‘Delicate, eh?’ Pauline was even more curious now. ‘If you’d rather, we can go in the back room?’ Then she made an offer Kathleen could not refuse. ‘It’ll take me just two minutes to put the kettle on, then we can talk over a nice cuppa tea. What d’you say to that, eh?’
After the walk from the
Boulevard, Kathleen’s legs were aching, and she was that thirsty, her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth. ‘Oh, go on then!’ Besides, it might be a good thing to discuss such things with a woman, she decided.
‘Keep an eye on things, would you, Jack?’ Addressing one of the men in the group, Pauline waved a dishcloth at him. ‘While you’re at it, you can run this over the bar.’
‘Oh aye?’
He was a kindly shrimp of a man, but when he spoke his voice was so thick and deep it seemed to rattle the walls. ‘You can think again, lady!’ he declared, shaking his head. ‘I don’t use a dishcloth at home, and I’m not about to start now; I’ve got a wife for that kinda stuff. But I’ll watch the bar, though I’ll need paying, mind. So, what are you offering?’
‘Half a pint?’ Pauline bargained.
‘A couple … one now and another afore I leave?’
‘One now, and that’s an end to it.’
‘You’re a hard taskmaster.’
‘That’s why I’m in business and you’re not.’
‘Cheeky bugger.’ He was smiling though, and totally unfazed by her comment. ‘A pint, a quick cuddle, an’ the boss will never know.’
‘Hey! I’m the boss and don’t you forget it!’
While Kathleen laughed at their playful banter, Pauline pulled
the man a pint and put it on the bar before him. ‘Paid in full,’ she declared.
‘All right, if you say so. Go on then. Clear off and see to that lovely lady, and don’t worry, I won’t raid the booze while you’re gone.’
Kathleen followed Pauline into the back, pleasantly surprised at the cosy room, with its pretty floral curtains and thick handsome rugs. The furniture was old wood and leather,
and when Katheen sat in the armchair, she thought how wonderfully comfortable it was.
‘I’m sorry to bother you,’ she said as Pauline busied herself in the adjoining kitchen, making tea and such, ‘only I had to come and talk to someone, because I’m worried about a certain situation with regards to Judy Saunders – Roberts as was.’ She might have explained further, but Pauline came rushing in from
the kitchen, a look of horror on her face.
‘Judy!’ Putting a cup of tea and a saucer of biscuits on the arm of Kathleen’s chair, she threw herself into the chair opposite. ‘What’s happened? Where is she? What the devil has he been up to now? I’ve told her … time and again I’ve warned her – get away from him!’
Kathleen could not get a word in.
‘I told her!’ Pauline fumed and fretted. ‘“One of
these days he’ll hurt you real bad”, but will she listen? No! She’s too afraid to stand up to him, that’s the trouble.’
Believing Judy to be lying somewhere badly hurt, she was panic-stricken.
‘She’s not in any trouble,’ Kathleen calmed her. ‘At least, not so far as I know.’
Pauline almost collapsed with relief. ‘Ooh, thank God for that! You had me going there,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry, but I’ve
been so worried about her of late, I never know what to think.’
Kathleen persuaded her, ‘If you get yourself a cup of your own tea and calm down, I’ll tell you why I’m here.’
Pauline was in and out of the kitchen in minutes, talking as she went, asking questions. ‘So, who are you, and why are you here?’ she asked, seating herself opposite.
Firstly, Kathleen introduced herself. ‘It isn’t altogether
to do with Judy,’ she explained, ‘although she is at the root of it all.’ She needed to know. ‘Tell me, do you know anything of Judy’s past?’
‘A bit.’ Pauline was intrigued. ‘She does tend to keep things to herself though. Why do you ask?’
‘Has she ever told you about her first love?’
‘Harry Blake,’ Pauline said immediately. ‘Once she starts on him, you can’t stop her. Her first love was Harry
Blake. She thinks of him all the time. When it’s just the two of us together, she hardly ever talks about anything else.’
‘Do you know what happened between them?’ Kathleen asked.
Pauline paused to consider the question. ‘Well, she told me that Harry went away when they were young – said that it was all her fault, and that she never saw him again. She didn’t explain what had happened, or why
he went away.’
She gazed down at the floor. ‘I know she cries a lot when she talks about him.’
Kathleen knew she must be careful what she revealed. After all, this woman was a stranger to her. How could she be sure she was trustworthy?
‘You said it was not altogether to do with Judy,’ Pauline reminded her, ‘but that you needed help. What exactly did you mean by that?’
Kathleen answered a question
with a question. ‘First of all, I need to know that I can trust you to keep what I have to say to yourself.’
‘You have my word. Judy is a very dear friend. Me and Alan, my husband, we look out for her. She is very gentle in her ways, very hard on herself at times, while Phil gets …’
She cautioned herself. Like Kathleen, she was not sure of her ground with this stranger, however homely she might
appear. ‘Well, he can be difficult, put it like that.’
Growing more confident, Kathleen told her the whole story of the ongoing rivalry between Harry and Phil Saunders. ‘When they were younger, they each wanted Judy, but it was Harry she fell in love with … Harry she wanted. Phil was bitter about it; dangerously jealous. Then Harry went away – he joined up – and soon after that, so did Judy and
her family. For a long time I heard nothing from either of them. Then Harry rang me from out of the blue. To cut a long story short, he suffered a terrible tragedy and I took him in, along with his young son, Tom.’
Pauline could tell that Kathleen had a kind manner. ‘That was a lovely thing to do,’ she said.
‘It was as much for me as for them,’ she confessed. ‘Harry was always like family to
me. Now though, he’s heard that Judy is married, and he also knows that Phil Saunders is as crazy as ever, fighting in the streets, causing trouble and getting himself arrested.
There are also rumours that he served time for assault.’ She had learned as much from listening to gossip, though was wise enough not to convey it to Harry.
Pauline anticipated what was coming. ‘So, now that Harry’s back,
and he knows that Judy is married to Phil Saunders, he’s worried, is that it?’ From what Judy had told her of Harry, Pauline was not surprised. ‘Has he seen either of them?’ she asked. ‘Has he contacted them?’
Kathleen sighed. ‘Judy went to the place where Harry works. They saw each other fleetingly, though as yet they haven’t spoken. When Judy realised he had recognised her, she ran away. Saunders
was there too. It was a difficult situation. When Judy ran away, I suspect it was because she was afraid that Saunders might see Harry and make something out of nothing. She seemed really frightened.’
‘So what did Harry do?’
‘Saunders went after Harry – accused him and Judy of having an affair. Harry saw him off, then Saunders took Judy away and now Harry suspects he’s taking it out on her.
He means to find out where they live and now he’s got a lead from one of the girls at the store. She says she saw Phil Saunders drunk and violent, accosting people in the street outside this very pub.’
Pauline remembered. ‘Yes, that’s right. It must have been the night he was arrested,’ she said. ‘This stranger called in for a pint; he made a play for Judy and Phil was already drunk out of his
mind. Alan had already stopped serving him – he offered to take him home, but Phil was having none of it. He stormed down the street after the man, and was beating the hell out of him when Alan caught up. Someone called the police. When they arrived he started beating them up too! Crazy, he was. Out of his mind.’
She looked downcast. ‘I really don’t know how Judy puts up with him. I’ve a sneaking
suspicion that he hits her, but she denies it. Sometimes, when I know he’s in one of his dark moods, I make every excuse to keep Judy here. But she always goes back to him – says it’s not right that she should put on me. For heaven’s sake, she’s got no one else. I would do anything for that girl.’
Containing her anger, she told Kathleen, ‘I tell you here and now, Harry is not the only one desperately
worried about Judy.’
Satisfied that they were all on the same side, Kathleen informed her, ‘I’m here to ask something of you. Harry knows the whereabouts of this pub. He would have been here now, but I managed to bamboozle him into thinking I had an urgent errand.’
‘So, what does he intend to do?’
‘He intends to find out from you where Phil Saunders and Judy are living. Once he’s got that information,
he will go round there and have it out with Saunders. He won’t rest until he makes absolutely certain that Judy is safe and content.’
‘Wouldn’t it be a good thing to let Harry know where they are?’ Pauline asked innocently. ‘If Harry was to give Saunders a damned good thrashing, it might be just what he needs.’
Kathleen was horrified. ‘You’re not listening to me! Saunders hates Harry with a
vengeance. If the two of them ever get together, there will be murder. I know what I’m saying … I saw the way it was when they were younger. When Phil looked at Harry in the store, I saw the murderous expression on his face. If Harry turns up on his doorstep, I’m worried what might happen.’
She was also concerned that ‘Much as Harry means well and he needs to make sure Judy is all right, we neither
of us want it to be Judy who pays the price.’
Pauline was only now beginning to see the full picture. ‘I understand what you’re saying, but are we worrying for nothing? We might suspect that Saunders lashes out at Judy, but we don’t really know, do we? Every time I’ve questioned her, she clams up or denies it emphatically.’
Kathleen was not convinced. ‘Like I say, I had not seen or heard from
Judy in years, then a few days ago, I accidentally bumped into her in town. There was something about her that shook me to my roots. She didn’t say she was unhappy, or that Phil Saunders was making her life a misery, but there was something in her eyes, in the way she sat, nervous as a little bird, watching the door as though someone or something would come in and carry her off.’
She also recalled
more recently, ‘At the store she was the same – highly nervous, constantly fidgeting, ready to flee.’
She had made her case, and now she desperately needed Pauline to agree. ‘If you give Harry the address and he goes there, I’m afraid of what might happen. We both know Saunders is unpredictable. If it all ends in violence, it could be Judy herself who gets hurt. Or worse!’
‘I hear what you’re
saying.’ Pauline was convinced that Harry was the only hope for Judy, but not through violence, because in the end no good would come of it.
‘It would be wonderful if Judy was to see sense and leave Phil of her own accord, but I know she won’t,’ she told Kathleen now. ‘The thing is, Phil would commit murder rather than let her leave,
and she knows that. When she realised what Phil was like, she
vowed to leave him, but then he fooled her into thinking he would change, so she stayed. The years passed, and she lost heart. Bit by bit, he’s taken away her freedom, and her independence.’
Kathleen was devastated at the extent to which he had ruined Judy’s life. ‘It seems to me as though he’s taken control of her,’ she mused. ‘We have to help her, but Harry going in with all guns blazing is
not the answer. Maybe you could give me Judy’s address, let me speak with her?’
‘She won’t listen.’ Pauline had tried. ‘That nasty piece of work has her exactly where he wants her – under his thumb. He won’t even allow her to go out to work. He prefers her to stay in the house while he’s away working or playing, or knocking some poor bloke senseless. Judy has so little self-worth she doesn’t
really care any more – about him, about herself or even about whether she lives or dies. I’ve tried, Kathleen … I’ve really tried.’
Her voice broke. ‘Sorry! Just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it.’
As Kathleen set out her plans, she made a remark that shocked the younger woman to her very roots. ‘It goes without saying that the child must be considered in all of this, but if it’s
done carefully, no one will come to any harm.’
When Pauline sat bolt upright in her chair, a look of confusion on her face, Kathleen naturally assumed it was all to do with Judy’s difficult situation, and the overall discussion. It never occurred to her that Pauline knew nothing of the child.
Pauline was stunned.
What
child? she thought. In all their deepest conversations, Judy had never mentioned
a child.
Pauline searched her mind, recalling how, on the rare occasions when they were out together, Judy would look longingly at a child in the street, or sometimes become tearful for no reason.
Pauline had assumed that it was because of Saunders, and the hold he had over her.
While Kathleen chatted on, Pauline wondered if Judy had borne a child to Harry, and maybe the child had died.
Maybe
that was the deep sadness that Judy found hard to live with.
Pauline looked up at Kathleen. ‘Can I ask you something?’ she ventured. ‘About the child?’
Kathleen nodded. ‘Of course.’
‘Did she have the child with Saunders … or is Harry the father?’
Kathleen was instantly on the defensive. ‘Are you saying Judy
never spoke with you about it?’ In truth, she was not altogether surprised.
‘I’m sorry.’
Pauline got the strongest feeling that she had strayed over dangerous ground. ‘I was just wondering, that’s all.’
Kathleen was cautious. ‘I think it best if you ask Judy that question,’ she answered kindly.
She was not too concerned by Pauline’s curiosity. She simply assumed that Judy might have found it too delicate a matter to discuss with anyone, for many reasons – not the least of which
was Saunders. And of course the child itself, together with the shocking fact that if it had not been for Kathleen dissuading her, Judy was in such distress that she might well have had the baby aborted.
Pauline began to understand. If the child was Harry’s and it had been stillborn, then obviously Kathleen had no idea that it had not survived. Obviously Judy had never disclosed the truth, not
to anyone. Maybe she found it far too painful to talk about, especially to the lovely Kathleen, and more especially to Pauline, with Saunders ever close; always watching and listening.