Tiger Ragtime (37 page)

‘That you keep him in the mission overnight.’

‘Done.’

‘And get him to the court by eight thirty tomorrow morning.’

‘Agreed.’

‘And don’t tell anyone about it, or crow that you can wrap me round your little finger.’

‘Would I do that?’

‘No, Micah, you wouldn’t, which is why I’ll grant you the first favour you’ve ever asked of me. Just make sure that you don’t ask me for another in a hurry,’ the inspector said seriously.

Chapter Nineteen

As Anna was lolling on the sofa, Aled sat on one of the stiff, Rexine-covered chairs in her front parlour. The absence of dust on the mantelpiece and the Victorian walnut table and chairs in front of the window suggested that the room was cleaned on a regular basis. The musty smell, however, indicated that it was rarely, if ever, used. ‘If what everyone on the Bay is saying is right and David was caught red-handed with his book and betting slips in the pub, there’s no way that the police will be able to ignore it, Aled, no matter who you have bought,’ Anna warned.

‘Someone put your Gertie up to this.’

‘Possibly,’ she conceded cautiously.

‘Definitely, Anna. She must have a regular –’

‘More than a dozen at the last count,’ Anna interrupted.

‘You’re not going to help me, are you?’ Aled said testily.

‘I look after my girls, I give them sound advice. If they choose to ignore it, that’s their affair.’

‘Gertie’s ignored it?’

‘She was brought back here by the police this afternoon. They searched her room and found David’s wallet. Gertie insisted he left it there when he visited her yesterday before they went to Barry. Apparently David insisted he had it in Barry and used the money in it to buy their train tickets. As it’s her word against his they’ve let her off with a caution. But I warned her if she brings the police to my door on official business again, she’s out.’

‘Never mind that: she’s committed the worst crime someone on the Bay can. Especially a girl in her profession. She’s grassed to the police, Anna.’

‘You don’t know that.’

‘How much more proof do you need?’ Aled hadn’t raised his voice but there was an undercurrent of steel in his quiet tone.

‘Talk to Gertie about it, not me. I’ve said all that I’m going to say to her today. She’s upstairs. You know her price; two bob will buy you an hour.’

‘Is anyone with her now?’

‘Her number one regular. He calls to see her most days, not that he pays.’

Aled remembered what Anna had told him the last time he’d spoken to her. ‘She’s with Charlie Moore?’ he guessed.

‘If you want to talk to Gertie when they’ve finished, be my guest. You want to talk to Charlie Moore, do so outside my house. I don’t want any more trouble here. Not today – or ever.’

Edyth grasped the telephone in her hand and shouted down the line. ‘No, Harry, please don’t leave the farm and travel down here, not tonight … There’s nothing you can do that Micah hasn’t already done for David … Micah has been to the police station … He’s arranged with the inspector for David to be released into his custody at eight o’clock tonight and Micah and I will go to the magistrates’ court with David tomorrow morning … The bakery is the least of my worries, trade has slackened off and Kristina and the boys can manage without me for a couple of hours … Harry … please.’ She turned around and looked imploringly at Micah, who was leaning in the doorway of her office, listening. ‘Micah is with me now … talk to him … it would be better, Harry, as he is the one who has made all the arrangements … Remember, David is going to be feeling very ashamed of himself and embarrassed after all the warnings we gave him not to work as a bookie’s runner … Yes, here’s Micah.’ She handed the telephone receiver to Micah. ‘The line is terrible. You’ll have to shout.’

To give Micah privacy, Edyth went upstairs. Judy was kneeling on the window seat in the bay that overhung the street in the sitting room. She had changed out of the expensive black day dress she had worn to lunch in the Windsor Hotel and was wearing one of her own dresses. A simple floor-length cream shift belted low at the hip with a wide cream and brown belt. The style had been fashionable two or three years before, but it suited her slim figure.

‘Are you going out again?’ Exhausted more by the news of David than her long day in the shop, Edyth sat in one of the easy chairs that flanked the fireplace.

‘To a business dinner at the Windsor Hotel. I didn’t tell you earlier because it seemed wrong after hearing the news about David. Aled has arranged for me to sing on the wireless.’

‘That’s marvellous, Judy,’ Edyth said enthusiastically.

‘It’s just the kind of good news I need after what’s happened to David.’

‘We’ll be going through the repertoire I’ll be singing in the studio. I have four four-minute spots, which means four songs. And the producer is anxious that they should show off the range of my voice. Lennie has been given two two-minute compère spots in the same show.’

‘I am so pleased for both of you. I wish you had told me earlier.’

‘It was awful to see you and Micah looking so upset.’

‘I’m beginning to think that’s the normal effect David has on people.’

‘I could ask Aled to arrange this dinner for another evening and stay here,’ Judy offered.

‘Absolutely not.’ Edyth shook her head. ‘There’s nothing you could you do if you stayed. Micah has done everything that can be done now the worst has finally happened. David chose to ignore the advice we gave him. He’s been arrested and he’s going to have to suffer the consequences.’

‘I feel sorry for him. I’m fond of David,’ she said absently, suddenly realising that she meant what she’d said, for all of David’s irritating ways.

‘We all are. Is Aled James going to be hosting this dinner?’

‘Yes. As he pointed out to Lennie and me, he gets ten per cent of any fee we earn working outside of the Tiger Ragtime, and that includes wireless performances.’ Judy crossed her fingers behind her back and hoped that Edyth wouldn’t ask for a list of the other guests.

‘David worked for Aled and look where he is now,’ Edyth warned.

‘David said that Aiden runs the bookie side of the business.’

‘Aiden Collins might be concerned with the day-to-day running of the bookie’s business, but I bet he was running it with Aled’s money.’

Judy couldn’t contradict Edyth or say anything in Aled’s defence, when on Aled’s own admittance he had bankrolled Aiden. ‘You’re probably right.’

Edyth went to the window seat, sat beside Judy, and caught hold of her hand. ‘I know that Aled James has given you the break into show business you were looking for and that working in the club is the culmination of all your dreams. I couldn’t be more pleased for you that you’re going on the wireless. You’ve worked hard for your success, Judy, you deserve it. Just one thing, please, don’t get any more involved with Aled James than you have to.’

‘How can I not, Edyth? He’s my boss.’ Judy felt the blood rushing into her cheeks. She turned aside, but not quickly enough.

‘My God!’ Edyth clamped her hand over her mouth.

‘I’m stupid as well as blind. You’re already involved with Aled, aren’t you?’

Judy met Edyth’s steady gaze but she couldn’t lie to her friend. She said nothing.

‘Judy, darling, I love you as much as I love my sisters. Truth be known, a lot more than my younger sister, Maggie. But then she always was the most difficult one of the five of us. I’d hate to see you make the same mistake as David, and trust the wrong man, only to get hurt.’

‘I won’t be going to gaol.’

‘No, you won’t,’ Edyth agreed, ‘but look at what’s happened to David and learn from it. Men like Aled James use women and discard them with no more thought than they’d give to a worn-out suit. You only have to look at the way Aled behaves, the way he throws money around. The men around him – Freddie Leary, Aiden Collins – everyone knows they’re hired thugs. That night in the hotel, the way the head waiter and everyone else fawned over Aled. They only do that because he has bought them with his tips and tickets to his nightclub. Judy, darling, now that David’s been arrested you don’t need me to tell you what the man is capable of. Please, I’m begging you, don’t see any more of him than you have to.’

‘I work for him. I see him in the club five nights a week.’

‘But you don’t have to have lunch and dinner with the man.’ Edyth lifted her legs on to the seat and wrapped her arms around her knees.

‘I do when he arranges meetings and lunches with BBC producers and impresarios like Stan Peterson. It’s business, Edyth.’

‘I can see that I’ve spoken too late. I should have said something sooner.’

Judy felt remorseful enough without having to cope with Edyth’s guilt. ‘You couldn’t have stopped it from happening.’

Edyth left the window seat and returned to the chair. ‘You saw what my marriage to Peter was like. If you get involved with the wrong man, as I did, you could be letting yourself in for a lot of heartache.’

‘I’m old enough to know my own mind, Edyth.’

‘I thought I was when I married, Peter,’ Edyth said with a touch of bitterness. ‘I just don’t want you to end up unhappy and full of regrets.’

‘I doubt I’ll end up regretful,’ Judy said wryly. ‘I’ve gone into this with my eyes wide open. I know that men like Aled James use women; I also know that they’re not the marrying kind.’

‘You know that,’ Edyth said wonderingly. ‘And yet –’

‘And yet I made love to him,’ Judy said defiantly. ‘It wasn’t one-sided, Edyth.’

‘You love him?’ Edyth asked wonderingly.

‘I suppose I must do.’ Judy was as amazed by the idea as Edyth.

‘How could you? You’ve just said he’s not the marrying kind and that means you’ll never be anything more to him than a mistress.’

‘Like you with Micah?’ Bitterly ashamed of the silence that followed her outburst, Judy said, ‘I’m sorry. I had no business to say that. But a person would have to be blind and deaf to live in this house and not know what was going on between you and Micah Holsten, Edyth.’

‘I know I’m not treating Micah fairly.’ Edyth suppressed a pang of guilt at the thought of the letter that lay hidden in her desk. ‘But that doesn’t excuse what Aled is doing to you. I’ve told you that he’s Harry’s half-brother. He threatened to hurt Harry. And he’s doing just that. He can’t get at Harry directly so he’s getting at him through the people Harry loves. David, me, you … the man is evil and vicious.’

‘He’s also capable of kindness. He knows Bay people. He tries to help them by giving them jobs –’

‘Like David,’ Edyth couldn’t contain her anger at the thought of Harry’s brother-in-law sitting in a prison cell because Aled James had persuaded him to break the law.

‘Edyth, the last thing I want to do is quarrel with you,’ Judy pleaded. ‘You gave me a home and a job when I needed them most. But I’ll understand if you want me to move out after what I’ve told you about Aled and me.’

‘If I asked you to move out, would you move in with Aled?’ Edyth asked.

‘No.’

‘Because he wouldn’t have you?’

‘Because I wouldn’t live with him even if he wanted me to. A man like Aled needs his freedom. I’d cramp his style.’

‘He probably has other women.’ Edyth knew the suggestion would hurt Judy but that didn’t stop her from making it.

‘I know.’

‘And you don’t care. My God, have you no pride?’

‘While I don’t know about them, I can’t care,’ Judy said practically. ‘Do you want me to move out?’

‘No. I want you to stay. You looked after me when Peter left. The least I can do is be there for you …’ Edyth couldn’t finish the sentence.

‘When Aled flaunts a new mistress in front of me?’ Judy suggested.

‘I don’t understand you,’ Edyth said sadly.

‘I don’t understand myself. I only know that I couldn’t stop myself from falling in love with Aled, and now that we’ve made love I want to wring the last drop of happiness from the relationship while it exists.’

‘Does he love you at all?’ Edyth asked.

‘I don’t know. I suspect not, but I like to think he cares for me a little, although I know I’m probably deluding myself.’

‘I hope I’m wrong but I suspect that Aled James is incapable of loving anyone except himself.’ Edyth heard Micah’s step on the stairs and went to open the door.

‘Edyth?’

‘Don’t worry, I won’t tell Micah or your uncles about you and Aled. But given the way things are in the Bay, I suspect that they’ll find out sooner than you’d like them to.’ Edyth opened the door. ‘Did you persuade Harry not to come down here tonight?’

‘I did.’ Micah walked in and sat on the sofa. ‘But he’s meeting me and David in a I early tomorrow morning before we have to go to the magistrates’ court. And he asked me to tell you that he doesn’t want you there. If all goes well, we’ll bring David straight back here.’

‘And if it doesn’t?’ Edyth had to ask.

Micah looked from Edyth to Judy. ‘There’s no need for you both to look so tragic. It will go well. It has to.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Another hour and I can go down to the station and pick David up. My bed in the mission might be hard and David may be used to a better supper than waffles, butter, and preserves in Helga’s, but mission hospitality isn’t quite as bad as that of the Maria Street police station.’

Edyth left her chair and went to the door. ‘What are David’s chances in court – the truth, Micah?’

‘That depends entirely on the magistrates. It’s out of our hands.’

Edyth forced herself to concentrate on practical problems as they were the only ones she could do anything about. ‘As you’re going to the station in an hour, can I get you something to eat?’

‘A sandwich and a cup of tea would be nice.’

‘I’ll lay the table for you.’ Judy left the window seat. ‘Please don’t bother; I’ll make up a tray. Besides, the car will be here for you soon.’

‘You’re going out?’ Micah asked Judy.

‘To the Windsor, for dinner,’ Edyth answered for her. ‘Judy is going to be singing on the wireless and she needs to sort out her repertoire.’

‘Congratulations, I always knew you’d get there,’ Micah said sincerely.

‘Thank you.’ A car horn sounded outside. Judy looked out of the window, saw Freddie and waved. ‘That’s my ride. I won’t be late, Edyth.’

Edyth grasped Judy’s hand as she passed her on her way to the door. ‘Good luck with choosing your songs.’ She kissed her cheek. ‘And look after yourself,’ she whispered in her ear.

Judy choked. ‘Give my love to David,’ she said to Micah before running down the stairs.

‘I will.’ Micah looked at Edyth. ‘For all her good news, Judy seems a bit tearful.’