‘I thought you were going to come in late this morning,’ Renee said, as Nancy strode through the foyer and made her way behind the front desk.
‘I’ve gotten too much to do,’ she replied, leafing through that morning’s mail. There were the usual bills, a letter from Alex and unusually a letter for Violet. As she set it aside she saw Renee take a step towards her.
‘Look, Nancy love, don’t worry about that old cow. The rabbi won’t take her word over yours. Anyone can see you’ve a lot to offer those poor mites without a home. The rabbi won’t pay any attention to Edna I promise you.’
At the sincerity of Renee’s words despair bubbled up inside her. After Edna’s outburst Nancy had felt bereft and strangely furious with her husband for not being by her side to put his mother in her place. The thought had made her even angrier when she realised Alex would have probably sided with his mother as he usually did when he had to pick sides.
‘What can I tell ya?’ she snapped, all New York drawl. ‘This is vintage Edna, and it’s not a surprise. She did this when I was interviewed at the Palais all those years ago, told me an American like me wouldn’t understand how much the place meant to the country.’ At this both Renee and Nancy rolled their eyes. ‘Then when me and Alex got engaged she told him the night before our engagement party that I wasn’t good enough for him and she thought he deserved better.’
Renee’s mouth dropped open in shock. ‘The wicked cow. But it didn’t work though.’
‘No.’ Nancy shook her head. ‘But that didn’t stop her from trying to get him to court one of the daughters of her old dancing pals. Said they would make a lovely match.’
‘Cheeky bloody cow!’ Renee gasped.
‘Alex said he was grateful to Edna for loving him so much and for taking such an interest in his life but he told her that he loved me and that he hoped she’d come to see me as the daughter she never had.’
At that Renee smirked. ‘He’s got a lovely way with words your husband, but he don’t half lay it on a bit thick with her. Why the hell is his mother so bitter?’
Nancy paused for a moment and thought. ‘I think Alex and the Palais are the two things that mean the very world to her. When Alex’s dad took off when he was just a baby, the Palais and her son became her whole world. She’s terrified of losing them and has only been more possessive since Alex was called up.’
‘That why she’s blinkered when it comes to Bill?’ Renee said bitterly.
‘I think Bill was very kind to her at that time,’ Nancy explained. ‘Always making sure she got the lion’s share of the dances in the pen so she could make extra to keep her and Alex afloat. She’s loyal. And of course the girls in the pen were all supportive too, helping her raise Alex. She even lived in the flat above for a while.’
At that both women looked upwards, as if Edna might suddenly emerge from the place Nancy now called home. Shaking her head, Nancy looked at her friend. Even though she knew why Edna was a pain in the proverbial, she struggled at times to make allowances and last night had been one of those occasions. In truth Nancy would have been lost without her friend.
‘I hear you put my mother-in-law in her place last night.’
Renee shrugged and turned back to the dance roster she was organising. ‘She deserved it. I don’t care what she’s been through, I won’t have that old bag talking to me mate like that.’
A flush of tenderness danced along Nancy’s spine at the words. She was about to say as much when Temperance appeared at the front desk. Her skin looked ashen and her eyes as wide as saucers.
‘Temperance honey, what’s wrong?’ Nancy asked, her voice filled with concern.
Standing there in a fitted brown skirt and cream blouse Temperance seemed to be struggling for the right words as she gazed first at Renee and then Nancy.
‘We’ve been robbed,’ she blurted. ‘Loads of booze and fags have been nicked from the basement.’
Disbelief rippled through Nancy like winter waves crashing against the shoreline. How could this have happened?
‘How much has been taken?’ she managed at last.
Temperance shook her head. ‘I dunno. Fred the storesman’s doing his pieces. He says a lot of it’s damage, smashed bottles and the like, but enough to have made a dent in profits.’
At the news Nancy exchanged a look of despair with Renee. She knew black market gangs had been stealing from pubs in the area over the past few months, all hoping for extra stock to sell on. Nancy had fretted it was just a matter of time before they were targeted but now the worst had happened she was frightened to ask more but knew she had to.
Renee let out a long sigh. ‘Well we’d better take a look at the damage.’
‘And then call the police,’ Nancy added.
At this last suggestion Renee looked stricken. ‘The bizzies? I’m not sure that’s a good idea.’
Nancy looked at Renee as if she had lost her mind. ‘We’ve had a theft, of course we should call the police, Renee.’
‘Well, it might put punters off if they start seeing officers ’round here,’ Temperance added.
‘That’s right.’ Renee nodded. ‘Couldn’t we see if anyone’s seen anything first of all? We want to be able to try and get the stock back. We could clear this up ourselves.’
‘Who the hell would do something like this?’ Nancy growled. ‘If I find out who it is I’ll murder them myself. As if we haven’t got enough to deal with right now.’
‘Eh, come on.’ Renee made a shushing sound as she walked over to Nancy and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. ‘You’re tired and jeffed off after last night and I can’t say I blame you.’
‘Did Mrs Goldstein really say you couldn’t look after kids and run the Palais to the rabbi?’ Temperance asked.
‘Yes,’ Nancy replied feeling unusually tearful. She was tired, and knew that wasn’t helping. ‘I was planning on heading over to the synagogue later today after I’d gone through the Palais’s finances for the month to try and sort out the mess Edna’s created for me. Now it looks like I’m going to be spending my day hanging around with the police. I swear to God…’
Her voice trailed off as Renee rubbed her shoulder. ‘Come on, we’re going to get this sorted out I promise.’
‘Can I get you a cuppa, Nancy?’ Temperance asked quietly.
‘God no!’ Nancy sniffed. ‘I don’t think things are quite that bad yet. I’ll take a coffee though. There’s some instant in my office.’
As Temperance scurried away Nancy rested her head on the desk. She was doing her best to be strong in the face of war but it seemed like everything was going wrong. The Palais had always been her salvation. When she first started working here after her sister had gone back to the States she felt as if she were a part of the family. She had rubbed shoulders with the girls in the office and the dancers had become like sisters. They really had felt like Good Time Girls, all in it together. Now she felt isolated and alone. The dancers no longer talked to her because she was the manager and the girls she did count as friends, like Renee and Temperance, had their own troubles.
Lifting her chin to gaze at the red velvet drapes, Nancy wondered when the hell the Palais had become a place to endure rather than thrive in.