Coming Home to the Four Streets

by Nadine Dorries

  The room was silent as Kathleen reached out and picked up Maura’s cup; Kitty gazed at her and waited. And from the moment she looked inside, Kathleen wished she hadn’t.

  ‘Oh, angels of mercy, why did we do this?’ She looked around the table at the women waiting on her every word with bated breath.

  ‘Why, what is it? What can you see?’ asked Maura.

  Kathleen took a shuddering breath. ‘I can see water, deep water, black and deep,’ said Kathleen. ‘And I can see a new baby in here, too.’

  Kathleen tipped Maura’s cup to the side. ‘Look, Maura, see, there’s a babby on one side of your cup and trouble all over the other – but it’s not for you. See those leaves there? They are a warning to us, to you.’ She tipped up the cup for everyone to see and they nodded in unison. Not one of them had a clue what it was she was talking about. ‘That’s the dockers’ steps, see, going down the side of the handle, there, and that crowd, that’s us at the top, and trouble. See that side,’ they all nodded, ‘that’s the water. There’s a dark cloud hovering over us and it’s waiting to do its worst. There is a baby and it’s not a baby to be – that would be a different sign – this is a baby that’s here. It’s a dark cup this is.’

  ‘Maybe one of the ships is going to sink?’ said Deirdre. ‘Have you seen the state of the Morry, it’s leaning over to one side.’

  ‘Good job all the men are sleeping in Malcolm’s and not on board in that case,’ said Biddy.

  ‘I know what it is,’ said Maura, ‘we’ve just crossed deep water to get here, the leaves are just a few hours behind, that’s all.’

  Shelagh, with hand shaking, held out her cup to be read and with an effort Kathleen took it. She did not want to see any more bad news. They all waited with eyes wide as she stared into Shelagh’s cup. The only sounds were the clock ticking on the mantelpiece, the gentle hum of the kettle on the range and the coals shifting in the grate.

  ‘It’s the same! The two cups are identical and I think I might know why,’ said Kathleen. They all knew better than to ask. It was not a question and they wouldn’t usually interrupt without being invited to do so. Kathleen was a seer. The dead used her to commune with the living via the medium of a nice strong cup of tea with two sugars. It was Annie O’Prey who broke the silence.

  ‘Anything about Frank the Skank moving in among us?’ she whispered, almost too afraid to speak. They all knew that her question was rooted in good sense. Jimmy would not last at home for five minutes with Frank the Skank as his neighbour.

  Mary shivered as she ran her hands up and down her arms. Next was Biddy’s turn and this time Kathleen gasped and banged Biddy’s cup onto the saucer. ‘It’s just the same! Never in all my years have I ever picked up two cups that were the same, never mind three of them, and that’s the message. It’s the steps, dark, deep water and trouble. Mary, pass me yours; it’s your first time and surely to God the spirits won’t make your cup a dark one for your first.’

  Kathleen slipped a glance towards Kitty and Bernadette; they were both still there and she could tell there was no objection to reading Mary’s cup, but the sense of urgency was building: they were letting her know she had to go.

  Mary wasn’t remotely nervous handing her cup over, she was excited.

  ‘Ah, ’tis a long and happy life you have ahead of you, Mary, and big change is coming. See there,’ she tipped the cup up, ‘you are going to be a woman of means and love is around the corner and with it, not because of it, I see success, business and independence and lovely hair.’

  Deirdre laughed. ‘Kathleen, that’s our Mary’s cup, not Elizabeth Taylor’s.’

  They all laughed as Mary blushed, but nothing could dampen the girl’s pleasure at Kathleen’s words.

  When she’d finished the last cup, and all the rest of them telling the same story, Katheen was as white as the sheets Deirdre and Shelagh had just placed on Maura’s bed. She put both of her hands down on the table and pushed herself upright with all the energy she had left.

  ‘Ladies, we need to put a guard on the top of the steps, see who goes down and, even though it’s pitch black, see if we can see anything down there. That’s where the leaves are taking us – and we need to split up too. It’s ten o’clock and I think it’s time for us to heave big Paddy out of the pub and tell the men we have trouble. There is no way Peggy would be out this late alone. Maura, do you want to stay here and keep an eye on the kids? Everyone else, I think Peggy is in real danger and we need to find her, urgently.’

  ‘I do not,’ said Maura just as Nellie walked in.

  ‘Harry is with little Paddy,’ said Nellie, who could sense that all was not right.

  ‘Grand. Nellie, would you stay here and I’ll go and check on my house – and Kathleen, I’m going to talk to little Paddy, see if he can remember anything about what Peggy said, and I’ll take my bag into my own house.’

  The warmth edged its way back into the kitchen and Kathleen was both sad and relieved to see that the ghosts of Kitty and Bernadette had left. Alice helped Kathleen on with her coat; she knew her mother-in-law well enough to sense that she hadn’t told them everything. As they reached the door, she held Kathleen’s arm and tugged her back.

  ‘Kathleen, what’s wrong?’ she asked.

  Kathleen grabbed her daughter-in-law’s hand and in the light of the overhead bulb, Alice could see that her mother-in-law was pale and beads of perspiration stood out on her top lip. ‘I couldn’t look any more, Alice. Death was in every one of the cups but Mary’s and I couldn’t say that, could I? And Kitty… she was here, Alice, behind Maura’s shoulder the whole time. I had to get everyone out.’

  Kathleen couldn’t tell Alice that Jerry’s first love was also in the kitchen she once called her own. Though Kathleen and Alice had had their differences over the years, the love Jerry had for Bernadette, that still burnt in his heart, was never spoken of, and was the root cause of all they had been through as a family.

  ‘Was it just Kitty?’ Alice asked, her brow furrowed.

  Kathleen squeezed her hand as she lied. ‘Aye, just Kitty,’ and as she walked out of the door ahead of Alice, she blessed herself.

  *

  Maura ran, fleet of foot, down the back entry, passing by houses where she knew every occupant, hearing the sounds of babies crying and familiar arguments taking place. As she drew alongside Peggy’s gate, she heard a sound which was unfamiliar to her: the sound of silence. She thought, as it was so quiet, the children must be in her own house and was desperate to set foot in it. She opened the back gate and caught her breath. She had lived in this house all her married life and yet never had she seen it so empty and quiet. Closing the gate behind her, she tiptoed across the cobbles, wondering why Deirdre hadn’t left the light on, and stopped dead as she reached her own back door; it was ajar and she could hear a man’s voice, but not one that was familiar to her. Her heart beat fast against her ribs and she held her breath to listen. Someone was in the kitchen… And then she saw torchlight sweeping across the room. It’s the flamin’ O’Prey boys, on the rob, she thought.

  A voice came clearly to her. ‘I called you as soon as I saw there were people in here, but now there’s no one and the place is empty but the fires are lit. What’s going on? Are you stringing me along because if you are, you won’t be getting your cut.’

  Maura tiptoed to the window ledge and peered through the nets. Despite her fear, her first thought was one of relief that Kathleen had kept them nice and clean.

  ‘Don’t you come the big I am with me,’ said a second voice. ‘You seem to be forgetting who’s the boss around here and who it is who employs you. Your Margaret should be very grateful she’s not living in one of the police houses on the Dock Road. And you won’t need this poxy house if you do your job right.’

  ‘I need insurance, in case it doesn’t come off.’

  The second man sounded impatient. ‘What are you talking about? I am your insurance. You have it already, if I turn a blind eye to the co
mings and goings.’

  ‘I’m not talking about being caught, but make no mistake, it would be worse for me as a policeman. When I’m gone, I want to know Margaret has a roof over her head, I owe her that. And now the Morry is in, Captain Conor and his band of merry men.’

  The second man snorted. ‘You’ll be wetting yourself next. A deal is a deal and tonight is the night. Nothing is going to go wrong.’

  It dawned on Maura who the second voice belonged to; it was Heartfelt. She almost gasped out loud.

  ‘All very well for you to say but something is going on, I tell you. I saw two women leave here, thought maybe they were squatting, but they’ve gone into a house down the road and we can’t hide the money in the copper boiler here if there’s women in and out.’

  Heartfelt walked closer to the window. ‘I think the Dohertys are back; I saw Tommy Doherty going into the Anchor with Jerry Deane. Don’t worry, though, I’m evicting the Nolans from the house next door on Friday morning and you can have that one, although if I were you, I’d be off and forget about Margaret. No one is going to suspect you – and Tommy Doherty coming back is going to look very suspicious. It won’t be difficult to point the finger of blame up the steps towards this house. Come to the administration building in the morning and I’ll set the alert off at about ten.’

  Frank looked around the kitchen; it would have been perfect for Margaret, so much nicer than the present tiny house they lived in, but still, as long as she had a house his conscience would be eased and she wouldn’t even notice he was gone.

  Maura heard footsteps. They were leaving! Praying that the wash-house door was open, she rushed in on tiptoe and closed the door behind her, peering through the gaps in the wood.

  ‘I’m off down to the docks,’ said Frank the Skank. ‘The Morry is in and I reckon they will be trying for a haul any time now.’

  ‘Why worry?’ Heartfelt asked. ‘You don’t need the bother. Concentrate on getting your Margaret in next door and then plan what you are going to do with the money. We didn’t clear the docks of bizzies so that you could go lifting collars, we did it to give us a free run, remember that. Don’t go looking for enemies. If Tommy Doherty is back, he’s not a man to be messed with, we need to be careful tonight.’

  Frank sounded concerned. ‘They reckon down at Whitechapel that it was him who murdered the priest; they just had nothing to nail it on him.’

  ‘Aye, maybe,’ Heartfelt said. ‘Who knows? But that priest was a baddun and I believe there’s more to that than we know about. It’s all the more reason to take care,’ he said and was away down the entry.

  Maura bit her lip and closed her eyes as, only inches away from her, Frank unbuttoned his trousers and relieved himself against the backyard wall. You dirty sod, she thought, resisting the urge to lift the washing paddle and hit him over the head with it. Buttoning himself up, he turned and stared at the wash-house door for so long that Maura felt as though she would pass out if she had to hold her breath a second longer. Then Frank walked away and the backyard gate slammed shut and she counted his footsteps down the entry until they disappeared.

  *

  Stepping into her kitchen, Maura flicked the switch and the overhead light spluttered into life. The kitchen was spotless, and she was home.

  ‘Oh, holy feck!’ she screamed as a rat ran across the kitchen door and, grabbing a kitchen chair, jumped onto it. Suddenly the door to the stairs opened and little Paddy dashed in and scooped up the rat, followed by Harry.

  ‘Paddy, what is that?’ Maura demanded, pointing at the rat little Paddy was slipping into his pocket, the intrusion of Frank the Skank and Mr Heartfelt instantly forgotten.

  ‘It’s Max, Auntie Maura, but don’t tell my da, please.’

  Harry was grinning from ear to ear and then he said, ‘Ma, did you hear all that? We were hiding on the stairs.’

  Maura jumped down from the chair as little Paddy said, ‘I did, and Frank the Skank is a bad man.’

  ‘He is, Paddy, and it would seem Mr Heartfelt isn’t the upstanding citizen he likes everyone to think he is.’ Maura pushed the chair back under the table as little Paddy walked over to show her Max.

  ‘Would you like to stroke him?’ he asked. ‘And Auntie Maura, who is being turfed out into the street? Maybe we should go and warn them. Is our mam back yet. Where is she, Maura?’

  Maura grabbed little Paddy by the shoulders and pulled him into her. ‘She will be here soon and no one is being turfed out, Paddy, no one.’

  Harry stood close to them and said to Paddy, ‘There’s no point struggling, Paddy. She does that to me too, you just have to grin and bear it. It won’t last for long.’

  And as Harry smiled up at Maura, he looked the happiest Maura had seen him since the last time he had been with his best friend in her kitchen. ‘You’re more like brothers, you two. I should never have let you be separated,’ she said as she stroked little Paddy’s hair.

  After a few moments he said, ‘Auntie Maura? You’re crushing Max.’

  ‘Well, I’m very sorry, Max. But shouldn’t he be in bed now, Paddy?’

  ‘Oh, no, Auntie Maura, rats are nocturnal, they run around the streets, they come up from the river and…’

  Maura shuddered. ‘Paddy, I’ve only been this close to a rat before when I was trying to clobber him with the end of the mop.’ She was keen to begin her search of the Nolans’ house for clues as to where Peggy might be. ‘Now I’m just going to check the fires upstairs, so you take Max back to his own house now, I’m sure he will be more comfortable in there.’

  ‘Ma might be back now,’ Paddy said hopefully. Maura smiled, but in her heart, she was not convinced.

  ‘Maybe, Paddy,’ she lied. ‘Off you run now, boys, and I’ll follow you in five minutes.’

  *

  As she made her way up the scrubbed wooden staircase, pleasure at the warmth of her house quickly replaced her anger at finding Frank the Skank in her kitchen. She could not fault the efforts of Shelagh and Deirdre – there was nothing at all for her to do and so she did what she had wanted to do for so long. She went into the children’s bedroom and there it stood, the old oak wardrobe and Kitty’s bed. She turned the key in the lock, the sound as old and as familiar to her as any, and reaching in, she removed Kitty’s dress, one she had never washed. Pulling it towards her, she held it to her face and inhaled deeply. The smell of Kitty assailed her senses, her eldest daughter, her best friend, her heart. She stood for a moment and let the fabric of the dress absorb her tears that fell every day without fail as she whispered, ‘I’m home, Kitty, I’m home…’

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Maggie had finished her second port and lemon far quicker than she had intended as a cheer rang out around the pub.

  ‘Jesus, are my eyes deceiving me?’ A voice rang above the cheers and Eric swivelled around in his chair and looked behind him to see who it was.

  ‘What’s the commotion about?’ asked Maggie.

  ‘I have no idea,’ said Eric, ‘but what or whoever it is, the entire pub is moving towards the door.’ Eric looked knowingly in the opposite direction, towards the back door. ‘I’m guessing that this would be a good time for anyone who wanted to, to leave and not be seen?’

  His question hung on the air and Maggie made her decision in a heartbeat. She stood, and feeling like a woman she had never met before, said, ‘Can you pass my coat, please? It’s behind you.’

  Eric, feeling like the man he had always wished he had been, picked up a bright green coat and said, ‘This one?’

  Maggie nodded, and without another word he slipped the coat up her arms as she scanned the bar. No one had noticed them, all eyes were on the front; and with a glance between them which conveyed a lifetime of everything both needed to know, she walked towards the back door, holding her breath and hoping and praying that he had no last-minute fears or hesitation.

  *

  It was Harry who noticed the woman acting suspiciously in the entry ahead of them and b
oth boys pressed themselves into the wall so that they could see what was happening.

  ‘Who is it?’ whispered Harry.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Paddy and they watched as a man turned into the entry and crept around the corner after her, but not until he had looked up and down the street and all around. ‘It’s Mrs Trott,’ said little Paddy then, ‘but she never goes out anywhere. No, it can’t be. There’s a mister with her and Mrs Trott doesn’t have a Mr Trott, that’s why I get all the biscuits she makes.’ And then, to his total surprise, the couple stopped at Mrs Trott’s back gate. Paddy gasped and couldn’t help himself as he said out loud, ‘Harry! It is Mrs Trott, and she’s with Eric, the milky!’

  *

  ‘Come here,’ said Eric as they reached the back gate and, reaching out, took hold of Maggie’s hand, relieved to find it was shaking as much as his own. ‘Maggie, are you sure about this?’ he asked.

  Maggie made to answer then frowned and said, ‘Did you hear something then?’

  Eric looked down the entry. ‘No. There’s no one there, it’s just the river rats come up the steps to the street because it’s getting cold down there.’

  For a fleeting moment the diversion had dragged his thoughts to the dairy, to Gladys, to his marriage. Was there something? Was it Gladys? A cat howled and Maggie, looking up at Eric, smiled.

  ‘Yes, I’m sure,’ she said. ‘It’ll be that cat – and I’m as nervous as a kitten myself.’

  His hand left hers and stroked her arm. ‘Are you sure you are sure?’

  Maggie didn’t hesitate; hadn’t she been dreaming about this possibility for longer than she cared to remember? Wasn’t it this thought that kept driving her to confession? Her wicked thoughts were all here as one, standing before her in the form of this married man she had known for more than half of her life.

  ‘I’m sure, Eric. By tomorrow I’ll be another day older. I do think I need another drink though, do you? I’ve got a bottle of sherry in, no stout though, I’m afraid.’