The Girl from the Corner Shop

by Alrene Hughes

  ‘Leave her alone, Gerry, she’s not interested in working in a club. She’s in the fashion business, a model. That’s how we know each other. Come on, Helen, I’ll introduce you to a few of the girls, bring your drink with you.’

  The ladies’ lavatory was down the corridor by the side of the bar. Inside, there were three girls: one putting on make-up, another brushing her blonde hair and one, who didn’t look much older than sixteen, was in her underwear slipping into a low-cut black dress. They were friendly enough and Helen asked them how they liked working in the club. They weren’t exactly enthusiastic – it’s all right, it’s a job, the money’s not bad.

  ‘Are you looking to work here?’ asked the youngest girl.

  ‘Do you think I should?’

  ‘If you think you’re tough enough.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Helen.

  ‘That’s enough!’ said the blonde, glaring at the young girl.

  Back in the bar Helen and Anna sat in one of the curved booths and spoke in a whisper. ‘What was that all about?’ asked Helen.

  ‘Some of the men are demanding, they drink too much and sometimes the girls are in the firing line. It’s not right.’

  ‘What about the management, can’t they stop them?’

  Anna shrugged. ‘Gerry tries but there’s not much he can do, especially if the man is a big spender. It’s not just the girls, there’s other things… I don’t know what, but I’m sure it’s not legal. I thought you might be able to do something.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Helen. ‘Maybe if you could find out more about what’s going on.’

  ‘All right, I’ll try. We could meet again at Kendal’s same time, next week?’

  ‘Yes, and in the meantime, I’ll speak to my sergeant, but be careful, don’t take any risks.’

  Helen left the bar and went out into the entrance hall, wondering what exactly she was getting herself into. She paused, looked up at the chandelier – surely this must be a respectable business. Then on a sudden impulse she walked across the marble floor to the double doors opposite. She was just about to open them, then stopped; someone was behind her. She turned. A tall dark-haired man in an immaculate hand-tailored suit, complete with waistcoat and gold pocket watch, stood watching her. His look was one of curiosity mixed with superiority.

  ‘Oh, I think I’m a bit lost,’ said Helen. ‘This isn’t the way out. It’s there, isn’t it?’ and she went towards the entrance door.

  ‘Just a minute.’ He came towards her, taking in every detail of her appearance. ‘I’m Henry Carter, the owner. I saw you in the bar with Anna, are you a friend of hers?’ His voice was refined, his tone clipped, well-educated, no doubt.

  She nodded. ‘We used to work together…’ She thought of Anna’s introduction earlier. ‘Modelling.’

  ‘A model. Of course, I should have guessed. What’s your name?’

  ‘Helen.’

  ‘Have you ever thought of working in a gentlemen’s club, Helen? It’s steady work and good money.’

  ‘No, I don’t think so.’

  ‘Hmm, that’s a pity. I’m looking for girls with a bit of class.’ He opened the door and went down the steps with her. ‘I’m off to London tomorrow, but if you change your mind, just let Gerry know and you can start right away.’ As she walked away, she felt his eyes following her and she just knew that she would see him again.

  Chapter 32

  It was still early and for a brief moment she thought of going to see Gwen, but could she turn up on her doorstep when they had parted in such anger? She had thought about her so many times since then. The baby would be gone and in a way she felt bad that she hadn’t given Gwen the money she had asked for, but she was certain she had done the right thing. Could she ever mend their friendship? There was only one way to find out.

  The door was answered by Gwen’s mother, all smiles. ‘Come in, she’s in her bedroom. Go on up.’

  Through the half-open door, she could see her lying on the bed. ‘Gwen, it’s me, Helen.’

  ‘Oh, Helen, you’ve come to see me?’ There was a crack in her voice.

  ‘Yes. I’m sorry, I should have come sooner. How are you?’

  Gwen rolled over and sat up. ‘I’m fine.’

  Helen caught sight of her middle. ‘Oh, are you…?’

  Gwen gave a half smile. ‘Yes, the baby’s still here.’

  Helen wanted to say she was so pleased about the child, but she wasn’t sure how Gwen felt about it. ‘You decided to keep it?’

  Gwen patted the bed and Helen went and sat with her. ‘I was at my wits’ end, you know that, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes, but what made you change your mind?’

  ‘I was so desperate that I went to the house where the woman lived, but I didn’t go in, it looked filthy and I was scared. When I got home, I was in a state and Mam knew something was wrong. I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer. Me and her just sat here in this room crying together. She said it didn’t matter the child had no father, we’d bring it up together, her and me. Mam turned it right round for me and instead of…’ She stopped, unable to say what could have happened, and wiped away her tears. ‘Anyroad, I wanted the baby so much.’

  Helen swallowed the lump in her throat. ‘I’m so pleased for you, Gwen.’

  ‘You know, I wasn’t thinking straight when I asked you to lend me the money to pay that doctor? You were right about what you said and I should never have asked you. Thank God you didn’t give it to me.’

  There was a knock on the door and Gwen’s mother appeared with two mugs of tea. ‘Isn’t she looking well, and what do you think about the baby?’

  ‘I think it’s great,’ said Helen.

  ‘I’ve already started knitting a matinee coat and bootees.’

  When she’d gone, Gwen asked, ‘Do you still see Frank?’

  ‘No, I haven’t heard from him in a while. I’m really busy at work.’

  ‘You know I didn’t tell him about the baby? I thought maybe I’d see him again, but he never contacted me. I think he’s gone off with the other woman I told you about. It doesn’t matter, I’m happy as I am.’

  Helen didn’t know what to say. She had told Frank about the baby and he wasn’t interested, but the mention of the ‘other woman’ made her feel she had betrayed Gwen, even though she had never encouraged Frank to fall in love with her.

  They parted again as good friends and agreed to keep in touch. On the way home she thought about the baby that was almost lost and how lucky Gwen was to have a family to look after her.

  She got off the bus at Dean Lane and walked up Church Street to buy some groceries. The greengrocer had bags of soup mix and he assured her they contained plenty of barley and lentils as well as the usual cabbage, carrots and parsnips. At the butcher’s there were a few ham shanks left, none of them with much meat, but the bone and marrow would give the soup a good flavour. At the bakery she bought a loaf and a slice of apple pie. She would make a big pan of broth to last her the weekend with the bread to dip in. The apple pie would be a treat with a cup of tea when she got home. Further along the street was a wool shop and she stopped to look in the window. She hadn’t knitted anything since Jim’s cricket sweater. On those awful days between his death and the funeral it was the only thing on which she could focus. After that she couldn’t bear to knit again but now, looking at the lovely wool, she longed to touch it. The bell rang as she went inside and the woman behind the counter looked up from her knitting and smiled a welcome.

  *

  The broth was barely simmering on a low heat and she was just casting on the pale blue wool for her new cardigan when there was a scream next door and what she imagined was someone running about and shouting. She put down the knitting, uncertain what was going on, wondering if she should go next door to Ada’s house to see what was happening. Seconds later, there was banging on her door and hysterical cries. She ran to the door and flung it open. Ada rushed past her into the house then turned and t
hrust the child into her arms. One look and Helen knew the child was unconscious.

  ‘I only left her for a couple of minutes then I heard her making these strange breathing noises. She was lying on the floor gasping. I grabbed her and ran. Help her please!’ The child was flopped like a rag doll, her face pale and her lips tinged blue. Helen laid her on the kitchen table, put one hand on her forehead and with the other she lifted her chin and quickly checked there was nothing blocking her airway. It was clear. Helen bent her head over the child, saw her chest rising, falling, and felt the flutter of her breath. The child opened her eyes and gave a loud cry.

  She handed her back to Ada. ‘I think she’ll be all right now. Can you see her colour’s come back? She might have had a fit. Has she been ill or out of sorts?’

  ‘She’s been grisly for a couple of days and she’s had a temperature.’

  ‘That’ll be it, then. Now what you need to do is to go right away to the doctor, just to be sure.’

  Ada, tears running down her face, hugged her little girl. ‘Oh my God! I thought I’d lost her. Thank you, thank you so much. If you hadn’t been here… How did you know what to do?’

  ‘First aid – it was part of my training in the police.’

  ‘I don’t know what to say…’

  ‘She’ll be fine now,’ said Helen, but still Ada stood there.

  ‘Look, I’m sorry about the things I said about you.’

  Helen waved her words away. ‘Oh, don’t bother about all that.’

  ‘But I do.’ She smoothed the child’s hair, again and again, as she spoke. ‘I wasn’t fair on you from the moment you arrived, I know that. You just seemed to have so much freedom and I was hand-fast to the house and the child. But I owe you for what you did today and if there’s anything I can do for you, anything.’

  ‘That’s all right, Ada. I’m just glad I was at home to help.’

  Chapter 33

  By the time Helen returned to work she had eaten all the broth, a lovely meat pie from Ada and had completed the back of her cardigan. She had also mulled over everything Anna had told her about the Calico Club and recalled what she had seen for herself, including the handsome Henry Carter who offered her a job.

  It was late afternoon when Helen got the chance to speak to Sergeant Duffy about Anna’s suspicions. She listened carefully and made notes and, when Helen had finished, she sat back in her chair and stared straight ahead. Helen waited and waited. Sergeant Duffy went back to her notes.

  ‘Right then. We think there’s illegal gambling, but this is a private club – a bunch of fellas with cards is not illegal. Then there’s the brothel…’ She shook her head. ‘Maybe they’re just hotel rooms. And unhappy girls in an intimidating atmosphere? Ach, there’s women all over this city in jobs like that.’

  Helen felt totally deflated. Sergeant Duffy was right, she’d heard things and joined up the dots, but there was no evidence at all. ‘Sorry, Sarge, I got carried away.’

  ‘Oh, hold on a wee minute, I’m not saying there isn’t criminal activity. You’ve got a nose for this sort of thing, Harrison. Get something down on paper, about what you’ve seen and heard, just as you’ve told me. I’ll send it over to CID, see what they think.’

  *

  On Wednesday Sergeant Duffy sent for her. ‘I’ve had a phone call from CID; they want to talk to you about the Calico Club. Get yourself over to Newton Street, but don’t get your hopes up, they’re up to their eyes with two unsolved murders and a surge in black-market crime.’

  It was a fair walk to Newton Street, long enough for doubts to set in. Who did she think she was, on her way to CID to tell them about… what? Her friend’s suspicion that something odd was going on at a gentlemen’s club? She could just imagine what they’d think. They left her waiting half an hour before they called her in.

  ‘So, you’re the girl who thinks there’s an illegal gambling den off Quay Street?’ Helen knew he was Detective Inspector Taylor by his name on the door and, by the look on his face, he was sceptical. She glanced across at DC Ken Kershaw, also in the room, and he gave her a nod as if to say, ‘Go on, tell him.’

  ‘Yes, sir, I had the information from a friend who works there and I’ve been on the premises.’

  ‘But you didn’t see any gambling, or evidence of a brothel?’

  ‘No, sir, but I believe my friend is a reliable witness.’

  He sucked on his moustache and turned to DC Kershaw. ‘I wouldn’t order a raid on the say-so of a prostitute and a WAPC. Could we not get a bone fide policewoman in there undercover?’

  ‘I doubt it, sir. They’d have to look the part… if you get my drift. Whereas Harrison here…’

  ‘I also have experience of working in a gentlemen’s club,’ said Helen.

  DI Taylor shook his head. ‘Really?’

  DC Kershaw went on, ‘Not only that, sir, she’s already worked undercover on the seance and clergyman investigation.’

  Now he was incredulous. ‘This is the girl who stood up to that prominent clergyman?’

  DC Kershaw nodded.

  ‘Excuse me, sir, you might like to know that when I was at the club, the owner offered me a job.’

  ‘Did he now?’ The inspector seemed to change his tune. He sucked his moustache for a full minute. ‘We could do with some positive publicity; the public think we sit here on our arses drinking tea. A headline in the Manchester Evening News and a few photos of criminals would work wonders for morale.’ It was as though he had forgotten Helen was there. ‘If we get her in there, who’s going to handle her for the feedback of information?’

  ‘I’d suggest a woman police sergeant—’

  ‘God, not another one. In my day, women in the police did the filing and answered the phone!’

  Things moved fast after that. It was agreed that Helen would meet Anna in Kendal’s as planned and they would go back to the club to let the manager know that she would accept Mr Carter’s kind offer of a job. Once she had started work, Helen would not return to a police station until the investigation had been completed. Every afternoon at four o’clock, Sergeant Duffy, in plain clothes, would be sitting in the last pew in the Hidden Gem church not five minutes’ walk from the station, to enable Helen to report on her findings.

  As soon as these arrangements were confirmed, Helen, under Sergeant Duffy’s direction, immediately sent a letter to Laurence telling him that she couldn’t meet him as promised on Saturday because she was being sent on a course in Cheshire to learn how to drive. She would write to him and let him know when she got back so they could arrange to meet up. She didn’t want to deceive him, but Sergeant Duffy thought it would be safer, while she was undercover.

  On her first evening in the club, she wore the cerise cocktail dress that Pearl had given her when she was waitressing at Fenner’s supper club. It seemed so long ago. How naive she had been then. These past months in the police had stripped the innocence from her eyes. She had hated the revealing neckline back then, but now she saw it as just another uniform to help her do her job. She had also taken off her wedding ring.

  Anna volunteered to show her the ropes. ‘It’ll be mostly waitressing to begin with. There’s no money changing hands. They sign a slip – every member has a tab and they can add tips. You’ll get those in your wages at the end of the week.’

  ‘What about the other room across the hall?’

  ‘That’s a men-only area.’

  ‘And upstairs?’

  She lowered her voice. ‘Some of the girls go upstairs with the men, you know what I mean? They earn more for that.’

  It was around eleven when Henry Carter arrived at the club. ‘I thought he said he was going to London,’ said Helen.

  ‘He was supposed to, but he had some other business, apparently.’

  Shortly after, Gerry asked her to go to Mr Carter’s office. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘He just wants to explain a few things to you.’ He pointed to a door close to the side of the stage, with a brass plate
engraved with the word ‘Private’. She knocked on the door and heard his distinctive voice call her in.

  He came from round the large desk and leaned back against it, his arms folded, with no more than a yard between them. There was a waft of some expensive masculine scent – she liked it.

  ‘How are you doing out there?’

  She smiled. ‘All right, I think. There’s a lot to learn.’

  ‘Yes, I’ll let you settle in, then I think I’ll give you some extended duties.’

  Her first thought was that he’d send her upstairs to the bedrooms. ‘Mr Carter, I’ll be blunt with you. I don’t sleep with men.’

  He threw back his head and laughed. ‘What, never? That’s a pity, but actually I have no wish to see you in that role. My idea is to do something I’ve seen in Mayfair: a striking woman in the entrance hall greeting the men as they arrive – a sort of hostess, if you will.’

  ‘I don’t think I’d be very good at that.’ She was really thinking about the gaming room. If she could get in there—

  ‘You would be perfect: a face to launch a thousand ships; tall and slender, with a strange sense of authority I’ve rarely seen in a woman.’ He went back behind his desk. ‘When I return, I’ll show you what I want.’ His voice was low and playful. ‘But for now, go and sell some expensive liquor.’

  Chapter 34

  Helen slept late on Sunday. The club had been exceptionally busy and she didn’t arrive home until nearly four in the morning. In the kitchen she filled the first of two large saucepans with water and set them on the gas so she could have a bath and wash her hair. Then she went out into the back yard to fetch the tin bath. She had just lifted it off the wall when she sensed a movement behind her and turned to see Frank, leaning against the coal-shed door.

  ‘Hello, Helen.’

  He looked tired and nervous, no sign of that anger when they last met, but she hoped he hadn’t come back to ask her again to marry him. ‘What do you want, Frank?’

  He looked towards the yard door and back again to her, as if deciding whether to bolt or stay. She waited.