The Fight for Lizzie Flowers (29 page)

Savage sat back and sighed. He had planned with meticulous care; two men were to go to the rear of the garage, the other four to the front. The takeover of the garage, if performed with the
element of surprise as the men worked inside, would be flawless. But now he’d have to wait until the women were gone.

He drummed his fingers impatiently on his knee. Smoothing the material of his trousers beneath his camel-hair coat, he counted the minutes as they ticked by slowly. Then, to his utter dismay, a
group of four or five men appeared, ambling along the wharf. They looked like the squatters from the derelict site close by; unshaven, their hair matted as they shifted around aimlessly in their
grubby ankle-length greatcoats. If it was one thing he detested, it was the sight of vagrants. They had the gall to occupy premises illegally and pay no rent! Often the law was too lazy to move
them on. But not Leonard Savage. No! Later today, after he’d dispatched Flowers, he’d make a return call to these undesirables.

‘You want me to move on them drunks?’ the new recruit asked over his shoulder.

‘No,’ Savage replied. ‘Not yet.’

‘It’d only take a good slap.’

‘Don’t be so bloody stupid – you’d alert Flowers,’ Savage retorted, thinking wistfully of Albert who he’d not seen for some days. ‘Come back,
Albert,’ he murmured softly. ‘All is forgiven. After I’ve given you a good hiding for the bender you’ve been on, I’ll get rid of this idiot and reinstate
you.’

‘I just thought—’

‘You’re not paid to think. I’ve told you a dozen times, we stick to the plan.’

‘Yeah, but—’

‘Did you hear me?’ Savage demanded, cursing the desperation that had caused him to hire such a fool. ‘Just watch out for the law. That’s your priority.’

‘What do I do if I see ’em?’

‘What do you think, birdbrain? You don’t get out and shake their hands. You drive us out of here, slowly, as if we’ve taken a wrong turn. That’s why I told you to keep
the motor running.’

With a groan of frustration, Savage returned his attention to the garage. As soon as the women left, he would give the signal to his men and they’d go in. He’d take possession in
under five minutes. Flowers and his pal wouldn’t know what hit them with a semi-automatic pointed in their faces.

Savage watched one of the drunks sit down on a pile of rubble. He was soon joined by his friends, smoking and drinking and generally making themselves at home.

Savage groaned again. Should he have them removed? But no doubt they’d put up loud, if useless, resistance. Besides, it wasn’t the homeless he was concerned with.

The minutes continued to pass slowly. His frustration mounted. If Flowers had been a sensible man, he’d have taken his offer for the garage. Saved them all a lot of trouble. But no, he had
to stick his heels in and make life complicated!

Ethel stood by the open door of the office. Shock and disbelief were written in Cal’s dark eyes. ‘Don’t make this hard for me, Cal,’ she pleaded.
‘It’s all over.’

‘But why?
Why
are you doing this?’ he asked in a bewildered voice. ‘Is it what happened at Lizzie’s?’

Ethel shook her head. Though the truth was, reality had struck home that day in the shop. She had seen herself and her life as it really was. Having an affair with Cal wasn’t a game any
more. She had shut herself off from the truth, because for the first time in years she had found true happiness. But happiness that was stolen at the cost of her family couldn’t last.

‘We’ve been lucky so far,’ she continued. ‘But Rosie and Timothy need me. And Richard does in his own way.’

‘I need you too.’

‘No you don’t, Cal. Not like them.’

‘We’ve got a good thing going, too good to chuck in.’ He pushed his fingers despairingly through his black hair. ‘We make each other happy. Ain’t that
enough?’

‘Deceiving Richard is doing my head in. I can’t go on telling lies.’

‘Then leave him, not me.’ He moved towards her but she put up her hand. ‘Please don’t touch me, Cal. This is over,’ she repeated.

‘Not for me it isn’t. I want to make you happy. I
know
I could make you happy.’

If she didn’t leave now, she knew she would weaken. ‘I’ll go mad if I go on this way,’ she tried to explain.

But he only smiled, as if that was nothing. ‘There ain’t no such thing as sanity, Ethel. Everyone’s a little bit mad.’

‘Don’t make fun of me.’

‘I’m not.’ He suddenly took her in his arms. ‘Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll knock off work and we’ll go somewhere and talk it over.’

Ethel stared up into his face, framed by his black hair and ebony eyes. He was such a good-looking man and she loved him. But he was out of reach and had been since the first moment they’d
met.

He kissed her lips softly and Ethel shuddered. Just one more kiss, a little voice in her head whispered, a few understanding words, his arms around you to ease the pain and everything will be
all right.

‘Listen to me . . .’ he whispered, lifting a strand of hair from her eyes with his gentle fingers. ‘We’ll work this out. You ain’t on your own.’

She felt herself giving way. ‘Don’t . . .’ she replied weakly.

‘We’re good together, we—’

‘Ethel! Ethel!’ A voice called from downstairs.

Cal held her tightly. ‘Leave it.’

Ethel heard her name again. Pulling herself free, she stumbled to the landing.

‘Come quickly,’ Lizzie yelled up from the garage door. ‘Richard’s here!’

Ethel’s mouth opened, but no words came out. Suddenly it hit her. ‘Richard?’ she breathed, and without looking back she flew down the staircase.

Lizzie pointed to the tall, thin man wearing a suit and standing by the dock wall. He was holding the handlebars of his bicycle. ‘It is Richard, isn’t it?’
she asked Ethel who stood with her and Danny.

‘Oh my God, it is,’ Ethel gasped, her eyes fixed ahead. ‘But why is he here?’

‘For you, I suppose,’ said Danny, his voice cool.

Lizzie watched Richard Ryde shield his eyes against the strong July sunshine and peer towards the garage.

‘He should be at work,’ Ethel said bewilderedly. ‘He would have told me if he was going to come home early so I could have dinner ready.’

‘Could your mum have sent him over?’ Lizzie thought he may have gone to Langley Street first but Ethel shook her head.

‘No, she wouldn’t do that.’

‘But Lil knows about you and Cal, doesn’t she?’ Danny said gruffly.

‘I’ve never said anything, but she might have guessed,’ Ethel said hesitantly. ‘But even if she has she wouldn’t send Richard here.’

‘Then you’d better go and speak to him,’ Danny replied. ‘He don’t look like he was coming over here.’

‘I’ll go with you,’ said Cal, appearing at Ethel’s side. ‘We should have told Richard a long time ago.’

But Ethel pulled away, her face shocked. ‘No, no!’ She stepped back, trying to distance herself. ‘Stay away, Cal. Please don’t follow me.’

Danny caught his friend’s arm, saying softly, ‘She’s right, leave it alone, mate.’

But Cal only shook his head and hurried after Ethel.

‘Can’t we do something?’ Lizzie said anxiously.

‘Like what? We’ve already got ourselves a headache trying to keep Ethel and Cal’s names out of what happened at the shop. They could have been caught any amount of times the
way they’ve carried on.’

‘But they’re our friends,’ Lizzie protested half-heartedly.

‘Yeah, and it’s their business, not ours.’

Lizzie knew Danny was right but even so her heart ached for Ethel who was trying to escape Cal as he caught up with her, pulled her round and dragged her into his arms.

And all this in full view of Richard.

‘Christ! What now!’ Leonard Savage exclaimed as he watched the activity.

‘A bloke on a bike’s turned up,’ his man replied.

‘I can see that. But what are they doing?’ Savage was on the edge of his seat, his heart pumping. It was bedlam here. The mechanic was having a go at the woman and the prune with the
bike was just standing there.

His patience exhausted, Savage grabbed the back of the driver’s seat. ‘Inch forward slowly!’ he shouted.

‘But you said to stick to the plan.’

‘That was before a load of comedians turned up.’

The driver did as he was told. Savage felt the blood pumping at his temples. He was ready for action and wasn’t going to wait any longer.

‘Nose up close,’ Savage demanded as the car’s tyres crunched over the gravel.

‘We’ve got an audience, Mr S. There’s a geezer and a woman by the garage.’

‘We’ll see to them after.’ His fury was mounting. ‘Keep going, keep going!’ He sat rigidly, his eyes fixed ahead as he waved his hands. ‘Put your foot down,
you fool. We’ll show Flowers what happens when he turns down a deal with Leonard Savage.’

The big car trembled and picked up speed. Savage smiled in satisfaction as the man and woman, who seemed to be arguing, came into their sights. ‘Faster!’ he yelled, his small eyes
bright with excitement.

‘At this speed I’ll be sure to hit them,’ the driver said nervously.

‘They’ll move, don’t worry.’

But neither Savage nor the man driving the car saw a shape approach. It was only when the windscreen shattered that the vehicle came to a stop.

Lizzie saw the car appear out of nowhere. It picked up speed as it headed towards Cal and Ethel, though neither Ethel nor Cal seemed to have seen it. Then suddenly Richard was
riding towards Cal and Ethel too, his head bent over the handlebars, his feet flying round on the pedals.

Danny stepped forward waving his arms. ‘Stop!’ he yelled at the top of his voice. ‘Stop!’

But he was too late. Lizzie’s knees turned to water as Richard collided with the car. Richard and his bicycle went flying high into the air. She watched in disbelief as Richard seemed to
turn a somersault with the bicycle still attached to his legs. Seconds later they were falling, coming down with a heavy clump and a tearing of metal.

Lizzie saw Danny run. He was still waving at the car, but instead of stopping, it reversed, its tyres spinning on the gravel. With a roar, it turned in the opposite direction and was hidden from
sight in a cloud of dust.

Lizzie ran after Danny to where Ethel and Cal were standing by Richard’s still form.

‘What’s happened?’ Ethel shrieked as Cal held her. ‘Why is Richard lying there like that?’ Her eyes were wide and dazed as she stared at her husband’s
distorted body. ‘Why doesn’t he get up?’

Carefully, Danny lifted the bicycle from Richard’s twisted legs. Putting it to one side, he bent over Richard. Then looking up he shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Ethel.’

‘What?’ Ethel began to shake and tremble. ‘Richard, why did you come here?’ she began to shout. ‘Everything would have been all right if you
hadn’t.’

Lizzie saw one of Richard’s laced shoes lying a few yards away. The other was still on his foot. Blood was flowing into a puddle under his head.

Cal tightened his arms around Ethel. ‘Come away, Ethel. You can’t do nothing now.’ But she pushed him off, her eyes bright with angry tears.

‘Leave me alone. Can’t you see it was us that caused this?’ she sobbed and went to stand over Richard. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ she sobbed, staring down
at her husband.

They were all silent, until Danny said quietly, ‘Did anyone recognize the driver?’

Cal shook his head and said in a shaken voice, ‘No, but there were some blokes over there from the place next door. They might have seen something.’

‘Doubt it,’ Danny replied, shrugging. ‘Even if they did, they’ve scarpered now.’

Lizzie watched Ethel touch Richard’s hair. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered to her dead husband. ‘I was going to try to be the wife you wanted.’

Lizzie looked at Danny. In a quiet voice she asked, ‘What do we do now?’

‘I’ll have to call the law. Take Ethel inside the garage and try to calm her down.’

‘She’s not been right since what happened in the shop. And now this. What are we going to tell the police?’

‘You mean what’s Ethel going to tell them?’

‘I suppose so.’

‘Whatever she does decide to say, we’ll all back her up, right?’

Lizzie looked at Cal and he nodded. She could see the agony of rejection in his eyes. She knew, as he did, it was over for him and Ethel. Ethel would blame herself for what happened.

Lizzie put her arm around her friend and gently pulled her away. Carefully she guided a sobbing Ethel past Richard’s broken spectacles lying crushed on the ground.

Lizzie’s head was spinning. The two bobbies had fired questions at them, one after another. Did any of them know who the driver was? Why did the car go off without
stopping? Why had Richard come to the garage?

Lizzie’s heart had thumped when this question had been directed at Ethel.

‘I think Richard wanted to buy a car,’ she said in a halting voice.

‘Did you know about this?’ the policeman asked, looking at Danny.

‘No. But I would have helped him out.’

To Lizzie’s relief the constables had seemed satisfied with this explanation. But the questioning was very distressing for Ethel. Lizzie knew that what had happened today had changed the
course of her life.

When a black van had arrived to take Richard away, Lizzie had taken Ethel upstairs to the office. There were no words of consolation she could find to ease Ethel’s grief. Eventually the
police had left, taking the bicycle with them.

Now she and Ethel were in the van once more, driving towards Polly’s school. Ethel sat with her hands folded together, her face drained of colour and her knuckles white as she twisted her
fingers.

‘I’ll never forgive myself,’ she said in a faint voice as she stared vacantly through the windscreen. ‘How am I going to live with deceiving Richard? He must have found
out about Cal.’

‘You don’t know for sure.’

‘In my heart I do.’

‘You told the police the right thing under the circumstances.’

Ethel gave a strangled sob. ‘You mean I told more lies to cover up the ones I’d told before.’