‘Come along now, this ain’t no place fer a lady to be lyin’ at this time o’ night.’ The young constable who was on night patrol in the town centre nudged the inert figure lying in the shop doorway with the toe of his boot but got no response whatsoever. He sighed, wishing it were time to go off duty. Judging by the gaudy clothes the woman was wearing she was one of Dolly’s girls. Dolly owned the notorious whorehouse in town and her girls were often taken to the station for being drunk and disorderly, especially when they’d had a particularly good night with their clients.
‘Come along now. You don’t want to end up in a cell for the night, do you?’ Again there was no response so he bent towards her and gently shook her arm. ‘Did you hear me?’ He gave her shoulder a slight push and as she rolled onto her back and he saw the blood gushing from a slash in her neck, he recoiled in horror. Feeling shaky, he rooted in his tunic pocket for his whistle, blowing it repeatedly with every ounce of breath he had. The sound pierced the air and then, thanks be to God, he saw another constable striding towards him gripping a man fast by one arm as he dragged him along.
‘What’s up then, Harry?’
The young man pointed shakily at the woman. ‘Sh-she’s had her throat cut. Poor bugger!’
‘Hmm, an’ I just caught this man here, all covered in blood and runnin’ the other way as if the hounds o’ hell were after him,’ the older policeman commented. ‘He were grippin’ a handful o’ money an’ all, no doubt her takin’s fer the night so I reckon we’ve got us the murderer here, Harry. How lucky is that? We might just have the murderer we’ve been after for months! Now, you stay there with her while I get him into a cell – luckily, he’s that drunk he ain’t put up much of a fight – then I’ll be back to see about gettin’ the body moved to the morgue.’
The young constable watched the other officer walk away before turning his attention back to the body. The woman’s eyes stared sightlessly up at the moon and her mouth was wide open with her tongue hanging out. Her clothes were in disarray and her pockmarked cheeks were heavily rouged. He shuddered. No doubt she had been a fine-looking woman once but cheap gin and the hard life she had led had taken their toll on her. He took his hat off, bowed his head and said a short prayer. This woman and her kind were considered to be the lowest of the low by many of the townspeople but he wondered what circumstances had led her to live the way she did? No matter what they were, he felt that no one should die as she had and he fervently hoped that the other officer was right and they had finally caught their killer. Perhaps then the women of the town might dare to venture out at night alone again without constantly looking over their shoulders.
‘Eeh, have yer heard the news?’
Nessie was spooning porridge into Joseph’s mouth when Molly rushed into the kitchen early the next morning. Nessie was still in her long, flowing nightgown with her thick copper-coloured hair hanging loosely down her back.
Startled, she glanced up to ask, ‘What news?’
‘One o’ Dolly’s girls were murdered last night an’ they think they’ve got the killer. He were runnin’ away from the scene o’ the crime, apparently, an’ he almost ran straight into a copper’s arms.’ Then suddenly remembering that Nessie’s mother had been one of his victims, Molly clamped her mouth shut and flushed with shame. ‘Sorry, pet. Me an’ me big mouth again, eh? Charlie’s always sayin’ it’ll get me hanged one o’ these days.’
‘It’s all right, Molly. I know you didn’t mean any harm,’ Nessie assured her as she lifted Joseph. He made little gurgling sounds and stared trustingly up at her from his soft, brown eyes as she carried him to the sofa. ‘And I hope it’s right that they have caught the killer.’
‘Well, we’ll know soon enough,’ Molly answered as she tickled Joseph under the chin and smiled at him affectionately. ‘He’s before the magistrates later this mornin’. Oh, an’ Marcie tells me she’s movin’ back in here wi’ you?’
Nessie nodded. ‘Yes, she is. It isn’t fair for my dad to be bringing trouble to your door all the time. It was good of you to take her in but I realise now that people are going to gossip about me and Marcie whatever we do so I’m going to start looking round for somewhere for all of us to live as soon as possible.’
‘Andre won’t be none too pleased about that,’ Molly remarked. ‘His business has took off since you and Reuben came here and you practically run it now.’
‘But I’ll still work here and do what I do now,’ Nessie pointed out.
‘Even so, it won’t be the same.’ Molly said kindly before leaving to start her chores.
Nessie stared blankly from the window into the yard. If what Molly said proved to be true and the police had caught the killer, she fervently hoped that they would hang him by the neck until he was dead. Only then would her mother’s death and all the killer’s other victims’ deaths be avenged.
Nessie was dealing with a bereaved client when the men returned just before lunchtime and one glance at Reuben’s stony face told her immediately that something was wrong.
Once the distraught woman’s funeral arrangements for her husband had been made and she had escorted her to the door, Nessie was about to go and talk to Reuben when Andre entered the front of the shop.
He too looked disturbed and she paused and asked quickly, ‘Did the funeral not go to plan?’
Andre removed his tall black silk hat and stared at her gravely. ‘It went very well.’
‘Then why are you and Reuben looking so glum?’ she questioned.
Andre averted his eyes from hers. ‘It would be perhaps as well if your brother told you,’ he replied.
Worried now, she found Reuben sitting at the kitchen table with his head in his hands and Marcie softly crying near the kitchen sink.
‘So what’s going on?’ Nessie looked from one to the other of them.
‘You’d better sit down,’ Reuben said quietly, rising to pull a chair out for her. Her stomach began to churn and she had a horrible feeling that she was about to hear something she wouldn’t like.
‘The thing is …’ Reuben licked his lips and yanked at his collar. ‘While we were at the funeral this morning we overheard some of the mourners talking outside the church. They were talking about the woman that was killed last night and it seems that they knew the name of the man that’s been arrested. It … it’s our dad, Nessie … he’s the killer.’
For a second Nessie felt the floor rush up to meet her and she thought that she was going to be sick, but then, pulling herself together with an effort, she responded, ‘They must have got it wrong. I mean … I know Dad was a bit of a rogue … but he isn’t a murderer. It would mean … it would mean that it was him who killed our mam!’
When Reuben nodded she felt the colour drain out of her cheeks and she gripped the edge of the table until her knuckles turned white.
‘B-but why would he do that?’
Reuben had no time to answer, for Andre appeared in the open doorway at that moment. ‘I am so sorry,’ he said softly, wishing that he could wipe her pain away. ‘This must have come as a great shock to you.’
She nodded numbly before asking, ‘So where is Dad now? What will happen to him?’
‘It was said that he appeared before the magistrates this morning and was remanded in custody. They have sent him to Winson Green prison in Birmingham until he stands trial.’
‘I … I can’t believe it.’ Nessie tried to take it in.
‘Well I do,’ Marcie said loudly, making Joseph start. ‘The man is pure evil, capable of anything, if you ask me!’
‘Marcie, that’s our father you’re talking about,’ Nessie cautioned but Marcie’s face was set.
‘He’s a monster!’ Marcie retorted and with a toss of her head she stamped upstairs, leaving her sister reeling with shock.
‘I just can’t believe it,’ Nessie muttered. ‘It’s bad enough to think of him killing all those other poor women but our own mother …’
Reuben frowned. ‘All we can do now is wait and see what happens.’
‘No! The only way I will ever believe this is if Dad tells me himself. I need to see him; will that be possible?’
It was Andre who answered. ‘I will make enquiries and see what I can do. I know some of the magistrates so I may be able to get you a visitor’s pass. But are you quite sure you want to do this? Prisons are not nice places.’
‘I have to,’ she said defiantly.
‘Very well, then leave it with me.’ Andre patted her arm and quietly left the room.
Nessie looked at Reuben. ‘Do you think it was Dad?’
He shrugged. ‘Everything points towards it. They caught him red-handed, covered in blood and running away from the dead woman and worse still …’ He paused to stare at her, wondering how she would take the last piece of news. But then he decided that he may as well share it with her. It was only a matter of time before she read it in the newspapers or someone told her. ‘I did hear them say that he’d confessed to all the murders. One of the mourners was a policeman and he was at the station when they took him in and questioned him. He was drunk, apparently, so that probably loosened his tongue.’
Nessie stared towards the window with dull eyes. Suddenly she felt so tired of everything. It had been hard enough to come to terms with the loss of their mother but to know that it was their own father who had killed her made it ten times worse. There was Marcie and her forthcoming baby to worry about and Joseph, as well as trying to find somewhere else for them all to live. It all felt just too much to bear and lowering her head she began to sob as Reuben gently stroked her hand.
Two days later Andre discreetly took Nessie to one side and told her gravely, ‘I have arranged a visitor’s pass for you to see your father. He will be tried on Thursday and you may visit him in prison on Friday.’
‘So soon?’ Nessie asked in surprise.
‘It seems there is a judge visiting in the next few days, and as he has confessed, there is no reason to wait.’
‘I see. Thank you. What do you think will happen in court?’
He took a deep breath. ‘I think he will be found guilty of murder.’
‘And if he is found guilty, he will hang, won’t he?’ Her voice came out as a squeak as different emotions churned through her.
He nodded, his face solemn. ‘I believe you should prepare yourself for that, yes.’
She wrung her hands together as she stared past him. If he was guilty, part of her wanted him to pay for what he had done yet deep down another little part of her couldn’t forget that he was her father, albeit he hadn’t always been a particularly good one.
‘Well, at least we’ll know by the time I go and see him,’ she said dully and turning about she hurried away to check on Joseph and to hide the tears that were glistening on her lashes.