack you?’

‘Yes, I thought he was going to kill me.’

‘Heavens, Millie, he’s dangerous! You can’t let him go on working here.’

She looked numb. ‘Marcus is dead,’ she said.

‘Dead?’ Andrew was astounded and he listened speechlessly as Millie told him how it had come about and all the harrowing details.

‘The staff can talk of nothing else. They’re all shocked at what has happened. I gave everybody time off to go to his funeral if they wanted to. When I saw Nigel and his father there, they both looked shattered, and Uncle James had visibly aged.’

Andrew felt shocked too. ‘We must put all that behind us now,’ he said, ‘and look to the future.’ It had all happened without him and had changed for ever the dynamics in the office.

‘Have you had a good holiday?’ she asked eventually.

‘Yes, restful. My mother is getting on in years and as you know she hasn’t been well. She enjoyed Bournemouth, and I think it’s done her good.’

‘What did you do?’

‘Nothing exciting, we strolled along the prom, sat in deckchairs listening to the band, and read. In the evenings we saw the shows on the pier.’ He’d have preferred to be out on the Downs hiking, or on the beach swimming. He’d wanted to be with Millie.

Millie was more beautiful than he remembered and he could hardly drag his gaze away. She had on a dress he hadn’t seen before, it was the colour of the sun. He wanted now to tell her how much he loved her, but that wasn’t what she wanted to hear. He pushed his hands deeper into his pockets so they wouldn’t reach out to touch her.

‘I’ve got to go,’ she said, ‘work is pressing.’ But she agreed to come back to eat her lunchtime sandwich with him, and he had to be satisfied with what little of her company he could get.

That afternoon Jeff Willis rang him and said, ‘Had a good holiday? I’ve got news for you. Could you bring Millie Maynard and come over to the Sailor’s Return for a drink at five o’clock? She asked me to do something for her.’

‘So she told me. What sort of news?’

‘Good news. She’ll be pleased.’

‘That’s a change. The news is bad here. OK, we’ll see you at five.’

Millie had not been in the lounge of the Sailor’s Return since that snowy day in the winter. Today it seemed dusty and close in the warmth of September.

She’d been disappointed in Andrew’s attitude earlier that morning, she’d really been looking forward to his return from holiday and she’d tried to tell him so, but he hadn’t seemed that interested.

When he’d come striding down the lab during the afternoon, she’d wondered if he’d had a change of heart. It turned out he had not, but all the same, she was intrigued when he told her about Jeff’s request.

Jeff’s presence seemed to fill the room, he always seemed larger than life. ‘I want to thank you, Millie.’ He shook her hand and patted her shoulder at the same time. ‘The information in that notebook of Marcus’s has proved invaluable in several ways. It has done wonders for my career. I’ve been given a much more interesting job. No longer do I have to round up drunken military personnel in the pubs and bars. I’m now a detective, rounding up real criminals, and you’re about to see a whole circle of fraudsters brought to justice. In future, the government will be able to get the true worth of any war surplus goods it still has to sell.’

‘That’s marvellous news,’ she said.

‘What about a drink to celebrate?’ Andrew suggested.

‘I’ve already tried,’ Jeff laughed. ‘Gin is off, whisky is off and the only beer is mild,’ his voice dropped an octave, ‘and I think that has been watered.’

A few days later, Millie had barely sat down at her desk when Tom Bedford, who was staid and never rushed, shot in with two newspapers folded to a story on the front page. ‘Millie,’ he said, putting them on her desk, ‘you ought to read these, all the national newspapers are carrying the story. Trust Marcus, this is going to throw a spanner in the works,’ and he hurried off.

She pulled the first newspaper in front of her. ‘Civilian and military police join forces to break large criminal ring,’ she read, and was immediately gripped by the story. It appeared that a large gang had been systematically stealing, or buying up at fraudulent giveaway prices, government war surplus equipment and selling it on to unfriendly foreign countries. ‘One of the accused, Marcus Maynard, was recently killed in a traffic accident. He was a member of the prominent Maynard family and Managing Director of William C. Maynard and Sons, a reputable Liverpool business established on 1870, making luxury toilet products. Fifteen other people have been charged, including Marcus Maynard’s wife, and are expected to appear in court today.’

A list of names followed that included Gregory Livingstone and Captain Clive Edward Armstrong and gave potted histories of each.

Millie straightened up in her chair. She was horrified but it did explain what Marcus had been doing when he wasn’t in the office. She read the other newspaper article and it said much the same thing. She leapt to her feet and headed for the boardroom. The corridors were full and the door to the general office was wide open.

Millie could see the staff gossiping in little groups and heard the whispered name of Marcus Maynard.

‘Is it true?’ she was asked.

‘I don’t know.’

Nigel had only just arrived and was opening his briefcase.

‘Have you seen this?’ she demanded, tossing the newspapers on his desk.

He wouldn’t meet her gaze and seemed mightily embarrassed. ‘Yes,’ he grunted.

‘What d’you make of it? Is it true?’

‘I’m afraid it is,’ he said through tight lips.

‘How long have you known about it? This is appallingly bad publicity for the company. Couldn’t be worse.’

‘Yes, I know, I’m sorry.’

That surprised her, Nigel always seemed to believe that his side of the family could do little wrong. ‘What are we going to do about it?’ she asked.

‘What can we do? I’ve had enough. I shall hand in my notice and leave.’

Millie gasped. ‘Good gracious! But you’ll need to look for another job.’

‘No, Clarissa and I are returning to Calcutta. We’ve both had enough of austerity England, and she’s been keen to go back for some time. Her father wrote telling me of an international paper-making company that has just opened up a new factory in Calcutta. They advertised here for administrative staff, so I applied and I heard this morning that I’ve been given a post.

‘I should have told you what I was doing, but all this publicity about Marcus means I can’t possibly stay anyway. It tars me with the same brush. I’m sorry if this means you’re left in the lurch again to see to everything. Father says he’ll try and come back to work for a few days a week to tide you over.’

‘Nigel, you mustn’t let him come,’ Millie said quickly. ‘I’ll be able to struggle through with the help of the managers. They’re a good bunch, and very efficient.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes. Uncle James isn’t well enough to come back, and we none of us want his general health to suffer.’

‘Good, I’m sure he’ll be relieved.’

‘Don’t worry, Nigel,’ she said, ‘we’ll manage. I hope things work out for you in Calcutta.’

To Millie, it felt as though a tornado had blown through the business and it left her feeling very much on edge. Everything seemed to have changed almost overnight. She immediately called the senior managers to the boardroom for a meeting. Marcus’s dramatic death had caused considerable unrest and she needed to let them talk about that and settle down.

She started by saying, ‘I have to tell you that Nigel has given in his notice. He doesn’t want to go on working for us after what has happened.’

Billy Sankey was very outspoken as usual. ‘Good riddance to both of them, I say. They did damn all work and caused maximum trouble. We’ll be better off without them.’

‘Nigel did try,’ she said. ‘He’s planning to return to India, he doesn’t like life in this country. That does leave us short-handed at management level and I think we’ll have to recruit someone to take Nigel’s place.’

‘You can do it,’ Albert Lancaster said. ‘You’ve been doing it since Pete died.’

‘But I can’t do everything and Denis Knowles has gone too, which gives me more work in the lab. I need to think this over but I thought I’d let you know how things stood first.’

‘We want to help you,’ Tom Bedford told her. ‘We’ll all keep our own departments running as smoothly as we can.’

‘I’m not all that hard pressed at the moment,’ Dan Quentin, the sales manager, said. ‘Everything the factory makes is flying off the shelves. The population has been starved of luxuries for so long they can’t get enough of them now. So if there’s anything I can do to help, Millie, I have time and I’d be glad to.’

‘Well, there is. I’d like you to give some thought to our Christmas market, while it’s still some time ahead. Actually, as you know what sells, there’s no one better than you to do it. We’ll need new packaging or, better still, new products, but nothing that’s expensive or will disrupt our standard lines.’

‘Right,’ he said, ‘I’ll give it some thought.’

Millie gave it more thought too. She’d expected more help from Nigel than he’d ever delivered though he had done some work and had seemed to be improving. Marcus had always been more a liability than a help, so their departure had removed some of her problems.

But suddenly she was in sole charge and feeling the responsibility and her workload was growing, not least in the lab now that Denis had gone. She was surprised at how much his mother Geraldine had picked up in the few weeks she’d been with them, and knew she was better than any school leaver could be, but with the best will in the world she couldn’t do as much as Denis had.

Millie missed his cheerful presence but she could see his mother and Sylvie missed him even more. Every morning, a letter from him came through the letter box for Sylvie, and she knew she was writing regularly to him. Both she and his mother gave her snippets of information about how he was faring, but they were all finding the first weeks difficult.

One morning a few weeks later, they were having breakfast when Sylvie looked up from the letter she’d just received to shout with pleasure. ‘Denis has nearly completed his basic training. When he does, he’ll be given a forty-eight-hour pass.’

At work Geraldine was equally excited by the news and they were both making big plans for his visit. He came a few days later but Millie caught only glimpses of him. He laughed as he told her, ‘As soon as I mentioned I’d served a five-year apprenticeship in a perfume laboratory, I was given a posting to work in a hospital laboratory.’

‘He’s going to Netley Hospital near Southampton,’ Sylvie added. ‘Such a long way.’

‘Yes, I’m going straight there after my leave. I tried to tell them that it wasn’t that sort of a lab and I knew nothing about medical work, but I was told I’d be taught what I needed to know.’

His first visit seemed quickly over and everything settled back to an even tenor. He would now receive regular leave of forty-eight hours at a time. Sylvie mourned the fact that a large proportion of it had to be spent travelling, but his flying visits became part of her life.

Millie thought she was growing up fast and had at last put Pete’s accident behind her. She was taking more responsibility about the house, as well as doing more with the boys. They had soon settled down in their new school and Millie was enjoying having them living at home.

For them all, time was flying ever faster. Millie wanted to continue the family traditions and once again held open house on Guy Fawkes’ night. Uncle James said he’d come. He looked very frail when he arrived and Dando had to help him into an armchair in the conservatory. She heard James say to him, ‘Wait in the car outside, don’t go away.’

BOOK: A Liverpool Legacy
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