Many a Tear Has to Fall, page 28
She thought of Josh and the conversations they’d had, especially the one at Lenny and Dorothy’s party. If, after he’d called her at the cottage and she’d told him about the wedding invitation, Tommy had confessed to her in a letter, might she have seen it as a test of her love for Tim and forgiven him? What a difference it would have made if he had plucked up his courage. They could have gone to the wedding together and played happy families. Obviously Tommy had not trusted her enough to put their relationship to the test.
She wiped her floury hands on a cloth and hurried into the front room. She gave the number and a voice came over the crackling line.
‘Maggie, is that you?’
Recognizing the voice, she was in two minds whether to pretend she was someone else, but that probably would not work. ‘Yes, it’s me, Norm. What d’you want?’
‘What are you doing up there?’ he asked. ‘I thought you’d be here. When Emma told me you were at the cottage, I was disappointed.’
‘I have a living to earn.’
‘If you married me, you wouldn’t have to earn a living,’ he said. ‘I’ll come up to Whalley tomorrow and I’ll have a ring with me.’
‘Marry you!’ She was not only astonished but furious. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Anything we had is long dead.’
‘Don’t be like that, Maggie. Give me a second chance. Everyone is entitled to a second chance.’
‘So I’ve heard. But I don’t think it applies in this instance. If you come up here, I’ll be tempted to push you in the river, so be warned,’ she snapped, and slammed the phone down.
She could feel herself trembling and, in an attempt to calm herself, she went into the garden and wandered slowly from shrub to shrub, breathing deeply of the early roses before returning to her pastry-making. Norm’s words, ‘Everyone is entitled to a second chance,’ echoed in her mind. Perhaps it was time to reply to the letter and have a couple of days away from the cottage. There were a few people she wanted to see. And if Norm was to have a wasted journey tomorrow, he only had himself to blame.
Pete had been listening to his twin’s side of the phone call. ‘I think you’re an idiot. You’re wasting your time. Maggie’s not going to give you a second chance and I don’t blame her.’
Norm thrust out his bottom lip. ‘Why d’you have to say that?’
‘Use your brain. You treated her lousy and you’ve lost your chance with her.’
Norm grunted moodily, taking out his cigarette case and lighter. ‘She agreed to go out with me in London. Once she sees the ring, she’ll change her mind.’ He lit a cigarette.
‘I wouldn’t bank on it. Besides, you’re not the only fish in the sea.’
Norm stared at his twin through a veil of cigarette smoke. ‘You don’t mean that bloke who made up to her on the train?’
‘Peggy’s brother. He’s written to her and, according to Marty, she was impressed with what he had to say.’
‘You’re not going to tell me he’ll be out of prison soon and is trying to get her back?’ asked Norm in astonishment.
‘Not yet, but …’ Pete let the words hang.
‘That’s OK then.’ Norm visibly relaxed.
‘I wouldn’t be so sure.’
‘Why, what’s he got to offer her?’
‘More than you think. Anyway, there’s Josh as well.’
Norm almost burnt himself on his cigarette. ‘Who the hell is Josh?’
‘Lenny’s nephew; he’s taken over the coffee bar. He’s a great chef.’
Norm scowled. ‘Is he good looking?’
‘Why don’t you go and see for yourself? I’ve got things to do.’
Norm decided that he just might do that, and wasted no time heading for the city centre. He strolled leisurely along Renshaw Street, pausing to gaze at the motorbikes on sale, then continued up to Leece Street, thinking of Maggie and what he could do to persuade her that they could still make a go of things. Seeing his twin settled and with a baby had roused longings inside him. He wanted to have someone to come home to and his own place by the time he next set sail.
The first thing he noticed on reaching the coffee bar was that the name was just the same. Could be that this Josh bloke had not made up his mind to definitely stay on here? He pushed open the door and went inside. His ears were immediately blasted by the noise from the jukebox.
He looked round and spotted an empty table and headed over to it. Only when he sat down and a waitress approached him with a smile and addressed him as Pete did it occur to him that he could so easily be mistaken for his twin.
‘I’m not Pete, love,’ he said, thinking she had a nice smile.
‘Oh! Then you must be Norman.’
‘That’s right.’
‘I’m Lucia,’ she said, stretching out a hand. ‘We’ve met before at my Aunt Nellie’s in Litherland.’
Norm just about remembered her, but she had been much younger the last time he had seen her, and chubby with it. Now she had slimmed down and had a shapely figure and appeared grown up. How old was she? He reckoned about eighteen. ‘Pleased to see you again,’ he said.
‘Same here.’ She beamed at him. ‘I can’t get over how like Pete you are. Anyway, what can I get you?’
‘My brother was telling me the new owner is something of a chef.’
Lucia nodded vigorously. ‘He’s fab. He does a mean Welsh Rarebit and a lip-smacking steak and kidney pie with chips and peas. If you’ve a sweet tooth, we have some really nice cakes, as well as his homemade custard tarts, and treacle pudding with custard, and Rosie’s trifle.’
‘Sounds the gear. I’ll have a coffee and the steak and kidney pie, and if I’m still hungry, I’ll decide on afters then,’ Norm said.
She went away with his order and he took from his inside pocket the newspaper he had bought outside Central Station. He wondered what excuse he could make to get a look inside the kitchen, so he could get a butcher’s at the chef.
Norm need not have worried, because when he had eaten every delicious morsel of the steak and kidney pie, Josh left the kitchen and came over to his table to ask whether he had enjoyed his meal.
‘I cannot tell a lie,’ said Norm, giving Josh a swift perusal and decided that the competition might be more serious than he had thought. ‘It was the best steak and kidney pie I’ve ever tasted. Almost as good as my fiancée, Maggie Gregory, makes.’
Josh’s smile faded. ‘Your fiancée?’
‘That’s right. I’ve just got back from sea and we’ll be tying the knot as soon as possible.’
‘I don’t get it. She told me a while ago that she had finished with you.’
For a moment Norman was dumbfounded, and then he found his voice. ‘All couples have their disagreements. We’re back together again now.’
Josh did not know whether to believe him or not, but could hardly call him a liar. He’d need to speak to Maggie, but that would mean admitting that her answer really mattered to him. And there was that other bloody bloke who had messed her about to take into consideration as well.
‘Anyway, I’d like a pudding. Something light,’ said Norman.
Josh pulled himself together. ‘Trifle?’
Norm nodded.
Josh signalled Lucia and told her to bring a portion of trifle to Mr Marshall and then vanished into the kitchen.
Norm gazed about him and noticed a girl sitting at a table over by the window. She looked stunning, dressed as she was in a bright green top and yellow slacks. He thought she looked vaguely familiar.’
‘That’s Monica,’ said Lucia, placing a bowl of trifle on the table in front of Norm. ‘She sings with Tony Gianelli’s group. No doubt you’ll have heard of them?’
Norm nodded and turned his attention to the girl in the green top and yellow slacks once more. She was gazing out of the window, so there was little chance of attracting her notice. He went back to reading his newspaper while eating his trifle.
A moment later a man entered and went straight over to the table where Monica was seated. Her face lit up. Norm felt disappointed as he watched the man sit down opposite her and they began to talk. After a while they stood up and, with a wave of the hand in Lucia’s direction, Monica and the man left.
Norm decided to forgo coffee and, picking up the bill, took it and the money to the counter. ‘You can keep the change, love,’ he said.
‘Thanks,’ said Lucia. ‘It looks like Monica might be getting an agent at last.’
‘Agent?’
‘Yes, she’s hoping when he hears her sing this evening, he’ll want to get her signed up for a recording contract.’ Lucia smiled into his eyes. ‘Wouldn’t you just love to go to the Cavern and hear the group play? I’ve heard them practise at my Aunt Nellie’s house. They’re really good.’
Norm nodded slowly. ‘I wouldn’t mind hearing them.’
‘I’ve a couple of tickets,’ said Lucia.
Norm smiled. ‘You’re suggesting I come with you?’
She shook her head. ‘No, I’m suggested you might like to buy one from me. We’re always short of money in our house. What with all the kids, and Mam being pregnant again. I wish Dad would tie a knot in it.’
Norm could not help admiring her nerve. He laughed and took out his wallet. ‘How much?’
‘Two quid.’
He gave a low whistle but handed over two crisp pound notes. ‘I can see you being rich one day.’
Lucia smiled. ‘That’s my plan.’ And she hurried into the kitchen, singing.
‘Will you stop that noise?’ said Josh, frowning.
She stared at him. ‘Sorry, but I’m feeling happy. I just wish I had a date, but all the lads who come in here are too young.’
‘I would have thought they were about the right age for you.’
She shook her head. ‘I prefer someone more mature.’
‘Has he gone?’
‘D’you mean Pete’s twin or the agent? Because they both have,’ said Lucia. ‘They’re going to the Cavern. I wish I had someone to go to the Cavern with, but I only have one ticket and I never feel safe in town on my own, so I think I’ll go to the local picture house instead. After all, I can hear Monica and the group practising at Aunt Nellie’s anytime.’ She stared at him. ‘You look like you could do with cheering up. Why don’t you buy my ticket for the Cavern?’
Josh hesitated and decided he didn’t have anything better to do. ‘All right! How much d’you want for it?’
She told him. ‘It’ll help put food on the family table.’ She held out her hand. He raised an eyebrow, but did not argue with her, and handed over the money.
She pocketed the two pounds, thinking that if only he looked at her in the way he looked at Maggie Gregory, she would have given it to him for half price.
Maggie arrived in Lime Street in the late afternoon and immediately went to catch a bus to Litherland. As the bus went along Stanley Road, she was remembering how, after her father had died, she and her mother used to regularly make this journey after one of their shopping sprees in Liverpool on a Saturday. She gnawed on her lip, thinking of her dad and the warmth and kindness and honesty he had shown to so many people, although that generosity of spirit had blinded him to their faults sometimes.
Nellie was in the kitchen, about to dish out the family’s evening meal of spaghetti Bolognese, when Maggie arrived at The Chestnuts in Litherland Park. Getting no answer at the front door, she had gone round the back and knocked there.
‘I’m not stopping,’ said Maggie. ‘I just wanted to ask you to do me a favour and give this letter for Tommy McGrath to your brother to deliver for me. I don’t have either of their addresses.’
‘Of course,’ said Nellie, taking the envelope and placing it in the pocket of her pinny.
‘I also wanted to ask if Monica is still staying with you?’
‘At the moment she’s in town, having gone in early to meet someone. The group is playing at the Cavern this evening.’
Maggie remembered the last time she had been at the Cavern. It had been with Tommy; the place had been smoky and crowded but the music had been good. She made up her mind to go into town and see if she could get in to hear Monica sing. There were bound to be people there she would know, but she had better give her sister a ring and tell her she was going to be late.
It was a fine evening and Josh was enjoying the walk across the city centre. It did not take him long, for he was in a hurry, having left the coffee bar later than planned. He had only just turned into Mathew Street when he felt a blow on the back of the head and his legs gave way beneath him.
If it had not been for a group of young people on the way to the Cavern, then his assailant might have managed to get in a second blow. As it was, he barely managed to escape before they arrived at the spot where Josh was slumped on the ground.
‘Did you see that bloke?’ cried one of the girls. ‘Go after him, you two!’ she told the two youths accompanying them. ‘See if you can catch him.’
‘He might have a knife,’ said one of them.
‘It wasn’t a knife he used but what looked like a cosh,’ said one of the other girls. ‘Don’t be such cowards. Just follow him and see where he goes if you don’t want to get too close to him.’
The youths stalled no longer but took off after the man, while the girls bent over the figure lying face down on the ground. ‘His head’s bleeding,’ said the one who had taken command.
‘Poor bloke. I suppose we should find a phone and dial 999,’ said her friend.
One of the girls gently shook Josh’s shoulder. ‘Are you OK, luv?’ she asked.
‘Are you daft? He can’t hear you. He’s unconscious,’ said the first girl.
‘What’s happened here?’ asked a voice behind them.
One of the girls glanced up at the stylishly dressed woman. ‘Someone hit him on the head and then ran off. I’ll go to the Cavern and tell them what’s happened and ask them to dial 999,’ she added.
‘Well, go on then!’ cried her mate. ‘And be quick about it. We don’t want him dying on us.’
‘All right, keep yer hair on,’ she said, and click-clacked off in her high heels.
‘D’you think we should turn his head sideways to make sure he can breathe?’ said one of the girls.
‘Do it gently,’ said the newcomer, taking the place of the girl who had gone off to the Cavern.
Maggie gazed down at Josh’s profile. Her heart seemed to slam against her ribs so that, for a moment, she felt as if she could not breathe. Then she pulled herself together. ‘We should put something under his head,’ she said, taking off her jacket.
She folded it and knelt on the ground while two of the girls lifted Josh’s head, so she could slip the jacket beneath it. As his head was gently lowered on to the jacket, he groaned.
‘That’s a relief! He’s coming round,’ said one of the girls.
Josh’s eyelids slowly opened and he gazed, bleary-eyed, up at them. Then his eyelids drooped again.
‘Hey, none of that,’ said Maggie, a tremor in her voice. ‘You have to stay awake. Tell me your name?’
‘Maggie?’ he muttered.
‘OK, thank goodness you recognize me. Now open your eyes. I want to see what colour they are.’
‘Yours are blue,’ whispered Josh.
‘That’s right,’ said Maggie, relieved.
His brow knitted and he winced. ‘What am I doing lying on the ground?’
‘Some bloke coshed you and then ran off when he saw us coming,’ said one of the girls. ‘A couple of the lads have gone after him.’
Josh attempted to sit up.
Maggie placed her hands on his shoulders and forced him down. ‘Now listen to me and do as you’re told, lie down and keep still. You’re best staying where you are until the ambulance arrives.’
‘Ambulance! Bloody hell, Maggie, I don’t want an ambulance.’
‘Don’t be daft, Josh! You can’t ignore being knocked unconscious.’
‘I’ve done it!’ A girl’s voice interrupted them. ‘An ambulance and a bobby are on the way. The bobby will probably get here first.’
She was right.
Within minutes a policeman who had been in the vicinity arrived on the scene, and the girls wasted no time telling him what they had seen. The two youths returned just as the ringing of the ambulance bell was heard, and said that they had lost the attacker but this had dropped out of his pocket. It appeared to be a blunt instrument made of wood and, apparently having remembered all the crime films they had ever seen, they had picked it up with a handkerchief in case there were fingerprints on it.
The ambulance drew up at the end of the alley. The policeman managed to exchange a few words with Josh, who protested about being taken to the Royal Infirmary, saying he had baking to do and the coffee bar to open in the morning.
‘Don’t be worrying about that, Josh,’ said Maggie, gazing down into his drawn face, aware that the girls were listening to every word that was said. ‘If you give me your keys, I’ll see to everything.’
‘You know each other?’ said the constable.
‘Yes,’ said Maggie softly. ‘But we didn’t know we were both going to be here this evening. Perhaps if we had come together, this wouldn’t have happened. Do you think this was an isolated incident, constable? Or have there been other attacks on people in this vicinity? Because it’s possible I might know who did this.’
The constable said, ‘None that I’m aware of, miss. Maybe you should tell me who you suspect?’
She told him what had happened at the coffee bar just over a fortnight ago.
He nodded thoughtfully. ‘If it is him, we’ll catch him, don’t you worry. Now, if I can just take your details and then leave the gentleman with you until the ambulance arrives, I’d be grateful.’
She nodded. ‘I’d best give you both our names and addresses.’
Josh opened his eyes and dug into an inside pocket; he produced a key ring with a number of keys on it and handed them to her. ‘Thanks, Maggie. But there’s things you need to know in case I’m not back by morning.’
