Bia's War (21 page)

“I shall see you tomorrow then,
Victoria.” Mr Vine said, shaking her hand. “I’m very pleased to
have met you.”

He smiled again and then
returned through the door into the next office. Miss Talbot sniffed
disgustedly but there wasn’t very much she could do or say now that
Mr Vine had spoken. Victoria smiled at her and left the office
feeling much more confident than she had when she had arrived. It
crossed her mind that Mr Vine obviously considered her grandmother
an important woman, or he wouldn’t have agreed so readily to making
a home visit.

She delivered the message that
Mr Vine would visit the next afternoon at 2pm as soon as she had
let herself in at the side door and crept upstairs to Nana’s
bedroom. She felt very guilty about keeping secrets from her
mother, but she could understand her grandmother’s reluctance to
let Bia know that she was seeing her solicitor. Victoria still had
no idea why her grandmother wanted to see Mr Vine, but instinct
told her that her mother would not approve. Nana Lymer took Mr
Vine’s acquiescence as her right and Victoria decided not to
mention the fight with the battle-axe receptionist before Mr Vine
had appeared. She didn’t feel that she had come out of that
particular meeting with any degree of success and didn’t want to
contemplate what would have happened if Mr Vine hadn’t
appeared.

“Shall we go on with the story?”
Nana asked, once Victoria had delivered her message and got herself
settled in the bedside chair.

“Oh yes!” Victoria answered. “I
want to know if you found Simon that terrible night. But don’t tell
me any more if it’s going to upset you.” Victoria had a feeling
that the search for Simon hadn’t ended happily and she was worried
about how much this narration was going to upset Nana Lymer. It
wasn’t fair of her to try and force her grandmother into discussing
events that had been so traumatic for her, not just to satisfy
Victoria’s curiosity.

“I’ve told you before, pet, all
this happened a long time ago.” Nana reassured her. “It’s still
very sad, but the old adage that time is a great healer is very
true. Mankind wouldn’t have survived if people never got over sad
events and couldn’t carry on with their lives, now would it? But,
where had we got to?”

“Granddad Sam had collected
Jenny and Alice from his house and brought them to the shop so that
they would be safe from the pig butcher. You, Peter and Granddad
Sam were going out again to search for Simon and William. The snow
had stopped and the wind had dropped, so it was going to be easier
to search.” Victoria hadn’t missed a word of her Nana’s tale.

“You are a good listener! It’s
very flattering that you are so interested in what an old woman has
to say.”

“So, back to my tale,” Nana
continued. “Sam, Peter and I set off once again to search for
William and Simon. The weather had definitely taken a turn for the
better and it was possible now to see very clearly because of the
full moon shining in the sky. A thought came unbidden to my mind;
this was what they called a ‘hunter’s moon’. How apt that phrase
was didn’t become clear until later and then it became as clear as
the night sky. It was still exceptionally cold and the harsh frost
was making the millions of stars glitter like ice in the black
sky.”

“One or two people were now out
in the streets because the conditions had improved, but they were
still hurrying along to get home out of the bitter cold. They were
more easily halted now, so that Sam could ask them if they had seen
William and Simon and conversation was now possible because the air
was so still and the noise of the wind had abated.”

“The answers were still all
negative. No-one seemed to have seen William and Simon earlier in
the evening and every negative answer increased the words in my
head which throbbed along with my heartbeat. ‘He’s dead, he’s dead’
echoed in my head with every beat of my heart and my legs walked to
the same beat, marking out my fear and terror as we traversed the
streets.”

“I think Sammy could feel the
fear emanating from me because he took hold of my arm and half-led
me along. Peter was once again conscious of my mood and slipped his
hand into my other hand, so that we trudged, linked, along the
roads.”

“We reached the market place
which looked so strange minus its stalls and crowds of chattering
shoppers and I made to cross it to get to the Red Lion so that Sam
could go inside and ask after Simon again, but Sam held me back. He
had seen what I had missed as I trudged, wrapped up in my misery,
and he pointed to a figure which was searching through the rubbish
left by the stallholders when they had rapidly abandoned the market
at the onset of the storm.”

“I stood still and waited
hand-in-hand with Peter while Sam went over to the market cross and
talked to the figure. He soon came back with the first sighting of
William and Simon that night.”

“‘The tramp’s seen them
tonight,’ he said. ‘Come and listen to what he has to say.’”

We all walked over to where the
tramp waited, his hands full of the detritus of that day’s market.
He confirmed what Sam had said.”

“‘Oh aye, I saw them, lassie.
Yon lad’s the one who lost his arm to the Hun. Him and the little
one came out of the Red Lion when it had just started to snow. I
remember them ‘cos I asked him if he had any spare change, but he
told me to go to hell and work for it. I’d thought he might have
been a bit freer with his brass like, him knowing what it was like
to suffer.’”

“I realised then that the tramp
was standing rather precariously on one whole leg and one stiff
wooden leg and remembered his story from my childhood. He’d lost
his leg in an accident in the ironstone mines on the Cleveland
Hills and life obviously hadn’t been kind to him since. Now the
poor old bugger was outside on one of the coldest nights I had ever
known, trying to find food to keep himself alive. But his next
words pushed all thoughts of his problems out of my mind.”

“‘Yon pig butcher was talking to
them, outside the pub. He had followed them out of the Red Lion. I
wondered if he’d been fighting recently, cos he looked a right
mess, with one of his ears bandaged up and a scratch across his
face.’”

“Sammy glanced at me when the
tramp spoke of the pig butcher, but I kept my face expressionless
although that wasn’t a difficult thing to do. I was frozen to the
bone because the night was so cold and the tramp’s words sent an
icy torrent of fear coursing round my body, finishing by impaling
my heart with its icy spikes. What the tramp said next stopped my
heart completely.”

“‘The men shouted at each other
and then they went off together down Station Road towards the
docks. The poor little lad had to run to keep up with them and he
was crying as he ran.’”

“My legs failed me and I sank
down onto my knees on the snowy, icy road. I couldn’t get back up,
so I stayed there and lifted my face to the sky, praying that my
baby wasn’t dead, that he was alive and unharmed, but I knew within
myself that this was a vain hope. There was no Divine Being
listening to my prayers that night, ready to deliver my child back
to me. Simon was dead and I knew it. What the tramp had said had
sealed his fate and all I could hope for was the chance of finding
his little body so that I could take him home, before I laid myself
down and stopped breathing.”

“With strong but gentle hands,
Sam lifted me back onto my feet and turned my face towards the
docks. Then he released me and walked back to the tramp, speaking
with him and then handing something over which the tramp looked at
in astonishment.”

“‘Thank you, lad. God bless you.
I hope you find the little one soon. It’s not a night for a bairn
to be out of doors, although I’d leave his father to rot in the
cold.’”

“The tramp limped away as Sam
re-joined Peter and I.”

“‘What did you give him?’ I
asked, amazed at the fact that I could sound so normal when my
whole world had turned upside down.”

“‘Just some money.’ Sam
answered. ‘The poor old bugger needs it more than I do. I worked in
those mines when I was a young lad and I know what a hard life it
was. And I came out of it whole and counted myself lucky to do so.
He’s suffered for years and it isn’t right that he should be
outside in this weather, scavenging for food and with no home to go
to. Added to all that, he’s the only person who’s been of any help
to us tonight. Are you ready to move on now, lass? Yon bloke said
they headed towards the docks when they left the Red Lion.’”

“‘They headed for the
warehouses, Sammy.’ I insisted. ‘They weren’t going to the docks,
there’s no reason for them to go there. Dennison lured William to
the warehouse, I know it. For some twisted reason of his own, he
wanted William and Simon to go to the warehouse where he tried to
rape me last week.’”

“‘Yes, I agree with you. For
whatever reason of his own, he wanted William to go to the
warehouse with him. I think it was just sheer bad luck that Simon
happened to be with William at the time and so he took them both. I
can’t for the life of me work out what it is that Dennison wants
though. That’s got me beat.’”

“‘I can, Sam.’ I said. ‘I know
what the pig butcher wants. He’s told William that it wasn’t rape
and he wants to show William where it happened. It’s all twisted
lies because that’s the way Dennison looks at the world. William is
daft enough to believe what Dennison was saying, so he’s gone to
the warehouse with him, taking my baby into danger. I’ll kill
William if Dennison’s hurt one hair on my baby’s head!’”

“My voice had risen again as the
thought of William being so stupid and risking Simon’s well-being
seemed to have brought me back to life. I was desperate to get to
the warehouse, not only to save Simon, but also to wreak my revenge
on both men who had made my life a misery. Sam’s voice cut through
my thoughts.”

“‘Simon will be fine. Don’t you
worry about him, Bia, not even the pig butcher would harm a child.
Come on, the sooner we can get to the warehouse, the sooner we can
get Simon safely back home.’”

“I didn’t want to waste time
arguing with Sam because time was of the essence in this quest to
get my child back, so we set off for the warehouse, walking more
quickly now that we weren’t searching the road as we walked. Peter
was still holding on to my hand, although he hadn’t spoken since we
had left the tramp and I could feel him trembling as we walked
along. I wasn’t sure if he was trembling with the cold or if it was
because he had understood what the tramp and Sam and I had said and
he was fearful over what had happened to Simon. Simon was his best
friend. They played together and talked to each other as equals,
although Peter had always looked on himself as Simon’s protector as
well as mine. If the pig butcher had hurt Simon, there was a good
chance that Peter would want to exact revenge. Life was going to
get a lot worse for Dennison if he had injured my baby, both Peter
and I would be demanding our pound of flesh from him.”

“I wasn’t convinced by Sam’s
statement that Dennison wouldn’t have hurt a child. I had seen into
Dennison’s eyes when he had tried to rape me that afternoon in the
warehouse and I knew that not only was he an animal, but also that
he was crazy. I had seen the mind behind those eyes that afternoon
and I knew that it was twisted and black. He was capable of so much
evil and wouldn’t be fazed by the idea of murdering a child.”

“I stumbled as we set off for
the warehouse and would have fallen again if I hadn’t been
supported on both sides by Sam and Peter. Sam cradled my arm as
though I might collapse at any moment and Peter held on to the hand
on the other side, drawing comfort from me and pouring comfort back
into me. Without them both, I don’t think I would have managed to
walk as far as the warehouse, although my need to hold my son
burned brightly inside me. I gritted my teeth and, supported by
both Sam and Peter, walked the length of Station Road and turned
through the dock gates to get to my warehouse.”

Mrs Lymer paused in her tale,
falling silent as her mind relived the fears she had carried that
night over sixty years before. Suddenly, it all felt as though it
had happened recently and she experienced the stab to the heart
that she had felt when she had heard that her small son was in
company with the detested pig butcher. Victoria saw her
grandmother’s face drain of colour and she grasped her hand to
steady her.

“Are you all right, Nana?” she
asked, terrified that these memories had brought on a heart attack
in the old lady. “Shall I call for the doctor or shall I go and get
Mam?”

“There’s no need for you to
panic, pet. I’m quite all right.” Mrs Lymer replied. “For a moment
there, I could feel the pain that I felt that night and it shocked
me that I could still feel the intensity of it. I thought it was
all too long ago for it to affect me now, but obviously I was
wrong. Be a good girl and go and make a cup of tea, will you?
That’ll put heart back into me again.”

Nana Lymer smiled up at Victoria
as she leapt up to do her grandmother’s bidding. Victoria was
seriously worried about her and contemplated asking her mother to
come up and check that she was fine and not likely to keel over at
any minute, but she restrained herself, deciding that she would
call her mother if Nana didn’t look any better when she took the
tea upstairs. Luckily, no-one entered the kitchen while she was
making the brew, so she was able to rush back upstairs the minute
the tea was poured. Nana was sitting up in bed, looking pink and
pretty as she always did and Victoria heaved a silent sigh of
relief.

“You had me worried there,
Nana,” she confessed. “You went ever so pale and I thought you were
having a nasty turn.”

“No, pet.” Nana answered. “Just
being a silly old woman, as your mother keeps on telling me. It
took me by surprise that I was affected by the thoughts of that
night, which is silly because I’ve thought about what happened that
night so many times over the years and it’s been a long time since
it bothered me so much. But we’ll not get much more time today to
tell the story. It won’t be long before your Mam wants you to help
her get the tea ready. Do you think she’ll let you sit with me
tomorrow morning, because we could go through some more of the tale
before Mr Vine comes?”