Tiger Ragtime (7 page)

He stepped over them, gathered her into his arms and unbuttoned the back of her dress. Sliding it over her shoulders, he allowed it and her petticoat to drop to the floor. ‘Did I ever tell you that you’re beautiful?’

‘Always when you take your glasses off and can’t see.’ She drew back, unbuttoned his waistcoat, helped him out of it and pulled down his braces.

‘I can see everything I want to.’ He slipped the straps of her bust shaper over her shoulders. When her breasts were exposed he kissed each nipple in turn.

‘We should make the bed properly.’ She was still unbuttoning his shirt when he pressed her down on to the cushions.

‘Why?’ He kissed the soft skin at the base of her ear.

‘Because we’ll be uncomfortable later.’

‘And then we’ll wake up and do this all over again.’ Unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his flies, he kicked his trousers off and pulled down her French knickers. ‘I like you just the way you are now – naked. You do realise once we’re married I won’t allow you to dress. And then we’ll have a lifetime of Sunday afternoons.’

He entered her and for once, she allowed his forecast of their future together to go unchallenged …

Judy was washing her breakfast things when the telephone rang in the ante room off the kitchen, where Edyth did her accounts and kept her invoices. She picked it up and recited the telephone number.

‘Judy?’

‘Hello, Mr Evans,’ she said, relieved that it wasn’t a customer demanding extra baked goods or cancelling an order. She enjoyed working for Edyth but hated making decisions that might cost the business money if she got them wrong.

‘Is Edyth there?’

‘No, she went out an hour ago.’

‘Is she likely to be back soon?’

‘Not until this evening, she’s gone to visit a friend,’ she answered evasively.

‘Damn! Sorry, Judy, I didn’t mean to swear. Can you get a message to her?’

‘If it’s urgent, Mr Evans, I can try.’ She knew exactly where Edyth was because every gossip in the Bay had seen her visit Micah Holsten’s boat on Sunday afternoons, but the last thing she wanted to do was disturb them.

‘My brother-in-law David – what am I saying, of course you know David – you were dancing with him yesterday. Well, he left the farm this morning for Cardiff. His train is due in at four o’clock. He’s taken it into his head to become a sailor.’

‘Now? When there’s a slump in trade and all the shipping companies are laying off seamen?’

‘You don’t have to tell me it’s a crazy idea. But there’s no point in trying to talk David out of it. Once he makes up his mind to do something, he does it, no matter what the consequences. He’s going to have to find out how impossible it will be for him to become a sailor the hard way. He doesn’t know anyone in the Bay except you and Edyth and although he’s practically family, he’s not related to Edyth by blood so I don’t think he should move in with you two,’ he said flatly. ‘But I don’t want him wandering around the doss houses on the docks. He’s lived on the farm all his life, he’s not used to people, especially ones who will take advantage of a young boy’s naivety.’

‘I understand, Mr Evans. Helga Brown – Pastor Holsten’s sister – takes in lodgers. She lives in the same street as my uncles.’

‘That sounds perfect. Do you think she’ll have a room to spare?’

‘I don’t know about a room, Mr Evans – they come expensive on the Bay. But she’ll probably have a bed.’

‘If she has, reserve it for David, please. He has enough money to keep himself for a few weeks. When it runs out I hope he’ll have enough sense to come home. If Micah’s sister can’t put him up, try and find him respectable lodgings somewhere else. And tell Edyth I’d be grateful if she’d meet the train and see him to Micah’s sister’s house. Ask her to telephone me as soon as she can. Mary’s worried sick about him.’

‘I will, Mr Evans, and if Edyth can’t meet the train I will.’

‘Thank you, Judy, you’re a gem. I must go and pick up Mary and the others from chapel now. Look after yourself and Edie for me.’

‘I will, Mr Evans. Goodbye.’ Judy replaced the receiver and walked back into the kitchen.

David Ellis was coming to the Bay to live – and, he thought, work. With the situation as it was at the moment an unskilled man would be lucky to get a berth on a coal ship to Ireland in return for his food. Judy only hoped David had enough sense not to advertise the fact that he was carrying sufficient money to pay for a few weeks’ lodging. If he didn’t, he’d soon attract the attention of some of the more desperate seamen in the doss houses.

She’d have to persuade him to hand over the bulk of his money to Helga Brown in advance to pay for his board and lodgings. She tried not to think what might happen if he chose not to listen to her. She didn’t know David well, but the fact that he’d insisted on coming to the Bay in the face of Harry and Mary’s opposition was testimony to his stubbornness and lack of common sense.

Her heart beat faster as an image came to mind of Harry Evans, handsome, debonair, well-to-do and respectable, unlike some of the rougher characters who lived on the Bay. And he was devoted to his wife and children. She didn’t love Harry – how could she when he was a married man? – but she hoped that there would be a man a little like him in her future. One who would love and cosset her and take care of her and their children the way Harry did Mary.

She sighed. It was more likely she’d continue to be surrounded by immature headstrong idiot boys like David Ellis, who needed looking after because they were just as stupid and troublesome as her cousins and their friends. Boys who had about as much romance in their soul as the dull-eyed codfish that lay on Tommy the fishmonger’s cart.

Irritated by the thought, she threw the dishcloth back into the washing-up water and carried on washing her dishes.

Chapter Four

‘It’s an excellent location, Mr James. And, as you see, the building is in good condition.’

‘Externally,’ Aled qualified. He stepped back on the pavement and glanced up at the imposing, Victorian-built three-storey building in Bute Street while Geoff Arnold unlocked the front door. He noted that the roof was in good repair, as were all the windows and the three doors that faced the street. He also noticed that the woodwork had been freshly painted and the ornamental brickwork around the windows and doors newly pointed.

‘It used to be a hotel, but,’ Geoff hesitated before adding, ‘times are hard.’

‘The bank repossessed it?’ Aled guessed from the recent renovations.

‘Not many visitors to the docks can afford hotel prices now that trade has slumped and those who can tend to stay at the Windsor since they reduced their room rate. As for ordinary sailors – they can no longer be sure how long they’ll have to stay in the port, so they’re reluctant to even pay for a bed in a doss house.’ Geoff opened the door.

Aled walked ahead of him into an imposing hall that housed an enormous, elegant, curved staircase, two sets of double and two single doors. ‘This is a waste of space.’

‘The last owner had the reception desk here.’ Geoff opened the double doors on their right and they walked into a large, empty room that had been stripped back to the bare walls and floorboards. ‘This was the residents’ sitting room.’

Aled saw a door in the back wall. ‘Where does that lead?’

‘Offices and lavatories.’ Geoff opened the door. Aled looked up and down a narrow corridor. There were two doors marked LADIES and GENTLEMEN and another marked OFFICE.

‘What else is on this floor?’

‘There’s a smaller room to the left of the hall that was used as a bar.’

Aled walked back through the hall, opened the second set of double doors, and looked inside. A bar ran the width of the back wall, but like the sitting room there was neither flooring nor furniture. He returned to the hall. ‘Where do those two doors lead?’

‘One to the servants’ back staircase, the other to the stairs down to the cellar.’

Aled ran up the grand staircase. Three corridors opened off a wide galleried landing.

‘There are fifteen double bedrooms, two bathrooms and three lavatories on this floor,’ Geoff Arnold said, panting breathlessly as he caught up with him.

‘You’re very familiar with this place.’

‘I enforced the repossession order for the bank and arranged the auction of fixtures and fittings.’

‘And bought the building at a knockdown price?’ Aled guessed shrewdly.

‘I paid off the remaining mortgage. The bank directors were happy.’

‘I bet they were. Where’s the staircase to the next floor?’

Geoff opened one of the doors. Aled walked up a plain narrow staircase to the top floor. ‘Were these servants’ quarters?’

‘The family’s living accommodation.’ Geoff opened the doors in turn. ‘Sitting room, drawing room, dining room, four bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and study. And, as you see, all well-proportioned. There are four attic rooms, which were used to house the maids.’

Aled stood and looked around thoughtfully. ‘The asking price?’

‘Fifteen hundred pounds, freehold. I think you’ll agree it is very reasonable for a place of this size.’

‘It would have been two years ago.’

‘The slump can’t last, Mr James.’

‘No, it can’t, Mr Arnold. I’ve just comes from the United States and I’ve seen first-hand what’s happened there since the Wall Street crash in twenty-nine. It can only be a matter of time before we hit a full economic depression here. In my opinion it’s going to get a great deal worse before it gets better. It will be years before this place is worth fifteen hundred pounds again. I’ll give you eight hundred pounds for it. Cash.’

‘That’s ridiculous …’

‘Cash,’ Aled repeated. Growing up in abject poverty had made him cautious with his money. He had placed the bulk of his fortune in gilt-edged banker’s drafts because they were portable, independent of the commodities markets and easy to realise in any country in the world. ‘You or the bank – and, from the way you operate, I guess the bank before you bought it from the directors – have had time to repair and repaint this place since it was repossessed, which means buyers aren’t queuing up. If you accept my offer, there’ll be a hundred pounds extra in it for you in cash, if the contracts are signed within a week.’ Geoff Arnold reddened and for all of Arnold’s mixture of sycophantic fawning and arrogance Aled wondered if he’d insulted him.

‘Nine hundred pounds is less than I hoped for, but you’re right, it has been on the market for some time,’ Geoff agreed.

Aled looked at him carefully. ‘I’m sure we’ve met …’

‘And I’m sure we haven’t, Mr James. I’ve never done business with an American before.’

Aled didn’t enlighten him but he made a mental note to ask Anna about Geoff Arnold when he saw her that evening. He walked to the window. ‘I’ll need a builder, a good one who can work quickly. Can you recommend one?’

‘But the building is in excellent condition,’ Geoff Arnold protested.

‘It’s not suitable for what I want.’

‘You don’t intend to reopen it as a hotel?’

‘You just told me the last owner went bankrupt.’

‘He did.’

‘In which case, wouldn’t it be rather foolish of me to repeat his mistake?’

‘If you intend to change the use of the building you’ll need the council’s permission,’ Geoff warned.

‘I didn’t expect things to be that different this side of the Atlantic,’ Aled said with a ghost of a smile.

‘May I ask what you intend to do with the place, Mr James?’ Geoff ventured.

‘Open a nightclub.’

‘I don’t know what it’s like in America, but you’ll not only need to get the council’s permission, you’ll also need a licence –’

‘That won’t be a problem, Mr Arnold.’ Aled wondered how much it would cost to ‘buy’ Geoff Arnold. It had cost him two thousand dollars to buy a New York estate agent. But it had been a worthwhile investment. He had made a fortune from the agent’s tip-offs about property people had been anxious to offload when they suddenly and unexpectedly found themselves on the verge of bankruptcy.

Geoff Arnold watched Aled stride across the floor to the head of the staircase. ‘George Powell is just about the best builder around here.’

‘Where do I find him?’

‘Loudoun Square.’ Geoff Arnold took a notepad from his pocket and scribbled a note. ‘This is his address and telephone number.’

‘Thank you, Mr Arnold.’ Aled pocketed the piece of paper. ‘I’ll engage a solicitor tomorrow.’

‘May I suggest my own?’

‘You can suggest him, but I won’t engage him to act for me until I’ve met him and checked out his credentials.’ Aled looked around the first floor. ‘The sooner the contracts are exchanged and the alterations made, the sooner The Ragtime can open her doors.’

‘The Ragtime, Mr James?’

‘It was the name of my club in Harlem in New York. It did well enough for me to want to keep the name.’ Aled opened his cigar case and offered it to Geoff. ‘On second thoughts, Tiger Ragtime might be better in honour of the Bay. What do you think?’

‘I think both names sound well.’

Aled made his way down to the ground floor and opened the doors to the largest room again. ‘You’ll be here six weeks from now, Mr Arnold, enjoying a drink and watching a first-class variety show. Wind up the paperwork within a week and I’ll throw in twenty pounds’ worth of chips with your invitation.’

‘Chips?’ The estate agent looked at him blankly.

‘Gambling chips, Mr Arnold. What do you favour, roulette, blackjack, poker?’

‘I’ve never gambled in my life.’

‘And you call yourself a businessman.’ Aled smiled coldly. ‘If buying up repossessed properties isn’t a gamble, I don’t know what is.’

‘The properties are investments.’

‘Which might not pay off, Mr Arnold.’

‘This one certainly didn’t,’ the estate agent agreed.

‘I doubt there’s a businessman alive who hasn’t lost money on a venture at least once in his lifetime.’

‘The council take a dim view of organised gambling, Mr James,’ Geoff Arnold warned. ‘They’ll never grant you a licence to open a casino. Not in Tiger Bay.’

‘We’ll see.’ Aled slapped him across the back. ‘Telephone me at the Windsor tomorrow to let me know about those contracts.’

‘I will, Mr James.’

‘I’ll expect your call before midday.’ Aled angled his panama to the side of his head and stepped out into the warm sunshine that flooded Bute Street. His first day back in his home country had gone well. Very well indeed.

Judy stood on the platform of Cardiff station, clutching her platform ticket and anxiously watching the passengers stream off the incoming train from Swansea. She was terrified she’d miss David and he’d head down to the docks, book into one of the rougher doss houses and get into trouble. If that happened she felt that not only would Harry Evans have every right to be angry with her, but also Edyth for taking on too much responsibility rather than disturb her and Micah.

All the beds in Micah’s sister’s house were occupied by seamen who had been forced to stay longer than they’d intended in Cardiff because they couldn’t get a berth out. But she’d persuaded Helga to borrow the old army surplus cot she’d slept on when she’d stayed with her Uncle Jed before she’d moved in with Edyth, and put it in Moody’s room.

Helga hadn’t been difficult to win over, but Moody had. He hadn’t wanted to share his room with anyone, much less a farm boy who thought he could get a job on board ship without any seafaring experience. It was obvious to Moody that David wasn’t likely to get a berth soon, if at all. It had taken all of Judy’s wiles, and a promise that she would clean the kitchen in the baker’s for Moody three times a week while David remained in his room, to win him over.

David saw Judy before she saw him. He dropped his suitcase at his feet and stood in front of her. ‘What are you doing here?’ he demanded suspiciously.

‘I came to meet the train. Mr Evans telephoned the bakery to say that you were coming down to the Bay.’

‘I might have known Harry would interfere,’ he said angrily.

‘He was concerned that you might not find anywhere to stay tonight.’

‘That’s stupid. With all those doss houses on the docks –’

‘All those full doss houses,’ she interrupted, her temper rising at the thought of the trouble she’d taken to find him decent lodgings. ‘Haven’t you heard that trade’s slumped and hardly any ships are sailing? Berths out of the Bay, even for experienced sailors, are like gold.’

‘Did Edyth send you to meet me?’ He looked over her shoulder as though he expected to see Edyth standing behind her.

‘No, she doesn’t know you’re here. She’s out for the day, visiting friends. I managed to find you a bed in a lodging house run by Micah Holsten’s sister. She didn’t have any to spare, but I borrowed my Uncle Jed’s camp bed and persuaded Moody to let you share his room.’

‘I’d really have trouble booking in somewhere?’ he asked, slightly mollified, when he realised that Judy must have gone to some trouble on his account.

‘There are scores of seamen trapped here who’d be only too happy to sail out on any voyage that will provide them with meals and get them to another port where they might find a job that will pay wages.’

‘In that case, I suppose I’d better thank you.’ He picked up his suitcase.

‘Don’t put yourself out,’ she retorted caustically.

‘Sorry.’ He lifted his cap and wiped his forehead with his handkerchief. ‘The train was unbearably hot and a woman in my carriage wouldn’t let me open the window because she didn’t want to sit in a draught.’

Judy glanced at his case. ‘That looks heavy. Do you want me to find a taxi?’

David thought of the ten pounds that Harry had pressed on him and insisted he take as well as his bank book. As Harry and Mary saw to the finances on the farm he didn’t know much about costs or prices, beyond animal feed and what livestock fetched at market, but he did know that he couldn’t afford to be extravagant until he found a job. ‘Is Mr Holsten’s sister’s house far?’

‘Half an hour’s walk, but we could take a tram part of the way.’

‘Then we’ll do that.’ He picked up his case again. ‘When did you say Edyth would be home?’

‘I didn’t,’ she replied shortly. ‘Are you serious about wanting to work on a ship?’

‘Very.’ He had to walk quickly to keep up with her as she ran down the steps that led from the platform to the tunnel that opened into the street.

‘As soon as you’ve met Mrs Brown and paid her for your board and lodging, I’ll take you across the road to meet my Uncle Jed. He’s worked on and off ships for over thirty years.’

‘He’ll find me something?’ David asked excitedly.

‘If he could find work, he’d find it for himself and his two brothers first. They’ve been living on next to nothing for months,’ she retorted bluntly.

Anna Hughes sank down on the plush sofa in the sitting room of Aled’s hotel suite before taking the glass of champagne Aiden handed her.

‘A little bird told me that you’ve put in an offer for the old Sea Breeze,’ she said to Aled who was sitting, telephone at his elbow, in the chair opposite her.

‘If that was the name of the hotel before it closed. I see the little gossip birds are flying around Tiger Bay as fast, nosy, and garrulous as ever.’ Aled shook his head when Aiden held up the bottle of champagne. ‘I’ll have a brandy. After you’ve poured it, tell the hotel staff to serve us dinner here in an hour. I won’t need you or Freddie again until tomorrow morning. You can do what you like, as long as you don’t stir up trouble with the natives.’

‘Thanks, boss.’

‘Here.’ Anna handed Aiden a card. ‘If you two boys are out for a good time, tell my girls to give you one. But we don’t give discounts, not even to friends of old friends.’

‘Thank you, ma’am.’ Aiden mixed Aled’s brandy and soda the way he liked it, with a splash of soda to ninetenths brandy, handed it to Aled on a tray and left.

‘Good boys you have there,’ Anna complimented after Aiden had closed the door.