The Woolworths Girls (32 page)

‘I think the pair of you ought to sit yourselves down and do some explaining,’ Ruby said as Freda hugged the young man. They looked like two peas in a pod.

‘Aw, Lenny, where have you been? I’ve been that worried about you,’ Freda said.

‘I had a job on the docks for a good while and some digs, so things weren’t so bad. There’s always someone wants a job doing for cash and no questions asked. Then I bumped into a bloke who recognized me and I had to leg it a bit quick. I headed towards Erith, as I knew you were here, but then you’d moved and I had to sleep rough for a couple of nights.’

Ruby frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘I’ll explain as much as I can,’ Freda said. ‘You look fit to drop, Lenny.’

The lad nodded and leant back in the armchair.

‘Lenny got in with a bit of a bad crowd when we lived at home.’

‘But I didn’t mean to, sis.’

‘It’s all right, Len – I’ll tell Ruby and Sarah.’ She glanced at Ruby, who nodded for her to continue with her story. ‘After Dad died, Mum started courting another bloke. She said it was because we needed a father, but once he had his feet under the table, he changed overnight. He spent most of the time down the pub and we know he was carrying on with other women. Mum wouldn’t have any of it. She was smitten with him. Well, that’s when our Lenny started bunking off school and hanging around with Tommy Whiffen and his gang. I begged him to help me on the market and keep away from Tommy, but would he listen?’

Lenny bowed his head and looked ashamed. ‘I only did a bit of fetching and carrying for him until that time we got caught.’

Ruby’s face turned red and she glared at Lenny. ‘There’s no excuse for nicking stuff.’

‘I know that now, and I wish I hadn’t done it. It was just a bit of fun.’

Ruby’s heart softened. He did look contrite. Without a father figure around, any lad could go off the rails. ‘Carry on, Freda. What happened next?’

‘Tommy started moving into the big time. He wasn’t content with a bit of nicking. He broke into a warehouse and pinched some money.’

‘It was a lot of money, sis. Hundreds of pounds, which were wages for the workers.’

Ruby tutted. ‘Stealing the bread from people’s mouths. Terrible. Did you help him take the money, Lenny?’

Lenny was quick to respond. ‘No, I was the lookout. Bob, Tommy’s brother, was driving the getaway car, and his cousin Ned picked the locks so they could get in. All I had to do was stand by the gates of the warehouse and look out for the night watchman. If I saw him coming, I had to whistle like mad and jump on the running board as we made a getaway.’

‘Sounds just like one of those American movies,’ Sarah said, bringing in a tray holding cups of cocoa and a plate piled high with slices of bread covered in dripping. Lenny took the plate gratefully and tucked in as if he hadn’t eaten for days. ‘What happened next?’

‘I didn’t see the night watchman until he’d walked past me and had gone into the warehouse.’

‘He was reading a newspaper. He couldn’t even get that right,’ Freda sighed.

Lenny ignored his sister. ‘By the time I ran to the car, Bob was revving the engine, Ned and Tommy climbed in, and they took off with the loot. I tried to jump onto the running board, but they were going too fast and I fell and twisted my ankle.’

Ruby tried not to smile. ‘It don’t sound like you was made out for a life of crime, lad.’

Freda looked sad. ‘But that was only the start of it. Our Lenny was nicked and the others got away with it.’

‘What could they nick him for? It’s not a crime to read a newspaper, is it?’ Sarah asked as she sipped her cocoa.

‘It is when the night watchman is coshed over the head, the wages are gone, and all he can remember is our Lenny’s face,’ Freda declared.

‘Oh bugger,’ was all Ruby could think to say.

‘They sent me to prison for eight years.’

‘Eight years? But you’re no more than a kid. When did this happen?’

‘Two years ago.’

Ruby scratched her head in confusion. ‘I don’t understand. Why didn’t you tell them about this Tommy bloke, and why did they let you out of prison so soon?’

Lenny looked to Freda for help, but she nodded for him to explain. ‘Tommy got word to me that if I spilt the beans and told the coppers about his gang, he’d hurt our Freda, but if I kept quiet and served me sentence, he’d see me all right afterwards and Freda wouldn’t be hurt.’

Sarah gasped. ‘Was that chap that was hanging about your old digs the Christmas before last one of Tommy’s gang, do you think, Freda?’

‘I think it might have been. I’d sent Mum a Christmas card with a postal order inside for her Christmas box. I’d just written that I was all right, but the envelope may have given a clue to where I was.’

Sarah briefly explained to Ruby the reason why Freda had moved away from her first lodging house so quickly that Christmas.

‘Well, I never,’ Ruby declared. ‘I still don’t understand why Freda came to Erith. Not that you aren’t welcome,’ she added hastily. ‘And why did that bloke follow you?’

‘I decided to move down to Erith after I received a letter from Lenny warning me to stay away and saying that he had escaped from a prison down near Maidstone. The envelope had Erith on the postmark. He’d had to have posted it somewhere around here, so if I hung around long enough, I thought I might just find him before he got himself in any more trouble. I think when I sent my card to Mum, before that Christmas, my stepfather would have seen it and guessed by the postmark where I was. No doubt Tommy Whiffen was sniffing around asking where we were. Our stepfather will do anything for a few bob in his pocket to spend at the pub or down the dogs. He would have shown Tommy. I’m such a fool.’

‘You’re no fool, Freda,’ said Sarah. ‘You just wanted to protect your family. Anyone would have done the same. Lenny, why did you escape from prison? Wouldn’t it have been best to tell the governor what you knew?’

‘It was horrid in prison, and when I told someone I was innocent, they started knocking me about and calling me names and everything. I didn’t have anyone to talk to in there and knew I couldn’t face another six years behind bars. I did plan to go back to the Midlands eventually and tell the coppers what arrested me, but I was worried about Freda down here on her own. Then I was frightened in case they sent me back to prison.’ He looked so tired and close to tears. ‘I ended up not knowing what to do, and then I thought that I’d left it too long to tell them I was innocent. When the war started, I didn’t think anyone would be bothered with me, so I carried on doing odd jobs and that. Freda, I don’t know what to do.’ He looked at his sister beseechingly and Freda turned to look at Sarah and Ruby. What were they to do?

‘I think before we make any decision, we should let this lad have a wash and some shut-eye. You need your sleep as well, Sarah. It can’t be doing that great-grandchild of mine any good you being up so late. Get yourself up to bed. Freda, take your brother out to the scullery and show him where the soap and water are. There’s a few bits of clothes that were my Eddie’s you can put on while your own clothes are washed. No doubt they’ll drown you, but needs must. I’ll get you a blanket and pillow. You can sleep on the settee for tonight and Nelson will keep you company. I’ll make sure the house is locked and bolted. No one will come to any harm tonight. They’ll have me to answer to if they want to come in here and cause any trouble.’

Lenny gave Nelson a wary glance but nodded in agreement.

Ruby pulled a thick woollen blanket from the top of a wardrobe in the spare room as Sarah slipped into bed. ‘Can I get you a hot-water bottle?’

‘I’m fine, thanks, Nan. It’s summer, so I’m not really cold.’

‘I know, love, but in your condition you have to take care,’ Ruby said as she sat down on the end of the bed, the blanket on her lap.

Sarah laughed. ‘What’s happened to all that talk about women being able to work and have a baby as well as keeping the family home in order?’

‘I stand by that, but I can spoil my granddaughter, can’t I? By the way, how does Maureen feel about you staying here? Is she all right on her own?’

‘She’s fine, Nan. It was Maureen who was pumping tea down us when Maisie collapsed at Woolies. She told me to stay and be with Maisie for as long as it takes.’

‘That’s good of her. It’s been a rum old day. Who would have thought Maisie would find out about her Joe like that? Bad enough to hear your husband’s dead, let alone in the middle of a busy shop and from that awful woman Doreen Taylor too.’

‘It was good of you to go and sort her out, Nan, and pick up what belonged to Maisie. When I looked in just now, she had fallen asleep holding her wedding licence. The poor girl’s got a lot to face in the coming days.’

Ruby nodded. ‘She’s strong and she’s got us to help her through it.’

‘Nan, I was wondering . . . Do you think that Joe was caught up in the evacuation at Dunkirk? The bit we heard on the wireless sounded awful. So many men injured and killed. We are definitely losing this war.’

Ruby thought for a while. ‘We won’t lose this war, Sarah. Don’t think it for a moment. It may take months, years even, but we will win. The British have a spirit that no German can break.’

‘You’re right there, Nan.’

‘As for Joe, I don’t think we’ll know for sure, but it may have been a while ago that he died. We know he was on foreign shores, and most likely he was over there, but news takes a while to travel, especially in wartime. Maisie will know more one day, but she may have to face the fact she won’t have a body to bury. It happened in the last war. However sad it is to stand at a graveside, it helps no end when a woman is grieving for her man.’

Sarah fell silent.

‘Are you thinking of your Alan?’

‘Yes. He could have been there, Nan. The man on the wireless said our planes were flying over the Channel trying to protect the ships.’

‘He’ll be fine, love. Have you heard from him lately, since he told you how pleased he was about the baby?’

Sarah burst into heartrending sobs, covering her face with her hands. ‘Oh, Nan, I don’t know what to do.’

Ruby dropped the blanket to the floor and reached over to put her arms around her granddaughter. ‘There, there, love. Whatever is wrong?’ She rocked her in her arms until the tears subsided.

Sarah gulped and rubbed away the tears with the corner of the bed sheet. ‘I haven’t heard from Alan. Not since I wrote about the baby. I just said he’d written and was happy as I didn’t want Maureen to worry. Now, with all this news from Dunkirk, I don’t know what to think.’

‘You silly girl. You shouldn’t have kept this all to yourself,’ Ruby soothed her granddaughter. ‘Why, he’s probably training and working all hours, God knows where, and his letters just haven’t arrived yet. Now, you settle yourself down and try to get some sleep. No more secrets. I think we’ve had enough of them for one day, don’t you?’ Ruby pulled the covers up over her granddaughter’s shoulders and tucked her in. Turning out the light and pulling the door to, she wondered why Alan hadn’t been in touch and prayed he was safe.

Alone in the dark, Sarah’s fears multiplied. How could she tell her nan that she thought that Alan didn’t love her anymore? No one else seemed to notice how much he had changed at Christmas. He’d met new people who came from a different world from his new wife and family. The news of the baby must have been too much. Would she ever hear from him again? Did he still love her?

‘Tuck in, and then you can listen to what I have to say.’ The faces round Ruby’s table looked apprehensive as they watched her dish out portions of porridge from a large saucepan. ‘This’ll stick to your ribs and keep you going until dinnertime.’

Maisie placed a hand over her bowl and removed a cigarette from her mouth with the other hand, blowing smoke away from the pan. She’d been chain-smoking since appearing downstairs still in her dressing gown and unwashed. If she was surprised to see Lenny at the table, she didn’t say so and hardly acknowledged him when Freda made the introductions. ‘Not for me, ta. I’m off out as soon as I’ve got meself ready. I’ll get something then.’

‘But, Maisie, you didn’t eat anything yesterday. Why not take yourself back to bed? I managed to get a nice bit of brisket yesterday, and I’m going to make it into a pie so it’ll stretch a bit further. You’ll be ready for that by dinnertime. They don’t expect you at Woolworths today, so you can take it easy.’

Maisie glared at Ruby. ‘I said I’m going out. I’ve got things to do.’

‘If you want to wait until tomorrow, Maisie, I can come with you if you like? It’s my day off, so we can go wherever you want.’ Sarah tried to pacify her friend. ‘You’ve had an awful shock. Perhaps you should rest a little more today.’

‘I said I’m going out. Why can’t you all just leave me alone?’ Maisie rose to her feet. ‘I’m off to get meself dressed.’

Ruby raised her eyebrows at Sarah. It was better to let the girl alone. She wasn’t herself at the moment. ‘As you please, love. Just remember we’re here if you need us.’

Maisie stubbed out the remains of her cigarette and lit another. She nodded to Ruby and left the room.

‘Right, you lot, stop your gawping and finish your porridge. We’ve got things to do. As soon as we’ve cleared the table, we are going to write down everything you know about this chap Trevor Whiffen.’

‘His name is Tommy Whiffen, Mrs Caselton, but I don’t know what good it’ll do. I’ll be off out of your hair this morning. I shouldn’t have come here in case I was followed.’

‘Trevor, Tommy, it doesn’t matter to me what his name is as long as he pays his dues and you two young ones aren’t in fear of your lives. As for you heading off, Lenny, you can just stay where you are. I have plans for you, young man.’

Freda and Lenny spent an age at the table writing down anything they could think of about Tommy Whiffen and his gang. From time to time Ruby would stop to ask a question. How did Lenny first know of their crimes? Did they force Lenny to do wrong? Did he try to escape their clutches? What really happened on the night of the warehouse robbery?

By the time the midday meal was ready, Ruby had read through every word that Lenny and Freda had written and decided there was nothing more to add. Against his wishes Ruby had even insisted he wrote down why and how he’d escaped from prison and what he’d been doing in the time he’d been on the run. ‘Be as honest as you can, Lenny, and the authorities will do their best to listen to you,’ she advised as she put a plate on top of Sarah’s dinner ready for her to heat over a pan of boiling water when she returned home from work.