The Great Betrayal (17 page)

He climbed back into bed and reached for his teddy bear. The house seemed very large around him and very empty as the minutes passed and his fears deepened. Suppose neither of them came back . . .

But as she had promised, his mother returned with his grandpapa, and before long she had made Ovaltine for all of them and everything was all right again. Well, not quite, he thought regretfully as his eyes flickered and then closed. He had missed an exciting adventure and was still waiting for a kitten or a puppy . . . or a rabbit . . .

The next day dawned with gusty squalls of rain. At number fifteen May was peeling potatoes when her daughter Dolly appeared at the back door that led straight into the kitchen. One look at her daughter set her nerves on edge because she knew that look – the pinched face, tight lips and furrowed brow. Even as young as six Dolly had signalled her displeasure with sulks, and May’s heart sank.

‘Now what?’ she demanded without preamble. She pointed at the dresser with the potato peeler, and Dolly moved to the dresser, fetched the biscuit tin and helped herself to a custard cream. ‘Honeymoon over, is it?’ May asked her.

‘Course not, but . . .’ Dolly crunched into the biscuit, scattering crumbs. ‘I just . . .’ She sighed heavily. ‘It’s his stupid brother.’

‘Doing what, exactly?’

‘Meddling. Trying to make me believe that . . . Trying to persuade me . . .’

‘Spit it out, girl!’

Dolly took a deep breath. ‘Making out Don’s gone and left me. I mean, I know he hasn’t, but . . .’

‘Gone and left you? Gone where?’

‘I don’t know, do I!’ Her frown deepened. ‘I hate that brother of his. I really do. He’s a miserable toad, is Sidney.’

May pretended to carry on peeling the potato, but her mind was racing. If what her daughter told her was true, Dolly’s marriage would go down in history as the shortest ever! The Ellerway family would be a laughing stock. Desperately trying to keep her tone light she asked, ‘So he says Don has left you. What gave him that idea?’

‘Because he hasn’t been home for a few days and . . .’ She swallowed hard. ‘He’s working, I told Sid, but Sid shook his head. “He’s scarpered,” he said. He said this time he’s gone for good and I won’t see him again!’

Her voice shook, and May gave up on the potatoes and sat down opposite her daughter who was on the verge of tears.

‘Don’s never left you, Dolly, so don’t be so daft. A lovely girl like you! He knows which side his bread’s buttered, and don’t you forget it. That bloody Sidney is pulling your leg. That’s how big his brain is! He thinks it’s funny. Probably jealous of his brother. That’s about the size of it.’ She smiled with false confidence. ‘You mark my words, he’ll be back! Don, I mean.’

‘Do you think so?’ Dolly looked unconvinced.

‘I
know
so! I mean, what reason does he have for leaving you . . . and for leaving his own home? Where’s he going to go? Course he’s not left you. He may not be the greatest catch in the world, but he’s not a fool!’

Her words, May thought anxiously, did not seem to be having the desired effect. Please God there’s no truth in it! That would put the cat among the pigeons and no mistake. She wouldn’t put anything past Dolly’s beloved Don, but they’d only been married a few days. It was a bit early for the fun to go out of a marriage, especially with Dolly’s pretty ways and bouncing curls and the baby on the way and everything.

May leaned forward. ‘Is there something you’re not telling me?’ she asked, ‘because I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on.’ Mentally, she crossed her fingers, praying she was wrong.

Dolly’s mouth trembled. ‘I’m not supposed to tell anyone,’ she said.

May’s hopes plummeted. ‘I’m not anyone. I’m your mother!’

‘Honestly, Ma, I can’t say anything. I daren’t because he might . . . that is,
I
might make things worse!’ Two large tears made their way down her pale face. ‘Sidney made me swear!’

‘I’ll strangle that man!’ cried May, her plump body shaking with emotion. ‘With my own bare hands! I don’t care if I swing for it!’ She put a hand to her heart, which was thudding painfully. ‘Just tell me, Dolly . . . unless you want me to get it out of Sidney! I’ll be across that road before you can say “knife”!’

‘You won’t tell Mave, will you? You know how she’ll gloat! I’ll tell her myself when I’m good and ready.’

‘I won’t say a word.’

Dolly took a deep breath. ‘He says Don’s done something awful and the police are probably on to him!’

May fell back in her chair, her eyes wide with horror, and for a moment she couldn’t speak. She reached down, lifted up her apron and held it over her face.

Neither of them spoke for a long time, and then May said, ‘Something awful? Like what?’ When her daughter failed to answer she said, ‘Dolly!’ and slowly lowered the apron.

Dolly said, ‘Like he’s done a robbery!’

‘A robbery?’ May’s voice was almost a shriek. ‘What . . . robbed a bank?’

‘Not a bank. A jeweller’s. That one in London. Him and Sidney – and another man who drove the car.’

‘Godawmighty! If they catch him he’ll go down for years!’

Dolly had closed her eyes.

May snatched the biscuit tin from her daughter and crammed a garibaldi into her own mouth. She selected two more and handed back the tin. Thus armed, she tried to think about what she had been told, but it was altogether too wide a picture. A robbery! Her daughter was married to a jewel thief! ‘Too, too much,’ she whispered. ‘This is not happening. It
isn’t
!’

‘Sidney says he’s going to scarper and that I should do the same because otherwise the police’ll come after me but I don’t know where to scarper
to
 . . . or where Don is and he ought to have taken me with him because I am his wife but Sidney doesn’t know where he is and says he might be in France until things calm down a bit. But
where
in France?’ Her lips trembled.

As May swallowed the last mouthful of the last garibaldi, her eyes widened. ‘Where’s that ring he gave you what was supposed to be a diamond?’

‘Sidney’s took it to a man he knows who’ll tell me what it’s worth so I can sell it and live off the money.’ She tossed her head and gave her mother a challenging glance. ‘It’s my ring, and I can sell it if I like!’

May closed her eyes and groaned.

‘Ma? What’s the matter?’

‘You’ve given the diamond ring to Sidney who is about to take off – and
he’s got your ring
!’ Her eyes snapped open. ‘Yes! You may well look like that,
Mrs Wickham
! Trust me – you will never set eyes on either of them again. That’s the end of that. “Finny”, as they say in France.’

‘Finny?’

‘Never mind!’

Dolly glared at her mother in shocked dismay. ‘Listen to you! I come over here for help and you make me feel a lot worse! What sort of mother
are
you?’ She stood up. ‘I’m going home, and I shall stay there. I still live there, and I don’t need your help, so there! Stuff that in your pipe and smoke it!’ She rushed to the door and along the passage.

‘Dolly!’ May screamed. ‘Don’t you dare run off. Come back here!’ She raised her eyes heavenwards, both exasperated and infuriated in equal measure. ‘Listen to me! There’s no point in carrying on like this – you’re in deep trouble, and you
do
need my help.’

Heaving herself from the chair she hurried after her daughter, but the front door slammed in her face and she at once gave up the chase. She would not give the neighbours the thrill of seeing her pursuing her own daughter across the street. They’d know something was wrong before too long. Word gets round. And how they would all laugh. One minute the Ellerways were celebrating a wedding, and the next it had all gone up in flames!

Leaning against the banister she drew a few shuddering breaths and muttered a few choice swear words before her anger suddenly evaporated, a sense of helplessness took its place and she sat down heavily on the bottom stair. Fighting back tears she rocked to and fro in an agony of helpless indecision and doubt. It was not long, however, before she gave way altogether and began to cry in earnest.

Nine

While May’s day was being ruined by her daughter’s alarming news, Lydia stood in the kitchen ironing and thinking about her visit to Mansoor Street and her meeting with Dolly Wickham. Her father and Adam were in the front room where George was helping him with a jigsaw puzzle so she was satisfied that they were both safe – for the time being.

As she slid the iron to and fro over her father’s shirt she struggled to recall something that had been niggling at the back of her mind. Something Mrs Wickham had said had passed her by at the time, but had returned in the middle of the night only to vanish again as soon as she awoke. She eased the point of the iron along the left-hand sleeve and thought it had something to do with the kitten. So perhaps it was something Adam had said . . .

She turned the sleeve over and applied the iron. It would soon be too cool, and she would swap it with the other one which was heating on top of the stove.

‘Ah!’ She stopped ironing as the missing piece of her mind’s jigsaw fell into place. Adam had told Dolly Wickham that he was not allowed to have any pets because animal’s fur made his father sneeze! She smiled. Unfortunately, that was true. And Mrs Wickham had said that
her
husband was also affected by fur. She supposed it was rather like hay fever – the way some people were affected by flower pollen.

Finishing the shirt, she selected another from the basket and changed the irons. But Mrs Wickham had decided to get a kitten anyway, despite the embargo. Good for her. It would be a
fait accompli
, she reflected, and presumably Mrs Wickham was hoping that her husband would give in on the subject and let her keep the kitten. She wondered whether she could be brave enough to challenge John. Adam would be so thrilled to have a pet, and the animal would be company for him.

As her thoughts once more reverted to the newly-wed, she realized she had been quite impressed by the young woman, in an odd sort of way. Married for only a few days and already her husband was away on business. A coincidence, thought Lydia, because she herself had a husband who was rarely at home, so she could sympathize with Mrs Wickham – or Dolly, as she liked to be called. Not much fun though, she reflected, having that rather odious brother-in-law sharing a home with them. She frowned. Had John ever met the two Wickham brothers, she wondered. She found herself hoping that Dolly’s husband was better looking than his brother. Surely an attractive young woman with Dolly’s bright looks could have found herself a decent husband.

Now something else niggled at the back of her mind, but at that moment Adam came into the kitchen carefully holding the completed puzzle.

‘Look, Mama! Grandpapa and I finished it. It’s a mother cat and her kittens sitting in a basket. I did most of it, but Grandpapa helped me.’

His eyes shone with pride, and Lydia was again reminded of Dolly’s stand. Before she could change her mind she said, ‘I saw a little mouse last night, Adam. It was running about in the kitchen, and Papa doesn’t like mice because they nibble the bread so I think we will have to buy you a kitten. What do you think of the idea?’

‘Oh yes, Mama! I like it!’ he cried.

Lydia quickly grabbed the puzzle tray, which was threatening to tip sideways in Adam’s small excited hands.

‘May I tell Grandpapa,’ he asked, ‘or is it a secret?’

‘You can tell him, Adam, and tomorrow we’ll all go to the pet shop and see what they have for sale. It may be a black or tabby kitten. Would that matter?’

He thought about it. ‘Could we still call it Ginger?’

‘Of course we could! You can choose any name you like. Sooty or Tiger or . . . Oh! There are lots of nice names.’

Adam ran off to tell his news, and Lydia followed him into the front room with the jigsaw tray, which she placed on the table. Listening to her son’s excited voice and seeing her father’s delighted smile, she whispered a silent thank you to Dolly Wickham. If only they did not live so far apart, she reflected, she might have invited her round to tea.

The next few days were uneventful except for the arrival of a tabby kitten, ten weeks old, which Adam had named Sooty. Lydia was anxiously awaiting a letter from John, but said nothing to anyone else about it. She was not very happy and became even less so when Leonard Phipps approached her while she was laying the table for the evening meal. George and Adam were in the garden playing with the new kitten.

‘I have a confession to make, Mrs Daye,’ he began.

‘Oh no!’ Dismayed by his manner, she immediately expected something else to worry about and eyed him almost fearfully.

‘It’s about those Wickham brothers. My instincts tell me they are up to no good, but I cannot put my finger on anything definite so—’

‘The Wickham brothers? But why tell me?’

‘It was you who first alerted me to them. I felt I should explain that I’m simply following up on my suspicions. All I have done is pass on the details of my visits to them to my superiors, emphasizing the mystery of the missing PSD office – which you must agree does sound very odd.’ He looked at her hopefully.

‘What did they think?’

‘That it did sound suspicious. They are going to investigate – not mentioning any of us, of course.’

‘On what excuse?’ Lydia felt distinctly uneasy and annoyed that he had done this without warning her. ‘They might guess and blame me!’ They might retaliate, she thought, but dared not put the idea into words. The affair might somehow rebound on John, which in turn might have repercussions in the government department where he was employed.

He said soothingly, ‘They will pretend they are investigating something else – looking for a missing person, possibly. Your name will not be disclosed nor that of your husband. Believe me, you have nothing to worry about. I’m beginning to wish I had left you in the dark, Mrs Daye.’