A Wanton Tale (27 page)

He quickly checked that there was no one about. He could spot a copper a mile away and he clearly remembered what Jim and Florrie looked like. Soon they were on their way, turning left they went the long way round. Eventually, they were safely back behind their own front door.

Betsy was eager to tell Freddie the whole illicit tale of her crime, she could hardly contain herself.

Jim and Florrie’s day had been marred, a little, by the loss of the ring. In many ways this loss was a weight off her shoulders. In the early days it was exciting having such an exquisite piece of jewellery but having something that wasn’t rightly hers had recently been weighing heavily on her conscience.

Florrie wasn’t used to the fresh air and went to bed that night feeling tired. As she drifted off to sleep she began to ruminate about the day’s events. She didn’t suspect the old woman of robbing the ring clean off her finger but she began to think, that maybe, she had seen her before.

The image in her mind of the old woman’s husband at the top of the stairs triggered flash backs. Now in a deep sleep she began to experience terrible dreams of what had taken place three years ago. ‘How could they possibly be the same people who drugged me? But it
was
them! They took me away to that evil house where they had callously arranged for a dirty old man to molest me.’

She saw their faces again in a nightmare but the most vivid face in her dream was the man with the sinister stare, his cold blue eyes were penetrating. It was the man who had attacked her.

The next day she could clearly recall the awful day when she was taken to a house in Duke Street. Florrie was now sure that the woman she had helped in New Brighton and her husband were the very people who had lured her to her fate. She needed time to think and knew that Jim could be hot headed at times, for the time being she decided to keep it to herself.

As time went by, Florrie had been getting along better with her mother. Their relationship had improved since they were no longer living under the same roof.

Florrie now felt that the time was right to confide in her mother about the evening when the man had attacked her. She waited her opportunity. The day she chose to go and see her mother was Sunday, a quiet day for both of them.

At last, she felt able to calmly tell her everything. She could, also, add some details she had learned from Jim. She described the man who had almost raped her and the couple who had, apparently, arranged it. She had a vague recollection of the house in Duke Street. She went on to tell her how she’d recognised the woman in New Brighton. Her husband who appeared at the top of the stairs, looked strangely familiar. She was careful not to mention the ring.

By the time Minnie had finished her tale, tears began to well up in her eyes, adding quietly, ‘I know who these people are Florrie.’

‘Who are they?’

‘It’s a painful memory and difficult for me to talk about but I must tell you that when I was a child that woman arranged for men to molest me.’

Florrie couldn’t face her mother and looked out of the window. There was a flash of anger in her voice. ‘Is that what led you into this business of going with men?’

‘What makes you think so badly of me?’

‘You have been seen around town, arm in arm with different men and you have been coming home late, looking dishevelled.’

‘I know it is wrong.’ Replied Minnie in a subdued tone. ‘I never wanted you to find out.’

For a few moments the room fell silent. Mother and daughter were lost in thought.

Minnie spoke quietly when she replied, ‘I cannot blame it all on Betsy Hale, she just led the way for me. Most of it was my own greed and something I saw as easy money. Now I know that there is no such thing as easy money. There is, always, a price to pay.’

Again, they sat in silence, holding hands. Minnie was thankful that nothing worse had happened to her daughter. She always tried to protect her, this time she felt that she had let her down badly.

She recalled the day when Betsy came into the chemist shop and had purchased a bottle of chloroform.

‘I could have stopped the wicked old cow, I should have known she was planning evil.’ Minnie blamed herself.

She couldn’t believe that she had sold the woman the very chemical that was intended to bring about her own daughter’s downfall.

Following this conversation Minnie sat for hours pondering and planning. It took a little time for her to hatch a plan of retribution. She had, in the past often thought of wreaking revenge on the Hales, now she had a lot more reason to deliver her reprisal.

She knew full well that the Hales had most probably left the city and she imagined that it would be highly likely that they had gone ‘over the water.’ After all, the thriving seaside resort was crammed with every cheap jack, hawker and whore in town. ‘Where else on earth could they be?’ Wondered Minnie. ‘Florrie is right. It will be the Hales, just the sort of place for those two.’

It only took Minnie a couple of her half days off to spot Betsy in New Brighton. It took time to find out where she lived but she was determined to follow her. Eventually, Betsy led her to her front door in Tollemache Street.

Minnie was planning her revenge. A few innocent questions of her employer enabled her to prepare something pernicious. The Hales deserved nothing less for the damage they had done to her and her daughter and most probably others…

Minnie had recently been going with a man much younger than herself. His name was John, a seafarer in the Merchant Navy. He was very fit, a bit of a ruffian and a thief but Minnie liked him. He had just been paid off a ship and had money to burn during his leave.

Minnie asked him to take her for a day out in New Brighton and he happily agreed. She told him that she wanted his help to get her own back on someone.

It took little more than a promise of taboo delights to convince John to help her.

‘Why do you want to do that?’

‘I just want to have a bit of fun with someone who’s caused me some grief.’

‘You mean like play a trick on them, a joke?’

‘Yes.’

Soon they were boarding the steam ferry to New Brighton. They looked like any other respectable pleasure seeking couple.

‘Where are we going then?’ He asked.

‘We’re going to someone’s house and I want you to break in through the back way, they will of course be out.’

Minnie spotted Betsy and Freddie sitting at a table outside a cafe on the Ham and Eggs Parade.

‘Just come with me.’ She reassured him that the house would be empty.

They strode off in the direction of the Hale’s house in Tollemache Street. She knew their routine, they would be sitting there all afternoon, trying to control the comings and goings in their tawdry rooms.

‘Rancid pair of bastards.’ She thought to herself bitterly.

Minnie was taking a chance, she expected the back yard door to be locked. John slowly pressed down the latch of the door, much to their surprise it was unbolted. They looked up and down the entry to check that no one was around before they entered the yard.

Once in the yard, they found that the back kitchen door was locked.

‘Get the window open John, climb in and unbolt the back door.’

John grinned back at her, then broke the glass with his elbow. Sliding the window open, he was quickly inside.

‘What now?’ Asked John.

‘Have a look around, you can go and look upstairs if you like. See if you can find anything worth pinching I won’t be a minute.’ Said Minnie.

As he went upstairs, she opened the door of the parlour. She had rightly guessed that the Hales were still heavy gin drinkers and found a green bottle of spirit on the sideboard.

She took the bottle into the kitchen and opened the top, she then tipped out a small trickle into the sink. She carefully topped it up with the clear liquid from the bottle that she had brought in her handbag. She replaced the stopper and shook the gin bottle vigorously. The sulphur and turpentine mixed readily with the spirit. It was surprisingly odourless and colourless.

‘You poxy, syphilitic, old bitch, it’s time for you and that bastard to suffer.’ She muttered to herself as she put the empty bottle back in her handbag.

She made sure that there were no tell tale drops running down the bottle. Everything was left as it had been when they came in.

Minnie called up the stairs, ‘Come, John. We must go now!’

As he turned to leave, he helped himself to a ring which had been left on the corner of the dressing table.

John had no idea that it was a real diamond ring as this did not appear to be a well off home. He thought that the stones were probably made of glass. ‘Besides, it might do as a ‘prezzie’ for me sister-in-law for putting me up during me leave.’ He muttered to himself, omitting to tell Minnie about his find.

They quickly left the house, each with their own secret and souvenir. As they strolled through Vale Park he casually asked, ‘What did you do in there, you haven’t poisoned some poor bastard’s dinner have you?’ Minnie then laughed. He was only kidding and hadn’t thought for a minute that she could possibly do such a terrible thing. John shrugged then dismissed it from his mind. He was just curious as to what she had been up to. Minnie quickly changed the subject.

When the Hales came home they were furious to find that the window had been broken and forced open.

‘Some bastard’s got in and he must have left by the door. Anything missing Duchess?’ She ran upstairs to check her dressing table, then shouted down to Freddie.

‘The fucking ring’s gone! Strange that, I wonder who the fuck knew I had that ring?’

‘Must have been disturbed by a neighbour or even by us coming back in, more than likely a brat, thieving little bastards they are, had enough of them in Liverpool, I thought it was quiet around here.’ Said Freddie. ‘Never mind, nothing else has been pinched and the Fu Dogs are still full of money.’

For the Hales, this harmless looking break in was to be the end of their sordid games and exploitation of young women forever!

They reacted catastrophically to their poisoned evening drinks. The sulphur and turpentine that Minnie had poured into their gin had very quickly left the fiendish pair deaf and blind. Betsy was dying of tertiary syphilis, but this intervention brought about her demise earlier. Freddie died not long after her.

They spent their final days in the hospital ward of the workhouse. The cause of their slow and painful death was never fully established.

M
argaret was pleased to see Sophie when she answered a knock on the door. It was just before ten in the morning.

‘Hello Sophie. Come in.’

‘It is time for me to go back to my time, Aunty Margaret. With all that I have learned here, I have a mission to complete. I must change into my own clothes.’

‘I know it is dear, come upstairs, your clothes are ready.

Sophie didn’t have much time to spare she had to be at the merry-go-round in New Brighton at one o’clock. Larry had told her that he would call her to the ride, he would be waiting in the middle. He warned her to be on time. ‘Jump on at one o’clock prompt or it will go wrong, you will be trapped in 1900.’ She was anxious to be on time.

In Jessie’s old bedroom, Sophie quickly changed her clothes. She caught sight of herself in the mirror. It seemed a long time ago since she had seen Larry’s face so vividly.

‘Put Jessie’s old coat on Sophie to hide your flimsy dress. Give it to Jim in New Brighton, he’s gone ahead of you, he will be there with Florrie, I believe he knows that it is time for you to go.’ Said Margaret.

‘So you believe in Larry too.’

‘Now hurry up dear, you
cannot
be late.’ Warned Margaret.

As she turned, a lovely ring on the dressing table caught Sophie’s eye. She picked it up and admired it.

‘I love this Aunty Margaret.’

‘I want you to have it as a keepsake Sophie. My late husband’s brother, John stays here when he’s on leave. He is in the Merchant Navy. He gave me the ring the other day, he said it was a little thank you for letting him stay here. But I’ll never wear it, I’m not that fussed on rings. Please take it, it is something for you to remember us by.’

Sophie thanked her. Margaret gave her a quick hug, then guided her down the stairs to the front door. They said goodbye on the doorstep and never saw each other again.

Sophie stretched out her hand and admired the lovely ring as she hurried up the street. She had to find a cab quickly to take her to the Pier Head to catch the next steamer to New Brighton.

Sophie took one last look at the Tower. As she stood there in the fairground she saw Jim and Florrie. She also caught sight of Larry, he was in the centre of the merry-go-round. His top hat and distinctive red hair were unmistakable, as were his mint green eyes. He was, already, beckoning her to jump on. It was two minutes to one.

She quickly removed the coat and gave it to Jim. ‘It is time for me to go but we will meet again, some day in the future, for now I must say goodbye.’ Jim spotted the ring as she removed her coat, it was unmistakably Florrie’s. Sophie was backing away from them as the showman’s voice was beckoning fairgoers to the gallopers. Jim shouted, ‘That’s Florrie’s ring!’

‘I can’t hear you!’ Called back Sophie.

‘Jump on this fine stallion then Miss, this one is called ‘Sophie. ’ Barked the enigmatic showman. He pointed to the hand painted name on the shoulder of the finely carved galloper. Sophie quickly mounted the ride, she handed over her penny fare to the showman. The merry-go-round was now steaming up and about to move off.

As she held onto the barley twist rope of the galloper the ride moved off, the image of Larry was beginning to fade. The funfair organ and the puff and hiss of the machinery suddenly became a deafening whirling buzz. She felt again that spinning sensation, she was enveloped in a blend of coloured light.

Amidst the confusion Sophie could hear Florrie shouting, ‘That’s my ring, that’s my ring!’ But her voice was fading, it was too late, Sophie was on an unstoppable journey.