The Runaway Woman (24 page)

Lucy chose not to comment. Instead, she reluctantly produced the little red box from her pocket.

Holding it tenderly in the palm of her hand, she raised the lid. She watched the pawnbroker’s
eyes grow big and round as they latched onto the items lovingly cradled within the box. ‘Bugger me, woman! Where did yer get them?’

When he reached out to take the box, Lucy held it from him. ‘These two rings are very precious to me and mine,’ she explained softly. ‘I would never have come here if I were not in desperate need of money to tide me over.’

When the tears threatened, she took a deep
breath to calm herself. Reluctantly, she reached out and placed the box very gently on the counter.

‘So, Mr Pawnbroker, how much can you lend me against these? And I assure you that I shall be back for them as soon as I can … with the money I borrowed, and your extra ten per cent on top. I know their worth so, please, don’t offer me a paltry amount because then I might have to try the pawnshop
a few doors down.’

Silently, the big man nervously lifted the two rings into the palm of his hand. After regarding them for the longest moment, he reached into his waistcoat pocket and drew out a small metal eyeglass. He took the eyeglass between finger and thumb and, carefully pressing it to his right eye, he closed his left eye so as to focus on the two rings. Both, he quickly ascertained,
were fashioned out of the finest gold.

One ring was deep-shouldered, and bore a small cluster of red rubies. In the centre of the rubies stood a small but attractively cut diamond.

The second ring was indeed handsome, with a complete posy of exquisite, raised hearts, which encircled the entire band like a golden garland.

The big man took great enjoyment in examining the pair. For a long time
he spoke not one word, but occasionally gave a kind of sigh, and twice he threw his head back as though the beauty of the rings had truly dazzled his eyes.

‘Hmm! Average, I suppose,’ he concluded lazily. ‘Interesting designs, but not to my own personal taste … much too fancy.’

When he looked up at Lucy, he was red in the face, with drops of sweat crawling over his eyebrows. ‘Nice enough, though,
but nothing out of the ordinary,’ he remarked casually. ‘But because you seem to be in dire straits, and I don’t like to see a woman in difficulties, I might actually buy them for my wife. Yes! I’ll make you an offer, and take them off your hands for a sensible price, which will be agreed on both sides. What d’you say, woman?’

‘I say no!’ Lucy was emphatic. ‘Those rings belonged to my great-grandmother.
They were passed down to my grandma and then to my own dear mother. Being the oldest girl, I now have the responsibility of being their guardian. So, they are not mine to sell. They are simply in my keeping. I have nothing else of any value, and if I was not so desperate to raise some money, I would walk out of your shop right now!’

‘What if I were to offer you an attractive price – would you
sell?’

‘Never! Not even if you offered me ten times their worth. All I’m asking is that you lend me a tidy sum against them, in the sure knowledge that I will recover them as soon as possible.’

‘Hmm!’ The pawnbroker pushed the rings aside. ‘So, you won’t sell them … not even for a handsome price?’

‘No! As I’ve already explained, they are not mine to sell.’ Lucy felt threatened. ‘They are meant
to continue down through the family from mother to daughter, as they have done for these past generations.’

‘Look! I can see you’re a tough customer – what if I give you twenty pounds for each one, forty pounds in all? A more than generous offer, if I say so myself.’

Lucy’s patience was growing thin, and now she was starting to panic. ‘I’ve already told you, I just need to borrow against them.
If you are not able, or willing to do that, then I’m in the wrong pawnbroker’s. I’m sorry, it seems I’ve wasted your time, so I’ll take the rings and go elsewhere.’ She was now in a desperate hurry, being highly conscious of the taxi outside, which was running up a bill she may not be able to pay. ‘Thank you for your time.’ Lucy instinctively grabbed the box, and scooping up the rings, she hurried
towards the door.

From the kitchen doorway, the small dark-haired woman had heard the exchange between Lucy and her husband, and she shook her head in disbelief. When she hurried into the shop, Lucy had already gone out of the door.

‘You damned idiot, Tom. What have you done now?’ she angrily confronted the big man.

‘I don’t know what you mean, woman! All I did was to make her a good offer
for two handsome rings, but for some sentimental reason she were having none of it. Well, it’s her loss, not ours. If she wants to go elsewhere, that’s her choice, and good shuts to her!’ He was not best pleased at having lost the game.

‘So, because you thought to make a quick killing, you’ve now managed to turn away what might have been a regular customer. Is that what you’re telling me?’

When he remained silent, she screeched at him, ‘You stupid gormless bugger! When will you ever learn? This is a pawnbroker’s shop … a place where folks borrow money. If they don’t want to sell, they don’t need to! Have you got that?’

When he continued to sulk, she asked again, this time in a lower, more menacing tone, ‘Tom! Have you got that?’

Mumbling an answer, he slunk off into the back room,
desperate to locate the bottle of whisky she kept hidden from him.

Away down the street and heading for the taxi, Lucy was finding it hard to hold back the tears. She was beginning to believe that her plan to get away was already falling apart at the seams.

‘Hey, lady!’ A shrill voice halted Lucy in her tracks. ‘Lady, hang on a minute, please!’

Turning to see a woman running towards her, Lucy
was puzzled and somewhat alarmed. ‘Now what?’ she muttered under her breath. Convinced that she must be in some sort of trouble, Lucy walked back to the little woman. ‘I’m sorry, were you calling me?’ she asked worriedly.

‘Yes … I just want to say, I’m very angry about my husband. I heard him bullying you … just now in the pawnbroker’s.’ She did not give Lucy a chance to talk, being eager to
know if Lucy was still of a mind to pawn the rings, and if so, she would be assured that they would loan her the handsome sum of forty pounds against the pair, with a recovery payment of just five per cent, instead of the normal ten.

Lucy was flabbergasted. ‘That’s what he offered me to sell them,’ she recalled, ‘but I already told him, I’m not selling them. I don’t have the right.’

‘No! I’m
not talking about you selling. I’m talking about you pawning them, with a view to collecting them at a later date.’

‘But why would you do that?’ Lucy was immensely relieved, though she had reservations about the pawnbroker himself.

The little woman explained, ‘I’m afraid my husband sometimes feels that he can badger customers into selling, even when they don’t want to. His bullying treatment
of them has caused too many customers to take their business elsewhere, and as my late father started the business, and I am now a partner with my husband, I have made it clear to him that his bad behaviour has to stop!’

Conscious of passing onlookers, she lowered her voice. ‘I heard your conversation with him just now, and I got the feeling that you might have been through tough times lately;
otherwise you would not be pawning what I believe are family heirlooms. So I suspect that, apart from anything else, it must have been very difficult for you to walk into a pawnbroker’s shop in the first place. Am I right?’

‘Yes, it was difficult,’ Lucy had to admit. ‘And now I’m not certain what I should do. I had plans, but now I don’t know who I can trust any more.’

‘You can trust me,’ the
woman assured her. ‘You can talk to anyone who knows me and they will tell you I am a decent, fair-minded woman, trying to make an honest living, and I would never ask you or anyone else to do anything you did not feel comfortable with.’

The little woman had taken a liking to Lucy. She saw a gentle, kind soul who, for whatever reason, had been brought to her knees. And she genuinely wanted to
help. ‘If you and I come to an agreement that is fair on both sides, I promise you, hand on heart, that I will personally take the greatest care of your precious belongings. Moreover, you can take your time redeeming them. But when you do come to collect your belongings, as I know you will, then they will be there safe and sound, waiting for you.’

Lucy had a nagging instinct that she might safely
put her trust in this woman, but for some reason she was still slightly unsure. ‘How will you keep the rings safe?’ she had to know.

‘Ah, well! You need have no worries about that,’ the little woman assured Lucy. ‘Many valuable artefacts are left with us for safekeeping, and we have several ways of making them secure. We also have a bank deposit box, which is in my name; and I have the only key.
There is also another back-up system, which I would rather not divulge. But, make no mistake, when you return for your goods, I will have them ready for you, be it a month, a year, or even longer. That is the nature of our business,’ she smiled. ‘Many years back I was taught the business by my late father, and I learned it well.’

She again sincerely apologised for her husband’s behaviour. ‘My
Tom is a bit of a rascal. Once he gets behind that counter he can be loud and arrogant, with few manners, no graces, and sometimes he gets carried away with his own importance. On the whole, though, I promise you, he really is a good and honest man.’ She gave a wide smile. ‘After your encounter with him, I’m afraid you’ll have to trust me on that.’

Lucy glanced anxiously down the street, noting
with some surprise that the taxi driver was now out of his cab and sitting on the back bumper, watching her. ‘How long will it take?’ Lucy was concerned about the taxi fare, rising by the minute. ‘I’m in a real rush.’

‘So, are you happy to do the deal then?’

‘Yes, please. But I need to deal with you, not your husband.’

Lucy was astonished when the woman asked if they might conclude the deal
inside the taxi. She also had seen the driver impatiently waiting and watching.

As they walked together down the street, the woman explained. ‘Technically speaking it isn’t the most desirable thing to do, but having heard my husband give you impossible alternatives, I thought you might feel more comfortable away from the shop … and him. So, in the hope that we might agree, I took the bull by
the horns, so to speak, and I’ve brought the money and the contract with me.’

‘I see.’ Lucy thought it was very enterprising of her. However, she still felt somewhat nervous. ‘I’m sorry, I do want to trust you, but how can I be sure that you really are from the pawnbroker’s?’

The little woman smiled. ‘If you want to do the deal inside the shop, that will not be a problem for me. Having realised
you were in some sort of a hurry, I just thought we might save you some time, that’s all. And, besides, it’s a two-way thing, don’t you know? I might run off with your articles, but you might run off with my forty pounds which, I’m sure I do not need to remind you, is a great deal of money.’

The taxi driver had no objections to them using his taxi as an office. Moreover, he put Lucy’s suspicions
to rest when he disclosed that the woman from the pawnbroker’s shop was his sister-in-law.

‘It’s a small world,’ he told Lucy with a knowing smile. ‘Most of the folks round here, are related one way or another.’

The little woman smiled. ‘If I was in this lady’s shoes, I’d run a mile,’ she teased. ‘Meeting Tom was enough of a shock, without her knowing she’s being driven about by my brother-in-law.’

Concerned that Lucy might not feel altogether comfortable, he offered to get out of the way, while the business was conducted.

‘I can take a short walk, if you like?’ He gave Lucy a cheeky wink. ‘As long as I’m getting paid for my time, I’m happy.’

‘Five minutes should do it,’ the little woman told him. ‘And behave yourself, Harry Parker. Don’t you go adding extra time on this good lady’s bill,
or you’ll have me to answer to!’

‘Gawd bless us!’ he exclaimed. ‘Would I ever do a thing like that?’ And whistling merrily, he made himself scarce.

Ten minutes later he was back. ‘Well, can we get off now?’ He was eager to complete his journey.

‘All done!’ Within minutes the deal had been completed, with enough time to enjoy a little chat.

‘I’ll see you when you get back from wherever you’re
off to,’ the woman told Lucy. ‘Meantime, this precious little box will be kept safe until you come for it. I promise you, I will personally take care of it as though it was in your own keeping.’ She tucked it safely away in her inside pocket.

When the woman had gone, rings and all, Lucy felt more confident, especially when the driver told her, ‘I don’t want to know what kind of deal you two might
have concluded, but what I can tell you is that it’s a close community round here, and I know that, hand on heart, when Maggie Fisher makes a promise, neither hell nor high water, and certainly not even that gormless husband of hers, would stop her from keeping it.’

After the short time she had spent with the little woman, Lucy did not doubt his words. Indeed, she was already feeling much easier.

However, she was still nervous as to the decision she had made to go away on her own. It was something she had never done before in the whole of her mundane life.

All manner of unwelcome doubts were beginning to fill her mind, so she was glad of the interruption when the driver called back to her, ‘Am I right in thinking you want to go somewhere else, before the station?’

Lucy concentrated her
mind. ‘Yes! The local churchyard, if you please?’

The driver gave a nod. ‘The churchyard it is then.’ He was made to wonder about this kindly passenger. From what he could gather, she must be short of money, as she had obviously pawned an item or items that meant a great deal to her. And now, poor soul, she was headed for the churchyard.

Being a man who kept himself to himself, he did not speculate.
Nor did he ask uncomfortable questions. But as he headed the car in the opposite direction to the railway station, he glanced at Lucy in the driver’s mirror. As a rule he had a good instinct about people, yet this particular passenger intrigued him.