‘WHAT’S HAPPENING, ALICE? Is she laying it on thick enough? Is she bawling, an’ that?’
Alice stroked her chin. ‘I can’t tell; she’s got her back to me. Them two look to be lapping up whatever she’s saying, anyroad.’
Nellie’s face relaxed a fraction. ‘I’ll not have those two causing further ructions. Folk frequent my place for its reputation of discretion, where they can conduct what business they’ve a mind to without fear of police lurking. I want to keep it that way.’
‘The young ’un’s shaking her hand. I don’t know how she does it. Reet devious young swine, she is. Hold up, she’s coming back. She’s been bawling good and proper; her face is redder than a smacked arse,’ she affirmed.
‘And them two?’
‘Oh, they’re bloody following her!’
‘For the love of Christ, not again,’ Nellie snapped as Lily entered, the men right behind. ‘Now look here, I’ll not tell youse again—’
‘We’re not stopping.’ The father’s words brought a surprised smile to Alice. ‘The lass here confirmed what you said. No child could lie that well. We’ll bother youse no more.’ His voice dropped. ‘But for our word, there’s a condition.’
‘Oh aye? What condition’s that, then?’
‘That you send word to us at Breightmet if that brother of yourn shows up,’ said his son.
Knowing it wasn’t worth pushing her luck, she bit back a negative retort. ‘Aye, deal. Now sod off.’
Without hesitation, they left.
‘Well, I’ll be buggered. You really reckon they’ll not be back?’ asked Nellie.
‘They’ll not,’ Lily said quickly. ‘Eeh, Mam, tha should’ve seen me. Laid it on good and thick, I did, just like you told me.’
Her mother’s eyes narrowed. ‘And they believed we’d not seen him, just like that?’
She grinned. ‘Nay. They knew I were lying about that.’
‘Eh? But I thought—?’
‘They said they must find him because he’d got someone called Sally, the liars, so I played along. I said I’d tell them a secret if they left Father alone. I said Uncle Joseph brought her to ours this morning, got his things together and hotfooted it to Rochdale.
‘I told them he’s gone to live there with her; bedding down at a friend’s cellar, I said they were.’ Doubt was leaving her mother’s face. She grinned again. ‘I gave them the address, said I’d heard Uncle Joseph telling thee.’
Nellie shook her head. ‘Bloody hellfire. She’s a rum ’un, she is, Alice.’
Her mother, too, was grinning. ‘You lying young bleeder. What address?’
‘Clover Lane, number five. I begged them not to tell you I’d told, and we shook on it. They’ve gone straight there. I hope they get blisters apple big looking for that. They deserve it for what they did to Father.’
Nellie roared with laughter, which brought on a coughing fit. ‘You rum young beggar,’ she spluttered, thumping the counter. ‘You’ll be a force to be reckoned with when you’re grown. By, you will that.’
Her mother’s chuckles added to Nellie’s. ‘Where the bugger did you pull that from?’
‘Well, five, that’s my age. And Clover, after my new kitten. She’s lucky, she is, like four-leaf clovers. She hid under her mam and didn’t get killed.’ She held her up. ‘Can I keep her? Can I?’
But Alice had stopped listening. ‘Wait till our Joseph hears this,’ she cackled, heading for the stairs. ‘He said they were gormless bastards and by God, he weren’t far wrong. Pour us a sup of summat for our nerves, will you, Nellie?’
Lily’s heart felt set to leap from her chest but she knew she couldn’t coward out now. Footsteps sounded and her gaze swivelled up. Was the lady from the market up there? Her heart pounded faster. She must finish this before her mother and uncle returned.
‘Can I lie my kitten by the hearth, missis? She’s shivering.’
Nellie, still chuckling at the gumption of one so young, nodded. ‘Give the embers a prod, see if you can’t drag some life from them.’
Lily hurried to the fire, laid Clover at her feet and lifted the poker. She glanced over her shoulder. Satisfied no one was watching, she let her free hand roam. Sweat sprang above her top lip as, upping the noise with the poker, she lifted the latch on a window and opened it half an inch.
Sagging with relief, she closed her eyes. Then she took a deep breath and skipped across the room.
Standing on tiptoe, she lifted the tankard of ale and glass of gin from the counter. ‘These for Mam and Uncle Joseph, missis? I’ll take them to a table, shall I?’
‘Aye. Don’t spill them, mind.’
Lily placed them on the table directly beneath the window then perched on a stool.
She could do no more. It was up to the men, now.
At the far end of the inn, the serving girl glanced from the child to the window. Turning to resume her duties, a shadow of a smile went with her.
Tommy’s jaw muscles worked furiously; his impatience to begin was at fever pitch. His father laid a hand on his shoulder.
‘Deep breaths, son. Not long, now.’
He nodded but his insides smouldered with a host of emotions. If that bastard had hurt her … What was she going through, at this very moment, while they stood idle, blindly obeying a child’s instructions? His guts twisted but he knew they couldn’t act yet.
Despite her limited years, the lass had been embarrassingly right. Goden had evaded them more times than they wanted to dwell upon. He had a knack of vanishing into thin air when sniffing danger; all they had got was dizzy from going around in circles trying to find the swine. This plan just might work. For Sally’s sake, they had to try.
Hearing a muffled voice, they crouched lower on the crumbling steps behind the inn and cocked their heads to the window above. It grew louder, making it obvious the speaker stood directly opposite. It was also clear who it was. Thanks to the girl’s sharp thinking, the voice travelled through the partially open window perfectly.
Goden. He knew it. Where the devil he’d hidden earlier was anyone’s guess but now, they had him. They would be on him so fast, he wouldn’t have time to blink.
‘What did I tell thee? That pair couldn’t find a tit in a whorehouse betwixt them.’
Tommy and Arthur glanced at each other, eyes burning with fury, as Joseph’s scathing quip earned him a round of laughter.
‘I mean, who with half a brain goes all out to search for someone and don’t bloody search?’ Inflated confidence filled his tone. ‘I tell youse summat, that young ’un came this close to us. He had his hand on the knob of the bedroom door we were hiding behind, for Christ’s sake, and didn’t think to pull it back a bit.’ He drew out the last words mockingly, following them with a bellow of laughter.
Tommy’s hand tightened around the clump of stone he’d prised from the tumbledown steps. Goden was behind the door with her the whole time … Colour born of regret and humiliation flooded his face. How had he been so foolish? Sally, I’m so sorry …
‘And to top it off, they finished up outwitted by a gormless slip of a lass,’ Alice added. When the laughter died down, her amused voice sounded again. ‘I’ll be away to the cottage. Tha best get that one back across the road, an’ all. And bring some gin to keep her akip. I’m not listening to her yowling all day.’
His eyes widened and his father shook his head. Not yet, son, not yet, it silently instructed.
Alice’s footsteps faded to the door. The innkeeper’s voice, as she barked orders to her serving girl, revealed she’d returned to the counter. And a loud burp told them Joseph was still by the window, finishing his ale.
This was what they were waiting for. For it to work, they needed him alone. The least support he had in the initial seconds was vital.
They needed no words. A simultaneous nod and they were ready.
His father scurried around the side of the building. Tommy’s grip tightened on the rock. He eased the fingertips of his free hand through the window and teased it up a fraction more. It obeyed silently and, smiling grimly, he continued until he’d opened it fully. Then he rose.
Joseph stood with his back to him, completely unaware of what was coming. Tommy’s lip curled in hatred; his drunkenness promised only to assist the success of the element of surprise.
With Joseph blocking his view, he stooped again to check the other occupants’ positions. The serving girl was busy behind the counter, Alice and Nellie talking by the door. Lily stood beside her mother. Her eyes flicked to him and he nodded. All was ready.
He leaned through the window and lifted the rock above his head. But a movement by Joseph’s feet threw him. He froze, all their careful plans melting at the sight of the woman he loved beyond reason. Whom he’d die for in a heartbeat. The woman lying half dead, face battered, covered in blood and vomit.
His hand flew to his mouth, trapping a cry. However, he couldn’t contain the venomous loathing for her husband as easily. Lightning fast, he threw his arm around Joseph’s neck and smashed the stone into his skull.
He crumpled instantly. Tommy lowered him to the ground beside Sally.
It had happened in the blink of an eye and without a sound. Alice was still talking with Nellie, the serving girl measuring out gin into an earthenware jug, each of them unaware of what had transpired feet away. Only Lily knew her uncle now lay in a heap, but she made no noise, busying herself with the kitten.
Tommy stared, transfixed, at the man he’d just bludgeoned. His father had warned him countless times to keep his calm, do nothing but injure him. As usual, his overwhelming love for Sally overtook all logic. He’d struck him much harder than he should, than they’d discussed. Joseph Goden was dead. And Tommy Morgan would swing.
His eyes swivelled to Sally and slowly they hardened. If he was to dance at the end of a rope, so be it. What that monster had done to her, to his mother … He deserved this and more. Joseph could rot in hell.
That he himself would soon join Lucifer for his sin, Tommy, at that moment, didn’t care. Knowing this bastard would share the scorching pit would be worth the eternal suffering.
‘You’re free, my love,’ he whispered to Sally. ‘You, at least, will suffer no more.’
Calmness settled within him. He lifted two fingers to his lips, and blew. This needed finishing. Consequences could wait.
His father burst into the inn. Alice and Nellie, having turned to the window at the shrill whistle, now whipped back around as the door crashed against the wall. Like a pair of trout gasping for want of water, they gawped left to right, dumbfounded.
‘What the …?’ Alice managed to croak. ‘Where’s …? Oh, my God!’ She made to rush to her lifeless brother, but Arthur grabbed her and Nellie by the scruff of their necks and bundled them behind the counter.
Tommy hadn’t in his life heard his father raise his voice to a woman – now, he roared a threat of such ferocity, they flinched:
‘Youse two stay there or so help me, you’ll regret it. Same goes for thee,’ he told the serving girl. ‘You stay put, d’you hear?’
Her answer surprised everyone. ‘Nay, mister, not me. I want to help.’
Nellie almost choked on a gasp. ‘Oh! Why, you sneaky young—!’
‘Shut that fat mouth of yourn and listen to me forra change.’ A quaver lurked behind her words but she stuck her chin out. ‘I need my head seeing to, putting up with you as long as I have. If I never find work for the rest of my days and finish up destitute in t’ gutter, I’ll be happier than I’ve ever been slaving for thee.’ She waited for a response but Nellie simply gaped. She nodded once. ‘How can I help, mister?’
With a thankful smile, Arthur pointed to the door. ‘Keep an eye to customers, will you, lass? Say and do what you must but don’t let a soul in. Or out,’ he added, looking pointedly at Alice and Nellie. He turned to Tommy. ‘All right, lad?’
Having climbed through the window, Tommy had crouched beside Sally. As his father approached, he lowered his head.
Arthur halted. He glanced at the crimson-stained rock, then at the gaping wound it had inflicted. He stooped and pressed two fingers to Joseph’s wrist. Without a word, he let the limp hand fall to the ground. In his eyes was a look Tommy had never seen before.
‘Father … I …’
Arthur held up a hand, and Tommy closed his mouth. Words couldn’t undo what he’d done. They both knew it.
Arthur checked Sally’s pulse. Then he spoke softly. ‘Lass? Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes? You’re safe, now. Me and Tommy’s here, and my Ivy will mend thee, have no fear.’ Her eyelids flickered and he nodded. ‘Good lass. Goden won’t hurt you again, you have my word. Let’s get you home.’
Tommy walked blindly to the door. His own arms burned to hold her but he didn’t speak out. He was nothing to her, never would be. And soon, he wouldn’t be anything to anyone.
Not a son or brother, future husband to Dolly, father to the child she might be carrying – nothing. He’d be hanged and he’d be dead. As dead as the man by the window.
He took a last look at Joseph then opened the door.
The next seconds played out dreamlike. Two sounds opened the act. The first was the serving girl’s gasp, the next a horrified Lily slapping a hand to her mouth. Frowning, he followed their stares. What he saw rendered him immobile. He gazed at the large bulk which moments before had lain lifeless on the ale-soaked ground. And was now standing behind his father.
In Joseph’s hand was the stone he’d introduced to his head – now set to make acquaintance with Arthur’s. As he drew back his arm, his lips followed suit in a terrifying grin.
‘Stop! ’
The thunderous command shattered time in its tracks. At that pivotal moment, it seemed to grasp Joseph’s arm in an invisible hold. The speaker charged past Tommy, pushed Arthur aside and landed a bone-crunching punch to Joseph’s face. As blood and teeth flew one way, he fell the other, crashing to the ground like a sack of rocks.
In the ensuing bedlam, as Alice rushed to her brother screeching garbled curses, Nellie squawked at them all to leave and Lily clung, sobbing, to the serving girl’s skirts, Tommy and his father stared at the newcomer in stunned silence.
He flashed a quick smile, demeanour cool as a summer breeze. ‘Are the two of ye all right?’ he enquired in a soft brogue. Then his eyes fixed on Sally and his composure wavered. ‘Sweet Jesus. Is she …?’
‘She’s alive. Who …? How did you …?’
‘Your wife explained everything. I got here as quickly as I could.’ At Arthur’s confused frown, he patted his shoulder. ‘Sure, there’s time enough later for explanations. We need to leave. Sally needs tending to, and fast.’ He held out his arms. ‘Give her to me, friend. I’ve a cart waiting outside.’
Tommy’s senses snapped back instantly. Joseph’s resurrection had struck him dumb. He’d stood by, frozen with disbelief, as the bastard prepared to attack his father. The inadequacy was crippling – more so when he knew the identity of Arthur’s saviour, whom he’d recognised on that cart. The man he’d come to hate almost as much as Joseph.
Because he was different from the man whose name Sally bore. One was linked to her by a marriage she loathed – the other, looking every inch the hero of the hour … He’d laid claim to her heart.
Seeing him hold out his arms, the last vestige of restraint Tommy clung to, snapped. The nightmare, of this man taking Sally from him, had haunted him for weeks. He’d been unable to stop it in his dreams. It wouldn’t happen in reality. He clamped a hand on his shoulder.
The Irishman turned. As they stared at each other, he seemed to read the message in Tommy’s hard gaze. With the briefest nod, he stepped back.
Tommy felt his father’s eyes boring into him as he took Sally, but didn’t care. Neither did he care what her new man thought. This was the last time he’d hold her. This precious moment would see him through the endless years stretching ahead with Dolly. No one would deny him it.
He cradled her as though she was made of the most delicate china and everyone in the world melted away.
‘What about that devil?’ the Irishman asked Arthur, jerking his head to the prone figure Alice was trying to rouse. ‘Sure, Sally will never be safe while he breathes. Next time—’
‘There’ll not be a next time.’ Dragging his eyes from his son, rage swamped Arthur. In a movement that belied his years, he lunged. Alice made to claw his face but a swipe sent her sprawling. Grabbing Joseph’s jaw, he lifted his bloody face to his.
‘You … I’ve a good mind to kill thee here and now, you worthless lump of shit. You don’t deserve to draw another breath for what you’ve done to that lass, to my family … to my wife. Get up. Fight me. Do to me what tha did to my Ivy. Up!’ He tried to drag Joseph to his feet. ‘I’ll murder you, yer bastard!’ All trace of the man everyone knew and respected had vanished and, like a man possessed, he landed blow after frenzied blow.
‘Mr Morgan, that’s enough.’
The Irishman made to take his arm but Arthur shoved him aside. Undeterred, he tried again, this time managing to prise his hand from Joseph’s jaw. As Joseph slumped to the ground, Arthur made to lunge again but the Irishman wrapped his arms around his middle and hauled him to the door.
‘No fellow’s worth dangling at the end of a rope for, not even him. Come away, now, come away.’
The fight left Arthur and he ceased struggling. With a calmness that robbed her cheeks of colour, he pointed to Alice. ‘You keep him away, d’you hear me? If he shows his face again, I swear on all I hold dear, I’ll kill him.’ And with every fibre of his being, he meant it.
Moments later, they were aboard the cart and the Irishman instructed the driver to get them to Spring Row as fast as he could. After a last, horrified look at the woman whom, he murmured, he’d brought here only yesterday, he gave the reins a sharp flick.
‘Mister, wait!’
Two figures emerged from the inn. For the serving girl, it was undoubtedly the last time. Head bowed, she scuttled away. The other was Lily. Bare feet slapping the cobbles, she ran alongside the cart, face wet with tears.
Arthur held out a hand and she gripped it. ‘Thank you, lass. We couldn’t have done it without thee.’
‘She’ll be all right, won’t she, mister? You’ll nurse her well?’
‘Aye. Goodbye.’
‘Goodbye, mister. Goodbye, Sally,’ she whispered.
The cart gained speed and the small fingers slipped from his. When she was out of sight, he glanced left. The adoration pouring from his son as he gazed at the woman in his arms was, for so many reasons, too painful to watch. With a bone-weary sigh, he closed his eyes.
This wasn’t going away. He was at his wits’ end with the whole bloody business. He’d have to talk to Ivy. He’d carried this burden alone for long enough.