by D. S. Butler
Maths wasn’t Trevor strong point, but he carefully added the numbers up and then told Mr Perkins what he owed.
Mr Perkins happily paid and then said, “You’re Dave Carter’s son, aren’t you?”
Trevor nodded proudly. “That’s right.”
“Your father must be ever so proud having both boys working with him.”
Trevor beamed at Mr Perkins as he led him back to his car.
He patted on the bonnet and Mr Perkins got behind the driving wheel. He wound down the window. “Thank you very much.”
Trevor smiled and waved him off feeling very pleased with himself. That would show Charlie Bloody Williams Trevor could do a lot more than make the tea.
* * *
Charlie Williams was in a foul mood. He stomped along the road, fuming.
Usually, Georgie picked up their lunch order, and Jimmy was responsible for picking up the bacon rolls for elevenses, but Trevor was too grand to lower himself to such trivial jobs. He thought his talents would be wasted collecting sandwiches.
Charlie was short-staffed and well behind on the day’s work. He was coming to the end of his tether. Dealing with that stupid twerp, Trevor, didn’t help. If he hadn’t been Dave’s son, Charlie would have decked him. He was sick and tired of looking at his face. Although, he admired the way Trevor could look both smug and sulky at the same time. That was an achievement. He’d never known anyone else to be able to do that. Come to think of it, he’d never known anyone to irritate him quite as much as Trevor.
* * *
Charlie felt a pang of guilt. The boy had only lost his mother a few days ago. It wouldn’t kill him to cut Trevor some slack.
Charlie was still grumpy as he approached the cafe.
He was wearing his grease-smeared overalls and wasn’t looking his best.
Peering into the steamy window of the café, to his dismay, he saw Millie behind the counter. Charlie sighed. That was just typical. He’d been chatting her up for weeks, trying to persuade her to come out on a date with him, and now he had to go into the cafe looking like this.
He looked down at the oil stains on his blue overalls just as two older women were coming out of the cafe.
They both gave him pointed, disapproving looks.
Charlie shrugged. It couldn’t be helped. He didn’t have time to get changed out of his overalls today.
Millie flushed prettily as he entered the café. She finished serving the customer in front of him and then turned to serve Charlie. “Are you here to pick up the sandwiches? It’s normally young Georgie who collects them.”
Charlie nodded. “He’s not well. So, it’s your lucky day. I’m filling in for him.”
“You think quite a lot of yourself, don’t you?” Millie said with a teasing smile.
“Somebody has to,” Charlie quipped.
He folded his arms over his chest, trying to hide the worst of the oil stains and waited as Millie picked out his order. He understood why Dave wanted to give his son a job at the workshop, but it wasn’t fair that Charlie was the one who had to do all the babysitting.
If Brian or Big Tim were around, he would be able to palm Trevor off onto one of them for an hour or so, but today, it looked like he was going to have Trevor all to himself, and that was something Charlie wasn’t looking forward to.
He wasn’t feeling confident enough to ask Millie out on a date, so instead, he took the sandwiches, said a polite thank you and stalked out of the café, cursing Trevor for messing up his chances of a date with Millie.
When he got back to the workshop, he noticed right away something was different. Mr Perkins’s car was conspicuously absent.
He blinked in surprise at the empty space.
Trevor was standing at the back by the tools, and Charlie asked him sharply, “Where is Mr Perkins’s Cortina?”
Trevor grinned, looking pleased with himself and said, “He paid up, and I let him have it back.”
“You did what?” Charlie shouted, momentarily forgetting that Trevor was Dave’s son, and he was supposed to be mollycoddling him.
The small grin left Trevor’s face. “He paid. I took the money and wrote it down in the book, and then I gave him the keys and watched him drive off.”
“Who gave you permission to do that?”
Trevor’s cheeks flushed red. “I don’t need your permission to do anything.”
“But I hadn’t finished with the car. I wanted to add some antifreeze to the coolant. Mr Perkins was early. You could have made him wait a few minutes.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep customers waiting, Charlie,” Trevor said coolly. “Besides, I added the antifreeze myself.”
Charlie flung the sandwiches down on the workbench and turned on Trevor as mad as a spitting cobra. “You replaced the antifreeze?”
Trevor crossed his arms over his chest and leant one hip against the workbench. “Yes, and why shouldn’t I? I’m not a complete idiot. It wasn’t exactly difficult.”
“But I asked you to get him to wait if he turned up. What is so hard to understand about that simple instruction?”
Trevor narrowed his eyes. “You’re just angry because I acted on my own initiative. You get off on bossing me around.”
Charlie gave a snort of amusement and said, “Don’t talk daft. I just wanted you to follow my instructions.”
“I don’t see what the problem is. The job got done, didn’t it? I took the money just like I was supposed to. You keep bleating on about how rushed off your feet you are today, and I just saved you some time. You should be thanking me, not telling me off.”
It was at that point that Jimmy strolled into the workshop, holding an engine part he’d collected for a job they had this afternoon.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “I could hear you arguing from up the road.”
“None of your business,” Trevor snapped at the same time as Charlie said, “Trevor thinks he can ignore my instructions and do whatever he likes.”
Charlie took one of the sandwiches out of the paper bag and took a large bite out of it. He leant back on the workbench and shook his head with disgust. “I told him what to do, and he ignored me. This job can be dangerous if rules aren’t followed.”
“Dangerous? Pull the other one. You’re not a bleeding brain surgeon. This job is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
Jimmy and Charlie exchanged a look.
Attempting to smooth things over between the men, Jimmy said, “Charlie’s got a point. There needs to be someone in charge. Cars can be dangerous if they aren’t properly maintained.”
He reached over and plucked one of the sandwiches from the bag Charlie had brought back from the café. He offered it to Trevor.
Trevor slapped his hand away. “Stuff your stupid sandwiches. You might be content following the likes of Charlie Williams, but I’m not going to play tea boy.”
Jimmy put his hands up, realising getting involved was a mistake. His sheer presence was like a red rag to a bull where Trevor was concerned.
Charlie continued to munch angrily on his sandwich and ignored everybody, determined not to back down.
A few minutes later, the angry voice of Mr Perkins boomed across the workshop.
Charlie frowned, put his sandwich down and wiped his hands free of crumbs as he strode across the workshop to see what Mr Perkins wanted.
It didn’t take him long to realise that Mr Perkins was absolutely furious. His face was flushed as red as a tomato, and he was gritting his teeth. The moment he reached Charlie, he threw his hat on the floor.
“Thanks to your shoddy workmanship, my car broke down in the Rotherhithe tunnel. I had to get a cab back here. You can pay for it!” Mr Perkins jabbed a thumb over his shoulder to indicate the cab, parked up in front of the yard.
“I’m terribly sorry,” Charlie said. “What exactly happened?”
He looked over his shoulder as he spoke, but Trevor had ducked into the office to hide.
“I’ll te
ll you what happened,” Mr Perkins barked. “The bloody engine started to overheat. There was steam everywhere, and then the engine conked out. There was a tailback behind me like I’ve never seen before. Fortunately, some kind soul stopped and had a look for me. He said that the coolant cap was loose.” He glared at Charlie.
“Are you sure the coolant cap was loose?”
“Are you calling me a liar?” Mr Perkins roared, outraged.
Charlie shook his head quickly and held up his hands. “No, of course not. Please accept my apologies, Mr Perkins. Obviously, there has been a mix-up, and we will fix your car for free, and of course, arrange for a tow truck to get it here.”
Mr Perkins nodded. “Very well. I’ll give you one more chance, but I’m not happy with this service. Not happy at all.”
After Mr Perkins had stalked off, Trevor sneaked out of the office.
“Silly old fool. He’s obviously trying to pull a fast one.”
Charlie turned slowly to face Trevor. “I’m only going to ask you this once. Did you securely fasten the coolant cap?”
“I can’t believe you are blaming me,” Trevor whined. “It could have happened to anyone.”
Charlie raised his eyes to the heavens. He didn’t even know why he was asking. He knew the answer already. Trevor had left the cap off the cooling system, which meant the engine had overheated and caused Mr Perkins to break down in Rotherhithe tunnel.
He slapped a hand to his forehead and shook his head. “Of all the stupid, irresponsible–”
“Don’t call me stupid! Anyone can make a mistake. If you’d been here doing your job like you were supposed to, this would never have happened.”
Chapter 39
Dave could hear angry voices from the street. He quickened his step, and when he reached the workshop, he was disappointed to see Trevor throwing a tantrum like a toddler. He was stamping his feet. His face was flushed, and his eyes were wild.
Charlie had his back to Dave, but he was giving as good as he got. What had Trevor done to deserve this tongue-lashing?
The only one who noticed Dave walk into the workshop was Jimmy Diamond.
Jimmy nodded, but Trevor and Charlie were too busy to notice him.
Dave folded his arms and listened to the argument unfold.
It didn’t take long for him to get a full picture of what had happened.
“Enough,” he said firmly, and both Trevor and Charlie whirled around, looking surprised to see him.
Trevor quickly walked up to his father. “You won’t believe what’s happened. Charlie is trying to blame me for the dodgy job he did.”
“That’s not true, Trevor,” Jimmy said. “Charlie does first-class work. Mr Perkins’ car overheated because you made a mistake.”
Trevor whirled around, glaring at Jimmy. “Shut up! No one asked you. You don’t know anything about it.”
Dave put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Calm down, Trevor. Now, Charlie, tell me what happened?”
Charlie sighed, and Dave knew he was deciding whether to tell Dave the whole story or protect Trevor. A weaker man may have lied to try to gain favour with him by placating his son, but Charlie had known Dave long enough to know that wasn’t what he wanted.
“Trevor made a mistake. He didn’t mean to do it, but he forgot to put the cap on properly after he topped up the coolant with antifreeze. Mr Perkins’ car overheated and broke down in Rotherhithe tunnel. Needless to say, he was not a happy chappy.”
“Who said I didn’t tighten the coolant cap properly? It could have overheated for another reason. Perhaps you did something wrong!” Trevor yelled.
“Quiet, Trevor. It’s an easy mistake to make. Be a man about it. Learn from your mistake and move on.”
Trevor turned to face his father, his face growing redder by the second.
“I can’t believe you’re taking their side over mine. I’m your son! Nothing I do is good enough for you, is it?”
And with that, Trevor pushed past his father and stormed out of the workshop.
Dave watched him go with a heavy heart. In many ways, he’d seen this as their last chance to grow closer as father and son. The truth was, somewhere along the line, they’d grown apart, and Dave didn’t see how he was ever going to be able to change that.
* * *
After she had left the hospital, Babs spent the rest of the day trying to get legal counsel sorted out for Gertie.
She knew enough about court cases and lawyers to know it was going to cost a pretty penny, but she didn’t care. She would find the money for Gertie somehow.
She sat in three different solicitor’s offices, listening to their sales patter, and she could practically see the pound signs appearing in their eyes.
The last chap had appeared to be the most reliable. He seemed confident he could make use of some legal loophole to help Gertie. All Babs needed to do was ensure Gertie backed up her version of events. There would soon be an inquest, and Gertie had to get her story straight by then.
Of course, the brief would have to speak to Gertie in person. He was horrified to hear that she was in solitary confinement and explained to Babs how that could be used in the case to paint the prison in a poor light. He called it an abuse of her human rights.
He seemed to know his stuff at any rate, and Babs thought she would give him first try on the case. If he made no progress, she would be quick to cut him off and try someone else.
As for the matter of legal costs, she would have to pay a retainer, and at the moment, she had absolutely no money of her own.
There was no way she was going cap in hand to Martin. For one thing, she knew he would refuse, and for another, the experience would be completely humiliating.
She would probably end up asking Tony to lend her the cash.
Babs stepped off the number twenty-eight bus. When she put her hands in her pockets, she discovered Frieda’s crumpled headscarf and decided to launder it when she got home. She couldn’t return it to Frieda in that state.
This morning had been a disaster. She should have known she wouldn’t be able to finish off Mean Maud. Babs wasn’t a killer, not deep down, and although Mean Maud was a horrible old bitch, Babs couldn’t convince herself the woman deserved to die.
She disliked the woman intensely, and she knew Maud was a threat to her freedom, but she didn’t hate her. Not like she hated Martin. Her hatred for her husband was on another level.
She saw a couple of local women cross to the other side of the road, so they didn’t have to pass and talk to her, and Babs flinched.
Why did she care? She shouldn’t give a fig about what a couple of stuck-up biddies thought of her. But it hurt.
She’d expected to come home to Poplar and pick up where she’d left off, but she felt like a stranger in the East End. The Poplar High Street she was so familiar with looked the same on the surface, but some of the faces were different, and the faces she did recognise no longer greeted her cheerfully.
Babs thrust her chin in the air and marched the rest of the way home, determined to show those women their behaviour didn’t upset her in the slightest.
Just before she reached her house, she saw Tony’s car pulling up, and she paused, waiting for him.
He climbed out and gave a wide smile. “How are you getting on?”
Babs managed to return his smile. “Not too bad,” she said. “It still feels a bit weird, though. Have you got time for a cup of tea?”
“I’d love one,” Tony said, his smile broadening as he shut the car door and walked around to Babs.
Together, they walked into the house, and Babs told Tony how she was coping after getting out of prison.
He was so easy to talk to, and soon, Babs was confessing all sorts of things and telling Tony problems she hadn’t intended to bother him with.
She told him all about Gertie getting into trouble over Mean Maud but was careful to minimise her role in the event.
He listened with concern etched on his face, and when sh
e’d finished her story, he leant forward and put a hand over hers.
“She sounds like a loyal friend,” he said.
Babs nodded tearfully. “She is. Gertie is one hundred percent loyal, and that’s why I have to do something to help her. She only took the blame to try and spare me.”
“But you weren’t to blame. You said she fell over and hit her head.”
Babs took a deep breath. She felt guilty but couldn’t risk telling Tony the truth.
“Yes, it was an accident. But Gertie insisted the prison wouldn’t accept that and would line up a scapegoat. So, she told them she did it, and I got out. I’ve spoken to a solicitor, and he thinks there’s a chance we could get Gertie off, but the thing is, it’s going to cost money. A lot of money.”
Babs hesitated, feeling bad about putting Tony on the spot and asking for money. She wasn’t his responsibility, and he shouldn’t have to bail her out of trouble, let alone one of her friends.
Tony nodded. “I don’t know Gertie from Adam, but if it’s important to you, let me know how much you need, and I’ll pay the lawyer’s fees.”
Babs put a hand over her mouth. She didn’t know what she had done to deserve a brother-in-law like Tony, but his words couldn’t have made her any happier.
“Thank you! I’ll pay you back, I promise. It’s just…”
Tony nodded. “You don’t have to explain. I understand.”
Tony looked at her so fondly that Babs momentarily lost her head.
She imagined leaning forward and kissing him right there in the kitchen.
Fortunately, she pulled herself together just in the nick of time.
She stared down at her lap, trying to regain control of her emotions.
After she’d taken a couple of deep breaths, she dared to look up at Tony again, who was watching her with a puzzled expression. He was so handsome and kind. The complete opposite of Martin. Not for the first time, Babs decided she had definitely chosen the wrong brother.
