by Kitty Neale
‘Home, I can’t go home,’ Emily cried. ‘I’ve got to go to London.’
‘Are you sure you feel able to drive?’
‘Yes … yes, I’m fine now,’ she said, standing up. Though she felt unsteady, a sense of urgency kept her on her feet. ‘I must go. I’ve got to go.’
Emily brushed aside Mr Chapworth’s continued concern, her one thought to get to Pearl as she hurried as fast as she could from his office. She stopped only to get her handbag containing her car keys and then she was driving away from the school and towards London.
Pearl, my darling, her voice cried inwardly. Please be all right. Please … please be all right.’
Chapter Forty-Six
Derek had been worried about going back to the flat, but with assurances that local day and night shift policemen would regularly check the perimeters of the premises, he had finally decided that with his protection too, John would be safe. The CID had tried to talk to Pearl, but she was heavily sedated and hardly able to tell them anything, other than that the two men had been looking for Kevin.
Thanks to Lucy who had taken on the job of cleaning up the blood, everything had looked normal, but Derek wondered if any of them would be able to forget that night. The door had been repaired, with new locks front and back, and Derek thanked Eddie White for all he had done.
He didn’t want to leave John so hadn’t set up his market stall and the shop remained closed, but money was the last thing on Derek’s mind.
‘Emily, are you ready?’ he asked, noting that the strain of the last five days had aged her. Pearl was no better, and when they went to visit her she was still so sedated that she was hardly aware they were there.
‘I’m ready,’ she said, hooking her handbag over her arm.
‘Me come too,’ Nora said.
‘Yes, Nora,’ he said kindly, aware that without her getting loose and summoning help, Pearl might well have died.
‘What about you, John? Are you ready?’
‘Yes,’ he said listlessly.
Derek knew that John was finding it hard to cope. Emily was doing her best to comfort him, but as he’d lost his grandfather and had seen his mother being shot, it was proving impossible. John asked if Dolly had been told, so Derek had rung the psychiatric unit. He had spoken to one of the doctors who was reluctant to discuss Dolly’s condition, though he did say that she’d be informed when mentally able to cope.
What they needed was some good news and if Pearl showed any signs of recovery it would lift all their spirits. Hoping against hope, Derek drove them all to the hospital.
They returned disappointed. There was no change.
‘Eddie, I’ve been thinking,’ Lucy said that evening.
‘Yeah, what about?’
‘Derek isn’t working on his stall and with the shop closed too, there’s no money coming in.’
‘Oh, right, I suppose that means you’re worried about getting paid.’
‘No, it isn’t that. Derek won’t let me down, but what I’ve been thinking about is offering to open the shop.’
‘What about Nora?’
‘Derek isn’t working, John isn’t at school, and at the moment Pearl’s mum is there. They don’t really need me to look after Nora and I feel like I’m just getting under everyone’s feet.’
‘In that case, opening the shop makes sense to me,’ Eddie said.
‘I’ll have a word with Derek tomorrow.’
‘Yeah, you do that, but for now, how about giving me a cuddle?’
Lucy drew strength from being wrapped in Eddie’s arms. She hoped Derek would let her open the shop, but knew she had another, unspoken reason for wanting to do it. Derek, John and Emily were so upset, Nora too, and it was awful to be upstairs in Pearl’s flat when they were all there. She felt inadequate, unable to comfort them, but at least in the shop she’d be doing something useful.
At eight o’clock, Derek went downstairs when he heard a ring on the doorbell. It was the same two CID officers and Riley said, ‘Sorry to call at this time, sir, but we have a lead. We need to have a word with Nora Dobbs.’
‘Nora?’ Derek said, puzzled. ‘I don’t see how she can help you.’
‘It was something she said that we need to clarify.’
‘You’d better come in then,’ Derek invited.
‘Before we speak to her, can you tell us if you’ve heard of a man called Vincent Chase?’
‘Yes, he used to be notorious around here, but then he moved on to bigger things,’ Derek said and then remembered something else. ‘It was a while ago now, but someone told me that that Kevin Dolby was sniffing around for information on Chase.’
Riley nodded sagely at his colleague. ‘It looks like it’s all coming together.’
‘Yes, sir, it does,’ Shaw agreed.
‘What’s coming together?’ Derek asked.
Riley ignored his question, saying only, ‘We’d like to talk to Nora Dobbs now.’
Derek led them upstairs, and though Emily and John left the room, Derek insisted on staying while they spoke to Nora.
When they all sat down, Riley said to Nora, ‘Do you remember me?’
‘Yes, I does.’
‘That’s good, and do you remember telling me about the bad man who had funny hands?’
‘Yes, he bad man,’ she said.
‘Can you describe his hands for me – tell me what they looked like?’
She frowned then said, ‘Nasty!’
Shaw took over and asked, ‘In what way?’
‘I not know.’
‘Try to remember, Miss Dobbs.’
‘Why I got rember Miss Dobbs? I know that me. I’se Nora Dobbs.’
Riley smiled and took over the questioning again. ‘Yes, of course you are. Now shall we try again? Why did the man’s hands look nasty?’
Nora looked down at her own and then said, ‘Skin, it funny.’
‘Burns, is that what you mean?’
‘I not know what burn look like, but nasty, he had nasty hands,’ Nora said.
As the penny dropped, Derek jumped to his feet. He couldn’t believe how slow he’d been, how he’d only just made the connection. ‘Vincent Chase! I thought the bloke who broke in here was after revenge and now it all makes sense. It must have been Kevin who torched his place and Chase was injured in the fire. Where is he? Where is the bastard who shot my wife?’
‘Mr Lewis, we don’t know, but we intend to find out.’
‘How did you get on to him?’
‘It was through the woman, Adrianna. When we spoke to John he said it wasn’t her real name, though he couldn’t remember what her true one was. The alias name, Adrianna, and John’s description of her was circulated, and in a very short time another branch of the CID got in touch with us. They’re involved in an ongoing enquiry regarding an arson attack on Vincent Chase’s house in which two men died. Chase escaped, but it seems a woman who lived in the house with the name Adrianna, disappeared. She was one of his strippers, and from what you and your son were able to tell us, she then turned up at the cottage with Kevin Dolby. Added to that, we were also able to ascertain that during the fire at his property, Vincent Chase sustained burns to his face and hands. When we heard that, we remembered Miss Dobbs here telling us about the bad man with funny hands.’
‘So what happens next?’ Derek asked.
‘When we find Vincent Chase, we’ll pull him in for questioning.’
Derek thought about what they had on Vincent Chase and scowled. ‘He’s hardly going to own up to it. He must know that none of us saw his face, and I doubt Nora spotting the burns on his hands will be enough to convict him.’
‘There’s still Adrianna and she may know something,’ Shaw said.
Derek shook his head. ‘She’s probably long gone.’
The men rose to their feet, Riley saying, ‘We’re doing our best to find her, but I don’t think we need to ask Miss Dobbs any more questions.’
Derek walked them downstairs, and Shaw asked
before they left, ‘How is your wife, Mr Lewis?’
‘There’s no improvement,’ he said, and noted that Shaw looked sympathetic before they said their goodbyes.
Derek closed the door behind them and locked up again, his thoughts turning. Vincent Chase had been the one who shot Pearl, but Kevin had been the catalyst that caused it. Derek would never say it in front of anyone, but he was glad the bastard was dead.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Emily thought it was a good idea to open the shop and supported Lucy in trying to persuade Derek.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I don’t like the idea of Lucy being down there alone. Anyone could walk in.’
‘Derek, now that the police have a lead and are looking for those men, I don’t think we need to live in a fortress,’ Emily said. ‘I can’t believe they’d dare to come back.’
‘Who are they looking for?’ Lucy asked.
‘They’re after Vincent Chase.’
‘I’m sure I’ve heard about him, but it was years ago.’
‘Yeah, he used to live in these parts.’
‘And the police think he shot Pearl?’
‘It looks likely,’ Derek said. ‘They think he’s responsible for the fire at Dolly’s cottage too, that it was retaliation because Kevin torched his place.’
‘But why did Kevin do it?’
‘I don’t know, Lucy, but CID think it’s got something to do with Adrianna, who apparently was one of Vincent Chase’s strippers,’ he said, going on to tell her everything that had come to light.
‘Blimey, it sounds a bit complicated,’ said Lucy. ‘But as Kevin died in the fire the police will be after Chase for murder. I should think he’s lying well low and as his face must be well known to a lot of people around here, he isn’t going to show it. If you’re still worried I could ask Eddie to spread the word amongst the other stallholders. They can keep a lookout for him and an eye on the shop too.’
‘There you are, Derek,’ Emily said. ‘I think that sounds like a good idea.’
He still looked doubtful, but it was Lucy who pushed on. ‘Pearl gets a lot of customers from the college and the night school art classes. If the shop doesn’t open soon they might go elsewhere for their supplies and once they’ve gone, I doubt they’ll come back.’
‘Pearl wouldn’t be happy about that,’ Derek mused as he ran a hand around his chin. ‘All right, Lucy, you can open the shop, but not until I’ve rigged up some sort of alarm you can press to alert me if there’s any trouble.’
‘Thanks, Derek,’ Lucy said, looking delighted. ‘And you don’t have to worry. If you need me to keep an eye on Nora at any time, she’ll be fine with me in the shop.’
With the decision made, Emily’s thoughts turned back to her daughter. She had rung the headmaster to ask for extended leave and he had agreed to get a supply teacher in to cover her post; but even if he’d threatened to dismiss her, there was no way Emily was going to leave London until she knew that Pearl was on the road to recovery.
Tim had understood of course, said he’d drive down to see her on Saturday and she’d make up a bed on the sofa if he wanted to stay overnight. Emily hoped there’d be some positive news before then. It was dreadful to see Pearl lying immobile in intensive care. They had spoken to the surgeon and he told them that the bullet had lodged millimetres from her spine. It had been removed, but he told them that the needle tests he performed on Pearl indicated that at present she had no feelings in her legs.
On hearing that, Emily had broken down, but the surgeon told her not to give up hope. He said that Pearl’s lack of feeling could be caused by swelling around the damaged area, a natural process of the body trying to heal itself. Emily now clung on to that, but as each day passed without any sign of recovery, she feared her daughter was going to be paralysed for the rest of her life.
Despite what he had just heard, John was unable to cry any more. He wasn’t a child now, he shouldn’t cry, but lately he’d been unable to stop. The terror he’d felt when that man had aimed a gun at him, the horror of seeing his mother shot, and the fear of suffocation, haunted him.
John wanted to escape the terrible memories of that night, but every time his eyes closed, he relived them. It didn’t help that with the exception of when they went to the hospital, he had to stay in. He understood why his dad wanted to protect him, but the inactivity was driving him mad.
At times John felt that the walls were closing in on him, and he also resented not being told what was going on. It was for that reason that he had stood in the hall, listening to Lucy talking to his dad and gran.
He hadn’t understood it all, but enough for him to work out that Kevin and Adrianna had played a part in what had happened. His mum had been shot because of Kevin, and John felt that he was living in a nightmare. So much had happened in such a short time and his mind struggled to grasp it all.
His grandfather had died but he still hadn’t been buried, his gran taken into care and his mother had been shot. John then jumped when a hand touched his shoulder.
‘What you doing, Johnny? Why you standing in the hall?’ Nora asked.
‘I’m not doing anything,’ he snapped, ‘and stop calling me Johnny. It makes me sound like a baby. My name is John.’
‘I’se sorry,’ she said, her eyes welling with tears.
It wasn’t much, but making Nora cry was the final straw for John. If it hadn’t been for Nora, his mum might not have survived and now he’d upset her. He couldn’t take any more, couldn’t think any more. He ran to his room and flung himself onto his bed where he curled into a ball.
John closed his eyes, wanting escape from his tortured thoughts, and at last he fell asleep.
That afternoon, when Lucy asked him to put the word out, Eddie did just that, but it took him some time as every costermonger he spoke to barraged him with questions. He told them as much as he knew and they were united in wanting to help in any way they could. One bloke offered to get his son to run Derek’s stall for a minimal wage.
Like Lucy, Eddie didn’t think that Vincent Chase would show his face around there, especially in daylight, but Derek was sure to remain cautious at night.
Eddie thought it a wonder that newspaper reporters weren’t sniffing around. Maybe they hadn’t put it all together, but for how much longer? Vincent Chase’s place had been torched, then the shooting, and somehow a stripper called Adrianna was involved. This was followed by Kevin Dolby’s murder. It could have been headline news, but so far the story hadn’t broken.
‘Look at that copper,’ Arthur said, a costermonger who had worked the market for over twenty years. ‘He doesn’t look old enough to be out of nappies. In the old days you never saw a plod around here. We used to take care of our own, and if anyone needed sorting out, we’d be the ones to do it.’
Eddie knew his father had been one of the lads too, but when ill health had forced him to retire far too early, he’d handed the stall over to him. His mother had always dreamed of living by the sea, and so they had moved to Brighton. Eddie hadn’t been to see them for a while, but next time he took a trip he’d take Lucy and Clive along to meet them.
‘John, wake up,’ Emily said as she tried to rouse her grandson, surprised that the lad had managed to sleep for most of the day. ‘We’re going to see your mum soon.’
John rolled over to face the wall.
‘Come on, John,’ Emily urged.
‘I’m not going,’ John mumbled.
‘Not going!’ she parroted. ‘Why not?’
John suddenly sat up and like a volcano erupting, he yelled, ‘I can’t stand this any more. I can’t stand to see Mum like that. I’ve worked it out that she must have told that man where to find Kevin, but I don’t care! I’m glad he’s dead! This was all his fault and … and I hate him!’
Emily saw that John was shaking with anger and sat on the bed, ‘Darling, you’ve been through so much and no wonder you’re upset.’
‘Please, Gran, just leave me alone.’
‘It might help if we talk about it.’
‘No,’ was the short reply.
‘John, hate can eat you up inside. Don’t let it do that to you, darling. I know it isn’t easy, but try instead to forgive.’
‘Never! And what about my other gran? Her cottage is gone and when they let her out she’ll have nowhere to live.’
‘Oh, John …’ Emily said sadly.
‘I don’t even know how she is!’
‘Perhaps we can find out. I’ll have a word with Derek,’ she said, sadly leaving John’s room, but as they weren’t relatives she felt it would be impossible.
Derek was in the sitting room and when Emily walked in she said, ‘John’s in a dreadful state. He’s been through so much and he’s still worried about Dolly. He’s finding it hard to see Pearl so badly injured and he doesn’t want to visit her this time.’
‘I’ll try to find out how Dolly is,’ Derek said, ‘but John’s coming with us to see Pearl whether he likes it or not.’
‘I don’t know, Derek, maybe it would be best to let him stay here.’
‘I’m not leaving him on his own.’
‘If he doesn’t want to go, we can’t drag him there. Look, you go to see Pearl. I’ll stay with John.’
‘No, Emily, that would mean leaving both of you unprotected.’
Derek went to the telephone and when he got through he spoke to someone for a long time, his expression sombre as he replaced the receiver. ‘All they would tell me is that Dolly is unresponsive and unlikely to be released for some time yet.’
‘Could we take John to see her?’
‘They advised against it. Now I’ll tell John what they said, and also that I want him up, dressed and ready to go to see his mother,’ Derek said before he strode from the room.
Emily was worried about John’s reaction, but only a short while later Derek returned to say, ‘He’s getting ready.’
‘Is he all right?’
