A Rose and a Promise, page 8
The old man stared at him, his face turning puce as the gravity of his situation sank in. Lifting his fat forefinger so that it was millimetres away from Paddy’s nose, he spoke in a shaking voice as he tried to keep himself from being overheard. ‘Do you mean to tell me that there’s two tarts with an axe to grind running free round my city?’
Paddy’s jaw flinched. ‘I could hardly stop them, not when the bleedin’ house was on fire.’
The older man gripped Paddy’s elbow. ‘They know who I am,’ he said harshly. ‘How long do you think I’ll remain in power once they’d had their tuppence worth?’ He pointed to the house behind him. ‘I’ll lose my house, my wife, and my place in the cabinet.’
Paddy swallowed. He’d known it wouldn’t be easy. ‘I’ll find them, make sure they keep their mouths shut.’
The ends of the man’s walrus moustache trembled as his anger rose. ‘How the hell are you going to do that when you couldn’t stop them leaving in the first place?’ he spluttered, adding, ‘Hell’s teeth, you don’t even know where they are!’
Paddy rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. ‘Raquel’s daughter’s a Scouser. They were sayin’ summat about puttin’ Raquel and Dolly up with a friend of theirs. As none of them are from around these parts, I assume they were talking about somewhere in Liverpool.’
The old man nodded quickly. ‘Further away from here the better.’ He scowled at Paddy. ‘Stay out of the way until the dust settles, and we’ll go from there,’ he snapped, and returned to the house without so much as a backward glance. He loathed the Irish brothers, but he needed them in order to keep his dealings afloat. If the girls really had left the area, then he saw no reason why they couldn’t continue as before.
Paddy returned to the B&B to find his brother missing, along with both suitcases. Leaving the room in a blind rage, he headed for the train station, hoping to catch Micky before he absconded with their life savings. He ran up and down the empty platforms, but there was no sign of him. When a guard ventured over to see who was running around, Paddy grabbed him by the elbow. ‘When did the last train leave, and did you see a feller carrying two suitcases get on board?’
The guard attempted to snatch his arm back, but there was a look of murderous intent in Paddy’s eyes. ‘L-lots of people got on,’ he stammered, ‘and most of them had suitcases.’
‘You’d remember him,’ snarled Paddy. ‘Did anyone try and get on without paying?’
The man nodded nervously as he remembered the encounter with the Irishman who had tried to board the train without buying a ticket first. He’d confronted him, assuming that the man had made a genuine mistake, but it had been clear from the look on his face that he had never intended to pay. It was only when the guard threatened to call the police that the Irishman swore loudly and purchased a ticket. As an image of the man, trying to take some money from one of his suitcases whilst hiding the contents from prying eyes, entered the guard’s mind, he told Paddy all he knew.
‘Where was the train headed?’ snarled Paddy.
The guard swallowed. ‘Birmingham.’
Cursing out loud, Paddy released his grip on the frightened man. He hadn’t a cat in hell’s chance of heading his brother off, but at least he knew the destination.
As he headed back to the B&B he chastised himself for being stupid enough to leave Micky with all the money, especially after having threatened his life. His brother was the sort of man who acted on impulse, and Paddy should’ve realised that his harsh words might have caused Micky to run.
The morning after the fire Paddy had gone to take a look at Hillcrest before returning to the house he had visited the previous evening. When he arrived, he saw a police car pulling away from the kerb. Wondering why the police had been visiting the house, he looked up to see the man with the walrus moustache staring out of a first-floor window after the car. As his gaze fell, his eyes settled on Paddy, and he gestured furiously for him to get out of sight before dropping the curtain.
Paddy stepped behind the hedge and waited for the man, who appeared within moments. Pushing Paddy further behind the hedge, he spoke through gritted teeth. ‘I thought you said Raquel and Dolly had left the city?’
‘Why? What’s happened?’
‘That bloody Dolly sang like a sodding canary. Told them all about you and your brother, and the kind of business that went on at Hillcrest House.’
Paddy’s face paled. ‘They’ve got no proof …’
The other man cut across him. ‘No? That’s not what Dolly reckons. In fact she’s got a flamin’ list! Birthmarks, tattoos, freckles, even circumcisions …’ He shot Paddy a withering look. ‘Dolly knows marks on my body that even my wife doesn’t know about. What’s more, she’s written everything down and handed it to a friend for safeguarding, so that if anything happens to her the information can be made public.’ With his face turning beetroot, his cheeks wobbled as he tried to contain his temper. ‘She’s also threatened to hang the bloody lot of us if you and your brother don’t leave Portsmouth.’ Seeing the fire that flashed in Paddy’s eyes, the man continued, ‘No one’s goin’ to miss you or your brother should you disappear one day, so don’t even think about trying to blackmail or threaten me. You and Micky are to be out of the city by sundown; any later than that, and I’ll arrange for your removal. There’s bigger fish out there than you, Paddy Finnegan. I know a lot of people in very low places who won’t need much persuading once they know the pecking order’s changed.’
Paddy stared at him open-mouthed. ‘You can’t! You’re …’
The man came so close, Paddy could see the thread-like veins on the bridge of his nose. ‘You’d be amazed what I can do. You know for yourself that you only got away with running a brothel – as well as your other “business” – because I saw to it.’ His eyes darted wildly in their sockets. ‘Don’t test me, Finnegan.’
Paddy was desperate to retaliate, to put the old fool in his place, but it was pointless. Pushing his hands into his pockets, his fingers curled around the crisp notes he had taken out of the suitcase the night before. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. With no belongings to speak of, other than the clothes he stood up in, he headed straight for the train station. His only hope now was to hunt his brother down in Birmingham, and at least recover some of the money before Micky blew the lot.
Arriving at his destination, it soon became clear that Micky had made quite the impression in Birmingham, but for all the wrong reasons.
‘I remember him,’ said Paddy’s informant sullenly. ‘He was acting as if he had money to burn, and he was carrying two suitcases rumoured to be stuffed with cash.’ He gave Paddy a disapproving look. ‘Folk round these parts don’t take too kindly to foreigners actin’ as though they think they’re cock of the walk, when the rest of us are strugglin’ to put food on the table.’
Paddy raised an eyebrow. ‘Cock of the walk?’
‘Aye. He were living out of a hotel room, and from what I heard, he was holding nightly poker sessions. They reckon the drink was flowing, and there were girls aplenty – if you know what I mean.’
Paddy rolled his eyes. He knew exactly what the man meant. ‘So where is he now?’
‘If he took the advice given him, he’s lost himself in the services; if not, he’s at the bottom of the cut.’ Seeing the blank look on Paddy’s face, he elaborated. ‘The canal.’
Paddy’s face darkened. He might want to kill his brother, but he didn’t like the idea of him being threatened by complete strangers. He grabbed the man by his collar. ‘You’d better tell me everything you know, or you’ll be at the bottom of the cut.’
The man’s eyes bulged as he gasped for breath. Paddy relaxed his grip and allowed him to talk.
‘Don’t shoot the messenger, mister. I wasn’t involved in none of this – poker’s too rich for my blood. I only know what I was told.’
‘Which was?’
‘He was cheating, and they reckon he’d been doing so for some time. From what I heard they took everything he had, and he only escaped a bullet because the coppers raided the room they were holding the games in.’
‘Are you sure he wasn’t arrested?’
‘Definitely not. The coppers ain’t stupid. Once they realised who was in the room, they made sure they had a chance to escape before trying to arrest anyone.’ The man narrowed his eyes. ‘I don’t know who you are, mister, but I can guarantee there’s worse than you in Birmingham, and this is their stomping ground, not yours.’
Paddy rolled his eyes. ‘I’m not trying to tread on anyone’s toes, I’m trying to find out what happened to my brother.’
‘Like I said, he was given a friendly word of advice to join up.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s easy to hide in the services, especially from men like that, cos there’s no way they’re going to sign on the dotted line.’
Paddy released his informant and headed off to have a think. If the man was right, and Paddy very much suspected he was, Micky was in the forces, which meant Paddy would never find him.
Whilst he considered what to do about his brother, Paddy turned his hand to petty theft, but that came to an abrupt halt when he was discovered sliding backwards out of a window. As it turned out, he was stealing on a patch run by a gang of thugs, quite possibly the ones who’d threatened his brother, and they soon let him know that his presence wasn’t welcome. He was left not only beaten and bruised, but with a warning to never return or face the consequences.
With his options running out, Paddy turned his thoughts back to Micky. In Paddy’s opinion there was no way Micky would’ve stayed in the services, and neither would he have returned to Ireland, because even he must know he’d be dead as soon as his foot touched Irish soil.
He wreaks havoc everywhere he goes, Paddy told himself. It was his fault we had to leave Ireland in the first place. He remembered the day his brother had decided they should join the IRA. Paddy had been against it from the start, but Micky was convinced that the brothers could profit from the organisation by double-dealing in firearms.
Paddy had warned his brother that he was playing with fire, but Micky had remained determined. So Paddy had kept a close eye on things, and when he got wind that some members of the IRA were indeed looking for Micky he had made sure that he and his brother were out of the country before they could be found. Once they were safely across the water, he telephoned one of his associates to see if he had any news, and that was when he’d been told that the IRA had found out about Micky’s shenanigans and as a result was wanted by one of the most powerful organisations known to Ireland.
He frowned. Was it possible that his brother had really believed he could make a bargain with the IRA? A vision of Micky pleading for his life in return for handing over their loot entered his mind. It would be typical of him to assume he could buy his way out of trouble, but Paddy knew full well that the IRA would take the money with one hand and shoot Micky dead with the other.
Paddy himself certainly wouldn’t be going back to Ireland, or to Portsmouth, and seeing as he’d outstayed his welcome in Birmingham he could only see one choice left to him. The services were taking men on in their droves. It wasn’t what he wanted, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, so he had joined the RAF and done his training in the MT.
The pay was pitiful and the work dire. Paddy had been about to jump ship when a new opportunity presented itself in the form of a spiv who had approached him whilst he was repairing a puncture at the side of the road. Being in the RAF meant Paddy had access to things that civilians couldn’t get hold of. Not only that, but it was easy for him to transport items up and down the country without fear of being stopped. It hadn’t been the best earner, but it certainly beat the wages of an airman in the RAF. Paddy’s intentions were to continue on his current path until he found his brother. Despite their differences, they worked better as a team than on their own, and with Paddy’s new connections he felt sure they could start again.
April 1944
Cadi was on the move once more, only this time she was heading to RAF Chivenor in Devon; not to start another airbase, but to transport an officer to an unknown destination.
She loved Devon itself, but she wasn’t so keen on the narrow, windy roads which added copious amounts of time to the journey – especially if tractors or livestock were involved. As she passed by the Stag’s Head inn, with its thatched roof and deep-set windows, Cadi turned her mind back to the conversation she had had with Jez on the train ride back to Lincoln. Jez might have thought her decision to be sudden, but in truth she’d been thinking about settling somewhere closer to Lincoln ever since they married. She was officially based at RAF Coningsby, and thought it would be ideal if she could remain there without the constant travelling, but she doubted the RAF would see things her way. Kitty had once remarked that the RAF were forever trying to place a square peg into a round hole. Cadi had thought her friend’s comment to be ludicrous, but she soon learned that Kitty had the RAF down pat.
Turning on to a main road, she saw the main gate to the base looming ahead of her. She pulled up in front of it and flashed her ID at the guard, who waved her through, indicating a parking space opposite the place where she would be signing in.
Cadi parked and drew her small compact mirror out of her handbag to check her reflection. Smoothing an errant strand of hair beneath her cap, she popped the mirror back into her handbag and made her way over to the office. Inside, she smiled at the young Waaf who sat behind one of the desks. ‘Sergeant Thomas. I’m here to transport one of your officers.’
The Waaf looked down at a sheaf of papers in front of her. Thumbing through the top few pages, she traced a pencil down the list of names, then nodded. ‘I’ll inform Officer Harris of your arrival.’ She glanced at the clock on the wall behind her before adding, ‘He’s been in a meeting. If you’d like to wait here, I’ll get one of the girls to nip over to see if he’s ready.’
Cadi gave her a brief smile. ‘Thank you. I’ll just nip to the ablutions whilst I’m waiting.’ As she left the office she heard the Waaf instructing the woman beside her to run and tell Officer Harris his ride had arrived.
Cadi soon located the ablutions, and had just exited the cubicle when she bumped into the one woman she had hoped she would never see again: Daphne. For a moment, the two women stared at each other in stunned silence. Daphne was the first to move. Snorting her contempt, she swept past Cadi, and Cadi, flabbergasted that Daphne had the audacity to act as though she were the one in the right, was determined not to let her walk away before she’d had a chance to voice her thoughts.
‘How dare you look at me as though I were the dirt beneath your shoe,’ she snapped. ‘Especially after what you did to Aled.’
Daphne folded her arms across her chest as she turned to face her. ‘I knew it was you and your little pals who blabbed.’
Cadi stared at her, aghast. ‘Don’t bring Kitty into this. She didn’t know Aled from Adam. If you’re going to lay blame, then you should point the finger at me.’
‘Kitty might not have known him, but Poppy did.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Why didn’t she tell him that I very much regretted my actions? I only told them in the first place because I was trying to stop them from making the same mistake.’ She pouted petulantly. ‘I should’ve kept my nose out, and let them learn the hard way – just as I did.’
Cadi gaped at her in disbelief. ‘Kitty and Poppy would never have dreamed of doing what you did.’
Daphne took a step forward. ‘How do you know? I bet you’d have jumped at the chance to stop Jez from going if an opportunity arose. It’s all well and good to look down your nose at me, but I reckon you’d have done exactly the same thing.’
‘I’m nothing like you,’ said Cadi. ‘I’d never have meddled in Jez’s affairs to suit my own needs. And that’s the difference. Aled was desperate to be a pilot, and he would’ve made it too, but for your interference.’
‘I wanted to keep him safe,’ said Daphne, ‘which according to you is the crime of the century.’
‘Only you didn’t, did you?’ snapped Cadi. ‘You put him in the worst possible danger.’
‘It’s obvious I didn’t mean to,’ said Daphne loftily. ‘It’s as though you’re hanging me for having a heart.’
‘You may have convinced yourself that you were doing the right thing as far as Aled goes,’ said Cadi, ‘but you were being malicious and spiteful when you went running to Jez.’
‘I was being truthful,’ said Daphne evenly. ‘I didn’t tell that man a single lie. Much the same as you when you went to see Aled – apart from the fact that you didn’t bother to tell him how much I regretted my decision.’
‘That’s where you’re wrong. Poppy told me how much you regretted what you’d done, as did Kitty, and I told Aled, because he had a right to know,’ said Cadi. ‘But he reckoned you weren’t a couple when he took his exams, and you’d only done it in the hope that he’d help you run your parents’ farm when the war was over.’
Daphne blinked. She hadn’t realised Aled had been so open with Cadi. What’s more, he’d more or less hit the nail on the head. Daphne had only interfered because she wanted a farmer for a husband, and it was only later that she fell in love with him. Her silence was speaking volumes.
‘He was right, wasn’t he?’ said Cadi.
‘I’m not about to start discussing the ins and outs of our relationship with the likes of you,’ said Daphne primly, ‘especially as we’re no longer together, although I dare say you were privy to that information before I was.’
‘Can you blame him?’ said Cadi. ‘He’d be forever watching his back.’
Daphne looked down to a thin circle of silver which adorned her wedding finger. ‘With hindsight you did me a favour.’
Cadi followed the other woman’s gaze. ‘You’re married?’ she breathed, hardly able to believe her eyes.
‘Engaged,’ said Daphne. ‘To a wonderful man who didn’t hesitate to ask me to be his wife.’ She gave a haughty sniff. ‘It was love at first sight.’
