Without a Trace (28 page)

‘Look around this room,’ she said, waving her arm. ‘There’s nothing of any value, not even a wireless. She would sit with her coat on rather than putting another shovelful of coal to the fire. Yet she’d use the coal if a visitor called, and give them the special biscuits or cakes that would have been given to her as a present. She lived her whole life for other people.’

Charley comforted her with a cuddle, and agreed that people as selfless as Constance were as rare as hen’s teeth.

‘And, on top of that, how will I be able to see you if I take this job?’ she sobbed out.

‘We’ll have to do what people did during the war and write to each other,’ he said. ‘I can phone you at the hotel, too, I expect, and I’ll buy a car and come down as often as I can. And later this year, when I’ve finished my night-school classes, I might be able to get work down that way with Wates. They’ve got projects coming up in both Hastings and Ashford.’

Molly brightened a bit at that. It meant that Charley was thinking long term about them. Yet, however much she wanted to be near him, she knew very well she couldn’t bear to stay on in this cold, depressing house without Constance. As for working at Pat’s, she couldn’t wait to hand in her notice. So, unless she miraculously found another job here and somewhere better to live, she had no choice but to go.

‘That would be something to look forward to,’ she said, and, remembering the advice she’d read in magazines about men not liking to be pushed into corners, she realized she’d have to try to sound more positive. ‘I’m sorry I’ve been such a drip, and a bit clingy, too. It’s just the shock of losing Constance. I’ve got to look forward, not back.’

‘So you’ll be leaving next Saturday, then?’ he asked, raising one eyebrow. ‘If you like, I could borrow a motor and take you down there?’

‘That would be wonderful!’ she said, hoping she could hold her emotions in check when he left her there. ‘I can’t wait for you to see how pretty Rye is.’

Charley went home soon after. Molly went upstairs first, to speak to Iris, and then went off to bed. Her room felt even colder than it normally did, and she huddled under the covers and cried.

Iris had spoken to Reverend Adams, and it seemed the funeral would be the following Thursday and he had all the arrangements in hand. He was expecting over a hundred mourners, and he had asked the ladies from the church to lay on a tea afterwards in the parish hall. Iris was as grief-stricken as Molly, and with more reason, as they’d known each other for years. That was a reminder to Molly that she didn’t have exclusive rights to Constance. Molly rang Mrs Bridgenorth to tell her, too. She was very upset, but she said she and her husband would come to the funeral, and she commiserated with Molly on what a shock it was, when they had thought Constance was going to recover.

In the days before the funeral Molly worked at Pat’s and spent the evenings helping Iris sort out Constance’s belongings. She had very little, and nothing of any value, but they put little ornaments, books and such like to one side to give as mementoes to people she was especially fond of.

Despite all the sadness at losing Constance, her funeral was uplifting, something Molly hadn’t expected. The sun put in
an appearance, and Molly thought half the population of Whitechapel must be there, crowding into the church, and everyone had something to say about how Constance had helped them in some way.

Reverend Adams spoke of her compassion, generosity and understanding of people. ‘True understanding is a rare gift, to know why people behave in a certain way and yet not judge them for it. I believe it is a gift God only gives to very special people who he knows will use it well. And he couldn’t have found a better person to give that gift to than Sister Constance.

‘I know from brief conversations I’ve had with so many of you in the last few days that all of you have your own little story of what Sister Constance did for you but, as you remember it, and perhaps share it with others, please don’t cry for her, because she wouldn’t want that. Just be glad you knew her and take that special quality she had into your own life.’

Molly bowed her head during the prayers, but she wasn’t praying, only thinking about what Reverend Adams had said. Constance had welcomed her into her home and shared what little she had with someone who was to all intents and purposes a stranger. She vowed then that she would make her friend proud of her, because that was the best way to thank her for everything she’d done for her.

Reverend Adams spoke to Molly later at the tea in the parish hall. ‘Many people here will miss you, Molly, when you move on to your new job. But you take all our good wishes for your future with you, and I know Sister Constance will be watching over you. Rye is a beautiful little town, and I feel sure you will be very happy there.’

A few days later, on Saturday afternoon, Charley bent to kiss Molly goodbye outside the George. ‘Don’t look so forlorn,’ he said. ‘You’ll soon make new friends here and I expect, next time you come up to Whitechapel, you’ll wonder how you could ever have borne to live there.’

He had borrowed a friend’s car to drive her to Rye and, once he’d met Mr and Mrs Bridgenorth, he’d felt satisfied he was leaving his girl in good hands. They were nice people, the kind that understood that happy staff created a happy hotel which guests would come back to. They understood what a blow it was to Molly to lose Constance so suddenly, and he knew they’d be kind to her.

But they’d been nice to him, too, insisting on him and Molly having lunch with them. He’d half expected to be shown the door once he’d brought her suitcase in, but instead they welcomed him.

Earlier, he and Molly had walked around the old town and had tea in a shop, because of the bitter wind.

Charley knew that Constance’s funeral had been very difficult for Molly. She had said that she felt she had no real position there; after all, she was the Johnny Come Lately, many of the dozens of mourners had known her friend forty years or more. She’d also had to witness her friend’s rooms being emptied out, and all she had was that tiny, icy-cold room to retreat to.

Reverend Adams appeared to have been the only person who had an inkling of how Molly felt. He’d given her Constance’s bible, which she’d been given as a prize at school. He told her that whenever she was feeling sad or lonely she was to open it at random and read a passage and there would be a message from Constance there.

Charley wasn’t one for thinking about God and had never so much as opened a Bible since leaving school, but he sensed that the reverend had made Molly feel a little better.

But, now, he had to leave Molly to return to London, and he didn’t like that she looked so terribly sad.

‘I don’t mean to look forlorn,’ she said, trying to smile. ‘I think I’m just worrying that I’ll be useless and they’ll give me the sack.’

‘You know that isn’t going to happen,’ he said. ‘Now, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go. The lights on the car aren’t very good, so I have to go fairly slowly across the marshes or I might end up in a ditch. The heater doesn’t work either!’

Molly flung her arms around him and he breathed in the sweet smell of her Blue Grass perfume. He wanted to tell her he loved her, but it was too soon for such statements.

‘Write to me,’ he said instead. ‘And don’t let the barman or the chef lead you astray.’

He jumped into the car then and coasted down the hill until the engine started, waving one hand to her.

When he glanced in the mirror just before turning the corner she was still standing outside the George and waving, despite the cold wind.

‘I love you, Molly Heywood,’ he said aloud. ‘And, before long, I’m going to marry you and make sure you never look sad again.’

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

‘You’ve finished the bedrooms?’ Mrs Bridgenorth asked as Molly came down the stairs carrying the carpet sweeper and a basket of cleaning materials.

‘Yes, all done,’ Molly replied. ‘Room six had spilt something sticky on the carpet, but I managed to get it off. Goodness knows what it was, but it smelled like cough mixture.’

‘It never ceases to amaze me what people drop in their rooms, what they leave behind or try to steal,’ said Mrs Bridgenorth with a little ripple of laughter. ‘You’re so quick, Molly. I thought at first you weren’t doing the rooms properly, but I’ve made quite a few lightning checks and they are first class. Well done.’

Molly glowed. She was into her third week at the George now, and she loved it. She’d been given a pink-and-white striped uniform dress, an apron and a little matching stiffened hair band with a lace edge for her chambermaid duties, and she so enjoyed being dressed for the part. For bar work and reception duties, she had a black dress with a white lace collar and cuffs, and when she was waiting on tables she added a frilly white apron. Both dresses fitted perfectly and looked nice, especially the striped one.

Everything about the job was wonderful. The hotel was always warm, thanks to old Albert, who came in early in the mornings and cleared the grates, and lay and lit fires in all the main rooms. The guests’ rooms had electric fires fitted into
the fireplaces and there was even a small portable one in her room in the attic. The food was lovely, too, quite the best she’d ever eaten.

Her favourite job was waiting on people at breakfast as, often, they chatted and told her where they’d come from and what their plans for the day were. She liked serving lunch much less, as some of the people could be quite rude. Being a barmaid in the evening was good, although Ernest, the head barman, was a bit stuck-up. He’d told her five years ago he used to be the head cocktail waiter at the Savoy in London and only left because his then fiancée was a teacher in the junior school here in Rye and they wanted to get married.

Working on reception was interesting, as she got to greet the new guests and resolve any problems they might have. There was also quite a lot of work organizing wedding receptions and private parties, putting on special buffets or sit-down meals and dealing with the music and flower arrangements. She thought that, in time, this would become her favourite role, but there was so much to learn it would be a while before she was able to handle it all alone.

This coming Sunday, she had the day off and Charley was coming down to see her. Spring had finally arrived and, unless it decided to pour with rain, Molly thought she would pack a picnic for them and they could have it in Camber Castle.

Cassie had mentioned Camber Castle in her journal a few times. She’d jotted down that it was built by Henry VIII as a defence for one of his Cinque Ports, but also that people claimed Anne Boleyn had been locked up in it by the king when he grew tired of her. Mrs Bridgenorth said she doubted that was true, but people liked to make up interesting stories about places. It was just a ruin now; sheep sheltered from the
sea wind inside its walls. Molly had walked out across the marsh to it the previous week on her day off. She’d eaten her sandwiches in the shelter of its walls, then climbed up on to what was left of the battlements to survey the countryside.

It had been a lovely spring day. Gorse had sprung into flower all over the marsh and the sweet perfume from its bright-yellow flowers hung in the still air. She loved the look of the black-faced sheep, apparently a much-prized breed known worldwide as Romney Marsh sheep, and lambing was in full swing. She saw twin lambs that day which could only have been born minutes before her arrival, so little and wobbly and utterly adorable.

Perched up on the castle battlements, the sound of curlews and gulls filling the air, Molly had realized that she was truly happy, perhaps the happiest she’d ever been. She was coming to terms now with the death of Constance, and was even a little glad that any suffering her dear friend had gone through was over. She was no longer brooding on the unfairness of her dismissal from Bourne & Hollingsworth. Dilys was back in her life again – only yesterday she had had a letter from her – and she loved her new job and home. On top of that was Charley, who never failed to telephone at six on a Friday, as he’d promised, and so far she’d had three letters from him, too.

If it hadn’t been for her sorrow about Cassie and thinking what more she could do about finding Petal, Molly’s would be the perfect life. But even Mr and Mrs Bridgenorth seemed to understand how important these things were to her.

She had been intending to pick an appropriate moment to tell them what had happened, to see if she could enlist their help but, as it turned out, Mr Bridgenorth asked her some
questions on her third day with them which led naturally into the subject.

Molly had been asked to take a tray of coffee and buttered toast up to the office for Mr Bridgenorth that morning, as he was working on the hotel’s accounts.

‘Hullo, Molly,’ he said as she came in. ‘How are you settling in?’

He was a tall, slender man with very bony features, not unattractive, but she’d been told he tended to be ill at ease with people, so she was quite surprised at his cheery interest in her.

Trudy, one of the cleaners, who had worked here for years, had told her the background of most of the staff at the hotel. She said that Mr Bridgenorth was an accountant and that, when he married Evelyn, who had been brought up in the hotel trade, he had agreed to handle the business side of the hotel, as long as she took care of the day-to-day running of it.