by Cathy Sharp
‘You must never go there again,’ she repeated. ‘Please promise me you won’t, Amy. I should never forgive myself if …’
‘If he tried it on with me? He has already made suggestions,’ I said and frowned. ‘At the dance last evening. He said that he could help me develop my talents as a dress designer and other things …’
Lainie shuddered. ‘Don’t listen to him. Whatever he promises you, don’t listen, Amy.’
‘I shan’t,’ I said. ‘Stop worrying, Lainie. I have already made up my mind not to go there again. I don’t trust Mr Maitland; he seemed nice at first but I’ve realized that he probably isn’t. I don’t want anything to do with him, but he doesn’t frighten me. If I wanted to continue my friendship with Mary I would simply ignore him, but I don’t think there’s much point to it now.’
‘Philip Maitland isn’t the kind of man you can just ignore,’ Lainie said. ‘But if you stop going there he may forget about you.’
‘Of course he will,’ I reassured her. ‘And if he does try to make me an offer, I shall simply tell him I’m not interested. Besides, I’m not going to be here for a while, am I?’
‘No, and perhaps that is just as well,’ she said.
‘I’m sorry to let you down, but I think Mum needs me more at the moment.’
‘Yes, I am sure she does,’ Lainie said and smiled. ‘I shall miss you, Amy, but you needn’t take all your things. You can come back when your father is better – if you want to?’
‘Yes, of course I do. I have enjoyed working for you – and I’m sorry we quarrelled over John.’
‘Yes, so am I,’ she agreed. ‘I haven’t forgotten that you had money missing too, Amy. I’m going to get to the bottom of this, but it will keep until John comes to see me next time.’
‘I’m sure it was all a mistake,’ I said, and I genuinely hoped it was, because it would hurt her so much to know that her son had stolen her money.
‘The money was there,’ she said. ‘Someone took it, Amy. I’m just not certain who that someone was …’
Mum held me in her arms for several minutes when we met the next day. Both of us had tears trickling down our cheeks. My mother took out her handkerchief and wiped mine away, just as she had when I was a little girl.
‘I’m so glad you’re here, Amy,’ she said. ‘Your father seems not too bad this morning, just a bit tired. I’ve told him you’re coming and he asked me to send you up straight away.’
‘I’ll go up then,’ I said. ‘And then I’ll do the ironing for you.’
‘There’s no need for that, love. Just having you here is tonic enough for me.’
‘I would like to do it as we talk,’ I said. ‘Just the two of us, in the kitchen.’
‘All right. I’ll make a start on the dinner then.’
I left her smiling and went up to my father. He held out his hand to me and I walked over to the bed to kiss him on the cheek.
‘What are you doing home?’ he challenged. ‘Shouldn’t you be at work?’
‘I’m taking a few days off to help Mum.’
‘Yes, that’s a good idea,’ he said approvingly. ‘Just as long as you haven’t come to make a fuss over me.’
‘As if I would!’
‘As if,’ he repeated and grinned. ‘I dare say I’ve been overdoing things a bit. The doctor says this is a warning to slow down, so maybe it’s time. I shall probably rest for a while and then start to sell off some of my interests. See if I can persuade your mother to retire to a country cottage with roses growing round the door.’
‘Some hope of that,’ I said, and laughed because I knew he was only teasing. ‘Besides, it would drive you mad after a week.’
‘Never was one for gardening much,’ he agreed. ‘But I shall certainly take things easier. I’ve been thinking of asking Matthew if he will come in with me and help out. I know he wanted his own shop, but I’ve got three of them and I need someone to run them for me.’
‘You’ve got three shops? Men’s outfitters? Where? It’s the first I’ve heard of them, Dad.’ I stared at him in amazement and he grinned.
‘Up West, as a matter of fact, a little chain of them. That’s surprised you, hasn’t it? I keep things close to my chest, Amy. Always have, always found it best. A still tongue makes a wise head in my estimation – but now things have to change. Your brothers are not interested in running my little empire for me. They both have better things in mind, but I’m hoping Matthew might. He’s an enterprising lad, you know. He isn’t always going to be a dogsbody for someone else to order around.’
‘I never thought he was,’ I said. ‘Does he know any of this?’
‘I dropped a few hints when we had a little chat the other week. He said he would consider working for me. I haven’t told him the whole of it yet, but I made it clear that I wasn’t going to do him any favours. He’ll start off as a manager but there’s a partnership in it for him if he deserves it.’
‘Supposing I didn’t want to get married for a while?’
‘Quarrelled with him?’
‘No, just thinking I might want to wait for a while.’
‘That’s up to you, love. There’s no rush, and it makes no difference as far as me taking Matthew into the business is concerned. He is intelligent, honest and hard-working – just the man I’ve been looking for for a while now. I shall give him his chance, even if you decide you don’t want to marry him.’
‘I haven’t changed my mind. I’m just not sure that I’m ready to get married yet.’
‘Changed your tune, haven’t you?’ My father’s eyes narrowed. ‘Something wrong?’
‘No … But Mum was right about Mary Maitland. I shan’t be visiting her house again, Dad.’
‘Well, I can’t say I’m sorry about that. I was sure you would make up your own mind without us interfering. He didn’t do anything to you, did he?’
‘Don’t worry, Dad. He said he could show me how to be special if I let him help me, but I made it clear I wasn’t interested.’
‘I’d kill him first! If that man ever touched you …’
‘Now, don’t get upset,’ I said and smiled. ‘It’s over as far as I’m concerned. I think Mary will probably cancel the last dress she ordered, but Lainie says it will sell in the shop anyway.’
‘I know someone who might help you,’ my father said. ‘I didn’t want to interfere, but if you need an introduction …’
‘Terry said you were the one to ask.’ I smiled at him. ‘For the moment all I want is for you to get better.’
‘I’ll be on my feet in no time,’ he promised. ‘Go down and give your mother a hand now, love. I feel a bit tired. You can come up and see me again later.’
‘Is there anything you want?’
‘No, nothing for the moment.’
I smiled at him and went back down to the kitchen. My mother was making a stew for dinner, and the smell of it made my mouth water.
‘No one cooks like you, Mum,’ I said as I went to pick up the iron from the fire. ‘This is a bit hot. I had better let it cool down before I start on those sheets.’
‘I’ll make a cup of tea,’ she said. ‘It is nice having you here, Amy. Tell me all about your weekend.’
‘Oh, it was all very grand. There was a huge marquee with boards on the grass for dancing, and a carpet across the lawn so that we didn’t get our shoes wet. An expensive caterer supplied the food, but it didn’t taste half as nice as that stew will. I’m hungry already.’
‘Good.’ She smiled at me. ‘What were the clothes like then?’
‘Oh, mostly pale pastels, very pretty. My dress was crimson and it was all wrong for the occasion. It was more suitable for a nightclub in London.’
‘Oh, dear,’ she said and laughed. ‘It’s a pity you didn’t show it to me first, Amy.’
‘It wasn’t finished or I would have done.’
‘Well, never mind. I’m sure you looked lovely.’
‘It did suit me, but it was too old for me and wrong
for Mary’s party. I’ll save it for the right occasion – one day when I’m older and wiser.’
‘I think you are quite a wise young lady now,’ she said and smiled at me. ‘Your father was quite right to say we shouldn’t interfere. You’ve made up your own mind without any help from us.’
‘I’m glad you warned me though, Mum. Mr Maitland did try it on a bit and if I’d been a silly young girl with no one to care about her, I might have fallen for it.’ I was thoughtful for a moment as I looked at her. ‘He did something to Lainie, didn’t he – something bad? She wouldn’t tell me anything, but she was very upset when she discovered who Mary’s father was. She went as white as a sheet.’
‘Yes, he did something bad to her,’ Mum agreed. ‘I can’t tell you, Amy. Your father said it wasn’t our secret to tell. If Lainie wants you to know she will tell you.’
‘He isn’t John’s father, is he?’
‘No, I don’t think so,’ she said and frowned. ‘It was much worse than that, but Lainie must tell you herself.’
‘What did he do to Dad – can you tell me that?’
She hesitated for a moment. ‘You know that Joe’s sister Mary was killed in a fire, don’t you? It was the eve of her wedding to my brother Jamie, and she had insisted on sleeping alone in the rooms above her flower shop. Someone set fire to the shop that night, Amy, and she was killed.’
‘Oh, Mum!’ I looked at her in horror. ‘I thought it was an accident. You mean someone did that on purpose? That’s wicked!’
‘Yes, it is. The man who did it – Hal Burgess – was killed some days later – a kind of execution ordered by the man he worked for, because he had made a mess of the job. Joe was supposed to be sleeping there – it was your father’s shop. I think he was the one they hoped to murder, but they killed Mary Robinson instead.’
‘Wanted to kill Dad …’ A chill ran down my spine. ‘Are you saying it was Mr Maitland? Is he the one who gave the order?’
‘We believe so,’ she said, and I saw the grief in her face. The memory of Mary Robinson’s cruel death still cut deep after all these years. ‘We could never have proved it of course. The man who set the fire was dead, and the man they called “Mr Big” was safe as usual. Joe had been trying to unmask him, show him for the evil creature he was, but after that he let it go. He was afraid I would be next if he didn’t draw back …’
‘Has Mr Maitland ever tried to harm you?’
‘He threatened me once, but that was before the fire that killed your father’s sister, Mary. I think that shocked him, because it was Hal Burgess that set it and it wasn’t supposed to happen like that. It was Joe who Maitland wanted dead, not Mary. Philip Maitland is an odd man, a bad man, but he has his own strange code. He respects women he thinks are decent. He used to buy flowers from our shop and I think he respected Mary. I believe he was genuinely sorry for what had happened – and Hal’s execution, which I’m certain he arranged, was his way of saying the feud between us was over. But I’ve always been afraid he might decide to have another go at us one day.’
She looked thoughtful, her finger moving about the table, drawing patterns.
‘Is there something more I should know, Mum?’
‘You remember Billy Ryan, don’t you? Do you remember he was killed in a fight with the police?’
It was a name I vaguely recalled from the past, though the face was not clear in my mind. ‘I think so. He was Maggie Ryan’s son and married to Kathy – our Kathy. Tom’s wife. But what does Billy have to do with this?’
‘I think Maitland had Billy Ryan killed,’ she said, her eyes meeting mine across the table. ‘I’m almost sure he had been working for Maitland – and Billy stepped out of line. That police raid was set up and I think Billy was meant to die that night.’
I remembered all the talk about Billy Ryan so vividly. It had caused a terrible scandal in the lanes, and upset Maggie Ryan for months. She had even fallen out with my mother for a while, although I had thought that was something to do with Kathy. Billy and some others had broken into a factory on the docks, but the police had been waiting for them.
‘That makes Mary’s father a very dangerous man,’ I said ‘Is that why Kathy and Tom went to live in America after they got married?’
‘Yes.’ My mother looked anxious. ‘I was worried that Maitland might come after Kathy, because she knew Billy had been working for him. Tom had always liked working out there in America, so he took her off, and they’re very happy from what I hear of things.’
‘Yes, I know you said they like it out there.’
‘Tom wants us to go out for a holiday …’
‘Dad was joking about retiring to a country cottage with roses round the door.’
‘I think I would rather go to America,’ my mother said, pulling a face. ‘But Maggie Ryan is seriously thinking of going back to Ireland – her husband has wanted to retire there for years – and if she does, I might think about moving somewhere different. Perhaps a nice little house in the suburbs, somewhere not too far from you and Matthew, Amy.’
‘I’m sure a house like that would be much easier for you than this old place, Mum – even though Dad has made it a little palace for you inside. There’s always dirt off the street whenever you open the door.’
‘I was happy here,’ she said. ‘But things are different now. If I can persuade your father to retire …’
I told her about his plans for Matthew and she nodded.
‘Yes, we’ve talked about it several times. I think this has been coming on for a while, Amy. Your father knew he wasn’t right, but he wouldn’t admit it.’
‘He seems not too bad.’
‘I think we’ve been lucky,’ she said. ‘Joe was always lucky. And I intend to make sure that he doesn’t work too hard in future.’
‘Kettle calling the pot black?’ I suggested, using one of my father’s favourite phrases to tease her. ‘Perhaps you should think about getting some help, Mum.’
‘Well, I might,’ she said, surprising me. ‘Just someone to do all the things I find more difficult these days. And I might sell my market stalls. I’ve had an offer from a nice young man I think deserves the chance to get on. He reminds me of Joe when he was young. Yes, I might let him take over the stalls before this winter.’
I had begun the ironing now that the iron had cooled down a little. She poured herself another cup of tea. I saw that she was smiling and wondered what she was thinking.
‘A penny for them?’
‘I was just thinking I could get used to this,’ she said. ‘I remember how I used to grumble when my mother made me do the ironing after I got home from work at night. I was so tired, Amy. Especially when she was ill and had me running up and down the stairs all day.’
‘Well, I’m here to help so you won’t have to do that for Dad.’
‘He wouldn’t call me a dozen times for nothing,’ she said. ‘Ma wanted her whisky and I wouldn’t give it to her all the time. We couldn’t afford it in those days, and it was killing her. We had some right old battles over that, I can tell you.’
‘It must have been very hard for you then, Mum. Have you heard from Uncle Jamie recently?’
‘He writes once in a blue moon,’ she said. ‘But I hear about him from Kathy now, and she says he’s the most popular man for miles. It made him, going out there, but he’s never got over Mary’s death. He told me when he was here last time that he would never marry.’
‘It was such a tragedy,’ I said. ‘Such a wicked thing to do. It makes me angry to think that Mr Maitland got away with it. Why should he be able to carry on, living his life as he wants without being punished for what he did?’
‘I’ve asked myself that a thousand times,’ Bridget said. ‘I don’t know the answer, Amy. It isn’t just the money – not all rich people are bad. Your father is a warm man as they say, but he has never hurt a soul in his life.’
‘I know that,’ I said. ‘But Mr Maitland is an evil man. I think that is why Mary is too
ashamed to tell people her second name. She never does, you know. I wondered about it at the start, but it didn’t seem important.’
Mum looked at me curiously. ‘Does she know what kind of a man he is?’
‘I’m not sure. I think she knows something. Perhaps that is why she seems to have a hold over him …’
Mary had seemed to control her father in some strange way. She had certainly warned him to leave me alone that day at her house. I remembered the way she had used blackmail against Paul and I knew that she wouldn’t hesitate to use it against her father if need be.
‘What are you thinking about, Amy?’
‘Oh, nothing. It isn’t important any more.’
‘Then we’ll forget it,’ she said. ‘Let’s talk about something else. I understand that Matthew is coming up again this weekend?’
Matthew was a little subdued when he came to visit that weekend. He spent a couple of hours talking to my father in his room, and we had lunch when he came down. Afterwards I helped my mother with the dishes and then we went out for a walk.
Matthew was quiet to begin with, and then he turned his head to look at me and smiled as I walked in silence at his side through the lanes. We headed towards the river, sitting on a wooden bench on the grass verge to watch the boats as they passed. As it was Sunday the river traffic was fairly slow, with just the occasional barge passing in the distance and the hoot of a horn from a pleasure boat. Yet the water was grimy with oil floating on the surface, and clogged with rubbish from the big ships that used the docks, reminding me of the true nature of the river here.
‘Joe told you he’d asked me to work for him, I suppose?’ Matthew said at last. It was the first remark he’d made since leaving the house, except to answer a neighbour who had called out that it was a fine afternoon.
‘Yes, he talked about his future intentions. He needs someone he can trust, Matt. I know he likes you a lot. What did you think of his offer?’
‘I’ve thought it over and I’ve decided it makes sense. It would take me years to work my way up to the position your father is offering me. And I’m not particularly happy where I am – the firm is now talking of my staying there for another six months, which I don’t want to do, if I can help it.’
