Love or Duty--A saga set in 1920s Liverpool (21 page)

‘You must know how I feel about you,' he said softly. Placing a hand underneath her chin he tilted her head back so that he could look into her eyes. ‘I live in hope that someday you will feel the same way about me,' he whispered softly.

For a long moment they gazed at each other and then, as he read the answer he wanted, Bryn bent his head and kissed her firmly on the mouth.

Penny woke to find Bryn placing a cup of tea down on the small table by her bedside.

‘I thought I'd better warn you that I have a clinic at the hospital this morning so I will be leaving very shortly,' he told her.

Penny rubbed sleepily at her eyes and smothered a yawn. ‘What time is it?'

‘Half past eight. There's no need to hurry,' he murmured. ‘Have another sleep if you feel you need it, I merely thought I should let you know what was happening just in case you had forgotten where you were and were startled by all the noise from the newsagent's shop downstairs.'

Penny pulled herself up into a sitting position and looked bewildered for a moment. She ran a hand through her tousled hair, pushing it back from her face.

‘Where's Kelly?' Bryn asked

Penny had slept deeply but now as the events of the night before came rushing back and as she became aware of the empty space in the bed beside her she felt a frisson of alarm.

‘I don't know.'

‘How strange; I haven't seen anything of her.' He frowned.

‘She's probably in the bathroom.'

As she spoke Penny threw back the bedclothes, intending to go and look, then conscious that she was only wearing her brief slip she pulled them back over her again. ‘Bryn would you go and see if she is in there, please?' she asked.

‘Of course, but I'm pretty certain she isn't,' Bryn stated.

As soon as Bryn left the room Penny pulled the coverlet off the bed and wrapped it round her before going out on to the landing.

‘Have you found her?'

‘No!' Bryn looked perplexed. ‘She's not in the bathroom and I'm sure she's not in the living room but I'll check to make sure.'

Penny went back into her bedroom and hurriedly pulled on the clothes she'd been wearing the night before. She felt a sense of dread as she heard Bryn coming back.

‘She's not there,' he said, shaking his head in bewilderment.

‘You're sure you've looked everywhere?'

‘Yes, I've looked in every room in the flat, even the airing cupboard; everywhere except in my bedroom.'

Penny followed him to the door of his room. Like all the other rooms in the flat it was sparsely furnished and contained only a single bed, a washstand, a bedside table and a fitted wardrobe. There was absolutely nowhere for Kelly to hide.

As he was about to come out of the room Bryn stopped by the bedside table.

‘What is it?'

‘I left some money there last night; it was about three pounds in small change.'

They looked at each other their eyes full of unasked questions knowing that there was only one person who could have taken it.

‘Wait a minute.' Penny went back into her own bedroom and then came out again almost immediately.

‘Her clean clothes are gone. I think she's run away again,' she said uneasily.

‘It certainly looks like it. Why? Why on earth would she want to run away when she has found you?'

‘Maybe she overheard us talking about her last night and you saying that we must inform the police and that she would be taken back to St Saviour's Remand Home again.'

‘You could be right,' Bryn agreed. ‘I wonder where she's gone this time?'

‘I have no idea at all. It means we'll have to start looking for her all over again.'

‘I can't do anything this morning because I have patients waiting to see me,' Bryn reminded her. ‘All I can do is telephone the police and let them know what has happened.'

‘Don't do that, not yet. Give me a chance to look for her,' Penny begged. ‘I'll go round to the Murphys and see if they can help. Even if Ellen doesn't know, young Paddy may have some idea where she might be.

It was almost mid-morning before Penny went to see Ellen Murphy. First of all she called round to see Ma Reilly and question her about where Kelly might be hiding out.

‘Well she's not here,' Ma Reilly assured her. She frowned in concentration. ‘I can't think where on earth the little varmint would be. Have you asked her mother?'

‘No, I'm on my way there now but I wanted to speak to you first and see if you had any ideas,' Penny explained.

‘Well, you'd better come on in and have a cuppa while we talk about it. I might be able to think of somewhere.'

Seated in Ma Reilly's clean and comfortable kitchen drinking a cup of tea, Penny felt some of her tension ease.

‘Now, why would young Kelly scarper again,' Ma Reilly ruminated as she stirred some sugar into her tea and looked questioningly at Penny.

‘I have no idea why she's gone or where she is,' Penny stated.

‘I wonder if she's gone over to Wallasey, back to your place?' Ma Reilly asked.

‘She certainly wouldn't do that,' Penny said quickly. ‘She didn't settle there,' she added by way of explanation.

‘No, so I gathered,' Ma Reilly said with a grim smile. ‘From what she told me your folks thought she was a little guttersnipe.'

She took a mouthful of tea then placed her cup back in its saucer. ‘Have you told the police about what's been happening?'

‘No!' Penny shook her head vehemently. ‘Not yet we haven't.'

‘You intend to do so though?' The old woman's sharp eyes demanded the truth.

‘We were talking about it last night but I persuaded Bryn to put off doing it until today. Then this happened,' Penny admitted, her voice trailing off uncertainly.

‘Do you think that Kelly might have heard what the two of you were saying?'

‘I don't think she did. She was tucked up in bed and we had gone into the sitting room. As far as I know she was asleep.'

‘As far as you know!' Ma Reilly smoothed down her skirt. ‘She's a crafty little thing. I'd bet my last tanner she was listening and heard every word you said.'

Penny frowned. ‘And you believe that is why she has run away?'

Ellen Murphy was no help at all. She came to the basement door with the baby clutched in her arms and peered through her curtain of bedraggled hair at Penny in a suspicious manner.

‘Well, what is it you want this time,' she asked ungraciously, making no attempt to ask Penny to step inside.

‘Has Kelly been here or do you have any idea where she might be?' Penny asked bluntly.

‘I haven't seen sight nor sound of her. You called last night to say you'd found her,' Ellen said irritably. ‘What with you and the rozzers banging on the door asking me questions about her I don't get a minute's peace.'

‘Have the police been here today?' Penny asked ignoring Ellen's sullen manner.

‘Course they have; they're still looking for her aren't they or so they says.'

‘You didn't tell them that she was staying at Dr Cash's place with me did you?' Penny asked in alarm.

‘What sort of nark do you take me for?' Ellen asked huffily. ‘I've spent too many years protecting my lot from the rozzers to do a daft thing like that. Anyway, why've you come here asking me where she is; she's with you isn't she?'

‘Kelly's run away again.'

‘When she do that?' Ellen scowled, humping the baby on to her shoulder and patting its back.

‘We're not sure. She was sharing a bed with me but when I woke up this morning she'd already gone. She's also taken some money belonging to Dr Cash.'

‘Bigger fool him to leave it lying around when he knew he'd got a little tea leaf in the place,' Ellen Murphy chortled.

‘I've been round to Mrs Reilly's but Kelly's not been there; she's not seen her.'

‘So? What do you want me to do about it?' Ellen Murphy asked belligerently. ‘You said you'd look after her the same as you did last time and look what's happened again.'

‘Have you any idea where she might have gone?' Penny persisted, ignoring the taunt.

‘I've already told you that I haven't seen her and don't know where she is. Now go away and leave me in peace.'

‘What about Paddy, would he know where Kelly might be?' Penny asked as Ellen Murphy made to shut the door.

‘How the hell can he know anything about where she is when he's locked up in a remand home?' Ellen countered.

‘Sorry that's true. What about his friends, would Kelly have gone to one of them to help her?'

‘He ain't got any friends. Now bugger off and leave me and mine alone. There's trouble of one kind or another every time you comes here.'

Resignedly, Penny climbed the basement steps back into Cannon Court. As she walked away and turned into the main road someone touched her on the arm.

‘I know where Kelly Murphy is,' a voice muttered softly.

‘You do?' Penny stopped abruptly and looked searchingly at the scruffy youth who had approached her. He was down at heel and wearing a ragged striped shirt and dirty grey flannels. His face was pockmarked from acne and she noticed that one of his front teeth was broken.

‘Tell me then, where is she?'

‘What's in it for me?' he asked eyeing her up and down in a calculating way.

‘I don't understand what you mean?' Penny asked hesitantly.

‘Make it worth my while and then I'll tell you.' He grinned, moving so close to her that she felt intimidated.

‘You mean you want me to pay you for the information?' she asked as she drew back to get away from the smell of his foul breath.

He nodded and held out a grubby hand.

Penny opened her handbag and took out her purse. She looked at him questioningly; she had no idea how much she ought to offer him.

‘Give us a tenner,' he demanded.

‘Ten pounds!'

‘Go on, you can afford it,' he leered.

Penny hesitated. She wasn't sure about handing that much money over to him without some proof that he really did know where Kelly was. She had a feeling that once he had the money in his hands then he would probably make off and she'd never see him again.

‘Ten pounds,' she repeated slowly. ‘I tell you what: I'll give you half now and the other half when you take me to Kelly,' she offered taking a white five-pound note from her purse.

‘No, I want it all now, up front,' he said in a surly voice. ‘I ain't going to be seen going over to New Brighton with the likes of you.'

‘Why ever not?'

‘Rozzers would think I was going to nick something off you and would pick me up before we even got as far as the Pier Head.'

Penny looked thoughtful. She knew there was a grain of truth in what he said but she still wasn't sure if he really knew where Kelly was. If he did, then could she trust him to tell her the truth, she wondered.

She looked down at the money she was still holding in her hand. He had made no attempt to snatch it from her, she reasoned, so perhaps she was judging him too harshly simply because of his appearance.

‘Very well,' she agreed. ‘If you tell me exactly where Kelly has gone, and how you know, then you can have all the money, the whole ten pounds you've asked for.'

He grinned widely, showing so many brown broken teeth that it sent a shudder through her.

‘Kelly Murphy's gone across to New Brighton,' he told her. ‘She's joining up with Bilkie's Circus over there.'

‘How on earth do you know that?' Penny gasped sceptically.

‘Spoke to her earlier on this morning. I was down by the docks and I saw her. She was wandering around like a stray cat.'

‘You saw her go on to one of the ferry boats?'

‘Better than that, I took her over there. We went on the
Royal Daffodil
. She said that the police were looking for her and she was running away because if they found her then they'd send her back to St Saviour's Remand Home again. I felt sorry for her so I told her the best thing she could do was to join the circus.'

‘And she believed you?' Penny asked incredulously.

‘She's gone ain't she and you and that doctor fellow don't know where she is.'

‘Why would she want to join the circus?' Penny mused.

‘To get right away from Liverpool and St Saviour's and so as the rozzers can't find her.'

‘If she's only in New Brighton it will be easy enough for them to find her,' Penny pointed out.

‘The circus is in New Brighton now but they'll be packing up any day and moving back to Spain because that's what they always do when the season is over.'

‘You say they are called Bilkie's?'

‘That's right. Everyone knows them. They're a star attraction and they're in the grounds of the Tower Ballroom. They've got a circus of wild animals as well as roundabouts, swing boats, coconut shies, boxing booths and all sorts of other sideshows. Ask for Ferdy Bilkie; he's the big boss man and he'll know where she is.'

‘How do you know all this?' Penny repeated dubiously.

‘Everybody as what goes to New Brighton knows them,' he said scornfully.

‘You seem to know a lot about them, though,' Penny persisted. ‘Why did you tell Kelly to go there and how do you know the name of the man who runs it?'

‘I used to work for them; taking tickets on the carousel.'

‘Really!' Penny looked at him in surprise. He was so scruffy that she couldn't imagine anyone employing him. ‘What happened? Why don't you work for them now?'

The boy looked uncomfortable, then he grinned. ‘Ferdy caught me nicking some of the takings so he booted me out,' he explained with an air of bravado.

Penny bit down on her bottom lip wondering how much of this scruffy boy's story she could believe. Somehow, even to her critical ears there was a ring of truth in it.