‘How do I look?’ Freda asked as she spun around on the spot in the front room of number thirteen while Sarah clapped enthusiastically. ‘I’m quite pleased with the alterations to this coat. Maisie was right when she said adding a new collar and cuffs would make a difference to it. No one would know that with Maisie’s help I’d cut up an old coat I’d picked up from the jumble and edged it and changed the buttons as well.’
‘Sorry, love, I was miles away,’ Maureen said, looking flustered. ‘Why, you look a treat. Is that a new coat?’
Freda looked at Sarah and could see that she too was concerned. Sitting down next to Maureen on the sofa, she took her hand. ‘Is something wrong, Maureen?’
Sarah knelt down in front of her mother-in-law. ‘You’ve been very quiet all day, Maureen. Are you poorly?’
‘Don’t the pair of you go worrying about an old woman like me. Go out and enjoy yourselves . . . And Sarah, you shouldn’t think twice about what people say about you going to the pictures with Freda and her friends. You have my blessing and if that nosy so-and-so Vera Munro says anything, she will have me to answer to. Now, get cracking, the pair of you, or you’ll miss that Clive Danvers film and I know how much you admire him, Freda.’
‘There’s something else, isn’t there, Maureen? Have you heard from Alan?’ Sarah asked, thinking the worst had happened.
‘Goodness me, no. I showed you the last letter he sent to me. He told me that everything was tickety-boo, whatever that means.’
Sarah smiled. That did sound like her husband. ‘He does seem to be in good spirits, doesn’t he? But I don’t think you are, Maureen. Please tell us what is wrong. We may be able to help. After all, a trouble shared is a trouble halved.’
Maureen’s hand shook as she reached into the pocket of her cardigan. ‘This letter came from my landlord, Ken Barnham. He reckons that he won’t be paying for the repairs to the roof and chimney as the damage is my fault, and that I have to pay the bill before I can move back into the house.’
‘Why is he blaming you?’ Freda asked.
‘He says that I never took care of the property. Alan was a baby when we first moved into that house and we’ve decorated and done everything possible to make it a comfortable home. He’s always been a pain in the backside where money’s concerned, but we’ve never not paid the rent on time or not complied with what’s in the tenancy agreement. He’s just a mean, horrid man.’
Sarah took the letter and quickly read the words as Freda looked over her shoulder. ‘How many hundreds of pounds does he want you to pay? Why, that’s preposterous. I’m sure he can’t do this to you. Bob was telling me that the government pays for repairs to homes damaged by enemy action. Granted Barnham hadn’t pointed the chimney, but it was enemy action that made it come through the ceiling. You shouldn’t have to worry about this.’
‘But I am worried. I can’t stay here at Ruby’s for much longer. It’s not fair on everyone and it also affects you, as where will Alan live when he comes home? Ruby can’t squeeze another person into this house and the pair of you do need your privacy.’
Sarah blushed as she realized what Maureen was referring to. ‘I don’t think we should do anything rash. Why not wait until Bob is back from Cornwall at the end of the week? He is sure to be able to help. I’d ask Dad, but Mum said he’s up to his neck in work at the moment and may as well sleep at Vickers for all the time he spends there. You have a bed here and as Ruby is away there’s plenty of room.’
Maureen nodded but didn’t seem to be convinced.
‘And what you said about being an old woman,’ Freda added, ‘you’re not at all old so that won’t wash with us either.’
‘You’re both good girls,’ Maureen said, giving them a watery smile. ‘Now, off with you and enjoy your evening out. Don’t you worry about me. I’ve got my knitting and there’s a programme on the wireless that I want to listen to. So off with you right now.’
The two girls slipped out of the house, making sure to close the door quietly as Georgie and Myfi were already tucked up in bed and Gwyneth was upstairs reading. After Maureen’s scare they’d all decided that the children would never be left alone upstairs in case there was a sudden raid.
‘Maureen’s right, you know. We’re fit to bursting in the house and it only needs Alan to come home early and we’re in a right fix,’ Sarah said.
‘I suppose I could ask Betty if she would put me up for a while until Maureen’s house has been repaired.’
‘Hmm, that is an idea but it’s not fair on you as number thirteen is your home and we are the ones who have taken over. I think I should look into moving somewhere else along with Maureen. I’ll ask at the council offices.’
‘But you may be moved miles away. How will you and Maureen cope with getting to work and who will look after Georgina?’ Freda said with alarm. ‘Why, it would be worth me moving up the road to live with Vera rather than you going to live somewhere else.’
‘Now, that is an idea,’ Sarah said brightly. ‘I don’t mean you moving in with Vera but perhaps she would put me and Georgie up and possibly Maureen. She does have two spare rooms going begging. I’ll pop down the road tomorrow morning and have a chat with her.’
‘Rather you than me,’ Freda giggled as they arrived at the Odeon cinema. ‘Look, there’s Hank and his friend over by the main doors.’
Sarah took a deep breath. Here we go, she thought to herself.
Freda introduced Sarah to Hank and he did the same with his friend, who smiled shyly to Sarah and stood next to her as they joined the queue filing into the sumptuous interior of the popular Erith cinema. The men purchased tickets and they walked up the wide carpeted stairs from where they were shown to their seats by a smartly dressed usherette. Even when seated Sarah was looking around to see if there was anyone she recognized who would naturally assume she had not long waved off her husband and was now in the company of an American soldier. There was a name for women who did such things and it wasn’t nice.
‘I believe you are married,’ the soldier said as he sat to the left of her.
‘Yes, that’s right. My husband is in the RAF fighting overseas. We have a daughter.’ She hoped she wasn’t giving away vital information. Did ‘careless talk’ include chatting to an American serviceman called Chuck? She had a feeling that perhaps it did.
Chuck pulled out a wallet and produced two photographs. ‘This is my wife, Jean, and here are our children, Sophie and Chuck Junior. We live out in Oregon. It’s the first time I’ve ever left them,’ he explained with more than a hint of sadness in his voice.
Sarah took a photograph of her daughter from her handbag and passed it to Chuck. ‘This is our daughter, Georgina. She will be two in a couple of months. And this,’ she said, taking out another small photo, ‘is my husband, Alan. We were married the day war was announced. It was my twenty-first birthday.’
‘A momentous day,’ Chuck said as he took the picture and whistled. ‘Gee, a pilot, that’s one brave husband you have there, ma’am, if I may say so,’ he said in admiration.
‘You may,’ Sarah said proudly as the lights were lowered slowly to indicate the first film was about to start. ‘Alan flies Spitfires. I thought I’d lost him at one time.’
‘Gee, those men are gods.’
‘Alan has always been a god to me,’ she whispered as she tucked the photographs away safely in her bag and settled down to watch the film.
Freda could hear Sarah chatting to Hank’s friend about their families and was thankful her friend had accompanied her and that Hank had brought along someone who was a respectable family man. As the lights lowered and the screen lit up Hank put his hand over hers and she settled back to enjoy the film with no thought of her last visit to this cinema.
All four enjoyed the film and remained standing until the national anthem finished. Outside in the dark night Chuck shook Sarah’s hand and thanked her for her company, adding that he wished her husband well wherever he was. Sarah reciprocated, hoping it wouldn’t be too long before he saw his wife and family once more. They’d walked a little way away from where Hank was saying goodnight to Freda. Sarah noticed how tenderly he kissed her young friend. Someone would be walking on cloud nine tomorrow.
Bob huddled by the edge of a wall trying to catch his breath. The two boys had walked at a brisk pace until they’d reached the edge of a small inlet. He knew from studying maps of the area in the lead-up to their holiday that this would be part of the Helford River. He could hear waves gently lapping the shore and also murmuring voices. Whatever were those boys up to? The middle of the night was not a time for messing about on the river. Ruby would have a fit if she knew her grandchildren weren’t safely tucked up in their beds. He could feel the start of cramp in his leg and tried to stretch it without attracting attention. Dressed only in pyjamas with his suit jacket thrown over the top, he felt rather ridiculous. A twig snapped underfoot and he froze.
‘Don’t move. Stay right where you are,’ a menacing voice hissed in his ear as his arm was grabbed from behind. What felt like a gun was held to his back.
Bob held his breath for what seemed like an age before another person appeared and briefly flashed a torch into his face before swearing, whereupon Bob was dragged along a shingle beach and into a boathouse, where he was pushed onto a seat and his hands tied behind his back.
A bare light bulb was switched on and Bob could see a group of men who, in any normal situation, would have looked like simple fishermen going about a day’s work – apart from it being the middle of the night and he couldn’t see a boat, so what the hell were they up to?
Aware that a gun had been held to his back, he decided to stay put and not make a run for it. With the door to the boathouse closed, there was only one way out and that was into the river. Bob was not a good swimmer, especially with his hands tied tightly together.
‘Does anyone recognize him?’ a gruff voice asked.
‘He’s our nan’s friend, Bob,’ a boy’s voice piped up. ‘They’ve come to visit us on the farm. He must have followed us.’
‘What have you got to say for yourself?’ the man with the gruff voice asked, shaking his shoulder roughly. ‘Why are you spying on us?’
Bob never knew whether it was nerves or the absurdity of the situation but he burst out laughing. His situation reminded him of one of the books Freda sold on her counter at Woolworths and she always had her nose in at home. ‘I’m not a threat to you, whatever you’re up to. I was just following those boys as they were out of their beds at such an ungodly hour. However,’ he added with a serious look on his face, ‘if you are up to no good, it’s a pretty poor show to involve children. Does Jago Trevellyn know that evacuees are being dragged into your wrongdoings and that you are now holding a retired policeman against his will?’
The men fell silent, the only sound the splash of oars as a rowboat came close to the boathouse. Two men jumped out and dragged the boat free of the water’s edge, assisted by several of the men who’d stood watching Bob.
‘There was no one there to hand over the goods. We’ll have to try again tomorrow night,’ said a voice that Bob recognized. ‘What have we got here?’ he added as he noticed Bob for the first time.
Bob inwardly groaned. Whatever had they got themselves into coming to Cornwall? Would Ruby, Pat and the youngsters be safe once it was known he’d stumbled into a den of thieves?
‘I feel ridiculous spying on Betty like this,’ Freda said as she stood alongside Maisie and Sarah as they peered through the upstairs window of Woolworths that looked out over the main shopping road of Erith. They could see down to the large Mitchell’s store opposite and the door that led into the popular tea rooms. Behind them Maureen was serving food to staff who were arriving for their midday break. ‘What if Betty comes in here before she heads off to Mitchell’s?’ Sarah worried as she looked over her shoulder at the door, expecting her boss to walk in and catch them.
‘She won’t,’ Maisie said confidently. ‘Freda’s the only one working up here today and she told Betty we’d all meet her in the tea room. Look, there she is crossing the road. I do ’ope Douglas arrives on time or our plan will fail.’
‘How long should we leave it before we go over there?’ Sarah asked.
‘I’m thinking we ought ter cross over and peer through the window. It may be a way ter see how they’re getting on. Let’s give it a few minutes ter make sure Douglas arrives as planned, shall we?’
The girls were on tenterhooks as they watched and waited for Douglas to go into the tea rooms, but how would Betty react? Would she walk away? Perhaps she would be angry with her friends for interfering? Or just maybe she would be reconciled with Douglas, as they truly wished would happen.
‘Look, there he is,’ Freda squeaked, almost unable to speak with the excitement. ‘Come on, let’s go and look through the window of the tea rooms and see what’s happening.’
The girls hurried down the staff staircase and rushed through the busy store to the street outside. Dodging around shoppers and a delivery van, they arrived at Mitchell’s department store and the door to the tea room.
‘Don’t go in yet,’ Maisie shrieked at Sarah, who had her hand on the door. ‘Let’s look in the window and see what’s happening.’
‘Sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight,’ Sarah said as her stomach growled. ‘I was just wondering when we’d get to eat. I’m starving.’
‘Come here, you two,’ Freda called from where she was peering intently through a window crisscrossed with tape to save diners from shards of glass if there should be an air raid. ‘It looks like Betty is smiling. I think everything is going to be all right.’
They watched as the couple spoke earnestly for a few minutes before Douglas leant over and gave Betty a brief kiss and she reached for her handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes.
A waitress arrived to take their order, but was brushed away as they continued to talk without taking their eyes from each other.
‘I think our plan must have worked,’ Sarah said with a huge sigh of relief. ‘My goodness, look!’
In the middle of the busy tea room Douglas had knelt down on one knee and appeared to be proposing to Betty.
Maisie whooped with delight and hugged her friends. ‘At least I can head off to the in-laws without worrying about Betty’s love life. Come on, let’s go in and have a bite to eat. I have to leave in a couple of hours and I want to say goodbye to Betty and Douglas and wish them all the best.’
The girls entered the busy tea room and were immediately spotted by Betty, who waved at them to come over. They felt a little sheepish as they sat down after greeting Douglas like a long-lost friend and confessing that they’d just spotted the proposal after admiring the single solitaire ring Betty was gazing at with delight.
‘There’s no need to pretend you’ve not seen Douglas in a while,’ Betty smiled as she reached out and held his hand. ‘He has explained everything.’
‘Does this mean we have a wedding to look forward to?’ Maisie said as her friends looked horrified.
‘Honestly, Maisie, it may be a little soon for a question like that,’ Freda said with a nervous laugh, but all the same she looked hopefully towards the Woolworths manager. ‘After all, they’ve only just become engaged.’
‘There’s plenty of time for things like that,’ Betty smiled. ‘Let me enjoy the anticipation for a while.’
Douglas called the waitress over and ordered tea for five, cheese on toast and a selection of cakes to celebrate. The buns had very few currants and were a little on the small side but were enjoyed as much as if they were wedding cake and champagne at a posh London hotel.
‘There’s one thing, girls. Can we keep this our little secret for now otherwise I’ll have the staff in a fluster when we return to work?’
‘But you’re wearing a ring on your wedding finger. Won’t people notice?’ Sarah asked.
‘If Douglas is in agreement, I will wear the ring on a chain around my neck for now until we have a proper announcement.’
‘And I’m going to miss all the fun,’ Maisie said in a pretend huff before looking up at the clock. ‘Oh my God, I’m late. David will think I’ve run off and left him,’ she shrieked before kissing them all goodbye and rushing from the tea room.
‘I’m going to miss her so much,’ Sarah said, watching her friend until she was out of sight.
‘Now, are you going to tell me what this is all about, Jago?’ Bob asked none too happily as they walked back to the farm. His wrists ached from the rope used to tie his hands together and he was still trembling after the fear of being held at gunpoint.
‘I’m sorry you were handled roughly, Bob, but you shouldn’t have interfered in what doesn’t concern you,’ Jago said as he picked his way through a narrow pathway that skirted a field.
All Bob knew was that this was not the way he’d walked when following Pat’s boys in the dead of night. Even as dawn broke he could not identify where he was until, after walking through a small copse, he found himself at the back entrance to the farmhouse. ‘I’ll leave you here and get myself dressed if that’s allowed,’ he said, looking Jago in the eye. ‘Then I want some answers. You may do as you please, but when it involves two children I’m honour-bound to inform their mother and their grandmother, who will be none too pleased that their boys have been put in danger.’
Jago sighed. ‘Come in and have some breakfast first. Pat will have it ready by now and there’ll be plenty as our guests did not arrive as planned.’
‘You mean Pat knows what you’re up to?’
‘A select few are aware,’ Jago replied, leading the way into the farmhouse.
Pat greeted him with a broad smile as she stood, frying pan in hand, by the Aga, her smile disappearing as she spotted Bob. ‘What’s going on, Jago? Where are our guests?’
Bob kicked off his shoes and left them by the door before washing his hands at the kitchen sink. All the time his mind was churning over thoughts of smuggling and that Ruby’s family was involved. He might have retired from the police force, but he still believed that wrongdoers should answer for their actions. For guns to be involved meant this was not simply a few bottles of brandy on the black market. He needed to bring these people to task without hurting Ruby’s family. Accepting a mug of tea from a now silent Pat, he took a sip of the hot liquid before glaring at Jago. ‘Are you going to tell me what this is all about or have I got to guess?’
‘I don’t understand how you’ve become involved, Bob?’ Pat interrupted. ‘Was it my boys? I told them to keep their mouths shut.’
Bob groaned inwardly. He had hoped that Pat and her two eldest children had become unwittingly involved, but it seemed from the way she spoke that they were as guilty as Jago. A sudden thought made him jerk upright in shock. ‘You’re working for the enemy, aren’t you?’ he said accusingly, pointing a finger at Jago. ‘You’re bringing in spies.’
Jago roared with laughter and sat opposite Bob as Pat slid plates heaped high with sausages, bacon and eggs towards them. ‘Your accusations couldn’t be further from the truth. Eat up and I’ll explain.’
Bob, although wanting to know what was behind what had happened out at the boathouse, tucked into his breakfast, as he felt almost faint with hunger after his recent experience. ‘I suppose all this grub is black market too,’ he added grumpily, not wishing Jago or Pat to think he condoned what had happened just because he was a guest at the table.
Jago nodded to the two boys to leave the table when they’d finished eating. ‘You can start loading the vegetables for market,’ he said. ‘I’ll be out directly.’
Pat cleared the dirty plates and left them in the stone sink. ‘I’ll leave you to it, shall I? I can take a cup of tea up to Mum.’
Jago nodded and leant back in his seat giving Bob a hard stare. ‘What exactly do you think we were doing down on the river?’ he asked.
Bob felt uncomfortable. If Jago and his friends were up to no good, then what would become of him? The man must stand over six feet in his stockinged feet and was as strong as the bull that Bob had seen in a nearby field. His fair hair and blue eyes gave the impression Jago could be a good sort, but his current demeanour still worried Bob. In for a penny, he thought to himself. He could always yell for Ruby and her daughter if things got sticky. Surely they wouldn’t let anything nasty happen to him? ‘I could ask the same of you,’ he replied, trying the same tactic. ‘Perhaps it’s you who should be explaining. After all, I was the one who had a gun to my back and ended up tied up just because I was following Ruby’s grandchildren in case they came to harm. I expected them to be up to boyish pranks, not involved in smuggling, or worse,’ he glowered.
Jago roared with laughter. ‘As much as I’d like to be thought of as a ne’er do well, like some of my ancestors who were smugglers, I’m afraid you are in for a disappointment, Bob. We are the good guys as they say in the westerns that Pat’s children seem to enjoy at the cinema.’
‘Good guys, how do you mean?’ Bob asked, leaning forward and putting his elbows on the scrubbed pine table, eager to hear what Jago had to say.
‘I haven’t always been a farmer. It took the outbreak of war for me to come back to Cornwall and take on special duties,’ he explained.
‘Well, farming is important in wartime,’ Bob agreed, but wondered why a strapping lad like him wasn’t serving his country elsewhere.
Jago held up his hand to stop Bob. ‘Yes, I’m a farmer but I also work for the government to try to bring the war to an end. They moved me back to the family farm from my desk job to oversee things from this end. Do you understand? I can’t say much more than that.’
Bob rubbed his chin as he thought about what Jago had said. ‘Special Operations Executive?’ he asked.
‘How do you know about that? It’s not the sort of thing a civilian usually has knowledge of.’
‘I don’t know much. As an ex-London bobby and with my work in the Home Guard I get to hear of things. Our unit back in Erith has recently received training in undercover work and sabotage and we know what to do in the event of an invasion. In a small way we are doing in Erith what you are doing down here. So, you see, we are on the same side. But what’s all this smuggling lark about?’
‘We’re not smuggling. Well, we are in a way but we . . . well, let’s say we work in the movement of men.’
‘I don’t understand. Do you mean you’re helping German spies come into the country? Surely not! I know I’m tired and probably not thinking properly, but this sounds ridiculous.’
Jago smiled. ‘There are times when we need to have our operatives enter enemy-controlled areas and it’s not possible to drop them by plane. There are other times when we need to get them out of the country pretty quickly. The problem is there is a bloody big stretch of water between England and France, so that’s where our fishermen come in.’
‘French and English?’ Bob asked, getting interested now that he knew his life wasn’t in imminent danger.
Jago nodded. ‘With so many inlets off the main river down here on the Lizard Peninsula we can hide away then slip out to sea and meet the fishing boats, and coming back it’s easy to hide away and not be found.’
Bob thought of Sarah’s husband, Alan, and how he’d been brought back home after his plane went down in enemy-occupied France. ‘You’re doing a bloody good job,’ he said gruffly. ‘But what happened last night? Why was I tied up and treated like a criminal?’
‘We’d had a problem with a pick-up and thought there was a spy in our midst. Usually I use only men I’ve personally recruited, but I was sent a couple direct from the London office and the day after we lost someone in France and the tip-off could have come from here. My men had just received my signal when you appeared.’
Bob was thoughtful. ‘Your team believed this old man from Erith was a spy? I suppose I should be flattered,’ he chuckled. ‘What happened last night?’
‘We were to rendezvous with a boat to pick up two airmen, but there wasn’t even a sighting of them.’
‘Did you hang around and wait?’
‘No, it’s too dangerous. We will wait for fresh orders . . . if they come.’
Bob was contemplating this information when Ruby joined them.
‘Whatever are you doing still wearing your pyjamas?’
‘I, um . . .’ Bob didn’t wish to lie to Ruby, but was stumped as he knew she would not be happy with her family being involved in all this.
‘I asked him to help me with a difficult calving,’ Jago answered without batting an eyelid.
He’s used to covering for himself, Bob thought with a slight chuckle.
Ruby tutted and turned to her daughter, who was watching the conversation with a wary look on her face. ‘Is it too early to use the telephone to contact Erith police station? I thought someone would have got back to us last night. I hardly slept worrying if those girls have been injured down in Canterbury. In fact, I thought I heard voices in the middle of the night.’
‘Most likely the chickens, Mum, they can make a right noise if a fox is about,’ Pat added quickly, glancing at Jago for support.
‘It would have been us, Mrs Caselton. We had to walk under your window to get to the barn.’
‘Bob, why don’t you make that telephone call for Mum while I cook her some breakfast. Fried or scrambled eggs, Mum?’
Jago showed them through to his office and cleared a chair of paperwork so Ruby could sit down and then left them alone. It wasn’t long before Bob was through to the police station he knew so well and was chatting to Mike, who had just come on duty. After a few brief sentences he passed the receiver over to Ruby. ‘Here you are, love. You chat to our Mike while I go and get changed. I won’t be long.’
When Bob returned, out of breath due to hurrying, he could see she wasn’t her usual self.
Ruby sat holding the telephone receiver, her thoughts many miles away with her family and friends in Erith. Her face had gone a ghostly white. ‘They were down there, Bob, while all that bombing was going on. All three of them.’
‘Three . . . who else went with Betty and Maisie? Are they all right?’
‘Our Freda was down there on that bloody big motorbike. What the hell she was doing there I don’t know.’
‘I’d think she was doing some work for the Fire Service,’ Bob said, quietly wondering still if the three girls were injured or not. ‘What happened?’
‘Freda’s fine, but the other two ended up in hospital with cuts and grazes. Maisie was worried about the baby, which is understandable. So much so that David was down there in a flash and has whisked her off to live with his family in Wiltshire until the baby is born.’ She turned to Bob with tears in her eyes and gripped his hand. ‘I should have been at home while those girls were in danger, not gallivanting off down here where it’s safe. Who knows what’s going to happen next?’
Bob put his arms around Ruby and rocked her gently as she cried. Looking to where Pat stood in the doorway, he was angered that the woman he loved was so upset. ‘Do any of us know?’ he said pointedly as Pat bent her head and turned away.