Christmas Wish (23 page)

‘Going somewhere nice, girls?’

Magda dared to turn.

Bradley Fitts was leaning out of the car window, his gaze fixed on her and a Woodbine hanging from the corner of his mouth.

Panicking, she looked up the street hoping to see the bus
coming. Not one in sight. Typical. Just when you needed one badly. Any other time there’d be three in a row.

‘I asked you where you were going, Magdalena. Didn’t you hear me?’

It was Susan that answered, dimples appearing at the corners of her mouth and a blush on each cheek. ‘Up west. We’re celebrating. My name’s Susan. I went to the same school as you, though you were a few years ahead of me, mind. You were there the same time as my brother, Ralph.’

‘Is that so?’

His eyes never left Magda’s face.

‘It’s Magdalena that’s a friend of mine,’ he said, savouring her name long and slow as he always did. ‘We’re old friends in fact, old friends that are likely to get to be close friends. Very close. Isn’t that right, Magdalena?’

Magda looked anywhere except at him; the window of the tobacconists shop, the alleyway dividing it from the secondhand furniture shop next door where weeds grew out of the crumbling brickwork.

His eyes seared through her clothes like hot shears. Self-consciously, she wrapped her arms around her handbag, holding it tightly to her body, wanting to run, but knowing there was nothing for it but to face him.

‘Look,’ she said, sounding far more emboldened than she felt. ‘My friend Susan and I are going up west to look at the shops. That’s all.’

‘It’s a celebration,’ blurted out Susan.

Magda shot her a sharp look. Not that Susan was taking any notice. She couldn’t take her eyes off Bradley Fitts, flattered that a young man who owned a car could be interested in them.

Bradley got out of the car. Resting his elbow on the roof, he stood there smiling, his eyes narrowed against the smoke
from his cigarette. His friend got out too, leaning on the car bonnet where he proceeded to pick his teeth with an unlit match.

‘So what are you celebrating?’ asked Bradley Fitts.

Giving Susan a nudge with her toe, Magda answered. ‘Old friends meeting up.’

Thankfully Susan got the message and didn’t go boasting of her friend Magda passing the interview to medical school.

‘Sounds nice. So how about making it a foursome?’

Susan nudged Magda’s arm. ‘Why not? We’re just two girls alone, and these two young men are by themselves.’

Bradley Fitts smiled his sly smile, recognising that Susan was pliable.

‘Very sensible of you, my dear,’ he said, directing his winning smile and flattery at Susan. ‘Makes sense for us to paint the town together. My treat of course.’

‘I don’t think …’ began Magda.

‘Oh, come on,’ Susan whined.

Magda took a few steps away, but Susan hung on.

Bradley concentrated his charm on Susan.

‘So where do you work, Susan?’

‘At the brewery. I’m doing all right for meself too. Nice to ’ave a bit of money.’

He nodded as though he were genuinely interested, whilst his eyes slid sidelong to Magda.

‘Good pay is it?’

A gold tooth flashed at the side of his mouth.

‘Of course. I work in the office doing all that typing and stuff.’

‘Is that so?’

Susan actually worked stripping the hops from the bines, the bits the machinery couldn’t get at.

‘This is Eddie Shellard,’ Bradley said, nodding at the man leaning over the bonnet. ‘Eddie is my driver. He works for me. Say hello to Susan and Magdalena.’

The car driver was familiar too; Edward Shellard, the boy who had begged Winnie for food all those years ago, and she’d given him the leavings of a loaf.

Susan flushed with pleasure.

Magda tugged at Susan’s sleeve.

‘We’d better be going …’

Bradley stepped in front of them, Eddie just a little behind him so that the pair of them blocked the pavement.

‘I’ll give you a lift. We’ll make a night of it. How would that be?’

His tone was smooth, his movements swift and purposeful. He swung the car door open, an extra hindrance across their path.

‘Hop in. Only the best for girls like you.’ His look was as slippery as his tone of voice.

‘Girls like us?’ Magda snapped.

‘Pretty girls,’ he said, reaching out and chucking her under her chin.

She took a step back. His touch filled her with alarm. If Susan hadn’t been so impressed …

She reminded herself that Susan didn’t know him as well as she knew him. Smiling he might be, acting the gentleman he might be, but first as last, he was Bradley Fitts and was far from being a gentleman.

‘Well. We ain’t got all night. Come on, get in.’

He took hold of Susan’s arm as though he were helping her in, when in fact he was being insistent.

‘Come on, Magda. You’re coming too,’ Susan called from the back seat of the car.

Magda hesitated, torn between her instinct that to get into
the car was asking for trouble, and not getting in was leaving Susan alone. She had to get her out of there.

Magda bent into the car. ‘I don’t want to go with them.’

‘Come on. In or out. We haven’t got all night.’

A pair of hands landed on her back and pushed her in. The car door slammed shut behind her.

Eddie Shellard swung in behind the steering wheel, Bradley swiftly getting into the front passenger seat.

‘Drive, Eddie. Let’s give these girls a good time.’

Magda grabbed the door handle. ‘No! I want to get out.’

Susan grabbed her arm. ‘Oh, come on, Magda. It’ll be all right. We’ll have a great time, won’t we Bradley?’

Bradley Fitts turned round in his seat.

‘Hey,’ he said in an oily voice. ‘Now where’s the harm in having a little drink with us at the Railway Hotel before going home? Celebrate the two of you meeting up again. Nothing wrong with that is there, Magdalena? Such a beautiful name, Magdalena. Beautiful girl too.’

Magda hit away the hand that attempted to caress her cheek.

‘Anyway, you haven’t told me where you work, Magdalena. Maybe I’ll meet you outside where you work at some time. Maybe we’ll go for a drink after work, p’raps go for a meal in some fancy restaurant. How would that be?’

Magda swallowed the chalky feeling in her throat.

‘We weren’t going up west to go into a pub. We don’t go into pubs. Besides, we’re too young for you. You’re in your twenties and we’re not.’

Bradley Fitts eyed her over his shoulder. A smirk spread like a cold sore over his lips, twisting one corner upwards.

‘I like ’em fresh,’ he said thoughtfully, more to himself than to her. ‘Don’t you, Eddie,’ he added. ‘Don’t you like a fresh young thing that’s more grown up than she thinks she is and just needs a bit of experience to set her up just right?’

Eddie had been silent up until now, and when he had spoken it was only to say yes or no to whatever Bradley suggested.

On this occasion he burst out laughing. ‘Untouched and ripe to be plucked,’ he said.

Magda’s memory was jogged by his remark. The men who’d visited the place Winnie used to own had made remarks like that. Their laughs had been like that too. She used to hear them from across the road. She’d hated them for those remarks.

Bradley turned halfway round in his seat. She hit away the hand that landed on her knee. ‘I don’t want to go with you. I want to get out.’

The smile on Bradley Fitts’s face turned to a sneer. ‘Let’s get this straight, sweetheart. Nobody turns down Bradley Fitts. Nobody. Get it? You’ve done it too many times before, but not this time. Right?’

Magda heard the threat in his voice and shuddered at the coldness of his eyes. The strong intimidating the weak – just like her aunt.

She had to stay calm. She had to get through this.

‘Is that so, Mr Fitts?’ she said. ‘Let us out and I won’t go to the police.’

His eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

‘Police? Now why would you want to do that? I’ve done no wrong. You accepted my invitation to get into my car. Ain’t that right, Eddie?’

‘That’s right, boss.’

Up until now Susan had been keen to take Bradley up on his offer. Hearing what he was saying and the way he was saying it changed her mind.

Magda felt Susan’s fingers digging into her arm. Her friend’s bravado had disappeared. She was scared.

‘It’ll be all right – won’t it?’ Susan whispered.

Susan, usually the bubbly bright one afraid of nothing, had
lost her sparkle. The freckled face had lost its pinkness. Her eyes were round and frightened.

Magda controlled her own fear. If they were to escape this situation unscathed, she had to keep a cool head. Panic and they were lost.

‘You’re abducting us,’ she said resolutely. ‘That’s how the police would view what you’re doing. They’ll throw away the key. You’ll spend years in jail. There! Do you want that?’

She couldn’t believe how calmly she was dealing with this, but then, what choice did she have? There was no guarantee it would do any good.

For a moment he stared at her with that cold, codfish look of his.

She prayed he was thinking it over. He wasn’t saying anything. Just looking.

Suddenly he snatched at her face, pinching in her cheeks with horribly strong fingers. She knew then that her threat had made no impression. Bradley Fitts would have it his way.

‘I’m taking you out on the town. And you’ll be grateful. Get it? You’ll be grateful!’

He flung her backwards so hard that the back of her head bounced against the top edge of the seat.

Susan huddled closer, shaking from top to toe.

‘What’s going to happen to us?’ Susan whispered.

Magda swallowed hard. ‘Nothing – not if I’ve anything to do with it.’

She sounded far braver than she actually felt. She knew without needing to see her reflection in a mirror that his fingers had left red marks on her cheeks. Threatening this man with the police had done no good whatsoever – like water off a duck’s back, as Winnie would say.

Her thoughts raced this way and that, searching in her mind for some way out of this.

Inevitably she thought of one or two of the girls across the road. For the men they appeared compliant. When alone they voiced their contempt. All that had mattered was getting paid for what they did.

She had to follow their example. In the case of Bradley Fitts, they had to pretend to enjoy this night out. They had to buy time and trust, enough so they could make their escape.

She gave Susan’s hand a reassuring squeeze before catching sight of Bradley’s eyes in the rear-view mirror and saying, ‘You win. We’ll come for a drink with you.’

Bradley Fitts took his gaze away from the road ahead and the busy traffic of a London night, and turned a smiling face to her.

‘That’s more like it. Never refuse Bradley Fitts. You have to learn that. Now I’m telling you, girls, you’ll enjoy yourself. You just see if you don’t. First a couple of drinks in the pub. Then I might even take you to my old man’s club for a bit of dancing. How would that be?’

‘Dancing?’ Magda nodded, her brain working overtime. ‘Yes. I … we … like dancing, don’t we Susan? Though I’m not sure we’re quite dressed for it. My hair for a start …’ She made a big show of smoothing back her hair and flicking at the corners of her mouth to dislodge excess lipstick. ‘Still, if you won’t take no for an answer, we might as well enjoy ourselves.’

Magda crossed one leg over the other and clasped her hands around her knee. She saw Bradley’s eyes follow the action. He would interpret it that she was feeling more relaxed. More pliable. More submissive.

‘That’s my girl,’ he said, bringing his gaze back up to her face. ‘You and me are going places, girl. You know how I feel about you. How I’ve always felt about you.’

He squeezed her clasped hands before turning back to face the front.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Susan looking at her wide eyed. The girl who had been so keen to go out with these men now looked like the little girl she still was – despite the new hairstyle.

Magda raised a finger to her lips in an action that begged Susan to say nothing.

Susan blinked. Then she gave a little jerk of her chin as a sign that she understood. Say nothing. Keep calm. Wait for the chance.

Magda stared out of the window. Shops, houses, blank walls and dark alleys tumbled past in quick succession.

After taking a few turnings off the main road, the car came to a stop at the kerb. The pub was situated on a corner. An old gaslight hanging from a wall bracket hissed above.

The moment the car came to a standstill, a swarm of small boys wearing ragged pullovers and hand-me-down short grey flannels crowded around.

‘That your car, Mister?’ The kid who spoke had a pudding basin haircut and a heavily freckled face.

‘It belongs to Mr Fitts here,’ said Eddie who had got out first and was holding the door open for his boss. ‘You’ve heard of Mr Fitts, haven’t you boys? So you know not to touch it and not to let any other bugger touch it. Right?’

Bradley Fitts nodded at Eddie. ‘A farthing each to guard it.’

Eddie fished in his pockets and found enough farthings and ha’pennies to go round.

Bradley opened one of the rear doors of the car.

‘One at a time, girls.’

Magda stepped out first, wincing at the fierceness of his grip on her upper arm. A warning.

Susan remained in the car until Eddie had finished paying the kids. Her face was paler than Magda could ever remember it.

Bradley Fitts swung Magda to one side of him and addressed Susan.

‘Right. Get out.’

Susan did as ordered. Eddie grabbed her as tightly as Bradley was holding Magda.

‘Hold onto her, Eddie. Want to appear the gentlemanly escort, don’t we now.’

Eddie laughed.

Bradley slipped his arm through Magda’s, holding her tight against his body.

One of the kids pushed open the pub door and earned himself another coin.

Bradley hustled Magda through, closely followed by Eddie holding onto Susan.

A fog of cigarette smoke and stale beer covered them like a blanket, killing the fresh air that had dared to enter with them.