by Nancy Carson
‘I’m going to see Sarah now, Father.’ She relieved him of the empty cup, put it back on the tray, and settled him in his bed again. She picked up the cup she had poured for herself and took it with her to Sarah’s room.
‘I met somebody today in the town I hadn’t seen for a long time,’ Daisy said conversationally, sitting on the edge of Sarah’s bed with her tea cup held between two hands.
‘I thought you seemed a long while.’
‘Well, we had a good long chat. It was very enlightening.’
‘Oh? Who was it?’
‘Do you remember me mentioning a maid I employed when I lived with Lawson in Himley Road? An Irish girl called Caitlin O’Flanagan?’
‘Vaguely.’
‘She was the one who I caught with Lawson at that house in Netherton. She was the reason he and I parted.’
‘Oh, that one …’
‘Well, when I discovered she and Lawson were … you know … lovers … I thought of her as the most despicable kind of Jezebel. Funny, isn’t it, how incidents tend to change your perceptions of somebody? I mean, when I first met her she seemed such a decent, honest girl. I took to her at the time, and what happened afterwards made me change my mind. But after talking to her today I’m sure my first impression was right. I believe she is a decent, honest girl after all. She was just cruelly misled. Shall I tell you what happened to her?’
Sarah shrugged with uncertainty, avoiding Daisy’s eyes. She had an uncomfortable suspicion where this might be leading.
‘Well, Lawson made her pregnant, you know. She was madly in love with him and he knew it. Anyway, one night he asked her to prove how much she loved him. He told her that if she truly loved him she’d be prepared to do anything for him, even sleep with another man if he asked her to. And he did ask her. Can you believe that, our Sarah? Caitlin refused at first, but to persuade her he gave her some dope. She said the dope made her feel all nice and cosy and safe and she didn’t mind his friend doing all those things to her. When Lawson asked her again, she was glad to do it because it meant she would have some more dope. When she asked for more, he said she had to earn it and he put her in one of his brothels. She reckons she had to have sexual intercourse with as many men in a day and night as wanted her. Can you believe that, our Sarah? Don’t you think that’s terrible?’
Sarah nodded half-heartedly, biting her bottom lip as she studiously avoided Daisy’s eyes.
‘By the time she was due to have her baby, Lawson kicked her out because she was no further use to him. And you know what happened to her?’ Sarah shook her head. ‘She was picked up from the gutter and taken to the workhouse. But you know, through all her trouble she was determined to raise her baby and stop using dope forever. I think she’s been very brave, very determined. She had nobody, Sarah. Nobody. All she has now is her baby, and she loves that child with all her heart.’
‘I loved Harry, Daisy. I still love him.’
‘Oh, I know that,’ Daisy said gently. ‘But I thought what a coincidence it was that both of you should have had a baby, and both of you had this hankering for opium.’ Daisy looked at her sister knowingly. ‘It’s quite a coincidence as well that both of you knew Lawson … Isn’t it?’
Sarah looked down at her fingers, which were fiddling nervously with the edge of the sheet, her loose hair falling forward, half covering her face. She sniffed, but said nothing. She sniffed again and with the back of her long, slender hand wiped her right eye. Conscious that Daisy was watching her, she looked up.
Daisy saw the tears streaking down her face and knew for certain that this was exactly what had happened to Sarah. She too had been one of Lawson’s innocent victims. She shifted across the bed and slid her arms around Sarah, drawing the girl to her. The younger girl’s head rested against Daisy’s chest and, as she gave her a reassuring hug, Sarah began sobbing. She sobbed for a long time, neither girl speaking, apart from Daisy’s whispered consolations. It was good for her sister to cry like this. It all helped to get the hurt, the guilt, the grief of losing the child, out of her system.
‘It doesn’t matter to me that you had an affair with Lawson,’ Daisy said, when Sarah’s blubbering had subsided. ‘Feel sorry for yourself, not for me. Don’t you see, he’s a cad. He keeps a bawdy house and brothels. He puts girls like you through hell to feed his vile self-conceit and fill his wallet with money they’ve earned. He’s the worst kind of parasite. He should be locked up … I suppose he promised you the earth?’
Sarah nodded as she dabbed her reddened eyes with a handkerchief. ‘He told me he loved me, Daisy. I thought he wanted to marry me. And I idolised him.’
‘You poor, poor fool.’ Daisy consolingly ran her fingers through Sarah’s hair. ‘Why don’t you tell me all about it. Get it off your chest. It’s something we have to discuss. Tomorrow I’m meeting Caitlin again and we’re going to the police station. I’m going to report him. I’m going to get him put away. He won’t get away with it.’
Sarah sniffed and sighed, dried her eyes. ‘It was when you’d left him to live with your John Gibson. He met me from work one afternoon, told me he was glad you’d gone, that it was me he’d loved all along. He said we should start courting and we could all stay in the house in Paradise for nothing. He took me to that house he keeps in Netherton and … well …’
‘He seduced you …’
‘It was my first time, Daisy, honest. I’d never been with a man before that.’
‘Caitlin said the same thing … Maybe he’s got a passion for virgins. Why would that be, I wonder? I would’ve thought he’d prefer girls with some experience … But then there’s always the chance of picking up some venereal disease, I suppose.’ It was then that Daisy realised she’d been a virgin too. She recalled Lawson’s glassy-eyed delight at the prospect of waiting till their wedding night to savour her virginity. ‘And then I bet he asked you to prove you loved him by agreeing to go to bed with other men. Is that what happened next, Sarah?’
‘Yes, but not till we’d been courting for a while.’
‘Till he’d got tired of you …’
Sarah shrugged. ‘Maybe … But I didn’t want to go with anybody else. I was in love with him. I only wanted him. But he gave me the dope. Same as he did that Caitlin.’
‘And then you realised you were pregnant?’
‘Yes …’ Her voice tailed off. Then, more earnestly, she said, ‘It’s funny you mentioning about virgins, Daisy …’
‘Oh?’
‘Well, he couldn’t get over how young I was … I was still only fifteen, but he said I looked even younger. I heard him say he could get more for me if I pretended to be a virgin …’
Daisy uttered a laugh of derision. ‘Well, how can you pretend to be a virgin when you’re not? Either a girl is a virgin or she’s not. Men can tell the difference, surely.’
‘Oh, it’s easy faked, our Daisy. It’s something he made the younger girls do.’
‘How? I don’t understand.’
‘I had to squat over a bucket of hot vinegar and water with myrrh and acorns in it. Every day. The steam off it was supposed to tightened me up.’
Daisy tutted in disgust and disbelief. ‘And did it?’ she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
‘It seemed to … Then, before I saw the client, I had to shove up a scrap of sponge that’d been soaked in blood, to make it look as though I’d bled after.’
‘You mean, so that when he entered you, the pressure would squeeze out the blood?’
‘Yes. All I had to do was yowk a bit, to make it sound convincing. It seemed to fool ’em all.’
‘And Lawson made you do all that?’
‘Yes.’
Daisy shook her head. ‘He’s unbelievable. Every time anybody speaks about him it exposes new depths of his depravity. Do you remember anybody called Alexander Gibson? You might remember him from your days at the Cooksons.’
‘Yes, there was a man who was familiar to me. A real swell. Getting on a bit.�
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‘I bet that was him … But it must have been awful for you …’
‘Oh, it wasn’t so bad, our Daisy. Some of these chaps were quite nice. Some did it ever so nicely. I quite liked it …’
‘Sarah!’
‘It might sound awful but it’s true. You want me to tell the truth, don’t you? I had my regulars who liked me. I didn’t have to pretend to be a virgin with them after the first time …’
Daisy sighed. ‘But as your belly got bigger, he could hardly pass you off as a virgin anyway.’
‘No, that’s when he made me work as an ordinary prostitute.’
‘And what did he pay you for this work?’
‘Nothing. He never paid me a penny.’
‘But you’d given up your job at the leather works by this time, I suppose.’
‘Oh yes. I didn’t have no time for that.’
‘My God, it’s a wonder you didn’t catch anything.’
Sarah shrugged again. ‘Well, I don’t think I did.’
‘Do you think we should get Dr McCaskie to examine you?’
‘I din’t catch anything, Daisy,’ Sarah insisted. ‘I just told you. He had me checked regular.’
‘Oh, Sarah, my poor little sister.’ Daisy hugged her again. ‘After all that, doesn’t your own determination make you want to win through and put it all behind you?’
‘If I could just get through one day without aching for some dope I know I’d soon get well again.’
Daisy reached for her cup and finished the rest of her tea which was only lukewarm by this time. ‘I have an idea,’ she said. ‘I have an idea that I’m sure would help you …’
Early the next morning, Daisy called once more at Dr McCaskie’s surgery. She explained her concern for her father and he promised to call later that day.
‘Can you make it late afternoon?’ she suggested. ‘I’m going to the police station when I leave here.’
‘The police station? May I ask why?’
She told him what she had discovered during her meeting with Caitlin, and Sarah’s subsequent confession.
‘That man should be brought to book,’ he replied sombrely.
‘I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I’m going to the police.’
‘Then you can count on my support, Mrs Maddox. If you need a witness I’d be happy to stand. You can’t go around ruining the lives of decent young women, like he has. Good Lord, I’ve seen the proof of it and no mistake.’
‘Thank you, Dr McCaskie. But somebody – presumably a doctor – is checking these girls for venereal disease. If we knew who it was he could be a valuable witness too.’
‘It might not be any doctor we know of. Any unqualified quack could do it if he knows what to look for. But let’s hope it’s no quack.’
Daisy left the surgery and was just in time to meet Caitlin with her baby. Caitlin smiled amiably when she saw Daisy and they made their way to the police station, while Daisy told her Sarah’s story.
Dudley police station and lock-up in Priory Street was a parody of the old Norman castle which overlooked it, built in local brick. Its square, ivy-clad towers were castellated and decorative arrow slits adorned the adjoining walls. Beyond the wrought-iron railings that protected it from the marauding public lay a broad path that mimicked a drawbridge which, in turn, led to a gate that was meant to resemble a portcullis. Together Daisy and Caitlin walked beneath the jutting blue lamp and the coat of arms, through the heavy gate. Through a door across the inner courtyard, they were greeted affably by a constable at the counter.
‘I’d like to see an inspector, please,’ Daisy requested sombrely.
‘An inspector, eh. Well, I think the inspector on duty might be a bit too busy to see anybody right now, ma’am. If you’d like to tell me what it’s all about, I daresay I can help.’
‘It’s something I’m only prepared to discuss with an inspector,’ she answered, remembering the too-friendly greeting between a police constable and Lawson the night he had lain in wait for her. ‘I have a very serious complaint to register that needs urgent police attention. Please ask an inspector to come and talk to me. We shall not move from here until one does.’
Caitlin watched Daisy with ever-increasing regard as the constable left the desk and sauntered through a doorway behind him. A few minutes later he returned with a poker-faced inspector and indicated the two women who wished to see him.
‘Inspector Marsh at your service.’ He looked at Caitlin and her baby suspiciously. ‘How can I be of help?’
‘Can we go somewhere a little more private?’ Daisy suggested, looking round her. ‘What I have to say is not for delicate ears. I would hate it to be overheard.’
‘Very well,’ the inspector said reluctantly, intrigue getting the better of him. ‘Come with me …’
They followed him to a room that was lit by an electric light and furnished with four chairs and a desk strewn with papers. On the wall were pinned up various notices, most of which were out of date. A fire was dying in its small cast-iron grate on one side of the room. The inspector poked the fire, picked up the scuttle that stood on the hearth and tipped on a few lumps of coal.
‘Please sit down,’ he said as he rubbed his hands together to get rid of the coal dust. He lit a cigarette. ‘Now … How may I help you, ladies?’
Daisy began at the beginning. She told all, explaining in explicit detail about Caitlin and Sarah and their ordeals at the hands of Lawson Maddox. Inspector Marsh listened attentively, eyes focused on Daisy as he drew repeatedly on his cigarette. He finished it and lit another. His expression gave nothing away, although he glanced curiously at Caitlin from time to time.
‘And you maintain that this young woman here, this Miss O’Flanagan, worked as a prostitute for Mr Maddox against her will?’ Scepticism was evident in his expression.
‘Against her will and against her nature.’
He looked at Caitlin again with distaste. ‘Where was that, Miss?’
‘I … I’m not really sure where it was … I was doped when he took me there, you see. I was barely sensible.’
He rolled his eyes disdainfully. ‘I would need an address. No address, no evidence.’
Daisy recalled that she had seen the evidence, but she did not have it. The list of properties she had found in his desk once gave the addresses that could indict Lawson. But she could not recall them. If only she’d been more curious. If only she’d made a note.
‘So …’ the inspector went on, looking disdainfully at Caitlin. ‘You claim you were not taken willingly to wherever it was?’
‘How could she be willing if she was under the influence of that vile drug?’ Daisy asked testily. ‘She’s just said she was hardly aware of what was going on.’
‘But she put up no resistance either?’
‘How could she?’
‘I am merely trying to establish this, Madam – if she did not resist, then by definition she went of her own free will.’
Daisy sighed with frustration. ‘Is there somebody of higher standing we could speak with? I can see you’re not very sympathetic to what we’re saying. A man out there is breaking the law, making the lives of certain decent young women miserable and wretched, not to mention breaking the hearts of their families. And you act as if you’re totally uninterested.’
‘No, hold your horses, Madam. Of course I’m interested. But in order to bring a case before the courts we need evidence. Hard evidence—’
‘Isn’t Miss O’Flanagan evidence enough? Is not my sister at home evidence? Her doctor has seen the proof of what we’re saying. He is quite prepared to give evidence. Besides, how can you not already know these places exist? It’s beyond belief. You are the police after all, the guardians of the peace.’
The inspector shrugged. ‘With respect, how do I know Miss O’Flanagan here and your absent sister haven’t got a vendetta against Mr Maddox? How do I know they’re both not making it all up? If they were doped, how do we know it wasn’t all a dre
am?’
Daisy tapped her index finger on own chest repeatedly. ‘I am married to the beast. I know him. I know what he’s capable of …’
‘The tone of your voice illustrates precisely my point, Mrs Maddox. How do I know you don’t have a vendetta against him? How do I know you’re not seeking revenge for something he might have done against you?’
‘Be assured, Inspector Marsh …’ She struggled to stifle her indignation. ‘But this is getting us nowhere. We are wasting our time here. If you won’t do anything. If you won’t arrest him …’
‘How can I arrest a man merely on what you’ve said? Where is the evidence? I need to know where these so-called brothels are. We need to raid them and catch people in the act. We need to have the proof that he owns the properties. Thus we would need a warrant to search his house for the deeds to these places. You are making very serious allegations. Before we do anything we need to be sure of what we’re doing. We need to plant police officers in these places, who can find out what’s really going on and report back.’
‘Oh, they’d enjoy that, no doubt,’ Daisy responded caustically. ‘They’d enjoy being drawn into Lawson Maddox’s net.’
‘You do our officers a disservice, ma’am. They are not corrupt, as you imply.’
‘Nor corruptible either?’
‘Nor corruptible either.’
‘I have my doubts,’ she said scornfully, recalling the illegal cockfight at the Old Bush when Lawson implied that he had paid off the constable to turn a blind eye.
‘Have you considered bringing a private prosecution against Mr Maddox, Mrs Maddox?’ the inspector asked, changing tack.
‘Do I look as if I could afford it? In any case, this is surely a police matter. An opportunity to rid the community of this evil. Why should it be left to me to pay?’
‘It was just a suggestion.’
Daisy stood up. ‘Thank you for your time, Inspector Marsh. But I don’t think you have heard the last of this.’
As she had promised, Daisy stood Caitlin dinner again in the Fountain Dining Rooms. Before they ate, the young Irish girl went to the new water closet that had been installed recently and changed the baby’s napkin. That done, she opened the front of her blouse and fed the child, hidden from the eyes of strangers. She returned to the table and Daisy told her she had ordered their food. Caitlin settled the baby in her arms, rocking her gently to try to get her back to sleep.
