Love or Duty--A saga set in 1920s Liverpool (19 page)

‘Don't worry, I'll make enquiries to see if there is any other way of getting Kelly released from St Saviour's,' Bryn promised as he put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring hug.

She opened the front door as quietly as she possibly could and crept inside. Her heart beat faster as she saw that a glimmer of light showed from the drawing room. Removing her shoes she padded in her stockinged feet towards the stairs but her arrival had already been heard and before she could reach them her father was in the hallway.

‘Where the devil do you think you have been until this time of night?' he demanded. ‘Don't bother lying because I can guess; you've been with that doctor fellow. I suppose you were too ashamed to come home after what you did today.'

Penny looked at him in bewilderment. ‘What I did today?' she asked in a puzzled voice.

‘I don't suppose you thought I would find out. You seem to forget that as a magistrate my name and address are well known in legal circles and when you appeared as a witness in a case that was being heard the clerk took the trouble to inform me of the fact,' he told her pompously.

The colour drained from Penny's face and there was a hard knot of anger in her throat. ‘So that was why the case was adjourned,' she said bitterly. ‘You had him pass on a message to the presiding magistrate.'

Captain Forshaw didn't answer.

‘That was an evil thing to do,' Penny told him in a strident voice.

Her father held open the drawing room door. ‘You'd better come in here if you are going to yell at me like a fishwife; I don't want your mother disturbed. She is dreadfully upset that all this worry concerning this wretched child has come up again. We thought it had all been taken care of when she was put into a remand home.'

‘I'll go up and talk to Mother,' Penny said, moving towards the door.

‘No, stay here and leave well alone,' Captain Forshaw said curtly. ‘I said I would wait up until you came home. I persuaded her to take some sleeping tablets and go on up to bed and I trust she is now sound asleep and settled for the night.'

‘So now I suppose you are going to lecture me about Kelly,' Penny said wearily.

‘I most certainly am,' Captain Forshaw scowled, his face growing florid. ‘Why are you ruining your own prospects in this way, Penny? I am in the process of persuading Miss Grimshaw to give you back your job in September …'

‘That wasn't necessary,' Penny interrupted. ‘I already have a job to go to in September.'

‘Where?' her father demanded. ‘You're not thinking of going back to that Catholic school in the Liverpool slums, I hope.'

‘Yes, I am.' Penny squared her shoulders. ‘Father O'Flynn has offered me a teaching post starting in September.'

‘Then you can ring him up in the morning and tell him you won't be accepting it. You will be going back to Miss Grimshaw's school.'

Penny squared her shoulders defiantly, her blue eyes flashing. ‘That very much depends on whether you and Mother will be prepared to have Kelly living here with us and also arrange for her to attend Miss Grimshaw's school,' she told him.

‘Don't talk nonsense! I have said we are not prepared to have anything further to do with that child and I mean it. Anyway, there is no question at all of her being released from St Saviour's Remand Home.'

‘She would have been released into my care today if you hadn't interfered,' Penny said bitterly.

‘Stop being so insolent and talking such nonsense, Penny,' Captain Forshaw said angrily, his florid face becoming even redder. ‘You don't expect me to stand by and do nothing while you continue to ruin your future just because you have some stupid idea about saving this child.'

‘I am not trying to save her; I merely want to try to give her a better chance in life.'

‘She's the produce of the slum that she's been born into and that has been proved. The moment she was out of your influence she was in trouble with the police.'

‘Maybe, but it was not of her own volition. It was her older brother's influence over her that caused the trouble,' Penny defended.

‘Leave her where she is. The nuns may manage to straighten her out in the remand home; something you will never be able to do.'

As Penny was about to reply he held up his hand to silence her. ‘No more; this discussion is at an end. Go to bed, Penny, and resolve to make a new start tomorrow and let all of us put this sordid matter behind us.

Penny couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned going over and over in her mind all that had taken place in the courtroom and since.

She kept thinking of how dreadfully disappointed Kelly would be when she was told that her hopes and dreams had been shattered and that she was not going to be released from St Saviour's.

She knew that the nuns would offer no words of comfort to Kelly when they told her of the court's decision and her heart ached for Kelly knowing how let down she would feel.

When Penny finally fell asleep it was almost dawn and she found herself embroiled in a terrifying nightmare involving an argument between her father and Kelly.

The quarrel between them didn't make any sense to her and yet she felt herself becoming involved deeper and deeper in their conflict. Try as she might she couldn't calm either of them because they ignored everything she said. It was almost as if they were in another dimension and although she could see and hear everything that was going on between them they couldn't hear her voice. She kept wishing Bryn was there to help her deal with them but although she called out his name time and time again he never appeared.

When she finally woke up in panic the sun was streaming in her window and as her senses levelled out she felt a sense of relief that it had all been a dream.

Her parents were both in the breakfast room when she went downstairs. Although they were cordial in their greeting there was a tense atmosphere between the three of them.

Penny had barely started her breakfast when Mary came into the room to say that she was needed on the telephone.

‘Do you know who it is, Mary?' Captain Forshaw frowned.

‘Dr Cash, sir.'

‘Then tell him Miss Penny will call him back after she has finished her breakfast.'

‘He said it was important,' Mary said looking questioningly at Penny.

‘It's all right, Mary, I'll deal with it now,' Penny said quickly, wiping her lips with her napkin and standing up.

Before her father could stop her she hurried from the room and into the hall.

‘Hello Bryn, is something wrong?' she asked, as she picked up the phone.'

‘Yes, I'm afraid there is. I've just had a visit from Father O'Flynn. It seems Kelly has run away from St Saviour's.'

‘When did this happen?'

‘They're not sure. She was there last night when one of the nuns told her about the court's decision to adjourn a decision. It seems that Kelly took it rather badly. She was in tears and saying over and over again that it meant she'd never be able to come and live with you.'

‘Oh dear!'

‘This morning, when they took the roll call before early morning prayers she wasn't there. At first they thought she was sulking and deliberately being late. Then when they checked the dormitory and the classrooms they couldn't find her. It seems they've looked everywhere for her and she is definitely not in the building.'

‘Has she taken refuge with Mrs Reilly, do you think?'

‘No, the police have already paid her a visit and she hasn't seen anything of Kelly.'

‘Then perhaps she has gone to her own home in Cannon Court.'

‘No, she's not there. Her mother hasn't seen her since she was sent to St Saviour's. They were going to contact the police in Wallasey to call at your house but I asked them to let me telephone you first because I didn't think you would want your father to be involved.'

‘Thank you for that although of course he will be informed. I found out last night that it was because of his intervention that the magistrate adjourned his decision.'

‘Are you sure about that?' Bryn sounded taken aback.

‘Quite sure. He told me so last night as soon as I got home. Someone at the court recognized my name and the address I had given and telephoned him. Well, you can guess the rest.'

Bryn was silent for such a long time that Penny asked, ‘Are you still there, Bryn?'

‘Yes, I was trying to work out what to do next. We must be careful not to make things even worse for Kelly.'

‘Where do you think she might be? If she hasn't come to you for help and she hasn't gone back to her own home or to Mrs Reilly then she must be wandering around Liverpool. Do you want me to come over and help look for her?'

‘No; I think it might be best if you stay where you are because she might be trying to make her way to you,' Bryn said thoughtfully.

‘It would be difficult for her to do that because she won't have any money,' Penny pointed out. ‘She would need some in order to buy a ticket to come over on the boat,' she added.

‘True, but knowing Kelly she will find a way to mingle with the crowd and somehow manage to slip on board unnoticed.'

‘And then she would have to walk all the way here, to Penkett Road, from Seacombe Ferry.' Penny added in a dubious voice.

‘If she is determined to find you she will and I am pretty certain that is what she has in mind,' Bryn insisted.

‘So what do we do now?'

‘Well, as I said, I think you should stay where you are because I am sure that she will turn up there eventually. Mind you, I don't think she will walk straight up to the front door so keep an eye open for her.'

‘In the meantime you'll keep looking for her over in Liverpool?'

‘Yes, but I have a clinic this morning at the hospital and another this afternoon so I won't be free to do very much until this evening.'

‘You will phone me if you have any news?' Penny said anxiously.

‘Of course I will and make sure you phone and let me know if she turns up. You can always leave a message for me if the receptionist is unable to put you through.'

The rest of the day seemed endless to Penny. She couldn't concentrate on anything but found herself startled by every sudden noise. She kept popping out into the driveway to peer this way and that up and down Penkett Road to make sure that Kelly wasn't there. She was afraid she might be hanging around and hiding behind one of the trees until she felt it was safe to come to the house.

Bryn phoned twice but he had no fresh news to tell her about Kelly. He'd asked several of his patients if they had seen her but no one had. He'd even found time to pay a visit to Ma Reilly's and also to go to the Murphy's house in Cannon Court in case she had gone there after the police had called but neither Ellen Murphy nor Mrs Reilly had seen or heard from her.

‘They must both be very concerned about what has happened to her and where she is, especially Mrs Reilly,' Penny said, her voice conveying how very worried she was herself.

Towards teatime the sky became overcast and it began to rain. At first it was merely a heavy drizzle, then the clouds became heavier and the rain lashed down. Within a few minutes it was accompanied by deep rumbles of thunder followed by brilliant flashes of lightning.

Penny remembered how frightened Kelly had always been whenever there was a thunderstorm and hoped that she was able to take cover somewhere safe.

As Penny went round the house closing all the windows she peered out in case Kelly had crept into the garden and was sheltering under one of the shrubs.

It was almost seven o'clock and the storm was starting to abate when there was a knock on the door.

‘I'll get it,' Penny called out as she rushed to open it, pushing Mary to one side as the girl came out of the kitchen and into the hallway.

Her heart was thudding, hoping that it was Kelly, but to her surprise it was Bryn standing on the doorstep and he was soaked from head to foot.

For a moment they stared at each other in silence before she invited him inside.

‘I came over on the ferry and then walked here from Seacombe. I was trying to trace Kelly's footsteps in case she had come over to see you and was sheltering somewhere from the storm,' he explained as he stood in the hallway, water dripping from him on to the floor. ‘I was hoping I might find someone who had seen her.'

‘Talk about looking for a needle in a haystack,' Penny said with a smile. ‘How could you possibly expect anyone to remember one small girl among the many hundreds of people who make the crossing every day.'

‘She will still be wearing that drab blue dress and most people in the Liverpool area know that it's the uniform they wear at St Saviour's Remand Home,' he reminded Penny. ‘Furthermore her picture is featured on all the newsstand placards as well as the front page of the
Liverpool Evening Echo
stating that she has run away from the home.'

Penny clamped her hand over her mouth in dismay. ‘Oh Bryn, how awful! I didn't know that; it makes her sound like a criminal.'

‘I know; that's why it is so important that we find her. Not only the police but the general public will be keeping an eye out for her now and if any of them find her first it will be straight back to St Saviour's for her.'

‘Come in, take off your wet coat and while we talk about it I'll get Mary to make some hot coffee to warm you up.'

‘Perhaps Dr Cash would like to stay and have dinner. That would give all of us the opportunity to have a serious chat.'

Penny looked round, startled, as her father suddenly appeared in the hallway.

‘Good evening, Captain Forshaw. That's very kind of you but I am afraid I can't accept because I have far too many other commitments,' Bryn said firmly.

‘Then you and I had better have a little talk on our own,' Marcus Forshaw insisted. ‘Do take off your wet coat and then come into my study.'