The Leaving of Liverpool (42 page)

Edwin laughed. ‘The house that Jack built! It just shows what can be done with a bit of cash to start with. Jimmy says he’s glad now they waited and saved. A bit of cash, a bit of gumption and a bit of enterprise. They’d never have thought of going into business here.’

‘I thought it was just selling building materials.’

‘It was, to start with, but when they got talking to the old man whose yard it was and when he confessed he couldn’t lay one brick on top of another, or knew what to do with pipes or electric cables, it made them think. Soon be rolling in dollars the pair of them, I’ll bet.’

‘Then it was a good move.’

‘It’s the land of opportunity for some. Sometimes, I wonder . . .’

‘What?’

‘Oh, nothing really.’

‘Out with it!’ She jabbed him playfully in the ribs.

‘It had crossed my mind to give it a try, emigrate.’

‘Oh.’

‘Is that all you can say?’

‘What would you do? I can’t see that there would be much call for your skills in the building trade.’

He laughed. ‘No, it was just a passing thought.’

‘I know you too well, Edwin Leeson. It was more than that.’

‘Well, I’ve seen what it’s like over there, what there is to offer.’

She sighed. ‘How could I ever go and leave our Phoebe-Ann? God knows she’s got little enough in life, but for me to go three thousand miles away!’

‘You see, it was a passing thought. We couldn’t do that to her. Southampton will be far enough.’

‘I asked her to come for her Christmas dinner but she won’t. She said she’ll come over for an hour in the afternoon.’

‘Fine Christmas she’ll have with him.’

They both fell silent, each engrossed in their own thoughts, until the loud hammering on the front door made Emily jump up. ‘Who on earth can that be?’

Phoebe-Ann fell into her arms as she opened the door.

‘You’re half frozen. Where’s your coat? What’s happened?’

Phoebe-Ann was shaking and her teeth were chattering with cold and fear. ‘I . . . he . . .’

‘Calm down! Calm down and tell me what’s wrong?’ Emily had taken the rug from Albert’s chair and had wrapped it around her sister’s shoulders.

Phoebe-Ann tried again. ‘He . . . he’s dead.’

Emily’s eyes widened with disbelief. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes! Yes! I killed him! I killed him!’ Phoebe-Ann lapsed into hysterical sobbing.

‘I’d better go and see.’ Emily turned towards the door but Edwin stopped her.

‘Wait! Wait a minute, Em, until we get to the bottom of this. Phoebe-Ann, what happened? Tell us slowly. Em, get her a drop of brandy. She’s frozen and she’s obviously had a terrible shock.’

Haltingly, between sips of brandy, Phoebe-Ann told them and when she’d finished Emily looked at Edwin pleadingly, not knowing what to do.

‘We’ve got to think quickly. You’re sure he’s dead, Phoebe-Ann?’

‘Yes.’ Her voice was hoarse.

‘It could have been an accident.’

‘No! No! I hated him so much . . .’

Emily looked down at her sister. Phoebe-Ann was so upset she didn’t know what she was saying. It
must
have been an accident, but she still couldn’t let Phoebe-Ann go through the experience of having to face a trial and a jury. ‘How long had you been in?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Think! Think, Phoebe-Ann! It’s important.’

‘A few minutes, that’s all. He . . . I saw Vinny Malone on the corner of Dove Street.’

‘And he’d given Jake the drink?’

Phoebe-Ann nodded.

‘Phoebe-Ann, you’ve got to be brave now.’ A plan was forming in her mind. ‘You’ve got to pull yourself together and go and see Ma Malone.’

‘No! No!’ Phoebe-Ann cried, while Edwin looked at Emily as though she’d lost her mind.

‘What for, Em?’

‘She’s got to go and tell them that he’s . . . he’s dead and that it is Vinny’s fault. He got him drunk and left him alone. He fell out of the chair and hit his head and you found him like that. You’ve got to do it, Phoebe-Ann! No-one else can!’

Phoebe-Ann looked at her blankly. She didn’t understand what Emily was saying. Didn’t she understand that it was she who’d killed him? Why was she saying it was Vinny Malone?

‘Don’t you see, Edwin, it probably was an accident but if she has to go to court, before a jury . . .’

Suddenly, Phoebe-Ann saw that Emily was trying to protect her. She gave a cry and started to sob.

‘Stop it! Stop it, Phoebe-Ann! You’ve
got
to do this and you’ve got to do it now, before anyone else finds him!’ Emily gripped her sister’s shoulders and pulled her to her feet. ‘As soon as you’ve been and told them, come straight back here and we’ll all go to the police station.’

‘Phoebe-Ann, if we could go with you we would, but it’s got to look as though you’ve run straight out without even putting on your coat,’ Edwin urged.

Phoebe-Ann was feeling a bit calmer. Everything was taking on the semblance of a dream. ‘I’ll go.’

Emily clung to Edwin as she watched Phoebe-Ann leave the house and break into a run. ‘Oh, I hope it works! She couldn’t stand going to court, not on top of everything else. She would condemn herself out of hand by saying how much she hated him. It would just break her.’

‘Let’s hope she doesn’t have to go to court. That was quick thinking, Emily.’

She sagged wearily against him. ‘ “Needs must when the devil drives” Mam always used to say.’

Phoebe-Ann had to stop to get her breath when she reached the corner of Mona Street. She
had
to do this, Emily said so. She had no choice. It was either lie or . . . The alternative was too terrible to think about. She stumbled on and beat on the door with both her fists. A front door opened a little way down the street and as she continued her hammering a few more were opened. Eventually Ma Malone opened the door.

‘What do yez want ’ere? Clear off!’

‘He’s dead! Jake is dead and your Vinny killed him!’ she screamed. Oh, it was so easy to scream she thought.

The door was flung open. ‘Yer lyin’! Yer lyin’!’

‘I’m not! Just you come and see. I’d just got in, I passed Vinny on the street, drunk, and he’d got Jake drunk and he’d fallen out of his chair and banged his head on the range! He’s dead! He’s dead and you killed him, Vinny Malone!’ She was almost hysterical with fear and shock. ‘I’m going for the police!’ And before either Ma Malone or Vinny or Seamus, who had crowded into the lobby, could say anything she turned and ran.

 

The minute she turned the corner, Emily shrugged on her coat and Edwin did the same.

‘Get that rug, she must be frozen stiff by now.’

Edwin picked up the rug and, as Phoebe-Ann leaned against the doorpost, he put it around her shoulders.

She was in such a state that no-one doubted her story. The desk sergeant looked grim, took some particulars, disappeared and returned with a detective.

He looked closely at Emily. ‘Don’t I know you?’

Emily stared at him, puzzled. ‘No.’

‘Wait now, I never forget a face, it’s part of the job. Princes Avenue? All that betting nonsense with Miss what’s ’er name?’

Emily nodded. ‘Miss Nesta Barlow,’ she supplied, wishing he would stop looking at her and get on with things. He was unnerving her.

‘Right. Now, what’s all this about? Who’s supposed to be dead?’

Phoebe-Ann was crying, her head on Emily’s shoulder and it was Edwin and Emily who answered all the questions.

‘It’s a bit of a mess, isn’t it?’ he said, not unkindly, when Emily finished speaking. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get it all sorted. Bit more serious than the last time, miss, however . . .’ He didn’t finish, for the double doors were thrown open and all the Malones crowded in with Ma in their midst.

There was pandemonium, with Emily shouting that it was all Vinny’s fault and look at the state of her poor sister. She clutched the arm of the detective, as if seeking assurance and protection.

Vinny was denying everything, Peader was swearing at him and Ma wailed like a banshee and called on all the saints in heaven to witness her loss and her grief.

‘For God’s sake, shut up the bloody lot of you!’ the desk sergeant bellowed and the shouting died down.

‘Right. You lot over there against the wall and the rest of you,’ he nodded towards Emily, Edwin and Phoebe-Ann, ‘sit there.’ He pointed to a long wooden bench. ‘Stop that bloody noise, woman!’ he yelled at Ma Malone who stopped wailing and glared at Phoebe-Ann who was too distraught to notice.

‘Now, I’m going to take Mrs Malone here into the interview room until my lad gets back to inform me whether this Jake Malone is really dead.’

Franny moved towards the door.

‘You, stay put or I’ll throw the lot of you in the cells, coming in here and turning the place into a circus! I know you lot of old. You’ll stay where I can see what you’re up to and if he is dead, then we’ll be having a few words with you, Vinny Malone.’

Emily helped Phoebe-Ann to her feet and followed the detective through a door on their left. Edwin noticed that Vinny had gone very pale and that Ma’s venomous looks had been transferred to him.

They sat in the small room and a policeman came through, bringing three cups of tea.

‘Has the other constable come back yet?’ Edwin asked.

‘Aye, he’s just come in. They’ll be in to see you in a few minutes. Drink that up, love, you’ve had a nasty shock,’ he added, looking at Phoebe-Ann.

‘What about them?’ Edwin jerked his head in the direction of the door.

‘All looking very sheepish, except the old one. Not even a tear in spite of all that bloody wailin’. Tough as old boots.’

There was no more noise coming from the bridewell waiting room and, after a little while, the detective appeared and sat down.

‘Now then, Mrs Malone, tell me what happened, in your own words and in your own good time. There’s no need to rush or get even more upset.’

Haltingly and between stifled sobs, Phoebe-Ann told him of her encounter with Vinny Malone, of going in, taking off her coat and then finding Jake.

Emily held her breath, praying that God would forgive herself and her sister for the terrible lies. But she just couldn’t have seen Phoebe-Ann broken. She could never have stood an interrogation.

‘That’s all for now. Get her home and get her to bed and I think I’d get the doctor to give her something to make her sleep. We will probably have to speak to her again, but not tonight.’

‘What will happen now?’ Emily asked as she helped Phoebe-Ann to her feet.

‘We’ll see what meladdo has to say for himself but it looks as though it was an accident. There will have to be a post-mortem and an inquest, but I wouldn’t worry her with all that now.’

There was no sign of any of the Malones as they left but none of them gave it much thought, they were all too relieved and too drained.

Edwin left them at the top of Lonsdale Street and went for Dr Whelan.

Albert had the kettle boiling and a hot brick was wrapped in flannel. ‘I’ve made up the bed for her.’

‘Thank you. What an ordeal.’

‘You should have let me come with you.’

Emily smiled at him. ‘It was like Fred Karno’s circus in there. All the Malones turned up. It’s better that you stayed here.’

She eased Phoebe-Ann down in the chair beside the fire.

‘Did they . . . ?’

‘Believe her? Yes. I keep trying to tell myself that it was the only thing we could do. It
was
an accident but I just didn’t want there to be any doubt about it. She couldn’t have stood it.’

Albert poured out three cups of very strong tea and added a drop of brandy to each. ‘What else did they say?’

‘They took a statement and they might have to talk to her again. They were going to talk to Vinny Malone but they said it looked as though it was an accident. There will have to be a post-mortem and an inquest.’

Albert looked relieved. ‘I know it’s a terrible thing to say, at this moment, but it really is a blessing in disguise, Emily.’

Emily nodded slowly. Yes, it was a blessing. Phoebe-Ann was at last free of him.

 

When she’d seen Phoebe-Ann’s eyelids close and the trembling stop, and Dr Whelan had gone, she went back downstairs and sat at the table, covering her face with her hands.

Edwin put his arm around her. ‘It’s all over now, Em. You did the right thing, the only thing you could have done. No-one is really to blame. Not Vinny for getting him drunk, not Phoebe-Ann for flying at him like that. She couldn’t take much more of him but she never meant to kill him.’

‘I know, but I can’t say I’m sorry he’s dead and maybe it’s better for him as well.’

‘There won’t be many who will mourn him.’

‘It’s not going to be much of a Christmas, is it, with this hanging over us all?’

‘There’s nothing to an inquest. They’ll just ask a few questions and it will be all over. Accidental death.’

‘Like Mam,’ Emily said.

‘What do you think she will do after it’s all over?’

‘It will take her a while to get over it.’

‘She’d be better to leave here altogether,’ Albert said.

Emily smiled wearily. ‘I think that’s what she will do. Leave Liverpool and go to Rhys. I think she’s paid enough for her mistake and she deserves some happiness now.’

‘I think we all do, Em. We’ve waited long enough for it.’ Edwin took her hand and squeezed it.