The Tangling of the Web (21 page)

Luke, who had somehow got himself quickly behind the bar, went up to Angela and asked, ‘What’s your name?’

‘Angela Yorkston.’

‘Then Angela Yorkston I’m arresting you on the charges of breach of the peace and assault.’

‘But,’ exclaimed Angela, ‘I admit I poured the beer over her and slapped her face, but it was either you or herself who battered her face off the bar. Besides, you should be arresting her for what she has done to me – or hasn’t done for me.’

Angela’s plea was wasted on Luke, who quickly came round to the front of the bar and began dragging her towards the door. ‘Look,’ she pleaded, ‘you have to listen to my story. Believe me, what happened here tonight is completely out of character for me. I was driven to it.’

‘That’s what they all say,’ Luke replied. ‘But tell you what, you can tell me your whole package of woes down at the station. I guarantee, I do, that you’ll have my undivided attention for the full two hours before I take up my night-shift duty.’

Once Luke and Angela had left, Rita rushed over to Sally. ‘Och, Sally, your bonny face. All cut and bleeding.’

Sally coughed and spat.

‘Merciful God, she’s knocked out one of your teeth. And the cut on your nose needs stitching, so you’ll need to go to the hospital.’

Dishy Dr Falconer was on duty when Sally arrived at the Leith Hospital Casualty Department.

‘Hmm,’ he hummed. ‘Could have been much worse. Fortunately the tooth you’ve lost was a front overlapping one that should have been removed years ago.’

As the doctor had Sally’s mouth wide open so he could inspect for any further damage, Sally could only garble, ‘So I’m supposed to feel grateful that I’ve only been scarred for life instead of dead.’

Iain Falconer laughed. ‘You are nowhere near being dead. And as to being defaced for life – well, let’s have a look’ He then held her cheeks in his hands and twisted them backwards and forwards. ‘Take my word for it, in three weeks nobody will ever guess that you’ve been in the wars.’

‘But my tooth won’t grow back, will it?’

‘That’s true. But as I’ve already said, that tooth should have been extracted a long time ago.’ He inhaled before continuing. ‘And once your lip, where the tooth crushed into it, heals, you’ll see exactly what a blessing in disguise the removal of that tooth has been.’

Sally said no more. So he got on with inserting a couple of stitches into the side of her nose. ‘That’s you brand new,’ Iain teased, helping her off the chair. ‘Now, if you just wait, your sister Daisy is coming down to see you.’ He added with a cheeky smirk, ‘And me too, I hope. Going to the hospital dance with me next week, she is.’

‘Oh God, no,’ Sally said to herself, ‘not another romance that I didn’t know about!’

Luke had intended to take Angela to the station to be charged. He knew that was what he was obliged to do. But as soon as they left the Four Marys, Angela had started to unburden herself and tell him her life story.

This meant by the time they reached the Charlotte Street Police Headquarters, he was shaken and shocked. Her story had been so heart-rending that he knew, even if it cost him his job, there was no way he would take her in to be questioned by any of his colleagues.

The dreadful cruelty that had been inflicted on the lassie by one of his own was more than he could bear. He judged that if ever the truth did get out the whole family would be shunned.

What could he do with her then? The only place that he knew where she would be out of danger and the family’s secret safe was at Sally’s. After all, Sally had lied through her teeth. No way could she convince him that she didn’t know all about Angela. She could so easily have ended the lassie’s agony and taken her in her arms and told her the truth. But because so much more of the family’s dirty washing would then have to be aired in public, Sally had done what she was an expert at – protected herself by remaining silent. This being the case, as he saw it, he decided to go at once to Sally’s.

As the dilemma engulfed him, he inhaled deeply before blowing out his lips and hissing inwardly, he spat, ‘Yes, to hell with what you want, Sally. You created this mess. You cannot pretend it doesn’t exist, and it has to be put right! So here we come.’

David Stock’s car was just drawing up at Sally’s house in Gladstone Place when Luke and Angela arrived.

Alighting from the vehicle, Sally let out a scream when she saw Angela. ‘Luke, you are an insensitive pig. How dare you bring that vandal to my door.’

Luke moved towards Sally and grasped her arm. ‘Sally,’ he hissed in a hoarse whisper, ‘you have to take this lassie in. After all, if anybody knows who she is … it’s holier-than-thou you.’ Dragging her arm out of Luke’s grasp, Sally was about to retaliate, but Luke continued, ‘And before you say another word, say goodbye to goody, goody-two shoes – none other than Chief Inspector Stock.’

Sally shook her head.

‘Shake your head all you like, Sally, but if he gets a whiff of what I’m doing he’ll report it and I’ll be flung out of the force on my ear – he’ll have no other option but to hand me in.’ Sally looked aghast but Luke ignored her concern and went forcibly on. ‘And if he does, you won’t be worrying any more about the pong from the sewage works at Seafield. Believe me, a fouler stink will engulf all of us, and no matter how hard we try to wash it off … the stench will remain.’

Sally was now in a state of confusion. What on earth was Luke going on about? She knew it was all to do with this strange lassie, Angela, a slip of a woman who had had the temerity to barge into her life and turn it upside down.

Still emotionally frail, Sally began to sob.
Why,
she thought,
is Luke demanding that I send David away? Would it not make more sense for me to keep one ally close by?
Plucking at the front of her coat, she observed Luke again and she noticed that her normally completely-in-control brother was panicking.

Inwardly, she was still reluctant to send David away. After all, was it not true that Luke and herself had never had an easy relationship? But here he was asking – no, begging – for her help, and had he not come to her rescue when Angela assaulted her?

Against her better judgement, she heard herself say, ‘Thank you, David. You have been very kind, but it’s time you got back home to your wife. She needs you. And don’t worry, because Luke and Angela will take care of me.’ She weakly smiled to him, but it belied the fact that she was thinking the blow to her face and nose must have rendered her senseless – unable to make a logical decision. That had to be the irrational reason as to why she was inviting two people who really hated her into her home. These people who knew she would have no protection … not one single ally close by to come to her aid.

The hotel business was successful for Ginny, and she proved very quickly that the large profits were indeed to be made between the sheets. That was why she was always on the lookout for new premises. Someone had told her about an eight-roomed house down in Seaview Terrace in Joppa that was crying out to be developed into a bed and breakfast.

Ginny prided herself in the fact that she was a woman before her time. She was a successful businesswoman who could beat any man any day. Nonetheless, there were things she should have done but hadn’t: for instance, she never seemed to find the time to get driving lessons, so she didn’t have a driving licence and therefore she didn’t own a car.

What she did have was plenty of money to spend on hired vehicles, so the day she decided to inspect the house at Seaview she arrived by taxi.

On arrival at the address, she had asked the driver to drop her off on the grass verge on the other side of the street from the houses so she could view the property she was interested in.

The row of superior houses impressed her. They had obviously been built at a time when it was fashionable to own substantial property close to the beach. Scanning along the edifices, she noted that only two other houses in the long row had been turned into lodging accommodation.

Crossing over the street, she climbed the steps to the house that was for sale and with a flourish she rang the bell.

Half an hour later, Ginny was standing on the doorstep making her departure. ‘Are you interested in the house?’ the seller asked.

Ginny, being Ginny, had done her research. She knew the middle-aged woman doing the selling was the daughter of the recently deceased owner and she was anxious to get a quick sale so she could return to America, which she now called home.

‘For myself – no,’ Ginny drawled. ‘I like small hotels that I can enlarge. So this is too little for me to develop far enough. But,’ she hesitated, ‘I do think I know of someone who this would be a good stepping stone for.’

‘You mean you know someone who may be interested in …’ The woman abruptly stopped. What she was thinking was ‘a broken-down, badly maintained and in much need of repair, shortly to be condemned building’. But, fixing an insincere smile on her face, she continued sweetly to Ginny, ‘A house that has so much potential? A place that could be developed and wear the stamp of the personality of the person who buys it.’

Sighing before indicating with her finger, Ginny pointed out to the sea. At that minute in time the tide had ebbed and the sea was calm and it twinkled like diamonds in the morning sun. ‘See there,’ she began, ‘that magnificent view.’ The woman nodded enthusiastically. ‘That is the only thing this house has going for it right now.’

‘But I thought you said you knew someone who might buy this?’

‘I do. But … let’s say … you would have to become more realistic about the asking price.’

Morning hadn’t come too soon for Sally. She wanted to believe that Angela was a Walter Mitty character, but what she said about her having been born to a young teenager who then left her in the orphanage fitted in with Josie having disappeared when she was just fifteen. What also became more believable with the dawn was how Angela’s grandmother in America had found out that she existed and then she’d come over, and taken on the establishment and won – won the right to adopt her own granddaughter, who she had cared for ever since.

There were other things that were perplexing Sally. One was why had Josie not sought her help? For God’s sake, she was only fifteen and pregnant to a GI who had been sent to France, which meant she had been left all alone to face the condemnation that was poured onto all unwed mothers to be. Hadn’t she trusted Sally enough to ask for understanding? Why, hadn’t she known that Sally loved her dearly and would have forgiven her anything? Sally stopped in her deliberations.
Why,
she scolded herself,
would Josie require my forgiveness? The only person in this sorry affair that she should beg absolution from is Angela.

The other matter that was of great concern was that when Mrs Yorkston had contacted her and offered her assistance, even – if Angela was to be believed – to take her to America and care for her and Angela, why hadn’t Josie taken up this generous offer? Sally had thought up till now that Josie, who lived in a land of make-believe, would just have loved to have been offered the chance of emigration to America. Why hadn’t she grabbed the chance to live the American dream? Angela’s grandmother appeared to be a warm and loving woman. Was that not always what Sally and her siblings had yearned for: a supportive, affectionate mother figure?

Thinking of a mother figure caused Sally to draw up. She smiled.
Now wasn’t that just fortuitous of me to have persuaded Flora to have a telephone installed.
Flora had been reluctant to give the contraption houseroom and took delight in saying, ‘Don’t be daft, Sally. You know fine there’s a call box just five minutes down the road that I can use if there’s an emergency.’ What she didn’t add but thought was,
Besides, I sleep a lot easier when I’m not privy to every little crisis that happens down in Leith – especially if my darling Bobby sneezes twice.
Nonetheless, after much persuasion she had relented and the telephone, just for use in
real
emergencies, was installed.

After dialling Flora’s number, Sally had to wait for what seemed an eternity before she answered. ‘Hello. Is there a fire or something?’ Flora huffed. ‘Surely you know hens have to be fed and eggs collected?’

‘Flora, it’s Sally.’

‘Of course I knew it was you, Sally. Nobody else ever rings this abomination’s bell.’

Ignoring the rant that was always Flora’s opening remarks, Sally, without enquiring as to Flora’s well-being, said, ‘Flora, now I want you to cast your mind back.’

‘To where?’

‘Look, it’s just, do you remember when you went to Blackpool to see the lights and you came back with Josie?’

‘Hardly likely to forget that happy day, am I?’ Flora shouted – not through frustration this time but because she thought she had to heighten her voice so Sally could hear her in Edinburgh.

‘Right, now what I want is for you to concentrate hard and try and recall did Josie say anything about a baby or a GI or America?’

A long pause followed.

‘Flora, Flora, are you still there? What I am asking is …’

‘I know what you’re asking and I’m trying to remember, but it’s such a long time ago. Blast this getting old. The only thing going for it is you get a pension. Now, what did Josie say that day?’ There followed a long hesitation during which Flora hummed and hawed. Eventually she drawled, ‘No, Josie never mentioned nothing about a baby or an American GI. Though I think if she’d come across the GI she would have been pleased, very pleased … Just said, she did, that she had to run away because someone we all knew was trying to get her to do things that no lassie should do unless she’s been churched.’

Sally sighed. Flora was getting old, and every week now when she rang her there were always problems. If it wasn’t that she didn’t have her distance glasses on so she couldn’t see to hear Sally then it was her hearing itself that was bad. The hearing had the habit of getting really bad if Sally ever had reason to criticise any of the children – especially Bobby.

‘Okay, Flora, you get back to the hens. And don’t you concern yourself about not knowing about what Josie forgot to tell us when you found her. When I’ve caught up with her and got the whole story, I’ll ring you.’