The Urchin's Song (52 page)

 

It was gone midnight when an apologetic knock at the door woke Gertie from a deep sleep, but within minutes of speaking to the waiter who was standing in the corridor, Gertie had gone next door and raised her sisters. They were now all sitting downstairs in the night manager’s office, and Ada was saying, ‘We have to call the police, don’t you see? If Oliver had arranged a surprise dinner like this he would never have gone off somewhere else. They must have been abducted.’

‘Miss Burns, I think we are jumping to rather extreme conclusions here.’ The manager was used to dealing with all sorts of eventualities and his voice was very soothing. ‘True, Mr Hogarth did ask us to arrange a champagne dinner for two in their room on Mrs Hogarth’s return from the theatre, and they are undeniably late, but that doesn’t mean any harm has come to them.’

‘What time did he arrange for this meal to start?’ Ada asked forthrightly.

‘Eleven o’clock, madam.’

‘And it’s now twenty past twelve and they’re not back. I suppose he paid handsomely for it too, considering you stop serving at ten?’

‘The gentleman did recompense Chef and others for the inconvenience such a romantic gesture would involve,’ the manager agreed a little stiffly.

‘And you still don’t think it’s strange they’re not back?’ Ada swore, most succinctly, which startled the manager so much he almost fell off his chair. He wasn’t used to hearing profanities from the mouths of ladies staying at his hotel, and certainly not the earthy ones this particular guest had employed.

‘Is there anyone on whom they might have called?’ he asked even more stiffly. ‘Where they may have been delayed perhaps?’

‘Vera?’ Gertie spoke now, looking at her sisters. ‘Maybe we ought to try there before we get the law involved?’

‘I’ll call a cab while you ladies get dressed.’ The three were sitting ensconced in their dressing gowns. ‘And I am sure there is nothing to worry about . . .’

 

‘Oh no, oh no.’ It was Prudence’s reaction which had caused a silence to fall over the kitchen after Gertie had explained the reason for getting the household up. They were all standing looking at Barney’s sister now; Josie’s three sisters in their coats and hats, and Vera and Horace in their night attire, and it was Vera who said, and sharply, ‘What does that mean - “oh no”? You know summat about this, lass?’

‘No, not about . . . I mean . . . I didn’t think . . . Oh,
Vera!
’

‘That’s enough of that.’ As Prudence’s voice approached hysteria it was Ada who stepped forward and gave the other woman a swift slap across the face. ‘Tell us what you think you know - and quick.’

‘I don’t know anything, not really.’ Prudence had sunk down on to a hardbacked chair, holding her face. ‘And you’ve no right to hit me.’

‘I’ll knock you into next weekend if you don’t come clean.’ Ada was now every inch the streetwalker of former years who could be as hard as iron when she had to be, and Prudence must have recognised this because she began to talk, and the more she said the paler the other women’s faces became, Horace’s too.

Again there was a silence when Prudence finished speaking, and as everyone - apart from Prudence herself who had her face in her hands and was now sobbing loudly - turned as one to Ada, Josie’s eldest sister stared back at them all before she sat down heavily on a chair which creaked in protest.

‘What are we going to do?’ Gertie’s voice was a whimper. ‘What are we going to do, Ada? I knew we shouldn’t have come back. I told her, I did. But she would go on about finding the lads. She’s never listened to reason--’

‘Don’t start on that road, Gertie.’ It was Dora who spoke and her voice was as hard as Ada’s had been when she’d threatened Prudence. ‘Josie’s in this mess because she crossed Duffy for you in the first place. She rescued you out of it, and she wanted to do the same for the lads, so don’t start blaming her for that unless you want to feel the back of my hand across your mug.’

‘I didn’t mean--’

‘Oh aye you did, you ungrateful little swine, you.’

‘Shut up.’ Ada’s voice was flat but of a quality which brooked no argument. ‘I can’t think with you two going at it. One thing’s for sure, we can’t wait. We’ve got to act now. If Duffy’s got her . . .’ She shook her head. ‘Look, me an’ Dora know one or two people who might know something. We’ll go and ask a few questions, all right?’

‘What’ll I do?’ Gertie asked helplessly.

Ada glanced at her sister, her gaze softening as she saw the anxiety in Gertie’s face. ‘The carriage is still outside an’ we won’t need it where we’re goin’,’ she said. ‘It’s better to go unannounced to them sort of places. Any of you know any blokes who’ve got a bit of brawn as well as brains an’ would be willin’ to help out if the worst comes to the worst?’

‘Barney, my brother.’ It was Prudence who spoke, her sobs having diminished to hiccups. ‘He’s always thought a bit of Josie. And Georgie, my young man. He’d help.’

‘All right. Well, you take the carriage an’ pick ’em up in case we come back an’ need ’em, but don’t do anythin’ more until me an’ Dora are back.’ Ada glanced at both Gertie and Prudence as she spoke and both girls nodded obediently. Vera’s face was as white as a sheet, and Ada now said to her, ‘Why don’t you go an’ get dressed, lass, an’ then put the kettle on, eh? It’s going to be a long night an’ a sup tea’ll help.’

 

It was getting on for two in the morning when Ada and Dora made their way towards a certain house in Fitter’s Row, a street not too far from Northumberland Place. Although the main streets were lit by dim pools of light from the street-lamps, the back lanes and alleys were as black as pitch, but this didn’t worry Ada and Dora. Had it been a Friday or Saturday there might still have been some activity outside a few of the more notorious public houses, but as it was they hardly saw a soul as they hurried along Prospect Row, turning left at South Dock goods station into Thomas Street and round the back of the school into Fitter’s Row.

They came to an innocuous-looking house in the hotchpotch street of tenement buildings, and Dora, who had her handkerchief to her nose to blot out the stench arising from something disgusting lying in the gutter which was made all the more ripe by the warm night, said quietly, ‘By, lass, I remember this house well.’

‘Aye.’ Ada nodded. And the memories were all bad. But the madam of this place, Madge Hopkins, might just help them. Tough as the devil’s hobnail boots, old Madge was, but Madge owed her a favour and today was collection day.

Ada took a deep breath and knocked on the door of the house, a series of long and short raps which was a code only the occupants - or prior occupants - knew. After a moment or two a window was raised and a head thrust out. ‘Who is it?’ It was a woman’s voice.

‘That you, Madge?’

There was silence for a moment, and then the voice said, ‘Who’s askin’?’

‘It’s me, Ada. You remember? Ada an’ Dora Burns from a few years back? We want to talk to you, Madge.’

‘Ada? I don’t believe it! Ada an’ Dora Burns? You two skedaddled if I remember right.’

‘Aye, we went down south. Good pickin’s down south.’

‘What do you want?’

‘Well, open the door, lass, an’ I’ll tell you.’

There was a moment’s pause and then the window was slammed shut, and within a minute or two the front door was swinging open. ‘All right, come in.’ Madge peered at them both in the light from the flickering candle she was holding. ‘What’s so important after all these years that you have to raise the house at this time of night?’

Ada and Dora stepped into the narrow hall they remembered from their childhood. They had been made to entertain clients in the rooms upstairs from the age of ten, sometimes as many as half a dozen a night, and they had never expected to be in this house again. Ada shut off her mind from that path and said instead, ‘You remember how I helped you out once, Madge? Eh?’

There was the sound of a door opening above them and Madge shouted, ‘Back into your rooms, the lot of you! This is nowt to do with you,’ before saying in a quieter tone, ‘Aye, I remember. What of it?’

‘You said you owed me, Madge. Well, I need your help now.’

‘By, Ada, it really is you then. You an’ Dora caused a stink when you took off, you know. Duffy went fair mental. The things he was goin’ to do to you both when he caught up with you.’

‘Aye, well he didn’t catch up with us,’ Ada said flatly. And then her tone changed when she said, ‘I saved your bacon that time the money was pinched an’ I saw who took it, now then. You know Duffy’d have taken the loss out of your hide. Well, I need a favour now. Our sister’ - she included the silent Dora in the wave of her hand - ‘he’s took her an’ we want her back. You heard owt?’

‘No, I ain’t, lass, but if I had it’d be more than me life’s worth to say anythin’, you know that. But I haven’t, I swear it. Your sister, you say?’

‘Aye.’

Madge held the candle closer to Ada’s face, staring at her for a good few moments before she said, ‘Look, lass, I don’t know where Duffy’d be but I can put you on to Hubert. He’s your brother, ain’t he? Him an’ Jimmy? Well, he got out of the business a while back, you know that?’ Ada shook her head. ‘Aye, well he did, but Jimmy don’t let no one lay a finger on him. Thinks a bit of him, see, an’ the word is they’re still close. Hubert might know where Jimmy’s livin’, an’ ten to one Patrick’ll be there. The lad works for the locksmith in Brougham Street an’ the locksmith lives over the shop. He’d know where your brother lodges. That’s the best I can do, lass.’

‘Aye. Well thanks, Madge.’

 

Mr Foster wasn’t overjoyed about being knocked up in the middle of the night; the Turners and their widowed daughter even less so, but by half-past three Hubert and his two sisters were approaching a three-storey house on Ettrick’s Quay in the heart of the East End. Apart from a few fishing boats lying on the cobbles in front of the higgledy-piggledy row of terraced two- and three-storey houses, the quay was quiet, although within the hour it would begin to stir.

It had been a brief but highly emotional reunion between Hubert and his sisters, but he had been adamant that the three of them had to go alone to the house where he knew Jimmy was staying at present. Duffy would have his henchmen close, he’d insisted, and taking anyone else along would just end in a fight which could be dangerous. It was no use trying to break into the house; it was far better he went in alone through the front door and tried to find out where Josie was being held from Jimmy. Ada and Dora must stay out of sight and he’d come to them as soon as he could.

‘I don’t like it, lad.’ Ada could see a hundred things wrong with the plan. ‘They might turn on you.’

Hubert turned to look at them both. How could he explain that somewhere deep inside he had always known this day was going to happen? Oh, not the details of course, or that Josie would be involved like she was, but he’d always felt that Patrick Duffy would force a showdown between him and Jimmy.

Jimmy’s love for his brother had always been a thorn in Duffy’s side, and the older man wouldn’t be content until that thorn was pulled and got rid of. Well, today might be the day or it might not, but he was tired of living in the shadows. Even living and working as he was, he was still living in the shadows because at heart he knew Patrick had the reins on him and could pull them tight at any time.

He wanted to be
free
. Free to go wherever he chose and say whatever he liked; free to make his own life and to know he could ask a lass to start courting without having to look over his shoulder all the time. A lass like Laura Foster. He knew she liked him and he liked her, more than liked her, but how could he let a nice, innocent young lassie like Laura get involved with him when Duffy was forever lurking in the background?

But after today, when he’d nailed his colours well and truly to the mast, he’d either be free or be dead. Either way he was glad. But he couldn’t tell his sisters that - they’d think he was doolally. Instead he said quietly, ‘Whatever they do, Ada, this is the way to do it.’

‘Aren’t you afeared, lad? Of goin’ agen ’em, I mean?’

Hubert nodded. ‘Aye, I am, but not as much as not going against them, if that makes any sense.’

Ada looked at him, holding his gaze for a moment before she said very softly, ‘It makes sense to me, Hubert lad. It makes sense to me.’

‘Right then.’ Hubert squared his bony shoulders. ‘I’ll go and see what’s what. If Jimmy and Patrick have brought Josie and her husband here, I’ll try and let you know in some way - come to a window or something - and then you can nip and get the others and someone can go for the police. If they aren’t here I’ll try and find out where they are and if she’s with them.’

‘Watch yourself, lad.’

‘I will, Ada, I will.’ Hubert hugged both Ada and Dora before they made themselves scarce, and after waiting a moment he walked to the flaky front door at one side of two narrow windows and knocked loudly.

‘
What?
How do you know Duffy’s got her?’

Prudence had just roused Barney, and although her brother’s eyes had been bleary a moment ago they’d just cleared like magic.

‘It’s a long story but he spoke to me a couple of times, Duffy - oh, ages ago now, and he means to do her harm.’

Barney raked back his ruffled hair, squinting at Prudence and Georgie on the doorstep as he said, ‘He
spoke
to you? Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘She didn’t tell anyone.’ Georgie’s arm had tightened protectively round Prudence’s shoulders. ‘She was scared we’d think less of her. Look, it’s like this; Josie and Oliver didn’t come back from the theatre . . .’ He gave the few facts they knew quickly and clearly, including Ada and Dora’s present mission, and as the full import of the situation turned Barney’s face to thunder, Georgie added, ‘It’s too late for recriminations now, and if Prudence had said anything I doubt it would have altered a thing. Get your togs on, man, and we’ll see what’s happening at Vera’s.’