The Dover Cafe Under Fire, page 30
They’d walked only a little way when a voice called out behind them. ‘Oy, Edie! Wait up!’
Edie turned to see Susan running towards her. ‘Oh no . . .’ Edie murmured. She’d purposely avoided seeing the girl since New Year – she had enough to deal with without being reminded about the dilemma she had about Charlie and Lily.
‘Hello, Susan,’ she said.
‘And who’s this?’ Susan said archly, looking Bill up and down.
‘This is Bill Penfold. Mr Pearson’s nephew.’
For a moment, Susan looked surprised, but then she smiled prettily. ‘A pilot? I didn’t know you were walking out with anyone, Edie.’
Edie glanced at Bill and blushed. ‘I’m not. It is possible to walk down the road with a man who’s not your boyfriend, you know.’
Susan laughed. ‘Maybe it is. But it’s much more fun if they are. Anyway, I’m glad I’ve caught you. I wanted to ask you if you’d come to Bert’s football match with me.’
At Edie’s blank look, she elaborated. ‘Didn’t you know? He’s arranged some match between the army and navy up in the field by the castle next week. Please say you’ll come. Oh, I do love seeing men running around in shorts.’ She giggled and Edie resisted the impulse to roll her eyes.
‘What happened to Charlie?’
Susan waved her hand dismissively. ‘Charlie who? I don’t know why I wasted so many tears on the man. Bert’s much better-looking and he’s funnier. Just think, we could be sisters one day!’
Edie’s eyes widened. ‘It’s a bit soon to think like that, isn’t it?’
‘It only takes a minute to fall in love. And this time I really think he loves me back. In fact, I’m off to see if he’s free now.’
‘What, you hang around the barracks?’
‘Of course not, silly. The boys in the sentry box let me sit with them and give me tea. Aren’t soldiers just lovely? So I’ll see you next week? Please say you’ll come.’
‘All right,’ Edie said, although she had no intention of going.
‘Blimey,’ Bill remarked. ‘She seems like the type that once she gets her teeth into you, she never lets go.’
Edie giggled, watching Susan skip down the road, her red coat bright against the muted colours of the other passers-by. ‘I know, terrible, isn’t it? Poor Bert.’ But Bill’s comment reminded her of what Charlie had said about how Susan had followed him around and pestered him. Maybe he’d been telling the truth . . . And if he had, then as long as Lily never found out, it looked like one of her problems at least was over. It had been a stroke of genius to get Bert to seduce Susan away. Edie grinned to herself. She’d buy him a pint next time she saw him.
At that moment she noticed a car stop on Cannon Street and Susan walk over to it, bending to look in at the driver.
Edie frowned. ‘You see that car next to Susan?’
Bill looked over. ‘The black Ford Coupe? What about it?’
Edie shook her head, she was being stupid. There were a lot of Fords around after all, but in her mind’s eye, she pictured another black Ford Coupe, looking insignificant next to the shiny Bentley beside it. ‘Nothing,’ she said. But something was niggling at the back of her mind about Susan, but for the life of her she couldn’t work out what it was.
*
‘You wouldn’t mind if I took a quick break, Mum?’ Marianne asked later that morning after the breakfast rush had died down.
Nellie poked her head through the hatch. ‘You all right, love? You look a bit peaky. You’re not about to faint again, are you?’
‘I’m fine, just a bit tired,’ Marianne replied. Though in truth, with things quieter in the kitchen, her thoughts had turned once again to what might happen tomorrow and the anxiety was making her feel shaky.
‘Go on, then. We can manage.’
In the bedroom, she crouched down by the wardrobe and took out one of the bottles Edie had tried to hide. With so much to worry about, she hadn’t been able to resist trying some of the medicine the day before, and she’d found it had soothed her stomach beautifully. Gladys had always been clever with herbs and plants. She opened the stopper and took a gulp, then sat back and closed her eyes. After a moment, she took another large mouthful, feeling her heartbeat quieten. She knew it was bad, stealing Edie’s liquid, but if it kept this feeling of impending doom at bay, she was willing to risk her sister’s wrath.
She stoppered the bottle and put it back where she’d found it, then lay on the bed, rubbing her hand over her stomach. ‘Don’t worry, Daisy, one day you, me, Daddy and Donny will be living in our own little house and it will be the most perfect life you can imagine.’ She closed her eyes and pictured herself walking along a sun-drenched beach, Donny racing in and out of the water, while a sweet fair-haired little girl squealed with delight as she and Alfie swung her between them.
Chapter 55
The next day, though, Marianne’s anxiety was back a hundred-fold. Today was Mr Fanshawe’s funeral and she was on tenterhooks in case one of the family turned up at the café to find out why she hadn’t attended the will reading.
The atmosphere at home didn’t help, either. The evening before had been strange and tense, with her mother and Edie both staying in their rooms. And when Hester had gone to ask Nellie if she would like a cup of tea, she’d had her head bitten off.
Lily and Marianne had exchanged a glance but knew better than to disturb their mother when she was in one of her moods. Marianne had noticed a cooling in her mother’s attitude towards Hester throughout the day, though she couldn’t work out why. Especially as Hester had made a special effort to bring Jasper over for breakfast.
‘Don’t worry, Hester,’ Donny had said. ‘Gran gets like that sometimes. It’ll blow over.’
Hester had chuckled and ruffled his hair. ‘Oh, I don’t mind, Don. I get like that too sometimes. Long as you an’ me are still mates?’
‘Course we are. Can we go out again soon?’
‘I was thinking we should explore Crabble next,’ Hester replied. ‘It’s been ages since I been there.’
‘Oh, there’s lots to see up there. How about tomorrow?’
‘Let’s make it the day after, eh?’
Donny had nodded happily, returning to his schoolwork.
Now, with the lunchtime service over and the kitchen cleaned, Marianne felt too anxious to relax, so she distracted herself by making some bread and butter pudding for the next day. Considering her mother’s failed attempt to get more supplies, she could only use a sliver of margarine, making up the difference with a little lard and some water and using golden syrup instead of sugar, then she added plenty of nutmeg. After that, she made some dumplings with potato, eggs and cheese to help the left-over rabbit stew from lunch stretch a little bit further for the family’s dinner that night.
She glanced at the clock. Three thirty. All day she had been picturing what might be happening up at The Gables, the Fanshawes’ Victorian mansion. The funeral would be over now, she realised. No doubt it had been a fancy affair with lots of mourners from the village and a mahogany coffin with brass handles. Nothing like the funeral of those poor people in Coventry just a couple of months before, who had been buried in two mass graves. At the time her mother had complained that if things went on as they had been, the entire population of Dover would end up buried together in a field somewhere.
With the dumplings in the oven she rubbed her back and slumped down at the small kitchen table.
‘You all right, love?’ Hester asked, coming in with another tray of dirty cups and saucers.
‘Back ache,’ she said. ‘It’s been on and off all day.’
Hester eyed her with concern. ‘You want me to get you some aspirin?’ she asked.
‘We’ve run out.’
Hester dumped the tray in the pantry then put her coat on. ‘I’ll nip out and get some, love. Can’t have you in pain.’
‘You don’t have to . . .’
‘It’s no bother. I need a bit of air, and I’ve got some letters to post.’
‘What you need is some camomile and ginger tea,’ Gladys remarked from the pantry. ‘I can make you some if you like.’
‘Aspirin will be fine. By the way, Glad, that stuff you gave Edie for her nightmares and anxiety, what’s in it? I’ve been taking a few nips of it myself, and it really does help settle my stomach.’
Gladys looked confused. ‘But I never—’
She was interrupted by Hester exclaiming, ‘You shouldn’t drink anything if you don’t know what’s in it! Not in your condition.’
‘But it’s only a few herbs and things,’ Marianne said.
‘It don’t matter. You mustn’t drink it.’
‘Drink what?’ Nellie asked from the hatch.
‘Glad was just recommending ginger and camomile tea for Marianne’s backache. But I reckon aspirin’ll do the job quicker, so I’m popping out to get some. But I mean it, love,’ she said to Marianne. ‘Only take stuff if you know what it is.’ Then she hurried out of the door.
‘Hester’s right. Camomile and ginger indeed. I’ve told you before not to bring your potions here, Glad. And where’s Edie?’
Marianne shrugged. ‘Out. Think she’s gone up to the forge to visit Bill.’
‘Again! She’s only just got rid of that Greg bloke, and now she’s running around with another man.’ She shook her head. ‘That girl’ll get herself into trouble if she’s not careful.’
‘Leave her alone, Mum,’ Marianne said. ‘They’re trying to sort out poor Mr Pearson.’
Nellie sniffed, feeling aggrieved. If she’d been the one arrested, would Edie have lifted a finger to get her released? she wondered. Somehow, she doubted it.
*
Hester had got no further than the corner of Church Street when a long black car stopped beside her and a young man with thick, black-rimmed spectacles and wearing a homburg and smart blue overcoat stepped out. Briefly she thought he didn’t look old enough to be wearing those clothes. But when he spoke, she realised that he was a lot older than he looked.
‘Hester Erskine?’ he asked in a broad Liverpudlian accent.
Hester eyed him warily. ‘Who’s asking?’
‘Would you come with me, please?’ He grasped her arm and before she could protest, bundled her into the car. She didn’t even have time to catch her breath before the man had shut the door and they were speeding through the streets of Dover.
‘Oy!’ she said. ‘You can’t just shove me in a car and drive off!’
‘Actually, I can,’ the man replied. He reached into his inside pocket and brought out an ID card. ‘Peter Holmes, MI5.’ She stared back at him blankly, so he elaborated. ‘Counter-espionage.’
Hester’s stomach flipped. ‘What’s that even mean?’
‘It means that I investigate people who we think are betraying the country. And from the information we’ve gathered about you, it seems you are one of them.’
Hester’s lips trembled as the reality of her situation hit home. ‘I never hurt anyone,’ she whispered.
‘Maybe not personally, but your actions have caused severe damage. And that little trick at the Hippodrome could have resulted in multiple casualties. As could the railway.’
‘No! No, those things had nothin’ to do with me. I mean, I only mentioned a couple of things to someone. I didn’t know that would happen.’
‘In which case, you need to tell us who it was. And if you cooperate, you might get a more lenient sentence. Because as it stands you could be facing a firing squad.’
Hester paled. ‘You can’t be serious?’
The young man smiled grimly. ‘I don’t joke about things like that. So, we’re going to take you to Dover Police Station, where you’ll be able to tell me all about it.’
Hester stared blindly out of the window, thinking about the last couple of weeks. She’d known they were using her, but it had suited her to go along with their plans. What did she have to lose, after all? And if she could inflict some damage on the people who had caused the death of her son, then so much the better. She leant her head on the cool glass, feeling the tears gather; she’d made some stupid decisions in her life, she thought, but listening to those people took the biscuit. Well, if this man wanted information, she’d give it to him. She owed them nothing.
Chapter 56
Despite Hester’s dire warning, Marianne was considering sneaking up to the bedroom for another sip of the medicine, when Nellie’s voice drifted through to the kitchen.
‘What the bloody hell are you doing here?’
Then a voice Marianne remembered all too well replied, ‘And a very good afternoon to you too, Mrs Castle.’
With a feeling of dread, Marianne slowly went to the kitchen door, watching with her heart in her mouth as Elspeth Fanshawe, as beautiful as ever, her blonde hair swept into a bun under a fur hat, her lips bright red, sauntered towards an empty table by the window, unbuttoning her fur coat to reveal a full-skirted black satin dress. ‘I’d like a cup of tea and one of those delicious-looking scones, please?’ she said to Gladys, who’d rushed to the table to serve her.
‘I don’t think so,’ Nellie said, folding her arms.
A silence descended on the room as the customers looked between Nellie and the glamorous stranger in bewilderment.
‘Are you refusing to serve me?’
‘Yes. And now I’d like you to leave.’ Nellie went and opened the door, but Elspeth ignored her as she slowly drew off her black satin gloves, one finger at a time, seemingly unconcerned; Marianne doubted that anything ever scared her.
The back door opened and she turned to see Edie walk in, her nose and cheeks bright red from the cold. ‘Get out!’ Marianne hissed.
Edie frowned in confusion. But then Elspeth’s voice floated into the kitchen, and with a gasp, Edie turned around and left, running full tilt back up to the forge where she’d just left Bill and Jasper playing cards.
Marianne took a deep breath and went to stand behind the counter. ‘Mrs Fanshawe, I’m sorry that I—’ she began, but the other woman held up a hand.
‘Leave it.’ She took a black handkerchief from her bag and dabbed at her eyes. ‘I shouldn’t have been surprised that someone like you would totally disregard a sick old man’s dying wish, but I had hoped you would at least allow his grandson to attend his funeral.’
Nellie looked round sharply at Marianne. ‘What’s she talking about?’ she snapped.
‘Didn’t she tell you? It was dear Mr Fanshawe’s funeral today. All the family was there. Apart from his much-adored grandson.’
Nellie shot one of her terrifying ‘I’ll-deal-with-you-later’ looks at Marianne and was about to shut the front door in defeat, when it was pushed open by Lou Carter who stopped short at the sight of the elegant woman sitting at her table.
‘Usual, Lou?’ Nellie asked.
‘If you don’t mind, love.’ She nodded in Elspeth’s direction and mouthed, ‘Who’s that?’ But Nellie just shook her head.
Gradually, the hum of conversation resumed as Nellie, realising that short of manhandling the woman out of the door, there wasn’t much more she could do, went back to stand behind the counter.
In the kitchen, Marianne couldn’t concentrate on anything, it felt as if Elspeth’s steely gaze was on her all the time, even though she knew that wasn’t possible. She just hoped Donny didn’t arrive home while she was here.
Finally, unable to leave someone sitting at a table without even a drink, Gladys went over to Elspeth again.
‘I said no, Glad. She’s not staying.’
There was a brief hush as once again people’s eyes were drawn to the stranger, who smiled around at them sweetly.
‘She’s right, you know. I’m not staying. I just wanted to warn you about the sort of place you’re frequenting.’
From her bag she took out a copy of the Dover Express. ‘This evening’s copy,’ she said. ‘Hot off the press and not yet available. So useful when your family owns the newspaper, don’t you think?’
Now she had the room’s attention, she smiled again. ‘Would you like me to read the highlights?’
Bemused, Gladys went to stand next to Marianne in the kitchen doorway, while Nellie stood stock-still by the counter, a feeling of dread washing over her. She glanced over to the table where Ron Hames usually sat, but he was absent today.
Elspeth sauntered towards Nellie, then turned to face the room, leaning against the counter casually. Then she cleared her throat.
‘The headline, ladies and gentlemen.’ She held it up and there was a collective gasp.
‘“Café gossips put Dover in danger”,’ Elspeth read in her cut-glass accent. She looked around, one eyebrow raised. ‘I’m guessing he means this café. Shall we find out?’ She shook out the paper and started to read.
‘“Castle’s Café sits on the corner of Market Square and Castle Street. With its mock-Tudor frontage, it is a Dover landmark and has served food to the townspeople for over one hundred and fifty years. If any of you have read Great Expectations by the late, great Charles Dickens, an habitué of Dover . . .”’ Elspeth paused and looked up. ‘That means he came here a lot, in case anyone was wondering. “. . . then you may remember that Pip collapsed on the steps of this very building.” Gosh, how interesting, I never knew that.’ Elspeth smiled condescendingly.
Nellie finally found the power to move again and tried to grab the paper from the woman’s hands. But Elspeth held it away from her. ‘Patience, Mrs Castle, I’ll get to the good bit very soon.’
Nellie glanced around at the customers, all of whom were sitting staring at Elspeth, their eyes wide. She desperately wanted to leave, but she couldn’t; whatever Ron Hames had written, it clearly wasn’t good, so she needed to stay. She turned to look at Marianne whose face was paper white, while Gladys stood with a protective arm around her shoulders. She wished with all her heart that Jasper was here right now; he was probably the only person in the world who might be able to avert the trouble she could sense was about to engulf the café.
As if in answer to her prayers, the back door crashed open and Jasper walked in, Edie and Bill each holding an arm. He stopped in the kitchen doorway and grinned round at everyone.
