Songbird (13 page)

Maddy laughed, and they sang along together, harmonizing really nicely. “We could band together and call ourselves The Songbirds,” she joked. “I think we sound a bit like Dusty Springfield and Debbie Harry rolled into one.”

“Not half!” Ellen quipped. “We’d be up in the Top Ten before you could say Bay City Rollers!” Then she went on more seriously, “I know you need to find out how Alice is, and I’ve been thinking about that. I may have found a way that will keep you out of danger. First though, we should get some breakfast.”

She gave a kind of snort. “Mind you, having said that, I reckon all I can rustle up is toast and marmalade.”

“That sounds great.” Maddy’s hungry tummy was playing a tune. Looking wild and wanton with her hair massed about her face and her eyes raw and bleary, she asked, “Shall I get washed and tidied up first?”

Ellen nodded. “Good idea. Now don’t hog the bathroom,” she warned lightheartedly. “You’re not the only one who looks like something the cat brought in.”

“Oh, thanks,” Maddy bridled. She thought it wonderful, how she and Ellen had quickly formed such a warm and natural friendship.

In the tiny, well-kept bathroom on the first floor, Maddy squeezed the tiniest measure out of Ellen’s tube of Fresh-mint toothpaste and, wetting her finger under the tap, scrubbed away at her teeth until they felt clean.

She twice rinsed out her mouth, then washed her face with warm soap and water. “My God!” Staring into the mirror, she could hardly believe it was herself looking back. Her hair was a tangled mess, her eyes swollen and sore-looking. If only she had her comb and makeup with her.

When she emerged, wrapped in her towel and feeling much fresher, Ellen lent her a hairbrush and chucked a big bag of cosmetics at her, saying, “Here, help yourself. I’ve put some clothes on your bed — choose what you want.”

Then she went back downstairs. “The kettle’s on,” she called back. “And the bread’s already sliced for toasting. I’ll wait till you’re ready before putting it on.”

Later, over tea and toast, the two young women discussed the aftermath of the previous evening. “Do you think the police will be looking for us by now?” Maddy wondered. Dressed in a pair of Ellen’s jeans and a skinny-rib sweater, with her long hair combed back into a high ponytail and the makeup concealing her battered face, she looked about the same age as her newfound friend.

Ellen didn’t know the answer to that. “I hope they’re not,” she replied. “They will have already worked out that Steve and my boss Den Carter were arch rivals in the club business. Plus Steve owed him money and then had the front to trick me away from him. It was a mad thing to do. Den would never have let him get away with it. Anyway, the cops will have questioned every member of staff by now — for witnesses and all that. So I expect they already know about me and you.”

Maddy agreed, but, “As far as anyone knew, we weren’t even there in the alley when it happened. Besides, there were more than enough witnesses who saw everything — the guests who ran out to see what was going on, and the staff from our club and other businesses down the alley. They couldn’t see me, but I could see them. So, if there were all those witnesses, why would they need to bother about us?”

“They may not,” Ellen said, “but I wouldn’t count on it. Think about it, Maddy. Steve Drayton murdered two people and badly wounded another. It’s major stuff. It won’t matter that they already have him in custody. They’ll want to make the case absolutely watertight. They’ll question everybody. To be on the safe side, we’d best make tracks, and the sooner the better! The police will find this address in Den’s staff records. And if Drayton
is
hellbent on putting out a contract on you, that’s all the more reason for keeping our heads down.”

Maddy told her she was going nowhere, until she knew that Alice was safe.

Ellen conveyed her plan. “Look, I did a lot of thinking last night, and I may have come up with something. You see, I know someone who might be able to help. Her name is Connie; she’s been kind to me in the past, and she knows how to keep her mouth shut when needs be. She was a cleaner at Carter’s club when I first went there, but he sacked her after accusing her of being a thief. I stood up for her, and got a black eye for my pains, but I also bunged her a few quid to keep her going until she found a new job. We’ve kept in touch, Connie and me, and guess what? She’s only working as a ward cleaner at the hospital, so she might be able to find out what’s happening with Alice.”

“Do you think there will be police at the hospital?”

“You can bet on it! But it’s far easier for a cleaner to get places where we can’t. Besides, there’ll be all kinds of gossip going on amongst the nurses, and though I say it myself, Connie was always a bit of a Nosy Parker.”

Maddy thought it was a good plan and anyway, what alternative did they have? “Great! Alice’s surname is Mulligan, by the way. So, when can you get in touch with this Connie?”

“Right now.” Glancing up at the clock. Ellen saw that it was not yet eight-thirty. “Depends which shift she’s on, but I should be able to get hold of her.”

While she rummaged for the phone number she murmured, “Connie’s a good sort. We can trust her, and I’ll make sure she gets a drink out of this. Oh, here it is!”

She dialed and waited, for what seemed an age. “I hope we haven’t missed her,” she was saying, when suddenly she cried out, “Connie? It’s me, Ellen. Yes, fine thank you, and how are you?” There was a moment while Connie answered, then, “So, you’re still working at University College Hospital, are you?”

Another pause, then, “Connie, I wonder if you could do me a huge favor — it’s really important. What? No, I haven’t seen the news, but I already knew about the shooting. Yes, I know that Den is dead — can’t say I will shed any tears for him. But that’s a part of the reason I’m calling you now.”

There was a brief exchange, before Ellen fully explained that Alice Mulligan, the injured woman, was a friend of a friend, who needed to know what was happening with her.

Another short pause while she listened to what the other woman had to say, then: “Yes, I fully expected the police might be there, that’s why I’m asking this favor. No, Connie, I’m not involved — well, not in the way you might think. Let’s just say, I’ve got nothing to hide.”

She cut short the conversation. “Listen, Connie, there isn’t much time. I’m about to tell you something that I know you won’t ever repeat to a living soul.”

She quickly outlined how, though they were not directly involved, she and Maddy had been in the alley when the shootings took place, and now they were afraid the police might want to talk with them. Moreover, when Carter turned up looking for blood, Steve Drayton laid the blame firmly at Maddy’s door. Just before the police took him away, he had threatened Maddy’s life, vowing to find her wherever she might go.

“He means to have her done away with,” Ellen told Connie bluntly. “That’s why she can’t show her face at the hospital. But Alice is her closest friend and she’s desperately worried about her, won’t go anywhere until she knows what the score is. Please, Connie, we need you to find out anything you can. We thought, what with you being a cleaner and probably having access to the staffroom, you might be well-placed to hear things… nurses’ gossip, police talking to each other and all that.”

While she listened to Connie’s reply, Ellen glanced at Maddy, who was feverishly pacing the floor.

Another minute, and then a great sigh of relief. “Oh Connie, love, I knew I could count on you!” Swinging round, Ellen made a thumbs-up sign at Maddy. “Thank you so much. Listen, when can you call me back? Midday? Right, we’ll be waiting. Bye, now — and good luck.”

Replacing the handset, she crossed the room to where Maddy was now seated in the chair, looking pale and drawn. “It’s as we thought,” she told her. “There’s a police guard outside Alice’s door. But Connie is due to wash down that corridor this morning, so she’s hoping to pick up some news or actually get inside the room.”

“Has she seen Alice?”

“No, but she has overheard conversations. Apparently, when Alice was admitted, she’d already lost a lot of blood, and there was internal damage. They had no choice but to operate. She came out of that… had a blood transfusion, but although the doctors thought she was too badly hurt to survive, your Alice proved them wrong, and seems to be doing okay. Though she’s still under intensive care.”

Maddy wiped away a tear. “She’s a fighter. She’ll win through, I know she will.”

“We’ll know more by midday, when Connie rings,” Ellen said. “Meanwhile, I’ve another call to make. Because, once we’ve had news of Alice, we will need to get going on our own course of action.”

As she put the kettle on for another pot of tea, Maddy was too engrossed in thoughts of Alice to ask what call Ellen was about to make.

But she wasn’t too concerned; whatever it was, and whoever she was about to call, Maddy had no doubts about Ellen’s good intentions.

Because, against all her earlier instincts, she had come to trust the girl. With not only her own life, but also that of her unborn child.

A small, round
woman of ample proportions, Connie had been surprised to hear from Ellen. “Time and again I told her never to get tangled up with Den Carter,” she muttered as she walked the hospital corridors. “I said he was a bad lot, and I was right. But would she listen? No, she would not!”

“Morning, Connie.” That was Molly, who helped to run the staff canteen. “Have you heard about the shootings?”

“I have, yes.”

“And that poor woman… they say she’s on her last legs.”

“Who says?”

“The porters and suchlike. They’re all talking about it.”

“Well, they’re talking out of their backsides, then, ’cos I’ve heard from the nurses that she’s pulling through all right.”

“Guarded night and day, isn’t she?” Molly sighed. “Fancy guarding somebody who’s been at death’s door. I mean, it’s not as if she’s gonna run off, is it, eh? And she’s a victim, not a culprit. Them Soho nightclubs… vice rings… it’ll all be in the
News of the World
, come Sunday.” She beamed excitedly.

“You’re right, gel.” Connie nodded sagely. “But I’d best get on. The police have given me clearance to go up there and do what I’m paid for.”

“Hmh! About time too, if you ask me. Germs will still gather in dirt and dust, whether there’s a guard outside the door or not. If you find out any extra details, don’t forget to pass them on, eh?”

“Will do. See you then, Molly.”

“See you, Connie. Take care now.”

Just a few more yards and Connie was outside the staffroom. Pausing for a second, she leaned her ear to the door and listened, falling in with a shock when the door quickly opened and there was the Ward Sister. Thankfully, being in full conversation with the nurse inside, she did not realize that Connie had been earwigging.

“So, I’ll leave you to it then. After the doctor’s been, she’ll be scheduled to come off the drip. Make sure she has a regular supply of fluids. She’s still very weak, so you’ll need to keep an eye; make sure she’s able to manage.”

As the Sister turned to leave, she almost fell over Connie, who had quickly stepped back. “Ah!” Pinning the cleaner with her beady eyes, the big woman instructed, “You know you’ve been cleared to enter the side ward up on Corridor Nine today?”

“Yes, Sister.”

“Do your usual rounds first. Doctor Myers will be with the patient from eleven o’clock. Then you must be in and out quickly. We don’t want to disturb her unnecessarily.”

“No, Sister. I mean, yes, Sister!” The big woman always managed to unnerve her.

“And do a proper, thorough job. I expect that room to be spotless. I shall be making my round later, and I intend examining every nook and cranny, you can depend on it.”

“Yes, Sister.”

Never sure whether Connie was sending her up, or being unduly servile, the big woman took a long moment to scrutinize her. “Go on, then. Get on with it!” With that she was away down the corridor, heels thumping and arms swinging.

“She should have been a sergeant in the Army,” the nurse told Connie, coming out of the office.

“Not bloody likely!” Connie retorted. “Then no one would ever enlist.”

It was eleven-thirty by the time Connie made her way toward Alice’s room.

Having done her usual round, she paused at the top of Corridor Nine, leaning on her broom and stretching her back. “I’m done in!” she grunted. “Rushing about, bending down, reaching up, fetching and carrying. Is it any wonder I ache from top to toe?” One of these fine days she would search out a man with means and grab him quick. But she’d been saying that ever since her old man deserted her six years back, and it hadn’t happened yet.

Pushing her trolley, with its fresh bucket of hot soapy water and clean mop, to where a portly policeman stood sentry outside Alice’s door, she asked, “Aren’t you allowed to sit down?” She noted how he was switching from one foot to the other, and rubbing his back as though in pain.

“Nobody ever said I couldn’t,” he answered thoughtfully, “so I don’t see why not.”

“Shall I get you a chair then?”

He glanced up and down the corridor, as though looking for his superior. “Sounds like magic to my ears,” he confessed.

“Mmm.” Exchanging smiles, she asked him to keep an eye on her trolley while she nipped into the empty sluice room opposite and brought out a small plastic chair. “There you go,” she said, beaming from ear to ear. “It’s not exactly an armchair, but the seat’s just about big enough for your bum.” She slid the chair toward him. “There you go.”

Another anxious glance up and down the corridor. “I’d best wait until the nurse comes out, eh?”

“Oh, so the nurse is inside, is she?” Connie’s first thought was how that made it impossible for her to talk with Alice.

The officer nodded. “The doctor’s been and gone, but the nurse has been in there a while,” he nodded. “Just doing her job, I expect.”

“Well, in that case, I’d best go in and do my job, hadn’t I?”