Who's Sorry Now (2008) (34 page)

Carmina meant to take advantage of her sister’s absence.

Whatever happened as a result of this plan would be Gina’s own fault. Had the stupid girl not selfishly tried to steal Luc from her in the first place, she would never have been obliged to do battle to win him back. Nor would Carmina ever have found the need to seek reassurance of her charms by batting a single eyelash at Alec Hall, and thus would never have found herself in the mess she was in today.

Creeping quietly into the room she once used to share with Gina, Carmina hid the half dozen records in their brown paper sleeves on top of the wardrobe. No one would spot them up there, hidden as they were by the fancy fretwork all around the edge.

Next, she took from her pocket a pair of earrings and a pretty blue silk scarf. Quietly sliding open Gina’s dressing table drawer she slipped these inside, right at the back where they wouldn’t easily be noticed. She was about to deposit the small bag in there too, red satin and decorated with sequin flowers, when she suddenly decided to keep it for herself. It was far too pretty to give away and would come in quite handy for dances. But she did slide in the tiny blue transistor radio.

She was careful not to put any of these items where her sister hid her diary, or where she might easily come across them herself. Nevertheless, it proved surprisingly easy to tuck them in amidst the untidy clutter at the back of Gina’s drawers.

Carmina even remembered the loose brick in the old fireplace where she hid two bracelets and a pair of silver earrings, together with the four five pound notes. No fire was ever lit in it now, so they were quite safe. There was one last thing to be done, but she had to wait until the likes of Winnie Holmes were long gone.
 

Later that same night Carmina heard her sister come home, heard her call out goodnight and creep quietly up the stairs to her room, not wishing to disturb her younger siblings. Carmina lay listening to the sounds of the house creaking, her parents switching off the lights, visiting the bathroom, checking on the younger children and then going off to bed.

When she was quite certain everyone was asleep, and all was silent in the street outside, she slipped out of bed, still fully dressed, and let herself quietly out of the house.

Alec Hall’s shop door was made up of several small panes of frosted glass, and, picking up a handy stone, Carmina hit one of the panes hard. The aim was to break it as quietly as she could but the glass proved tough and she had to bash it several times before it finally gave way. Sweat broke out on her brow as the sound echoed in the empty street and Carmina glanced fearfully around, ready to hide should anyone appear. Thankfully no one did.

Glancing up at the bedroom window above, she smiled to herself at the thought of Alec sleeping peacefully, blissfully unaware of the little plan she was putting into effect. He’d be snoring too loudly to hear anything.

Tossing the stone away, she crept off to bed at last.

‘Chocolate, hazelnut, pistaccio, raspberry, strawberry, vanilla, tortoni. What do you fancy, Winnie? The Bertalones make genuine ice cream, don’t forget, not this factory produced stuff.’

It was the next day and Carmina had been working in the ice cream parlour all morning. They’d been so busy she’d only been allowed half an hour for her lunch. Now it was past three o’clock, her legs were aching, she was tired of Winnie taking forever to make up her mind as she had other matters on her mind.

‘By heck,’ Winnie chuckled, making herself comfortable at one of the small marble tables. ‘You sound more like yer dad every day.’

Carmina made no attempt to smile at the jest. It wasn’t part of her plan to look happy, not today. She’d carefully left off any make-up so that she might look pale and wan, as if she hadn’t slept. Not that she’d had much sleep last night anyway.

‘He must be salting away a pile of brass, your papa, although not as much as some, eh? I heard as how them Fabrianis have a dozen motor vans, five tricycles, and a couple of hand carts. One of the fastest growing ice cream businesses in all of Manchester. No wonder you’ve got your eye on that son of theirs.’

Carmina glowered. ‘Ice lolly, choc ice, tub, brickette. Knickerbocker Glory. What’ll it be, Winnie? The choice is yours.’

‘I’ll try a slice of that pineapple ice cream cake. It’s making me mouth water just looking at it.’

Carmina cut a large slice, the crushed pineapples blending with the vanilla ice cream between slices of sweet sponge cake. She piped on a swirl of fresh cream and handed it to Winnie.

‘You’ve forgot the sauce.’

‘There’s no sauce with this particular dessert. Would you like a few flaked almonds instead?’

‘No, put a bit of that raspberry syrup on it.’

‘It might not suit the flavour of the pineapple.’

‘It will if I say it will. Put it on, chuck. I like a dash of raspberry.’

Gritting her teeth to stop herself from being rude to the old witch, Carmina did as she was told. It was essential not to lose her temper with the woman, not right now. She didn’t even charge her extra for the syrup.

‘And cheer up,’ Winnie commanded in her bossiest voice. ‘You look like you’ve lost a shilling and found a sixpence. You’ve nowt to be miserable about, not like poor Alec Hall. Have you heard, he’s had a break-in?’

‘Oh, no!’ Carmina said, as if this was the first she’d heard of it. ‘When did this happen?’

‘Last night. Several things have gone missing, apparently, including about twenty quid from the till.’

In an instant, Carmina manufactured sufficient tears to fill her glorious chocolate velvet eyes. ‘Oh, Winnie.’

‘Nay, lass, what’s up? I didn’t mean to upset you. Anyroad, why would it bother you, Alec Hall being robbed? It’s not your fault.’

‘Oh, but it is, in a way.’ Carmina glanced furtively around, as if she were about to reveal a terrible secret and had no wish for any eavesdroppers to overhear. ‘Something dreadful has happened. Oh, I shouldn’t say anything. I really shouldn’t.’

Winnie sat eating ice cream as fast as she could, not savouring it with quite the delicacy she normally would as she was avid to know what the problem was. ‘Nay, you can trust me. I know how to keep me mouth shut when necessary.’

This was far from the truth, or else Winnie never had found it necessary to keep her mouth shut, which was why Carmina had chosen her as a confidant. One word in the old witch’s ear and before the day was out half the market would have heard the full story, exactly as she was spreading this one about Alec’s alleged break-in.

Carmina went to sit opposite her at the little marble-topped table. ‘My sister’s behaving most oddly.’

‘Who, your Gina?’

Carmina nodded. ‘You obviously know about this rivalry between us over Luc Fabriani.’

‘All of Champion Street Market knows, chuck.’

‘Well then, you have to understand that I’ve tried to be as patient and understanding as I can, even though she stole him from me. Luc and me, we’re in love, and want to be together but Gina took him away from me when we’d had a bit of a spat one time and now she won’t let him go. He feels sorry for her, of course, and has no wish to hurt her, but recently he’s been trying to break it to her gently that it’s all over between them. We’re going to get married, Luc and me, and our Gina is devastated. As a result she seems to have run mad.’

Winnie swallowed the last spoonful of pineapple ice cream cake and licked her lips. ‘Run mad in what way, exactly?’

Again Carmina glanced around. Winnie did the same. ‘She’s started behaving very strangely. Secretive, you know. Most peculiar. I knew she was up to something but I couldn’t work out what, not at first. Now that I’ve found out, I really don’t know what to do about it, so I’d be glad of your advice, Winnie.’

There was nothing Winnie Holmes liked better than to give advice. ‘Go on,’ she urged, eager for more. ‘I’m listening.’

Carmina edged closer so that they were almost nose to nose across the small table. Then dropping her voice to a whisper she said, ‘Gina has started
stealing
! I think she might be the one who broke into Hall’s Music Shop.’

‘Nay, I don’t believe it!’ Winnie looked suitably shocked. Encouraged, Carmina pressed on.

‘I couldn’t believe it either at first, but it’s true. You know Patsy’s been having a lot of bother with shop-lifting. Well, I think that was Gina too. We don’t share a room any more, because of this disagreement we’ve had over Luc. But the other evening I was hunting for some stockings I’d left behind in the dressing table drawers and I found a stash of stuff in there, tucked right at the back where nobody would think to look.’

Winnie was agog. ‘What sort of stuff?’

‘Scarves, jewellery, socks, nylon stockings, all brand new. The sort of things that Patsy claims have been stolen. I was so shocked, and I know she has a secret hidey-hole too, behind some loose bricks in the fireplace, but I didn’t dare look there, in case of what I might find. Then last night when I got back from the dance, after I saw you, she wasn’t in her room. Her bed was empty. What do I do, Winnie? What if it was Gina who broke into Alec Hall’s shop? What on earth should I do about it?’

The other woman was sitting with her mouth agape by this time. ‘By heck, that’s a facer, that is. Are you saying your Gina has turned criminal? That she’s a thief?’

Two tears slid down Carmina’s cheeks. ‘Yes, Winnie, I am. I think she’s lost her mind completely.’

‘Then there’s only one thing you can do. You have to go to the police. Tell Constable Nuttall.’

‘Oh, I couldn’t, I really couldn’t.’

‘I’ll tell him for you, if you like?’

Carmina allowed more tears to slowly run down her beautiful, anguished face. ‘Oh, would you do that for me, Winnie? I’d be so grateful. I just couldn’t bear to shop my own sister. Isn’t that what they call it when you tell on someone? It would be too terrible for words. She’d never speak to me again and I love her so much. I just think she needs help. She needs to be stopped.’

‘Aye,’ Winnie said, her face grim. ‘You might be right there.’

‘You won’t tell Constable Nuttall that you heard this from me, will you?’

‘Leave it to me lass. Leave it me.’

The police came to the Bertalone house later that same day. The whole family watched in stunned disbelief as Constable Nuttall, together with two of his colleagues searched Gina’s room, opening every drawer and cupboard, rummaging through her personal belongings. They took possession of various items they suspected of being stolen, including a number of records and the blue transistor radio. They even took bricks out of the tiny Victorian fireplace and found four five pound notes tucked behind a brick together with two bracelets and a pair of silver earrings.

After checking that these items were indeed stolen from Higginson’s stall, and from Alec Hall’s break-in, they came back to arrest her.

Momma and Papa clung to each other weeping as the police arrested their bemused, hollow-eyed daughter, clapped handcuffs on her, and took her off to prison.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Mavis continued to call most mornings, ostensibly to see if Amy required any help while Chris was busy at the bakery. Amy was feeding Danny herself and didn’t much care for an audience, or for her mother-in-law telling her to ‘swap him to the other side he’s had enough of that one,’ as if she could control even the strength by which he suckled, or the amount of milk Amy’s breasts produced.

This morning Mavis asked if she needed any shopping doing.

‘I can manage, thank you,’ Amy calmly informed her. ‘I can pick up a few things when I take Danny for his afternoon stroll.’ What her mother-in-law would say about her intention of going back to work, Amy didn’t care to think. Best not to mention it until she’d proved she could cope.

‘Dear me, it’s far too wet to be taking him out today. He’ll catch a chill.’ It had come as an unwelcome surprise to Mavis to discover that the new young mother was suddenly less biddable than the old Amy. When it concerned the care of her child the foolish girl stubbornly refused to listen to well-meant advice. It had been this way ever since that dreadful scene over the colic. Mavis still maintained she was right, but her daughter-in-law refused to accept it.

Amy said, ‘It’s August, and quite warm. A short shower isn’t going to hurt him. I’ll put the hood up and make sure he doesn’t get wet.’

Hating to be bested yet again, she reached forward and tugged at Amy’s open blouse to shield her nakedness, thereby covering the baby’s head too.

‘Fresh air and exercise are good for him. Good for me too,’ Amy said, pushing the blouse away so that she could gaze down upon her child in wonder, even if it did expose her breasts to Mavis’s critical eye.
 

Mavis clicked her tongue in annoyance ‘Really, there’s no necessity to be so brazen.’

Amy decided to change the subject. ‘How is Thomas? More important,
where
is he?
 
I don’t seem to have seen him in ages.’

‘I told him to stay away,’ Mavis coldly announced. ‘Since he will insist on spending so much time at that
dreadful
allotment now that he’s semi-retired, he’s generally covered in dust, grass cuttings and compost. Utterly revolting! I have instructed him to stay well clear of the baby. He would be unhygienic.’