by Kitty Neale
From a previous conversation, Robbie knew that Clifford worked in a unit assembling aircraft components. ‘How come you aren’t at work today?’ he asked.
‘I’ve had the day off to pick up the mother-in-law. She’s staying with us for a week. Mind you, if it’s anything like the last time she stayed I might well be doing time for murder.’
‘That bad, eh?’ said Robbie.
‘Oh, mate, you wouldn’t believe it. Take this morning, there’s me, minding my own business when … Hello, Jack.’ Clifford stopped relaying his troubles to Robbie as a short man in a flat cap and braces joined them in the smoky bar. ‘Rob, this is Jack. He works down the line from me.’
Robbie eyed the man up and down, always on the lookout for potential customers for his woman indoors. Judging by Jack’s age and his miserable-looking face, Robbie thought the old boy would have enough trouble trying to raise a smile, let alone anything else.
‘What you having, Jack?’ Clifford asked.
‘No, you’re all right, lad. I’ll get my own. They’ve docked my wages again this week so I don’t want to be getting into rounds. Pint, please, landlord, when you’re ready.’
Robbie thought it was rather amusing that the short man could barely see over the bar, but something else caught his attention when he pulled a small brown envelope from his trouser pocket and paid for his beer.
‘Take a look at this for me, Clifford. I’m not sure why my money’s short.’ Jack held out his wage packet for him to read the front.
Clifford scanned it then said, ‘Look down the bottom there. It says they’ve taken five shillings out for breakages.’
‘Five bloody shillings? The cheeky beggars. My Fanny’s going to do her nut when I get this back to her. I just hope we get a decent bonus in our December pay packet. At least it will cheer her up for Christmas.’
‘We’d be better off with jobs at that big Giles and West factory up the road. Bloody shame they aren’t recruiting.’
Robbie found the conversation drifting over him. He hadn’t seen a pay packet for some time and an idea had struck him. A plan was forming, one that could provide him with all the money he needed, and more – enough to go back to Battersea in style.
Malcolm stuck his head around Adrian’s office door. He appeared a bit awkward, which Nelly found amusing. He was normally so full of himself so she wondered why he was acting so skittishly.
‘Err, sorry to interrupt, but can I have a word with Nelly, please, Mr Ferguson?’ the driver asked, his face red and slick with perspiration.
‘Yes, Malcolm, but make it quick and don’t make a habit of it,’ Adrian answered mock-sternly, flashing a teasing smile at Nelly.
‘Thanks, I won’t be a minute,’ she said, her cheeks burning as she stepped outside, where she promptly rounded on Malcolm. ‘What on earth are you playing at?’ she asked, feigning anger. ‘Fancy coming into the office and asking for me. I dread to think what Adrian is going to make of it.’
‘Sorry, Nelly. I didn’t mean to get you into trouble or nothing,’ Malcolm answered with a hurt expression.
‘It’s all right, I’m only kidding,’ Nelly said, feeling the cold and pulling her cardigan closely around her body. ‘What did you want to speak to me about?’
Malcolm looked down, shuffling his feet. Nelly found his shyness cute, especially in such a large man. She felt sure he was trying to pluck up the courage to ask her out and secretly had her fingers crossed.
‘My sister got engaged yesterday and we’re having a bit of a party at home tonight. I wondered if you’d like to come along, you know, as my girlfriend?’
Nelly hid her excitement and said nonchalantly, ‘I suppose so. You can pick me up at seven, but now go on, bugger off and let me get back to work.’
Malcolm grinned widely. ‘Yeah, all right. See you later.’
Nelly watched as he walked across the yard to his truck, admiring his broad shoulders. She’d never had a boyfriend before and felt like she was floating on air as she returned to her desk.
‘So …?’ Adrian asked.
‘So, what?’
‘Did he ask you for a date?’
‘As a matter of fact, he did. I’m going to his sister’s engagement party tonight. Oh dear, what should I wear? He said I’m to be his girlfriend but what if his family don’t like me? Oh, no, look at the state of my hair!’
‘Nelly, slow down, woman! I think you need to speak to Dottie. Go on, get yourself off. I can see your mind won’t be on your work this afternoon so you’ll be no good to me in that state.’
‘But, Adrian …’
‘I said, go!’ Adrian rolled his eyes and smiled. ‘No doubt Dottie will be pleased to see you.’
Nelly wasted no time in picking up her handbag and dashing out of the door, calling her thanks to Adrian. The sky was grey but nothing could mar Nelly’s mood as she hurriedly made her way to see her friend. She couldn’t wait to tell Dorothy that Malcolm was her boyfriend.
Distracted in her thoughts and excitement, Nelly stepped out into the road, unaware of the black car hurtling towards her. She heard a loud hoot followed by the sound of brakes screeching on the tarmac, and turned just in time to see the horrified look on the driver’s face. Frozen with fear and with no time to react, Nelly braced herself as the car ploughed into her, sending her flying into the air. Excruciating pain ripped through her legs, and for a split second she lost her bearings as the world seemed to tumble and spin around her.
Then she closed her eyes, unconscious, as her heavy body thudded onto the car bonnet before rolling onto the road.
Dorothy was dreading the coming season, but hid her feelings well. It would soon be December, and memories plagued her. She had lost her baby just before Christmas last year, and then her mother on Christmas Day. It made the time of year almost impossible to celebrate, especially as she was still desperately yearning for a child. She would do her best and put up some decorations, but a deep sense of melancholy almost swamped her.
It was difficult to think of much else, but Adrian was due home from work at any minute so she turned the gas up under the saucepan of potatoes. Only moments later she heard the door open and Adrian came through to the kitchen.
‘Hello, love,’ he greeted her, kissing her on the cheek. ‘I bet you’re exhausted after an afternoon with Nelly jabbering on about her new boyfriend.’
‘What are you talking about? What’s all this about Nelly having a boyfriend? Has that Malcolm finally asked her for a date?’
Adrian’s eyebrows knotted. ‘Hasn’t she been round here telling you all about it? I gave her the afternoon off to come and see you.’
‘No, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of her since last week. Are you sure she was coming round here?’
‘Yes, well, I thought so. Oh well, I wouldn’t worry. She’s going to a party with Malcolm so she probably went home to get herself ready. What’s for supper? I’m famished.’
Dorothy drained the potatoes as she spoke. ‘Err … lamb chops,’ she said, but her mind wasn’t on the meal. Adrian had said he wasn’t worried about Nelly, but she was. It didn’t take all afternoon to get ready to go to a party and she wondered what could have happened to her best friend.
Chapter 22
A week passed and in Southsea Robbie was lining up his next big job. He needed to do a bit of fact-finding before he put his plan into action and intended to stake out the unit where Clifford and Jack worked, but he didn’t want to be seen.
At nearly six o’clock, knocking-off time for the workers, Robbie lit a roll-up and smoked it until he heard the sound of activity. He popped his head around the corner and looked towards the unit, seeing men and women leaving, some riding bicycles, with faces showing their pleasure at finishing work for the day. The poor buggers, he thought, having to slog it out from eight until six. You wouldn’t catch him going back to the daily grind.
This was the first stage of his fact-finding mission and Robbie tried to gauge how many workers there we
re as he calculated their wages. He counted about twenty, and some would earn more than others, but best of all, a Christmas bonus had been mentioned which would swell their wage packets.
Satisfied with what he had observed, Robbie went back to collect his car. He would have to come back again to check out how the staff wages were collected. He hoped they weren’t delivered as that would scupper his idea and he would have to come up with an alternative plan.
It had been a week since Nelly’s sister Linda had sent her husband to Dorothy’s house to inform them of Nelly’s accident. Now, with Nelly in hospital, Adrian had to work longer hours so was home later than usual. Dorothy was pleased when she heard his car pull up outside. It had been a testing day for her and she longed for a comforting cuddle from her husband.
‘I’m so glad to see you,’ she said, throwing her arms around Adrian as soon as he walked through the front door.
‘What’s wrong? Is it Nelly?’
‘She’s doing as well as can be expected. It’s just so upsetting to see her like that. She’s normally larger than life but she’s still not responding to very much,’ Dorothy answered as she left her husband’s embrace to walk through to the lounge.
Adrian sat in his armchair and picked up his pipe from the side table. ‘Try not to worry, love. Nelly took a nasty blow to her head, but the doctor said he expects her to make a full recovery.’
‘Yes, I know, but I’m worried about my dad too. I think his cough is wearing him down and he’s been tetchy today. I didn’t stay long at the hospital as I didn’t want to leave him with Mrs Hart for too long. It’s very neighbourly of her to offer to sit with him, but it didn’t feel right when he’s so unwell.’
‘She’s a good woman and I doubt she minds.’
Dorothy’s thoughts drifted back to the first time she had met Mrs Hart. She had appeared on her doorstep when Dorothy had been hammering on Adrian’s front door in search of Robbie. So much had happened since then that it felt like a lifetime away.
Quickly dismissing thoughts of Robbie, she said, ‘Nelly’s sister was there today. I thanked her for sending her husband round to let me know what had happened to Nelly and tried to give her his cab fare. She wouldn’t take it though. The poor woman looks run ragged, what with being pregnant and going back and forwards to the hospital. She seemed to think that Nelly looks a lot better. I don’t know, maybe she is, but I can’t see past her swollen face and plastered leg.’
‘The accident only happened a week ago, and if Linda thinks Nelly is on the mend already you can stop worrying your pretty little head. You know Nelly, it’ll take more than a car to stop her.’
Dorothy thought that Adrian was probably right. Nelly would be OK and her dad’s bad chest would hopefully improve soon too. In truth, what really hurt her was seeing the swell of Linda’s belly. Linda already had three children and was now pregnant again, whilst despite trying, Dorothy’s dreams of having a baby remained unfulfilled.
When Friday came around again, Robbie woke early. It was payday at the industrial unit and he was keen to put the next stage of his plan into action.
He followed the same route, and left his car in the wooded area before inconspicuously tucking himself around the corner from the unit. He was thankful to find the area was very quiet; the fewer people who spotted him the better. In a bid to disguise himself, he hadn’t greased his hair back but instead let it flop across his face. He was also wearing glasses, and hoped that would be enough to make it difficult for any witnesses to identify him.
As Robbie waited, a woman with a small child came around the corner. He instantly dropped to his knee and kept his head low as he pretended to tie up his shoelace. The woman passed and Robbie was confident that she hadn’t got a look at his face.
It was ten o’clock and Robbie was shivering with the cold as he began to wonder if he’d missed the wages run. Perhaps whoever collected the money from the bank had been the day before, or maybe it had already been dropped off. His doubts diminished somewhat when he saw a middle-aged woman and a young man leave the unit. Were they going to the bank to collect the wages? He intended to follow them to find out, and if they were he’d look for a spot where he’d be able to make the snatch.
As he watched them walk towards a small car, Robbie cursed his lack of forethought. The industrial unit wasn’t in the town centre and the nearest bank was quite a walk. Of course whoever picked up the wages would need transport. He hadn’t thought of that.
As they drove off, Robbie was thinking fast. His car was parked too far away to follow them so that left only one thing to do. He would have to wait for them to return, and if he spotted they were carrying a money bag he’d know they were the target. If they were, the theft would have to happen a lot closer to the factory than he’d anticipated. He’d bide his time and come back again, but there was no way he was going to back out of his plan.
Chapter 23
Though she tried to be cheerful for Adrian’s sake, as Christmas drew ever closer, it was a hard time for Dorothy. She had done her best and put up some decorations, along with a Christmas tree, but sometimes a deep sense of sadness almost overwhelmed her.
Nelly had recovered enough to leave hospital. Her leg was still in plaster and she was on crutches but apart from that she had mended well. Since she had nowhere to sleep downstairs in her own home, Dorothy had insisted that she come and stay with them, saying that, as she was there all day to look after her father, she might as well nurse her friend too. She genuinely wanted to help her, but there was some self-interest as well: Nelly was always so cheerful and maybe having her there would make Christmas more bearable.
‘Are you ready?’ Adrian asked, breaking into Dorothy’s thoughts.
‘Yes, I’ll just have a quick word with Mrs Hart and then I’ll get my coat. It’s kind of her to sit with Dad again.’
‘It is, but are you sure Nelly’s parents are happy for us to have her here? After all, it’ll soon be Christmas.’
‘They’re pleased about it as they’re spending Christmas with Nelly’s sister and her children,’ Dorothy assured him, inwardly thinking that it would be lovely at Linda’s house with the children so excited about Santa Claus coming. Oh, if only she was pregnant, it would have given her so much to look forward to, and might even have eased the painful memories of last year and of losing her mother.
Nelly was waiting to be collected. Adrian had agreed to her moving in with them, which was no surprise to Nelly. The man was obviously head over heels in love with Dorothy and, as long as it kept her happy, Adrian went along with anything she wanted. He was a bit like Malcolm in that way. Granted, she didn’t know Malcolm well, but he’d been to the hospital every day to see her, and never turned up without some sweets or something equally thoughtful. They still hadn’t had their date, but they’d shared a discreet kiss when no nurses were buzzing around. At first, Nelly had been mortified when she realised Malcolm was sitting at her bedside. Fancy the man seeing her in that state! She soon relaxed as she came to realise that he must be pretty keen on her. For him to see her at her worst and still come back for more spoke volumes.
It wasn’t long before Dorothy and Adrian arrived and, after saying her thanks and goodbyes to the nurses who had cared for her, Nelly gingerly hopped along the corridor on crutches to the lifts.
‘I can’t wait to get you home, Nelly,’ Dorothy said. ‘I’ve got a big black pen and I’m going to write something on your plaster.’
‘Trust you,’ said Nelly. ‘What are you going to write?’
Something along the lines of, “Look at me, I’m plastered.”’
Nelly laughed along with Dorothy and began to think that maybe it wasn’t so bad to have a broken leg. She was looking forward to enjoying Christmas with her best friend.
The following morning, Adrian woke up to the sound of the alarm clock. Dorothy was up before him and he could smell the unmistakable aroma of fried bacon wafting up from the kitchen. His stomach growled in anticipation of
a breakfast feast. Dorothy would normally prepare porridge or something she deemed healthy, but he guessed she was pushing the boat out on account of Nelly being there.
They’d made up a makeshift bed on the sofa for Nelly, but it wasn’t ideal. With her large frame he thought she might find it uncomfortable, but there was no way Nelly could have made it upstairs to one of the bedrooms, even with them helping her. However, the sofa would only be temporary as he intended to make arrangements for a proper bed to be delivered as soon as possible. It would’ve made life easier if they could have put it in Bill’s sitting room, but moving him out of there might be too much of a disruption for the old chap. When the bed arrived it would be a surprise for Nelly, and it would mean he would have to say goodbye to his living room for a while, but anything to keep Dorothy happy.
Adrian was already out of bed and half-dressed when his wife called that his breakfast was ready. The lounge door was open when he went downstairs and he could see Nelly sat with her broken leg up on the sofa, a tray on her lap.
Dorothy appeared in the hallway. ‘Good morning. Go and sit yourself down. We can’t have Nelly eating alone so we’re eating off trays today.’
Adrian didn’t mind and walked into the living room. Before Dorothy had moved in, most of his meals were taken in his armchair but that had all changed when she insisted they ate at the table.
‘Morning, Nelly. I don’t suppose you got much sleep last night?’ he asked, watching as she cut into a juicy sausage.
‘I managed to doze on and off, but I tell you what, if that wife of yours keeps this up, I won’t want to go home,’ Nelly replied, indicating the food on her plate.
Dorothy came into the room carrying Adrian’s tray. ‘Don’t get too used to it,’ she said to Nelly. ‘I’m only spoiling you today because you’ve had to put up with that horrible hospital food.’
