by Carol Rivers
What business did Nick Brandon have at Tilbury?
Bernie climbed the rest of the way down and jumped back in his cabin. From here, he could see nothing. At least nothing other than the winches and derricks set close to midships of the vessel he was working on. If it hadn’t been for his foreman glaring up at him and offering a finger, he would have risked climbing up again to wait for Brandon to reappear.
But he’d have to get this job done first. And hope that the Buick was still there later, when he could nose around and find out what was going down.
Ruby hurried after the figure almost lost to sight on busy Oxford Street. Pushing her way through the crowd, Ruby cried, ‘Paula? Stop! It’s me, Ruby.’
The woman turned slowly. Ruby took a shocked breath. It was Paula, but not the Paula she remembered from Dower Street. Her face was hidden by an unflattering scarf, the collar of her dull grey coat was pulled up to her chin, and a lock of red hair escaped over her forehead.
‘Hello, Ruby.’
‘Paula, how are you? I thought you’d be in America by now.’
Paula’s dark eyes flinched. ‘Well, there you are then. As you can see, I’m not.’
Ruby wanted to ask what had happened to Jesse Marlon, but she could see Paula was eager to get away. Quickly she said, ‘I’m with my friend drinking coffee in the El Cabala. Would you like to join us?’
‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘It would be lovely to catch up.’
‘Another time maybe.’ Paula kept the collar of her coat up to her face. Ruby could barely hear her mumbled words.
‘Paula, I don’t get up to town as much as I used to. Do you have any time free this afternoon? I really would love to talk to you.’
‘I . . . I don’t know,’ Paula said, looking around at the pedestrians passing by. Ruby thought she looked nervous, even frightened.
‘Just half an hour,’ Ruby coaxed. ‘Somewhere less crowded.’ She had the feeling Paula wanted to get away from the crowds.
‘All right,’ Paula agreed, but reluctantly. ‘Marble Arch at about three. I’ll sit on the bench by Speaker’s Corner reading a newspaper. But don’t be late. And there is a chance I might not turn up.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘Please don’t ask any more. Not here anyway.’ She sank even lower into her coat, then without saying goodbye hurried off.
‘Who was that you were talking to?’ Kath asked when Ruby joined her inside the café again.
‘Paula, from Anna’s. She was Anna’s favourite model. Do you remember, I told you about her and her boyfriend Jesse Marlon?’
‘Oh yes, the American who tried it on with you at the Strand Palace.’
‘The last I heard he was taking her back to America to marry her.’
‘Obviously that didn’t happen. I wonder why?’
Ruby shrugged. ‘She looked very strange. As if she didn’t want to be recognized. In fact I almost missed her. It was a glimpse of the red hair that drew my attention.’
Kath looked at her watch. ‘Crikey, I’ll be late for practice.’ She stood up, hurriedly putting on her coat. ‘Sorry. But I have to catch the bus.’
Ruby walked out onto the street with her. ‘It was lovely to meet up. Don’t leave it too long to call me,’ she said, embracing her friend. ‘Remember, I’m on the telephone now.’
‘Yes. It is all right if I give your number to Bernie?’
‘As long as he doesn’t pester.’
‘He won’t, now he has Tina. But I know he just wants to say hello.’
Ruby looked at her pretty, confident friend, who a year ago wouldn’t have said boo to a goose. ‘Life at the Windmill certainly suits you.’
‘Yes, it does,’ Kath said, waving her hand at a red bus coming along the road. ‘Bye, Ruby, take care of yourself.’
‘I will.’ Ruby stood watching the tall, elegant figure weave through the crowds to the bus stop and jump up on the bus’s platform. From inside, Kath waved from the window as it chugged out of sight.
Ruby smiled to herself. Life had certainly taken on a new meaning for her best friend. But was this entirely due to the Windmill? Or had it something to do with Clem?
Ruby strolled down Oxford Street, thinking of the many luxuries she wanted to buy. She had several hours before she met Paula. If she met Paula. And she intended to use those hours frivolously!
Chapter Twenty-Six
At three o’clock in the afternoon, Hyde Park looked deserted at first sight. But small groups of people emerged from the mist, a ghostly white veil over the landscape, not yet a fog but threatening one. Ruby shivered in her warm coat, put down her bags and sat on the bench near Speaker’s Corner and waited. She was grateful for the rest. The two large bags were heavy, one from Selfridges and the other from a Park Lane boutique just around the corner. She had bought clothes, shoes and jewellery and still had more to buy.
Now she was beginning to regret this arrangement. What if Paula failed to appear? She would have wasted valuable shopping time. With her first three commissions she had not only paid Nick back in full for Maggs’s money, but had put £20 away in the Post Office, taken out an account at the bank, and had enough left over to generously spend on herself. She had also bought Babs a silk scarf and new slippers. Ruby was thinking of her mother when there was a tap on her shoulder.
‘Let’s walk,’ said Paula without any salutation.
‘Where to?’ Ruby asked, puzzled. ‘I’ve me bags to carry and they’re heavy.’
‘Just through the trees there. To the next bench, where we can’t be seen.’
Sighing and a little annoyed, Ruby did as Paula asked. ‘What’s all the cloak and dagger stuff?’ she asked as Paula hurried along, head down.
‘I’ll tell you in a minute.’
Ruby said no more, but she was relieved when finally they came to a park bench and Paula, looking right and left, nodded. ‘Here will do.’
They sat together and Ruby looked intently at her friend. ‘Why are you so jumpy, Paula? And why—’
Ruby’s breath caught in her throat as Paula pulled down her collar. A livid red mark stretched across her cheek and it took all of Ruby’s self-control not to recoil. ‘My God, Paula, what happened? Were you in an accident or something?’
Paula’s dark eyes looked coldly into Ruby’s. ‘You could say that. An accident on purpose, from our friend Jesse Marlon.’
Ruby felt the blood freeze in her veins. ‘But you were going to get married and live in America.’
‘He dumped me for Cindy.’
‘What!’
Paula cleared her throat with difficulty as her fingers went up to her collar and laid it over the scar. ‘The first I knew of it was on the day you left. I waited for him to arrive. He didn’t. So I caught a taxi to the Strand Palace Hotel. I went up to his room and came face to face with Cindy. I don’t mind admitting I wanted to scratch her eyes out there and then. But I turned my fury on Jesse instead.’
‘Oh Paula, I’m so sorry. Did Anna know he’d been double-dating?’
‘Of course she did. She was the one who set it up. She wanted to destroy my chances of leaving the agency.’ Paula sighed heavily. ‘I should have known of course. I tried to keep my plans under wraps, but she found out. So she fixed Jesse up with a complimentary night out with Cindy, and that was it. Cindy’s young and beautiful. What man could resist such a creature?’
‘But how did you get that – that mark,’ Ruby said, one half of her wanting to know the gory details, the other shrinking from it.
‘For the first time in my working life I let my emotions take over. I had a showdown with Jesse. He told me I was a fool to have taken him seriously. He’d never intended to ask me to marry him, he admitted. He just wanted – everything physical he could get. And, darling— ’ Paula laughed mirthlessly. ‘He got it.’ She shifted uneasily, looking over her shoulder and back again. ‘I was the one in the wrong. You had every reason to walk out on Jesse. He’s an animal and even thou
gh Anna made you pay for not pleasing him, you saved yourself a most degrading experience.’
Ruby sat quietly, her stomach going over. Then she thought of the lecture Anna had given her on that night she had walked out on Jesse Marlon. Anna’s words went through her mind. Escorting is a skill. Learning discretion. Reading the signs and being confident enough to guide your client through a successful first meeting.
It was all a lie. A cover. Anna knew all along the monster that lay under Jesse Marlon’s playboy exterior.
‘Did he do that to you?’ Ruby asked.
‘I threatened to take him to court for breach of promise. Of course, I couldn’t have. That kind of threat takes money. But we had a flaming row and before I left the Strand Palace I went to the management and informed them their wealthy guest on the third floor had no intention of conducting legitimate business from their grand hotel. Instead, he was using his suite as a brothel. I let my opinion be known, to all who would listen, and left with at least some small satisfaction. That was, until a week later, when Anna arranged an appointment for me in Kensington. The taxi found the place and I paid it off. However, the address wasn’t legitimate and I found myself wandering around a dark street, trying to hail another taxi. A hand went across my mouth and I was dragged into an alley. I . . . I was punched and kicked and finally felt something hot on my face. The burning sensation was agony. A man’s voice whispered, “With compliments from your American friend.” Then he advised me to get out of town before something much worse happened.’ Paula lifted tear-filled eyes. ‘I was in hospital for several weeks. Anna had my things delivered there. I had nowhere to go. No future with a disfigured face. No money. And I was in pain and terrified for my life.’
Ruby swallowed. ‘Oh Paula, how awful.’
‘I left the city and went home to my mother’s in Surrey.’
‘Do you live there now?’
‘Yes, Mother lent me the money to have an operation on my face. Hence my visit to Harley Street today. But I hate coming up to town.’
‘No wonder you looked so scared.’
‘It’s an experience I never wish to repeat.’
Ruby reached out for Paula’s hand. ‘Can I help somehow?’
‘Just remember this could be you. Never go near Anna again. Be warned, she is heartless and takes revenge on anyone who opposes her.’
Ruby felt sick to the pit of her stomach. She had known Anna was heartless but was she evil?
Paula gently wiped a tear from under her eye. ‘Do you know there was a police raid on Dower Street?’
‘No. When was that?’
‘A month ago. Gwen told me. She has cut off all ties with Anna after she managed to free herself from Charles. You were extremely fortunate to have escaped his attentions.’
‘But I thought Gwen liked Charles.’
‘She hated him. She told Anna about his violent behaviour and that was when you appeared on the scene. Anna planned to foist him off on you. But after his attack, you refused to have anything to do with him. So it was then Anna forced Gwen to cooperate by blackmailing her. Poor Gwen has a fifteen-year-old son. He boards at a very prestigious public school. As Gwen is single, she can only afford this luxury by working for Anna. And if it were to be revealed that the boy was being educated out of the proceeds of prostitution, as Anna threatened, that would be the end of Gwen.’
Ruby gasped. ‘Anna would do that to Gwen?’
‘Oh yes, in a heartbeat, my dear. We all have our secrets. And Anna discovers them.’
‘What happened when the police went to Dower Street?’ Ruby enquired, hoping to hear that Anna had been foiled.
‘Anna, Cindy and another model were taken into custody. They were released soon after without charge. Gwen believes the whole thing will be dropped as one or two top policemen use Anna’s services.’
Ruby shuddered. Anna, it appeared, was beyond the law.
‘So you see how lucky you are?’ Paula said quietly.
‘Yes,’ Ruby nodded. ‘I do.’
‘One other thing,’ Paula said as the mist thickened around them. ‘I hope you aren’t still seeing Nick Brandon.’
‘Why?’ Ruby asked in alarm.
‘He’s bad news, Ruby. I don’t know for sure but—’
Ruby sat up, at once on the defensive. ‘Actually, I work for him. And he’s only ever been a true gentleman towards me.’
At this, Paula seemed to stiffen and shaking her head said, ‘I see, it’s true love, is it? Then you won’t listen, whatever I say.’
‘What do you mean?’
A man’s figure emerged from the fog, walking very slowly towards them. Paula jumped to her feet. ‘I must go.’
‘But wait, Paula!’
Ruby tried to grab her bags and follow. But by the time she had her bags in her grasp, both Paula and the man had disappeared.
As Ruby found her way back to Marble Arch, the lights of the cars were barely piercing the thick yellow sheets of fog and even the noise of the traffic seemed distant. Marble Arch itself was hidden from view and though Ruby searched the few shapes she could see, even running up to one tall woman she thought she recognized, none of them turned out to be Paula.
The next day was Sunday and Ruby woke early. She gazed out of her window and onto the back yard, not seeing the tumbledown shed or heaps of junk hidden under the dying autumn weeds. Nor was she seeing the prefabs at the back, all with their semi-flat roofs poking above the fences that, like theirs, were in dire need of repair. What she was seeing was Paula’s once beautiful face scored by acid and unsightly. A face that would never be repaired by any surgeon, no matter how skilled he was. The flaming red wound was there to stay and Ruby knew Paula must know it too. Paula was grasping at straws, going to Harley Street, any fool could see that. But it was the straw that kept her going.
Ruby unconsciously touched her own face. She thanked heaven that she hadn’t been the one to suffer Jesse Marlon’s wrath. But, as Ruby stared sightlessly from the window, it occurred to her that it was Anna who had arranged the meeting in Kensington for Paula’s so-called client. Anna must have been fully aware of Jesse’s intentions, just as she had been of Charles’s deplorable behaviour and Mr Steadman’s hidden fetish.
Questions whirled through her mind. Was Anna finished with her yet? And why had Paula warned her against Nick? What had she been going to say about him before that man had walked out of the fog?
If only they’d had more time. Ruby slipped on her dressing gown and went into the icy kitchen. She took a rag from the cupboard and cleaned the condensation from the windows. The smell of mould was strong and would have been worse if Maggs hadn’t kept a fire going. Maggs liked the warmth, but she preferred to sit by that warmth, rather than work in it. Ruby still had to do the housework when she came home from the warehouse. There was washing, ironing and cleaning to attend to. At least Maggs was a good cook.
Ruby put on the kettle, blinking the sleep from her eyes. Could Paula be jealous? Envious of the life that Ruby had with Nick?
Since leaving Paula, a dark cloud had followed her. As if Anna was watching, waiting to seize her chance to extract yet more revenge. As Ruby made tea, she heard Paula’s voice once more, laden with bitterness and fear, in the creeping fog of Hyde Park.
Ruby liked to walk to work. Nick was always first to open up the warehouse and insisted she needn’t arrive until nine. Fortunately there was no need for her to cross the bridge where often pedestrians and traffic alike had to wait until the ships and barges passed beneath.
Instead, she took the narrow, cobbled lane that wove between the derelict, uninhabited riverside cottages. Ruby didn’t like walking along it but the short cut took her straight to the industrial estate. All the cottages had been condemned many years ago and their windows and doors were boarded up. But sometimes there were creaks and groans that sprang from the rotting timbers, eaten away by the floods and high tides. This morning her thoughts played tricks on her, making her jump as she imagined a s
hadow here, a figure there. And even though she knew she was safe in broad daylight, she almost screamed aloud when a hand landed on her shoulder.
‘Blimey,’ Bernie said, as she jumped back, ‘it’s only me.’
Ruby put her hand on her chest. ‘You scared the life out of me, Bernie!’
‘Sorry. I called out but you didn’t hear me.’
‘How did you know I was here?’
He stared at her, hunching his shoulders under his navy-blue donkey jacket. ‘I called by your place and Maggs said you’d already left. Kath told me you were working for Brandon so I put two and two together, guessing you’d avoid the bridger.’
Ruby shrugged. ‘So what do you want?’
‘Ruby, for old times’ sake, you gotta listen to what I have to say. You can always tell me to get lost after. Meet me up the Bricklayer’s tonight at seven, right? I promise not to keep you more than a few minutes.’
‘Bernie, if this is a wind-up—’
‘And watch out for yourself today.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
Giving her a mysterious stare, he stuffed his hands in his pockets. ‘Just take care, that’s all.’
Ruby watched as he walked away, wishing she had refused to meet him. The knot in her stomach had tightened and she was left with the uncomfortable feeling that Bernie was going to tell her something she would prefer not to hear.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
‘I’ll be back later today,’ Nick told her, taking the money case from the safe. ‘I have a big deal coming up in the West End. So just amuse yourself, darling, while I’m gone.’
‘I don’t like being on my own,’ Ruby complained as she accompanied Nick through the warehouse to the front entrance. ‘It’s creepy in this big place when you’re not around.’
‘I won’t be long,’ Nick assured her. ‘Look, we’ll go somewhere special this weekend,’ he coaxed. ‘I’ll book tickets for a show and we’ll have a meal in town.’
He kissed her but Ruby was left feeling anxious. Was it Bernie who had alarmed her, or Nick’s attempt to quickly dismiss her fears?
