Authors: Dilly Court
‘You’re a lout and a bully.’ Erasmus backed away from him. ‘But what can one expect from the son of a common felon?’
Jim fisted his hands but Irene caught hold
of
his sleeve. ‘No, don’t, Jim. Can’t you see that that is exactly what Ras wants?’
‘He’s not worth it anyway,’ Jim said grimly.
Keeping well away from Jim, Ephraim cleared his throat. ‘I think you had better take your leave now. I will make your excuses to Father.’
‘Gladly,’ Jim snarled. ‘You are a pompous idiot, sir. And your brother is a despicable cad and a coward to boot.’ He seized Irene by the arm. ‘Come on, we’re leaving. I promise you that it will be a cold day in hell before I return to this house.’
Clara uttered a low moan. ‘Oh, no. Don’t go like this. Say you’re sorry, Jim. Like it or not we are all one family, and I don’t want there to be another rift.’
Irene sank down on the sofa, wrapping her arms around her mother. ‘Don’t distress yourself. Come home with Jim and me. We’ve got a huge house with lovely big rooms and servants too. We’ll look after you.’
‘And who will take care of Emmie and the baby?’ Clara said, gulping back tears. ‘You have put me in a terrible position with your quarrelling. I am the one who is stuck in the middle, and I am not a well woman. Have pity on me, Jim. Apologise to Ephraim and Erasmus. Make your peace with them, for my sake.’
Irene shot a pleading look at him, but the stubborn set of his jaw was so reminiscent of their pa that at any other time she would have laughed. ‘Please, Jim. We can’t abandon Emmie and the child.’
Ephraim held out his hand. ‘I am prepared to accept an apology if you are man enough to make it, Mr Angel.’
Jim eyed him with contempt but his expression softened as he turned his head to look at his mother. ‘You could come home with us now, Ma. We could put all this behind us, and I will look after you.’
Clara shook her head. ‘I know you would, son. But if I leave now I am abandoning Emmie and my granddaughter, and that I cannot do. Maybe later, when I am certain that my girl has recovered from the birth and the baby is thriving, but for now I must stay here and depend on the generosity of my son-in-law.’
Reluctantly, Jim shook Ephraim’s hand. ‘I apologise then, but only for Ma’s sake.’
Erasmus struck a pose, angling his head and grinning. ‘And what about me, old boy? You called me some harsh names.’
‘You are beneath contempt, sir. One day we will settle this like grown men, but for now just think yourself lucky that circumstances prevent me from following my inclination to wipe that smug smile off your face.’ Jim bent
down
to drop a kiss on his mother’s forehead. ‘We won’t wait for Josiah, but we will return soon.’
Clara smiled through her tears. ‘Thank you, Jim. I know what it must have cost you to do the right thing, and I’m proud of you, son.’ She patted Irene on the cheek. ‘Go with your brother, my dear. It’s a great comfort to me to know that you will be living close by and that I will see you again very soon.’
‘You will, Ma. We’ll call again tomorrow and that’s a promise.’
‘I’ll ring for Jessie,’ Ephraim said as if determined to have the last word. ‘She will see you out and I will make your excuses to Father.’
‘Don’t bother,’ Irene said, rising to her feet with all the dignity she could muster. ‘We may have to put up with you for Emmie’s sake, but don’t think that I’ve either forgotten or forgiven you for your treatment of me because I haven’t and never will.’
They arrived home to find that Mrs Garnet was in a state of agitation over dinner, which was long overdue and quite spoiled. ‘On your first night too,’ she said, covering her face with her pinafore. ‘What will you think of me? I am a fine cook, but I cannot perform miracles.’
‘Please don’t distress yourself,’ Irene murmured. ‘I am not very hungry.’
‘Bread and cheese will be more than welcome,’ Jim said firmly. ‘And some fruit or cake with a bottle of wine will go down nicely.’
‘Just this once won’t hurt, I suppose,’ Mrs Garnet said grudgingly. ‘But they were fine lamb collops, all gone to waste. Anyway, I’ve lit the fire in the breakfast parlour, sir. I’ll send your supper up as soon as it’s ready.’ She left them with a disapproving sniff, and stalked off in the direction of the baize door which led to the back stairs and the servants’ domain in the basement.
‘We’ll sit in the parlour, then, and eat in front of the fire,’ Jim said cheerfully. ‘It will be like the old days in the flat above the shop.’
Irene took off her bonnet and shawl, tossing them onto a hall chair. ‘Not quite, Jim. We had little enough to eat when Pa had been on a spree, and often sat before an empty grate for lack of coal and kindling.’
Jim led the way to a wainscoted room at the rear of the house where, as promised, a fire blazed up the chimney. They ate their meal sitting in front of it, toasting their toes and drinking wine. When Flossie had cleared the dishes, Jim smoked a cigar while Irene sipped coffee. ‘We’ll do very well here, I think, Renie,’ he said, tapping ash from the Havana into the grate. ‘I’m going out for a breath of air. You’ll be all right on your own, won’t you?’
Irene smiled. ‘Hardly on my own, Jim. There are three servants at my beck and call. I think I will enjoy living like a lady.’
He rose to his feet. ‘Good girl. I’ll see you in the morning, and then we will make a start on setting up in business. Get a good night’s sleep. You’ll need all your wits about you tomorrow.’ He strolled out of the parlour, leaving a trail of scented cigar smoke in his wake.
Irene put down her coffee cup and a quick glance at the marble clock on the mantelshelf told her that it was half past eight. Too early to think of going to bed, and yet too late to pay a call on Alice – or was it? She had become used to retiring early in Essex, but that was country living, and she was eager to see Alice again. She had so much to tell her that it could not wait until morning, and it was not far to Robin Hood Court. She could walk there in less than ten minutes.
She did not bother to inform Mrs Garnet that she was going out. Jim had given her a house key and she had been used to coming and going as she pleased from the shop in Wood Street. There was no difference now, she thought as she let herself out of the house, locking the door behind her and slipping the key into her reticule. She set off at a brisk pace, heading towards Cannon Street and
continuing
up Bread Street, crossing Cheapside and then turning into Milk Street.
There was still plenty of horse-drawn traffic clattering over the cobblestones, but fewer pedestrians were about at this time in the evening. Irene ignored the salacious offers from men lingering in pub doorways, and she hurried past them. She was out of breath by the time she reached the dark slit between tall buildings that led to Robin Hood Court, and for a moment her courage almost failed her. Vague scuffling sounds emanated from its gloomy depths that could have been caused by humans, or perhaps it was simply feral cats out hunting for food. She fixed her gaze on the glimmer of light at the end of the dark tunnel, and clutching her shawl a little tighter around her shoulders she entered the alleyway, treading softly. She was only halfway through when she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She quickened her pace to a trot and then a run, but whoever was following was drawing closer by the second. She was already short of breath and her heart was hammering against her ribcage. She slipped on the mossy cobblestones and would have fallen but for a pair of strong arms that encircled her like a band of steel.
Chapter Twenty
IRENE SCREAMED AND
struggled in vain. ‘Let me go.’
‘Hold still. I won’t hurt you.’
She would have known that voice anywhere. ‘Inspector Kent, you frightened the life out of me.’
He released her instantly. ‘What in the blazes are you doing out alone after dark?’
She felt a sudden urge to laugh, although the situation was far from funny. ‘Is that all you have to say to me? Don’t you want to know where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing these past weeks?’
‘Come to the house. We can speak more easily indoors.’
‘Am I being arrested?’ Irene demanded as he took her by the arm and propelled her towards the moonlit court.
‘You wouldn’t find it so amusing if I had been one of the Sykes gang.’ His tone was ice cold and Irene subsided into silence as they approached the house. She waited while he searched his pockets for his keys.
‘I came to see Alice. I’ve been out of town for some time and I was anxious about her.’
‘And yet you couldn’t find time to write to her and let her know that you were safe and well?’
Irene was stung by his scathing tone even though there was some truth in his accusation. ‘I had to leave town in a hurry. I wanted to write, but I didn’t know what to say.’
‘She was worried about you. I don’t like to see my sister suffer. She has enough to bear without you adding to her misfortune.’
‘I’m sorry if she was worried about me, but I’m not very good at putting my thoughts down on paper.’
‘That’s no excuse. A few words would have put her mind at rest.’ He held the door open for her.
‘Well I’m here now, so you needn’t go on about it, and I don’t need you to lecture me about walking out alone after dark. I’m perfectly able to look after myself.’ She could not see his expression in the dimly lit hall, but she sensed his continued animosity and she was unaccountably angry and hurt by his cold reception. She followed him into the parlour, but in the soft glow of the firelight she saw that Alice was not in her usual place on the sofa and her throat constricted with fear. ‘Where is Alice?’
‘It’s late,’ Kent said, shrugging off his greatcoat. ‘She will have been in bed for half an hour at least.’
‘Is she unwell?’ Irene asked anxiously.
He shook his head. ‘She tires easily,’ he said, striking a vesta and lighting the candles. ‘Gladys has a key and she comes in every evening just before nine to put Alice to bed.’
Irene sank down on the sofa with a sigh of relief. ‘All right, Inspector Kent. I admit that I behaved badly towards Alice and I am sorry for it, but I did not mean to neglect her. I had a lot on my mind.’
‘Why did you return to London? Why didn’t you stay in Essex where you were safe?’
She stared at him in surprise. ‘If you knew where I’d gone, why didn’t you tell Alice?’
‘I knew where you were, but I didn’t know the reason for your sudden departure from London. I did my best to reassure her that you had come to no harm, and being the good-natured girl that she is she made all kinds of excuses for your thoughtlessness.’
‘I didn’t come here to be lectured by you,’ Irene retorted hotly. ‘If you must know I was falsely accused of wrongdoing and my brother-in-law threw me out on the street. I had no choice but to leave London.’
He acknowledged this with a curt nod of his head. ‘So why have you returned now?’
‘Always the cop,’ Irene said bitterly. ‘Why don’t you take me down to the station and lock me in a cell?’
‘This isn’t a game, Irene. If you have any intention of meddling with police business regarding the Sykes brothers, then I beg you to reconsider.’
‘I’m not stupid, Inspector Kent. As it happens my situation has changed for the better. My brother returned from a long sea voyage and he came to Havering to fetch me. He has rented a large property in Five Foot Lane and we intend to set up in business there.’
He stood with his back to the fire, eyeing her intently. ‘What sort of business?’
‘I don’t think that’s any of your concern, Inspector.’
He frowned. ‘Your brother was a seafarer and now he wants to live ashore, is that so?’
‘Yes. He has come home for good.’
‘Which leads me to wonder exactly what kind of business venture could be run from a private house.’
Irene was silent for a moment as she battled with conflicting emotions. She was hurt and angry but she also longed to confide in him, and to seek his approval for her plans. At a loss to deal with her feelings, she resorted to sarcasm. ‘You’re the detective. You work it out.’
‘I would hazard a guess at a gaming house.
I
think that you and your brother intend to try to beat the Sykes brothers at their own game.’
He was so close to the truth that it took her breath away. ‘I think I’ve wasted enough of your time,’ she said coolly. ‘Perhaps you would be kind enough to tell Alice that I called and I’ll come again tomorrow afternoon.’ She made for the door but Kent was too quick for her and he barred her way.
‘No. We are not leaving it like this. You have put yourself in danger by returning to London. The Sykes brothers have spies everywhere and no doubt they already know that you are in town.’
‘Why would they be interested in me?’
‘My men have been keeping them under surveillance for months. It was reported to me that a boy calling himself Jim Angel paid a call on the Sykes brothers in Blue Boar Court not long before you left London.’
She returned his steady gaze, although her heart was beating so fast that she was afraid he might hear it pounding against her ribs. ‘So how does that involve me?’ she demanded, assuming an air of innocence.
‘Gladys told me that a seafarer called Jim Angel had been making enquiries about his family who used to run a shop in Wood Street. Someone, a neighbour I think, told him that Yapp might know where you had gone, and
that
led him to Danny. Given that Jim Angel turned out to be a man, it was not hard for me to guess the identity of the boy who thought he could take on a gang such as the Sykes.’
‘You’re wrong. It wasn’t me. Now let me pass.’
He leaned against the door, folding his arms across his chest. ‘Not until you have listened to what I have to say. You and your brother would be mad to attempt to play the Sykes brothers at their own game. In the past they have shown no mercy to those who invaded their territory, and you would be no exception. If Jim Angel applies for a gaming licence I will make certain that it is refused, and if you open up an illegal house I will see that you are closed down within a week.’