Lizzie's War (20 page)

‘You would have two rooms of your own,' Lizzie said, ‘but I would prefer it if we had our meals together – what I'm really looking for is a friend, Mrs Simpson. Betty needs a family and I don't have any of my own – Aunt Miriam is her great-aunt by marriage but that's all we have. My second husband doesn't have much family either as far as I'm aware.' They certainly hadn't come to the wedding, though Sebastian had invited several friends. ‘I want someone who is happy to look after my daughter and keep the house tidy, wash a few delicate bits and send the sheets to the laundry, perhaps some shopping – though I can do that on my way home. I have a window cleaner and we can have someone in to do heavy work. Oh, and I like to work at the serviceman's social club one or two nights a week – Aunt Miriam comes round to sit with Betty then.'

‘That's fine for me, but I shall be here if I'm needed,' Hatty said and smiled. ‘I kept house, cleaned for my husband and three sons and nursed him until he died of lung cancer…' Lizzie caught her breath. ‘Oh, don't be sorry for me, I know people don't talk about that awful disease, but it's been with us for centuries, a dark shadow lurking that people fear and don't mention…'

‘Yes, we don't talk about these things enough, do we?'

‘I've learned to live with my memories and – I shall be happy to do all you need, Mrs Winters, and pleased to live as one of the family.'

‘Then all I have to say is when can you start?'

‘Tomorrow, if that is all right with you. I'll be here at seven in the morning and bring some of my things. The rest can come later. I've given a month's notice on my house and I'll have anything I can't bring either stored or sold down the market.'

‘That sounds wonderful, Hatty,' Lizzie said and smiled in relief. She'd taken to the friendly woman instantly and knew she would fit in with her ways. ‘But if there are any bits of furniture you'd like to bring, I'm sure we can make room for them. I didn't over furnish the spare rooms when I moved in – so bring whatever you want with you.'

‘In that case I'll bring my bedroom stuff and some comfortable chairs for my sitting room,' Hatty looked pleased. ‘I haven't got much I want, because I was bombed out last year and only a few bits survived the blast – so I shall be quite content to sell most of it, because it was second-hand and all I could get.'

Lizzie offered her a cup of tea, but Hatty said she had things to do and went off, promising to be on time in the morning.

She'd been as good as her word and was nicely settled in. Betty had taken to her and now that she was not disturbed by Matt's screaming she'd become the peaceable child she'd been at the start. Hatty had not had to get up to her once in the weeks since and nor had Lizzie, and even better, her bad dreams had gone.

Lizzie walked to her bus alone now, because no one had followed or threatened her since before Beth's wedding. She'd begun to relax and enjoy her life again – but she did miss Beth, despite having Tilly and Hatty, as well as Ed, Jean, Janet and Aunt Miriam. Beth had been special to her and she couldn't understand why she hadn't wheeled the twins round to the showroom to see her. Lizzie made up her mind that she would make time to call on her friend on her way home later.

*

It was two o'clock that afternoon when someone came into the showroom as Lizzie was rearranging the window with some fresh stock. She smiled as she saw it was Mrs Court, pleased that she'd come to see her.

‘How lovely to see you! I've been thinking I would come round soon, but I've been busy… and you weren't in when I called with a present for the twins' birthdays.'

‘Yes, I should've thanked you but…Lizzie, have you seen Beth recently?' Mrs Court's anxiety made her almost abrupt.

‘No, I haven't; I went round there a couple of times but she must have been out, because she didn't answer the door,' Lizzie felt coldness at her nape as she saw Mrs Court's worried look. ‘Is something the matter?'

‘I was hoping you would know,' Beth's mother said and sighed. ‘She never comes to see me. I went round this morning; she let me in and she's got that place like a new pin, but something wasn't right, Lizzie – I could see it in her face, though she kept saying she was fine. I'm sure she isn't happy, but she won't talk to me about it. I thought she might have said something to you?'

‘I haven't seen Beth once since the wedding,' Lizzie said. ‘I waited for a while, because I didn't want to intrude… I don't think her husband likes me.'

‘What makes you say that?'

‘I don't know – just the way he looked at me once. I had the feeling that he resented my friendship with Beth…'

‘Her father and I thought he would be good to her – but if we were wrong… we pushed Beth into getting married, Lizzie. I kept telling her he was a good man and her father said she would be respectable if she got married, but if he's making her unhappy…'

‘You don't know that,' Lizzie said. ‘We can't be sure he isn't everything he seemed – kind and generous…'

‘Beth had a bruise on her cheek this morning,' Mrs Court said and looked grim. ‘She said she caught herself when she was running after Matt, but I'm sure she was lying…' A sob caught in her throat. ‘I couldn't bear it if I thought he was hitting her, Lizzie…'

‘Oh God, no,' Lizzie said, feeling sick at the thought. ‘I know Beth wasn't sure she was doing the right thing. I think she would've liked to change her mind right at the last minute but she was afraid of upsetting everyone. If he knows that she doesn't love him….'

Mrs Court looked pale and worried. ‘If my husband knew he was hurting her, he'd kill him. He thinks the world of Beth, even though you might not think it after the way he behaved when she got pregnant – he was just so disappointed that his precious girl had let him down…'

‘I know. He came to the hospital the night she gave birth and I saw his face when the doctor said she was all right. You mustn't tell him – not yet anyway. I'll pop round there on my way home this evening, before Bernie gets back…'

‘Oh, Lizzie, you think he's a bad person, don't you?'

‘I don't know for sure,' Lizzie said. ‘Yet there was something at the wedding – and a couple of times before, if I think about it. I don't know what we can do if Beth is being ill-treated, but I won't let it go on if I can help it.'

‘Thank you, Lizzie.' Mrs Court dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief. ‘I'm glad I came. Her father would sort him out, but I really believe he would kill him if he thought Beth was being ill-treated – and there are the twins to think of, too. Bernie might take it out on them if we meddled…'

‘No, we don't want that,' Lizzie said anxiously. ‘If I'm right, Beth may be in a lot of trouble and we have to be very careful we don't make things worse.' She hesitated, then, ‘I'll see what she has to say later…'

*

Lizzie left work at half past three that afternoon. Jean had gone into the showroom to take her place and she couldn't wait any longer because she needed to see Beth for herself.

She found the house, an old-fashioned Victorian villa in one of the better areas overlooking what would have been a nice green before the war but which now had marks where the wheels of heavy vehicles had run over it and one tree had been so badly damaged in a bombing raid that it was only a blackened stump There were spotless lace curtains at the bow windows of Bernie's house and the doorstep had been freshly scrubbed, gleaming white in the July sunshine. There was no answer when Lizzie knocked, so she knocked again louder and went on doing so until the door was opened. Beth stared at her but didn't smile in welcome or ask her in.

‘I wasn't expecting you. I've just got Matt to sleep. He's teething again and kept us awake last night. Bernie wasn't too pleased about it.'

‘No, I don't expect anyone would be if they couldn't sleep,' Lizzie said. ‘May I come in just for a few minutes please, Beth?'

‘I'm sorry, Lizzie. I can't ask you in. Bernie wouldn't like it – please go away. When I'm ready I'll come and see you…' She made to shut the door, but Lizzie moved to stick her foot in the way. ‘Lizzie, I can't talk to you. Please – he'll be home soon and if he sees you he'll go mad again…'

‘Did he hurt you, Beth?' Lizzie said, looking her straight in the eyes. Beth's gaze fell, and even though she shook her head, Lizzie knew she was lying. ‘You mustn't put up with it, love. Leave him and come to me. He doesn't deserve you, Beth, and he shouldn't hit you.'

‘He didn't exactly hit me – he just pushed me against the door,' Beth said and her head went up, eyes cold and proud. ‘All right, I'll tell you. He's a brute and I hate him, but I'm afraid of him, Lizzie. If I leave him he'll come after me and he'll hurt us all – me, the twins and you. He doesn't like you at all, Lizzie. He doesn't want me to see you… you mustn't come here again.'

Beth pushed Lizzie out of the door and slammed it tight. Lizzie stared at it in frustration. She wanted to hammer on it and shout until Beth was forced to answer, but if she did that people would hear – and then Bernie would know too and Beth would suffer for it.

Lizzie walked away in distress. She must go to Mrs Court and tell her the truth, but there was little Beth's mother could do to help her daughter. Beth's father could give Bernie a good hiding, but Lizzie suspected Bernie might be a dangerous man and unless Mr Court killed him he would simply take his fury out on her – and on others. And the last thing any of them wanted was Beth's father to be hung for murder.

‘Oh, Sebastian,' Lizzie sighed. ‘I do wish you were here. She was sure that Sebastian would know what to do against a bully, but she had no idea how to contact him. He was busy with his work, whatever that was – and yet she knew if he were here he would help her.

She thought about the card he'd given her with a name – the mysterious Jack who Sebastian told Lizzie to go to if she were in trouble. She wasn't sure that she could ask him for help in Beth's case. The police would say it was a domestic affair and best left to husband and wife to sort out – but it couldn't be right that a man could get away with hitting his wife.

The look in Beth's eyes had cut Lizzie to the quick. She looked defeated, as if she'd given up hope – and that just wasn't the Beth Lizzie knew. What had Bernie done to her?

*

Beth stood with her back to the door and let the tears roll unchecked down her cheeks. She felt so low that if it hadn't been for the twins she might have killed herself. Bernie hadn't kept his promise; he alternated between sweet words and gifts and blows to her face and body, but he'd stopped coming to her bed after Beth threw a bowl of cold water over him. She'd been driven too far when he once more raped her from behind in the manner she found so disgusting, and when he'd fallen asleep, snoring like a pig, she filled a bowl from the washstand and poured it over him in the bed.

Of course she'd paid for it. He'd hit her until she fell to the ground half-unconscious and then he'd knelt by her side and started to weep and blubber as if he were a child, begging her to forgive him. At least, she thought he'd been begging her, though a couple of times he'd called her Mother. The feeling had grown in Beth's mind that her husband was either evil or not right in his head – and yet when anyone came to the house that he wanted her to be nice to he played the loving husband to perfection. It made her feel sick and she wanted to stand in the street and scream the truth, tell everyone what a bastard he was, but of course she didn't – she had to think about the twins.

Bernie had a habit of picking them up, particularly Matt, and dangling him under the arms until Matt started to scream and then he shook him until he stopped. Afterwards he would put the child back in his cot and look at Beth and she knew what he was telling her – he could kill her children whenever it suited him.

She'd thought she was giving them a home and a father but she'd brought them into danger, and she wasn't sure what she could do about it. Lizzie was still her friend and she wouldn't give up on her, even though Beth had tried to keep her at arm's length so that she wouldn't guess what a bully Bernie had turned out to be – but had she the right to take the children and go home to Lizzie? Bernie would punish them all if she did… and Beth had heard him whispering with some of the men who came at night. She didn't know why they came or what hold Bernie had over them, but most of them seemed scared of him – and one of the men had a scar on his face. Beth remembered something about a man with a scar on his face but couldn't place it. The look that man had given Beth as he followed Bernie to his study had made her shake with fear. She had the feeling that he would kill her as easily as he might swat a fly and smile as he did it.

If Bernie wanted to harm her or her family, he wouldn't even have to do it himself, because he had people who would oblige him for money. If her dead body turned up in the canal, he would play the broken-hearted husband to perfection.

She wiped a hand over her eyes and went to wash her face. She didn't want Bernie to see she'd been crying. If he thought she was cowed, he would treat her worse than ever; it was only the way she'd stood up to him that had saved her from worse. He'd known that if she could throw cold water over him as he slept it could as easily be acid or a knife plunged into his neck, and because of that he slept in his own room with the door locked.

For a moment as she took out the carving knife and began to chop the rabbit for the stew that evening, she thought about using it to cut his throat as he lay sleeping… but the idea terrified her. Murder wasn't the answer for Beth. She didn't want to go to prison or hang, she wanted to live – and she would think of a way to turn the tables on him, because she knew Bernie had secrets.