‘Come on,’ Tia urged. ‘The sooner we leave here, the better.’
Theo made for the police station on Ivy Lane. Speaking to the desk sergeant, he mentioned the murder of Miles Tunstall, and was led into a small room where, after a few minutes, a detective joined him. ‘Mr Quinn?’
‘Yes. I’m head teacher at Myrtle Street, and Miles Tunstall was stepfather to a little girl who joins my school in September. He pimped for his wife and for another woman named Flo. Did you find Flo?’
‘We did.’
Theo told the tale of Sadie’s escape from hospital, the subsequent disappearance of a five-year-old child and the distress of Rosie’s grandmother. ‘To be blunt, officer, some men may prefer younger flesh, so the child must be taken away from her mother. The Tunstall house was a brothel, and Rosie has seen enough. She spent hours locked in the coal shed while her mother, her stepfather and Flo carried out their business. I need to find Flo. Do you have her address?’
The man shifted uncomfortably in his chair. ‘We do, but we can’t divulge that information. This is a murder case, Mr Quinn—’
‘And this is a child in danger of being contaminated simply by being in the company of her own mother, a known prostitute. What about when paedophiles discover that Sadie and Flo have a pretty little girl with them? How drunk will Sadie need to be before she sells her own baby?’ Theo jumped up. ‘If anything happens to Rosie because of your incompetence, I’ll have your job, officer.’ He slammed out of the room.
When he reached the Pier Head, Theo realized that he was very early. He dropped money into the cap of a man with no lower legs; the man sat on a wheeled trolley and played the mouth organ quite well. Theo gazed out at the water, thinking about his dad, who had often spoken about this part of the city. Here, and further up the coast, the women of Liverpool had stood over the years, watching, waiting for their ship to come in, the vessel that carried husband, father, brother, son or grandson. Now he was waiting for news of a five-year-old child.
He heard her before he saw her. She was shouting ‘Harry’ repeatedly as she approached the railings.
Harry grinned. ‘My little songbird,’ he said. ‘I thought you weren’t coming.’
Rosie threw her arms round Harry’s neck. ‘Mam got me. She put her hand over my face to keep me quiet, and I couldn’t breathe hardly. She took me to Auntie Flo’s. Auntie Flo lives over a tripe shop on Southport Road. Nana came knocking with Miss Bellamy, and Auntie Flo was in the bath, so Mam went to the front door and I ran out the back and down some steps while she couldn’t see me. Then I heard the police bells. I don’t feel like singing today, Harry.’
Theo stared at the child and the man with no legs. What the hell was going on here? ‘Excuse me,’ he said.
Rosie turned. ‘Mr Quinn. Oh, hello. This is my friend Harry. He plays and I sing, and sometimes I help him to sell papers. His sister is Martha, and she keeps my money in a box at their house and gives me jam butties. There’s no stairs, cos Harry got his legs blown off, didn’t you?’
Harry nodded before speaking to Theo. ‘Rosie’s had a hard life, sir.’
Theo studied the man and saw honesty and genuine concern in his face. ‘I know it’s not been easy. Thank goodness for people like you and your sister. Now, I have to try to get an emergency order from Welfare. Rosie needs to be away from the Lady Streets until her mother’s dealt with.’
‘Where will she go?’ Harry asked.
‘Wherever it is, her grandmother will be with her if I have any say in the matter.’ He threw more coins into the cap. ‘God bless you, Harry,’ he said. ‘I’ll look for you next time I’m in town.’
Tia’s red MG drew up. Maggie leapt out and ran to her granddaughter.
‘She found her way here from Southport Road in Bootle,’ Theo told her.
Harry chipped in. ‘Every Scouser knows where the river is. We come with a sixth sense, I think.’
Maggie was in tears, as was Tia when she left her car.
‘Don’t cry,’ Rosie ordered. ‘My mam will be all right, Nana.’
‘I know, love, I know.’
Theo put an arm round Tia’s shoulder. ‘I told you not to do this without me, but you did it; you made it happen. She was in Flo’s place when you got there, and she ran out the back and down a fire escape, I imagine.’
Tia wiped her face with the heel of a hand. ‘The police came and asked us what we were doing at Flo’s door, so I told them, and they took Sadie away. She could scarcely stand. Rosie wasn’t there. We drove round for a while looking for her.’ Nor can I stand while you’re holding me. Yes, you’ve made me weak at the knees, Mr Quinn, and I can’t tell you that. Oh, God, it feels as if I’ve come home.
‘You take Rosie back to your apartment,’ he said. ‘I’ll drive Maggie home to pick up clothes and so forth. Then I must see Emily Garner about an emergency order; we don’t want Rosie in a children’s home. Maggie is clearly her adult of choice, so they must be kept together. They will live with me until somewhere safe and more permanent can be found for them.’ He tightened his hold for a second or two. ‘You are one gutsy broad, Miss Bellamy.’
‘Thank you, I think.’ She pulled herself together and grinned. ‘Come along, Rosie. Another ride in my car, you lucky girl.’
‘We must hurry,’ Theo whispered for Tia’s ears only. ‘If the police catch up with us, they’ll take her and put her into care. I’ll get Maggie back to our place as soon as possible. Rosie must be placed in her charge. Until she is, you are guilty of kidnap, so put your car in my garage and don’t answer your door.’
Our place. He said our place. ‘Right, I’m gone,’ she said aloud.
She drove homeward in the company of a very serious, quiet child. After opening the door to her flat, she sent Rosie upstairs. ‘Go and see my dolls’ house,’ she said. ‘I’ll put the car away.’
When she finally closed her own front door, Tia shot home a couple of bolts that she hadn’t used before. Suddenly weary, she climbed the stairs and stood in the living room doorway watching Rosie as she played with the dolls’ house. I am a kidnapper. Maggie will probably get custody, perhaps temporary, but at this moment I am breaking the law. Where are you, Teddy?
Rosie was talking to the miniature figures. ‘Don’t be frightened. There’s no coal shed.’
Tia blinked back new moisture. Her hands were bunched at her sides; she felt ready to give someone a beating. ‘Would you like something to eat, Rosie?’
The child turned and blinked. She was hungry. ‘I can smell bacon,’ she said.
‘A bacon butty?’
Rosie laughed. ‘Yes, please, but it does sound funny when you say it.’
‘Oh, you’ll just have to get used to me. And stay away from the windows. If someone comes to my downstairs door, carry on as you are. It’s hide and seek. Mr Quinn has to guess where we are, and I like to win.’
‘Are we being naughty, Miss Bellamy?’
Tia shook her head. ‘We’re just having fun and bacon, Rosie.’
Her hands shook as she placed bacon under the grill. How much longer was he going to be away? He’s the adult; I’m still a child because I’ve been so sheltered from the more disturbing elements in society. But this is why you came here, Tia. You saw a slice of this in London, and you chose Liverpool because London is too close to Pa. You are making a difference. You are breaking the law, so just live with that fact.
Rosie was rearranging furniture in the dolls’ house.
Tia handed her the sandwich on a plate. ‘Wash your hands first. The bathroom’s through there. Then wash them again when you’ve finished eating, because the dolls’ house is my most special and precious possession.’
‘Yes, Miss.’
How many items could be packed into the boot of an MG? How many bits and pieces might be fitted onto the shelf behind the seats? Where the hell was he? Time ticked on. Rosie fell asleep on the sofa, while Tia padded about in bare feet so as not to disturb her. She needed a telephone, and she
made a note of that under the titles for Teddy’s Tom Quirke books.
Were he and Maggie hurt; had there been an accident? Three hours? Three hours to collect a change of clothing for two people? She couldn’t leave Rosie, didn’t yet know any neighbours she might ask for help, had no phone, must stay hidden in case the police guessed where Rosie was . . . oh, God.
When she finally heard his car arriving, she stood at the top of the stairs and listened while he pushed his key into the lock of her ground-floor entrance. It had to be him, because she knew the sound of an MG’s engine, and he was the only person with a key to her flat. She dashed down and drew back the bolts. ‘Where have you been?’ she asked sharply.
‘Good God, woman – we aren’t even married. Where’s your gun or your battle axe?’
Tia reined in her nerves. ‘Sorry. I was worried. You look exhausted, and where’s Maggie?’
‘Is Rosie OK?’
‘She’s asleep. Maggie?’
‘In hospital. Let me in, please.’
She stood back and allowed him to pass into the small downstairs hall.
He took the stairs first, and she followed behind him.
‘Coffee, please,’ he begged when they reached the living room. The child opened her eyes and gave him a sweet smile. ‘Hello, Mr Quinn.’
He sat at the bottom of the sofa and held the child’s hands. ‘Hello, Rosie. Did you play with the dolls’ house?’
Rosie nodded. ‘I had to keep my hands clean.’
Tia went into the kitchen to make coffee.
‘You must be special if Miss Bellamy let you play with her dolls’ house. She won’t let anyone else near it. I asked if I could play with it, and all I got was a dirty look. Now, would you like egg on toast and a glass of milk?’
She nodded, wide-eyed. ‘Where’s Nana?’
‘I sent her to bed because she was very tired. So you’ll have to stay with me and Miss Bellamy for a short time. Just let me put your order in with the waitress. Stay there.’ He followed Tia into the kitchen.
‘Well?’ Tia asked.
He closed the door. ‘Maggie collapsed,’ he whispered.
‘Oh no, poor Maggie. Poor Rosie,’ Tia said, her voice low.
‘I got her to the hospital, and her heart’s fine, but she’s completely wiped out. They’ve stuck needles in her and taken about a pint of blood for this, that and the other – liver test, kidney function test, blood count, all that jazz – she’s on a drip for rehydration, and can Rosie have scrambled eggs on toast with a glass of milk?’
Tia nodded and passed him a cup of coffee. ‘Do you want anything?’
Yes, you, but I can’t have you.
‘Teddy?’
‘Not yet, thanks. My stomach’s in knots.’
She perched on a stool. ‘How do we stand legally?’
Theo shook his head before telling her about his encounter with Emily Garner. An emergency order had been obtained for Maggie to act as guardian, but Maggie was out of the picture just now. ‘I’ll deal with this as soon as I can,’ he said. ‘Emily will vouch for me.’
‘And meanwhile, when someone lets slip that Maggie’s in hospital and no neighbour knows where Rosie is – what then?’
He scratched his head in the manner of Stan Laurel. ‘The police need to know that the child is safe – that’s the main thing. I’ll talk to Emily again tonight, because I must come clean to her. She’ll take up the slack, I hope. And I do have her home number.’
‘Well, of course you do. Jack says she’s your girlfriend.’
‘Just one of them,’ he said.
Tia picked up a couple of eggs and some milk. ‘Did you see Emily before Maggie went into hospital?’
He shook his head wearily.
‘So you knew Maggie was off the map and you said nothing?’
‘That’s right. Look, I’ll take the rap for all of it.’
‘But why? This is a sizeable risk and we could be in trouble for not following protocol—’ She stopped, open-mouthed; he was lifting up his shirt to show her his back.
‘This is part of the why. Fortunately, the RAF didn’t mind my disfigurement – after all, I was only a rear gunner, so I didn’t need to be a perfect model. The stripes are cuts made by a whip with a metal core. The prettier, more interesting bits are slash and stab wounds inflicted by a variety of knives. A broken rib pierced my lung, my arms have been fractured, and I have a metal plate in my skull. I tend to avoid strong magnets.’ He pulled down his shirt. ‘And that’s why I take risks, why I never returned to live in America and why I put my neck on the line for kids like Rosie. And don’t cry. I can’t cope with weeping women.’
But she crossed the room and pulled him into her arms. A mere two or three inches shorter than he was, she looked him in the eye. ‘Who did that to you?’
He gazed into those violet eyes. ‘Masked men,’ he answered. ‘Probably the same group of cowards who killed my mom.’ He pulled away from her and left the kitchen. She now knew more than anyone else; even his Liverpool relatives had never seen his back, had never known the full truth about his early years. And there was so much more, too much more . . .
‘Yes, you will get some dinner,’ Rosie was telling one of the tiny dolls. ‘The jumping up and down men don’t come any more, and the bad man got killed in the park. What? No, he’s never coming back. Nana’s asleep, cos she’s tired, so I’m in charge.’
Theo listened to her before creeping downstairs and returning to his own living quarters. Rosie Tunstall was organizing her own therapy through Tia’s dolls. ‘She is going to be OK,’ he said as he entered his living room. He poured himself a double whisky for Dutch courage, took a deep breath, and phoned Emily Garner.
The whisky hit his head almost immediately, as his stomach was empty. ‘Emily,’ he almost purred, ‘there’s been a development.’ He gave her an account of his very long day. ‘So Rosie’s in the upstairs apartment with her teacher. The cops need to know she’s safe. Maggie asked us to keep her until she’s out of hospital – just a day or two. Feel free to visit and examine Rosie’s accommodation if you need to.’ He paused while she ranted on.
‘Yes, it’s unusual and yes, I know you’ll have to tell your boss, but Rosie is happy and occupied here.’
He allowed her to drone on while he switched to come-hither mode.
‘Are you still there, Theo?’ she asked.
He drained the glass. ‘Emily,’ he whispered, ‘you and I have been friends for many years. In fact, I think we are very close friends. Please, I beg you, try to sort this out for little Rosie’s sake. She needs continuity, not some anonymous bed in a place filled already by disturbed children. You won’t regret it, I promise.’
‘Theo, it’s not that easy, I—’
‘Go and see Maggie, then. Get her to sign something to the effect that her teacher is Rosie’s babysitter for now. Please, Emily. Do it for me.’
‘Your voice would seduce a saint, Theo.’
Inwardly, he agreed. ‘It’s the American edge, Emily. It makes women think of gangsters and cowboys.’
‘You’re smiling. I can hear your smile.’
‘Yes, I’m smiling. Call me.’ He replaced the receiver. Life was getting complicated, and he needed food. Canned soup and white bread were all he could find, so he heated the former and dunked the latter, grateful for the only nourishment he’d had since this morning’s bacon sandwich.
Thinking about bacon sandwiches brought breakfast and Tia into his head. It was a strange situation, as he knew so little about her while knowing everything. Had he been waiting for her? Was she the one who could accept his past, his difficult future, the conditions that bound him even in this country? And how the hell did a person fall for someone as quickly as this? She’d given him a hug, and he’d run away faster than sand off a new shovel; he’d kissed her forehead, and she’d reacted . . . oh, bugger, as Tia might say.
With his stomach happier and the alcoholic haze dispersing, he went out to the car
to fetch Rosie’s clothes. Deciding not to disturb Rosie in case she was asleep, he used the key to let himself in. He tapped gently on the upper door to the apartment. Tia opened it. ‘Ah, her things,’ she said. ‘She’s in the bath playing with my ducks, and I was trying to find something of mine for her to sleep in.’
He told her that he and she were probably in the clear to babysit, since he’d managed to persuade Emily Garner to pave the way. ‘It depends on how long Maggie is in hospital and whether her decision to entrust Rosie to us is enough. Welfare tends towards keeping all eggs in one basket, but I don’t want our hatchling locked in a jail for kids.’
Tia took the clothes from him. ‘Sit down,’ she said. ‘I’ll just get her out of the bath and into bed. I’ve put the dolls’ house in her room, because she’s had a couple of naps today, and she may not be sleepy. Also, it will be the first thing she sees when she wakes.’ She pondered for a moment. ‘And I’ve made a decision; I’ll tell you later.’
While she was gone, he went to look at her bookshelves. He found an interesting and rather eclectic mix; Austen, Thackeray and Dickens rubbed shoulders with the Famous Five and Just William. She had Beano and Dandy annuals alongside Aristotle, Agatha Christie, Shakespeare, Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and, of course, Tom Quirke. There were hard-backed diaries dating back to 1948, when she had been in her teens, and several photograph albums on a low shelf.
She returned. ‘Voices low,’ she whispered. ‘Our little charge misses nothing. We’re going to play just suppose.’
‘Just suppose what?’
‘Just suppose Maggie is kept in hospital for days. Then just suppose your girlfriend moves Rosie into a children’s home. Then bugger that, and just suppose Isadora Bellamy.’
Theo frowned. ‘Go on.’
‘Just suppose Rosie is a little pale and underfed.’
‘Which she is, so I don’t need to just suppose.’
Tia nodded her agreement. ‘And just suppose that your foolish and inexperienced new teacher leaves you a note saying that she’s taken Rosie for a holiday in Kent, or London, or both, depending on where Isadora is. Can you see the headlines? About Isadora Bellamy caring for a neglected child?’
Meet Me at the Pier Head Page 13
