by Rosie Harris
‘Makes you think we’ll have to be very careful when we’re applying for jobs after we’ve qualified and make sure we don’t end up in the wrong sort of school.’
By the end of each day, Rebecca found she was so completely exhausted that it was hard work preparing material for lessons the following day. There was certainly no time to think of anything else of a personal nature, not even about Cindy.
It was almost as if by confiding in Nick Blakemore about the young woman in the red jacket she’d seen in Hoylake that she had cleared all the memories of Cindy from her mind.
On the one or two occasions when she did think about her, she decided that the girl had probably taken fright because she had stared at her so hard, and that was why she had scooted out of sight so quickly.
She was glad she hadn’t told Danny Flowers about her, or mentioned her suspicions to him.
Danny was still very keen on taking her out, she reflected, but she was hesitant and usually made some excuse not to go.
She had gone to the pictures with him one weekend and to a dance at the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton. But she had only done so because Grace was keen on his friend, a fellow police officer called Bob King, and begged her to make up a foursome.
When she went home at Easter, Rebecca was disappointed to find Nick Blakemore wouldn’t be coming to visit them over the holidays.
‘He’s working in Bath and they want him for two weeks so the owner and his wife can go away on holiday,’ her mother explained. ‘We’re seriously thinking of doing the same thing later on, as we haven’t been away for years.’
‘That’s because Dad would never close the shop and there was never anybody he felt could run it except him.’
‘I know, but it’s different now we can rely on Nick. Your Dad is quite happy to leave him in charge.’
‘So what’s stopping you?’
‘Nothing at all really. We’ll have to make up our minds soon because Nick is getting so booked up that he won’t be able to fit us in.’
‘I thought he would have found himself a permanent job by now,’ Rebecca commented thoughtfully.
‘Well, I think he regards what he is doing as a permanent arrangement. He seems to be fully booked up and, as he says, he likes the variety of working in different places.’
‘I meant start his own business.’
‘Well, he probably will one day when he settles down. At the moment, as I’ve just said, he likes freelancing as a relief manager because it gives him an opportunity to move around and see so many different places.’
‘Has he got a girlfriend?’ Rebecca felt hot blood flooding her cheeks and avoided her mother’s eyes as she asked the question.
‘Not as far as I know. He’s never mentioned one. In fact he’s always joked about the fact that he’s fancy-free and has no family ties of any kind, so will eventually be able to settle down wherever he wishes.’
Rebecca quickly began talking about something else, but her heart beat just that little bit faster.
‘So when are you thinking of taking this holiday?’ she repeated in what she hoped was a nonchalant way.
Her mind was already working overtime, wondering if she could manage to get home for a couple of days while her parents were away. It would be a wonderful opportunity to have Nick all to herself when he had finished working in the shop for the day.
‘That’s the problem,’ her mother said rather tetchily. ‘As I keep telling you, I can’t pin your father down to any sort of date.’
‘Why not? You say he is quite confident about Nick Blakemore’s ability to run things on his own.’
‘He seems to think we ought to wait until you’ve finished at university and you have a job.’
‘Whatever difference does that make?’
‘Well, your dad thinks we shouldn’t spend money on a holiday until we know where you will be working’
‘Why ever not?’ Rebecca asked in astonishment.
‘He says we ought to wait until we know that you are settled in a flat or a small house or something.’
Rebecca frowned. ‘I don’t understand?’
‘Well, we may be needing the money for that.’
‘In that case I think you should persuade him to take you on holiday as soon as possible, even if it is only for a week,’ Rebecca said, smiling. ‘After all, I might be living at home if I can get a posting to a school nearby.’
‘I’ve already put forward that argument,’ her mother said, shaking her head dolefully. ‘He said if that happens then we’ll need the money to buy you a car because the buses around here are so infrequent. He’s quite right, of course, and I can understand what he means but I do so want a holiday.’
‘Shall I have a word with him?’
Sandra’s face brightened. ‘Well, I suppose there is just a chance that he might listen to you, though I doubt it. All the same, it might be worth giving it a try.’
Twenty-Eight
It was one of the hottest days of the year, baking hot even for early July. It had been exceptionally warm all week, but today it was overpowering and Rebecca felt so exhausted she was relieved it was Friday.
There were less than two weeks to the end of her course and she couldn’t wait to finish and get away from the classrooms and lecture rooms and be out in the fresh air. She longed for the countryside and the sweeping open vista of Shelston.
She had been planning a trip across to New Brighton with Grace when classes ended, but Grace had skipped the afternoon session and gone to bed with a migraine.
New Brighton didn’t appeal to her on her own and it would be packed with noisy day-trippers, but she was desperate for fresh air. Then on the spur of the moment she suddenly thought of Red Rocks. There the view out over the Dee towards Wales was almost as reviving as the view across the Blackmore Vale at home.
It seemed unfair to leave Grace on her own when she wasn’t feeling well, Rebecca thought rather guiltily as she changed into a thin cotton dress. But there was nothing she could do for her and, after all, they weren’t joined at the hip.
She made a pot of tea and took a cup up to Grace before she left, with the intention of telling her she was going out. But she found Grace asleep, so she left the tea on the bedside table and crept out as quietly as she could.
The train from Liverpool Central was packed and airless, which made the expanse of sandy shore and lapping water all the more inviting when she reached Red Rocks. It was unusually crowded, mostly mothers with children, but she managed to find a secluded spot.
There was a pleasant breeze, clean and refreshing, coming off the water. She settled back against a sand dune and watched the activities going on along the sandy stretch between her and the water’s edge. The lapping waves of the incoming tide looked so cool and inviting that she wished she had brought a towel so she could paddle.
She would have stayed there longer, but she remembered that they were out of bread and milk and Grace had asked her to get some. As she scrambled to her feet and made her way to Hoylake village, she wondered if she would find any shops open that late in the afternoon.
Hurrying down the main street, she remembered there was a supermarket and guessed they would keep open late.
Inside the store she found the milk and then rummaged among the bread still left on the shelf for the kind they liked.
As she stood waiting to pay for her purchases, she saw a tall, slim figure in a startling jazzy dress of orange covered with swirls of red, black and white ahead of her at another till at the checkout.
Rebecca smiled to herself, remembering how she had once ordered the very same dress from a catalogue and how grotesque it had looked on her although it had looked so glamorous in the book. She wondered how many other people had been caught out in the same way. Cindy had thought it gorgeous and it had certainly gone well with her colouring, so she had swapped it with Cindy for a pale-green one.
She stared anew at the girl, who had now been served and was already through the checko
ut. She was loaded down with numerous bags of shopping and as Rebecca walked through the checkout the girl was struggling to carry them out of the shop.
‘Here, let me help you.’
Before the girl could protest, Rebecca had picked up one of the heavy bags.
‘No, it’s all right, I can manage …’ The girl looked up as she spoke, and then froze as her eyes met those of Rebecca.
‘It is you, Cindy, isn’t it?’ Rebecca gasped in a low voice. ‘Come on, let me help you with this lot. We’re in everybody’s way here and we can talk as we walk.’
Not waiting for Cindy to answer, she went on ahead with the bag she had picked up and started to walk down the High Street in the direction she’d seen her go before.
Cindy followed, but no matter how often Rebecca slowed down Cindy still remained several paces behind her.
‘Come on, catch up so we can talk.’ She stopped walking and waited for Cindy.
Cindy hesitated and shook her head. ‘I’ve been told not to talk to people. They’ve forbidden me to talk to people when I’m out,’ she said in a scared voice.
‘They? Who do you mean? Who are these people?’
‘The family I live with. If any of them saw me talking to you, they would punish me.’ There was such fear in her voice that Rebecca felt a shiver of apprehension.
‘Are you some sort of prisoner?’ she asked, frowning.
Cindy hesitated and then admitted in a pathetic voice, ‘Yes, I suppose I am.’
‘Well, there’s no one else about at the moment, so tell me what’s happened to you and why you’re living here and why you mustn’t be seen talking to me.’
Cindy looked over her shoulder nervously. ‘I can’t, Rebecca, someone might see us together. Let me have my shopping. I must get back before they come looking for me.’
‘Then tell me when and where we can meet again. Make it somewhere where we can talk, so you can tell me what happened that day when you were supposed to be coming to Cardiff and you simply vanished.’
Cindy stared back at her wide-eyed. ‘That was so long ago, it was another life,’ she said in a small wistful voice.
‘Becky, I’ve missed you so much,’ she sniffled, her dark eyes filling with tears. She stretched out a hand and grasped Rebecca’s arm. ‘Is it really you, or am I going mad and imagining things?’
Twenty-Nine
Two days later, Rebecca met Cindy at Red Rocks. It was an overcast day and the place was almost deserted.
They found a secluded spot where they were sheltered from the light wind, with a view of the River Dee and the Welsh coast beyond.
Rebecca unpacked two glasses and a bottle of red wine from the carrier bag she’d brought with her and set them down on a shelf of rock. She poured out the wine and handed a glass to Cindy.
They sat in silence for a moment, as if neither knew quite what to say. Rebecca finally raised her glass towards Cindy, took a sip, and then asked, ‘So what happened that Friday afternoon when you were supposed to be coming to Cardiff?’
Cindy suppressed a shiver and took a gulp of wine. ‘I think I should start before then. You need to know what happened after you left Shelston to go to university.’
‘The day I left for university, you were going for a trial on one of the checkout tills at the supermarket. Start from there,’ Rebecca told her.
‘That’s right!’ Cindy giggled. ‘You were with me when I asked Bruno for a job, weren’t you?’
‘Bullied him into giving you a trial, you mean,’ Rebecca responded, her eyes twinkling.
‘Yes, I suppose I did,’ Cindy admitted. ‘Well, he gave me a job and I started working on the till the following week. I enjoyed it and proved I could do the job easily. I got to know Bruno better and we started dating.’
‘You mean you went out with Bruno Lopez? The manager?’
‘That’s right. After a couple of months he promoted me to Staff Manageress. Some of the others didn’t like it, and claimed it was favouritism because I was going out with Bruno.’
‘I bet they did!’ Rebecca gasped, staring at Cindy in disbelief. ‘Quick work, wasn’t it?’ she added with a laugh.
‘Well, yes …’ Cindy took another drink of her wine and stared at Rebecca defiantly.
‘Was he the married man you were supposed to have run away with?’
‘To make matters worse,’ Cindy went on, ignoring Rebecca’s question, ‘a few months later he promoted me to Assistant Manager of the whole shop.’
Rebecca’s eyes widened. ‘That’s unbelievable in such a short time. You must have been the latest one to be employed there and yet you were getting promoted over everyone else’s head.’
Cindy nodded. ‘The trouble is that when everything seems too good to be true it usually is.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The company became suspicious of such a quick promotion. I think there were also complaints from some of the members of staff who were jealous.’
‘I can well believe that,’ Rebecca said dryly as she refilled their glasses. ‘So what happened next?’
‘They sacked Bruno.’
‘Oh, heavens! What about you?’
‘No one said a word to me. But Bruno just vanished overnight. No one knew where he had gone, whether he was still with the company, or what had happened to him. A middle-aged Scottish man was sent in as a temporary manager. My promotion was never mentioned and I found myself back on the checkout, where I started.’
‘Didn’t you question it?’
‘How could I? It had all happened so fast. I had nothing in writing to say I had been promoted, only Bruno’s word. Now that he’d gone it didn’t count for anything.’
‘How humiliating!’
Cindy nodded, took a long swig of her drink and then said, ‘That wasn’t my worst problem though.’
Rebecca frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I had no idea what had happened to Bruno or where he had gone. And no one, not even the relief manager, seemed to know either.’
‘Did that matter?’
‘Very much so! I was pregnant.’
‘Pregnant! You mean with Bruno’s baby?’
Cindy nodded.
‘Oh, Cindy! What did you do?’
Cindy picked up some pieces of loose shale and slid them from one hand to the other. Then she dropped them on the ground and brushed her hands together. ‘I phoned the top man of the supermarket chain and told him my plight and asked him for Bruno’s new address. He said he couldn’t help me but thought it was better if I left the company and gave me a week’s notice.’
‘Cindy!’ Rebecca looked utterly shocked. ‘That’s illegal, they couldn’t do that. Didn’t you kick up a fuss?’
Cindy shook her head. ‘I didn’t know that, I thought they could. I hadn’t signed a contract or anything when Bruno gave me the job.’
‘Why on earth didn’t you tell me all this at the time?’ Rebecca demanded. ‘Cindy, I found your clothes in the woods. I was terrified for you.’
Cindy looked crestfallen. ‘I left them there one day when I was going on a date with Bruno. I couldn’t let my parents know I was dating him, so I snuck out there after visiting the pigs and swapped clothes.’
‘Oh Cindy, you should have told me all this! We always shared our problems and between us we always managed to find the right solution.’
‘How could I? You weren’t around. You were all wrapped up in your life in Cardiff.’
‘Now you’re making me feel guilty,’ Rebecca groaned.
‘There was probably nothing you could have done, except to have appeared shocked,’ Cindy told her dryly. ‘Anyway, the big white chief obviously did know Bruno’s address and I learned much later that he had told Bruno of my predicament. But of course I wasn’t aware of that at the time.’
‘Oh, Cindy. What a drama!’
‘It was the same time you asked me to Cardiff for the weekend, and I thought that was a great idea because it would get me away from Shel
ston for a few days while all the gossip circulated. I hoped, too, that I’d have an opportunity to tell you about what had happened and it would give me a chance to sort things out in my head and decide what to do about the future.’
‘So why didn’t you come to Cardiff?’
Cindy let out a long sigh. ‘That’s another story.’
‘Go on, tell me what happened,’ Rebecca insisted. ‘I need to know. Why did you leave me in the dark worrying my head off about what could have possibly happened to you when you didn’t turn up?’
‘I’m sorry about that. I simply wasn’t thinking clearly.’
‘My family as well as yours were beside themselves with worry. Even to this day there is a rift between them and they don’t speak to each other. There were some terrible stories going round – one of them was that you had run away with my dad! Lizzie Smith was even telling people we had killed you and fed you to the pigs, and heaven knows what.’
‘Oh, I am sorry!’ Cindy held her hands to her face in dismay.
‘It caused such a rift between our families that even now they are not reconciled and barely speak to each other.’
As Rebecca saw the tears well up in Cindy’s eyes, she stopped berating her. ‘Never mind about that, tell me what happened afterwards.’
Cindy looked at her in silence.
‘Come on, I still need to know why you didn’t come to Cardiff that Friday afternoon. Jake insists he took you to Frome station and you knew exactly the time of your train and so on, so why didn’t you turn up?’
Cindy drained her glass and held it out for a refill. ‘That’s a very long story,’ she said quietly.
‘That’s all right. I have plenty of time.’
‘You might have, but I haven’t.’ She stood up. ‘I must run. They’ll be wondering where I am and there’ll be trouble.’
‘You can’t go until I’ve heard the rest of what happened,’ Rebecca told her, grabbing hold of her arm.
‘Please, Becky, I must!’ She sounded so anxious that Rebecca let go of her arm.
‘Then when can we meet again?’ she asked as she collected up her own things ready to walk back to the High Street with Cindy.
