Beyond the Sunset Page 32

  ‘I’ll call you a cab,’ Ralph said. ‘You really shouldn’t walk through the streets in your indoor clothes, with no hat.’

  She looked down ruefully at herself. ‘I was so angry I didn’t think about that. I doubt I’ll ever make a fine lady.’

  ‘I think you’re a very fine lady already,’ Ralph said. ‘And one whose heart is in the right place.’

  When Harry saw her come home in a cab and go straight up to the living quarters, he waited. She didn’t come down again, didn’t come into his shop.

  As the day passed there were no messages from the lawyer, either.

  By closing time he was jubilant, knew then that he was winning. Even Dawson could see how well he was doing and wasn’t prepared to sack him or go against what he was doing.

  He looked thoughtfully at Zachary, who was serving a customer, smiling and chatting to her. You next, he promised himself. I’ll take that smile off your stupid horse face, you long streak of nothing. And I’ll get rid of you once and for all.

  21

  There was a tap on the door later that evening and when Dot opened it, a lad gave her a note addressed to Miss Blake.

  ‘Don’t you want to wait for an answer?’

  ‘He said there’d be no answer.’

  She took the note upstairs, wondering who had sent it.

  Alice was out at her cousins’. Pandora waited to open the note till the maid had gone, because she’d recognised Zachary’s handwriting.

  I need to see you. I’ll come round to the back door shortly.

  Zachary

  She went running down the stairs to the kitchen. ‘Zachary’s coming round to see me, Dot. Can we open the side gate?’

  ‘Mr Prebble has the keys to the padlock.’

  ‘Surely we have some keys as well?’

  ‘I don’t think so. Mr Dawson took them all after they locked the mistress away. If he didn’t give them back to you, he’s still got them.’

  ‘Oh, no!’

  ‘Shall I go out the back and tell Zachary when he comes that we can’t open the gate? He could come in the front way, after all.’

  ‘No. He doesn’t want to be seen.’ At least she’d get to speak to him even if it was through the wooden gate.

  She went outside and waited till she heard the latch rattle. ‘Zachary? Is that you?’

  ‘Yes. Can you open the gate, Pandora love?’

  ‘No, I can’t. I’ve not got the key. Oh, Zachary, I’d have loved to chat to you.’

  ‘I’ll climb over the gate, then. Stand back.’

  She stood back and in the light from the kitchen window, saw his head appear. He scrambled over the top of the gate, laughing as he landed beside her. She didn’t wait for him to come to her, but flung herself into his arms. And this time he kissed her passionately, hungrily, as she’d dreamed of.

  With a shaky laugh, he pulled back a little. ‘Let’s go inside.’

  There was no sign of Dot as they walked through the kitchen, but as they climbed the stairs together Pandora heard someone bolt the outside kitchen door. She knew Dot was always very careful to do that.

  In the parlour Zachary held her at arm’s length, his eyes searching her face. What he saw there seemed to make him happy because he pulled her towards him, folding her into his arms as he said, ‘I love you so much, Pandora. I can’t hold back any longer. I don’t want to lose you.’

  ‘You won’t.’ She lifted her face for another kiss and lost herself in the bliss of it all.

  When the kiss ended, he held her for a moment or two, then said quietly, ‘Let’s sit down. We need to talk.’

  She led the way to the sofa, sitting with his right arm round her shoulders, clasping his left hand tightly in hers.

  ‘I was so sorry you had to be humiliated,’ he said. ‘When you didn’t return and there was no message from Mr Featherworth, Harry was cock-a-hoop, never stopped sneering at me, kept boasting that the lawyer knew how to value a good manager and must have set you right about who was in charge.’

  ‘He’ll find out how wrong he is soon. But it is embarrassing and I shan’t dare come into the shop again till it’s all settled.’

  ‘You’re better staying away from him anyway.’ Zachary hesitated, taking her hand and raising it to his lips for a moment. ‘You were followed when you went to visit Bill’s family and you’re probably followed every time you go out. Harry’s got a lot of cousins. One of them was following me earlier today.’

  She stiffened. ‘What if he followed you tonight?’

  ‘I was very careful. I left our house by the back door and stopped a couple of times to make sure no one was following me.’ He laughed. ‘What can he accuse me of anyway? Climbing over your gate?’

  ‘Who knows what that nasty little worm will do next?’

  ‘Something rash, I hope. I need to catch him in the act of taking something or fiddling the accounts. If nothing happens, I’m going to ask Mr Dawson to let me into the shop at night and I’ll go through every page of the account books. I know he’s done that already, but I may be able to spot something he’d miss.’

  She suddenly remembered the account book that Prebble had hidden and told Zachary about it.

  ‘There, that’s something to search for. I’ll definitely speak to Mr Dawson.’

  After a few minutes, he broke off a kiss to say, ‘I’d better go before I do something we’ll both regret.’

  ‘I’d not regret anything we did.’

  ‘Pandora, my darling, when I make you mine, I want it to be perfect. I don’t want to have to sneak out of the back door afterwards.’

  When he’d gone, climbing over the gate again, she sat for a while, smiling at nothing, feeling warm and loved.

  She didn’t say anything to Alice about the purpose of Zachary’s visit, but agreed to go with her friend the following morning to help out at a reading class held at the Methodist Chapel Hall for girls who were out of work. It’d give her something to do until this mess was settled and keep her out of the way of Prebble.

  The following morning when Zachary went to work, Harry told him to go and serve in the shop. He was glad to get away from the other man’s nasty remarks and sneers and always enjoyed looking after customers.

  Just before nine o’clock he looked out of the window and saw Pandora leave the house with Alice. He smiled at the mere sight of her.

  Soon afterwards Harry came out and said, ‘I have to see Mr Dawson. You’re in charge of the shop while I’m away, Carr.’

  Half an hour later, Harry came back accompanied by two policemen. ‘Can we speak to you for a moment, Carr?’ He led the way through the shop without waiting for an answer.

  Puzzled, Zachary handed over his customer to one of the others and followed them into the packing room.

  ‘Did you climb over the side gate to the back yard last night at about nine o’clock, Mr Carr?’ one policeman asked.

  The little worm had had him followed even after work! ‘Yes, I did.’

  ‘May I ask why, sir?’

  ‘It was private.’ He wasn’t having Pandora brought into this.

  ‘Go and look at the back storeroom, Carr!’ Harry ordered, looking as swollen with importance as a crowing cock.

  He stared at the two of them in bafflement but did as they asked. The lock on the back door had been forced and the shelves in the other storeroom were missing some of the more expensive items. ‘Have we had a break-in?’

  ‘You know very well we have,’ Harry snapped. ‘Because you did it.’

  ‘I did not. I didn’t go into the shop at all last night.’

  ‘The stolen goods have been found in your coalhouse,’ the sergeant said.

  ‘What? Well, I didn’t put them there.’

  ‘Zachary Carr, I arrest you for theft, breaking and entering. I must ask you to accompany me to the police station.’

  As he left the shop between the two policemen, Zachary looked round for Marshall, hoping the other would go for Mr Dawson, but saw no si
gn of him. The shopmen turned away from him, looking embarrassed, but the new lad grinned openly.

  Not wanting to make a scene he walked along between the policemen. When they arrived at the station and he was formally charged, he asked them to contact Mr Featherworth and one of them laughed at him.

  ‘What would a lawyer like that have to do with a common thief like you? Anyway, Mr Prebble has already assured us that Mr Featherworth is leaving this matter in his hands. He’s suspected you were the thief because the goods only started vanishing after you got back. He reckons you must have overspent on your journey and be short of money.’

  ‘That’s not true! Mr Featherworth will—’

  ‘Look, we found the goods at your home. It’s an open and shut case, so you might as well save us all a lot of trouble and plead guilty. You’ll be brought before the magistrate for a hearing later this morning, then committed for trial.’

  ‘But if you fetch Mr Featherworth or Mr Dawson, his clerk, either of them can prove I’m innocent.’

  They chuckled as they locked him up, ignoring his pleas to send for the lawyer’s clerk.

  Dot was dusting the hall and she watched out of the small side window in surprise as Mr Prebble arrived at the shop with two policemen. Wondering what was going on, she continued watching and to her dismay saw the policemen come out again a few minutes later with Zachary between them, looking like a prisoner. What had happened? She was sure he’d never do anything wrong.

  She hesitated then decided she’d better go and tell Miss Blake about this.

  When she tried to go out, however, a man stepped from the side alley and barred her way.

  ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘Shopping. Hey, what do you think you’re doing? Let me past.’

  ‘Mr Prebble thinks you should stay at home this morning.’

  ‘I’ve got things to buy for my mistress.’

  ‘Where’s your basket, then?’ He gave her a shove back into the hall and tried to follow her inside. She began to scream for help and got in a good kick to a very tender place before he realised how hard she was prepared to fight.

  As he drew his fist back to thump her, the door banged fully open again and two other men pushed into the hall. More of Prebble’s men! Despair filled her.

  Marshall came up from the cellar where he’d been doing some tidying up for Prebble just as the policemen took Zachary away. He stood staring in shock, not certain what to do about it.

  Prebble came into the shop. ‘Ah, Marshall, I need some more butter bringing up from the cellar.’

  He went to get it, deciding to nip out and see Mr Dawson as soon as Prebble’s back was turned.

  It wasn’t till he heard the cellar door bang shut behind him and a key turn in the lock that he realised he’d been tricked.

  Growling in anger, he rushed up the narrow stone stairs to bang on the door. But it was very solid and he knew he couldn’t kick it down from here.

  He went to find some of the chopping and cutting tools, hoping to use them to break the lock, but they were missing.

  Prebble had clearly prepared carefully for this.

  Lighting a lamp and muttering under his breath, Marshall began to explore the cellar, but the window that led on to the light well beneath the pavement outside had bars across it.

  As he looked out he saw Prebble walk across the grating – hard to mistake those boots with extra thick soles – heading into town.

  There had to be a way to get out of here. There just had to be!

  Pandora enjoyed helping at the reading class. The first people she saw were some girls she’d worked with in the mill. They gave her half-smiles but hesitated, as if uncertain whether to approach her, so she went across to them and they spent some time catching up on news.

  ‘Congratulations on being left the shop!’ one of them said. ‘You won’t go hungry ever again, you lucky thing.’

  She smiled. ‘The shop was left to me and my sisters, so I only own a quarter of it.’

  ‘I’d be happy with a tenth,’ one said.

  ‘I know. I am lucky. How’s your mother, Janet, and . . .?’

  No one stopped them chatting or snapped at them to get on with their work. The atmosphere in these classes was so different from those she’d once attended, run by the Vicar. For all his calling, that gentleman seemed to believe that poorer people were all stupid and lazy, and treated them accordingly.

  She looked across the room at Mrs Rainey, the Minister’s wife, who was smiling at the girls and treating them just as politely as if they were ladies. It was a peaceful and happy scene, with those attending making great efforts to correct and improve their reading.

  For a moment all hung in the balance then the man who’d attacked Dot pushed past the two who’d followed him in, taking them by surprise and running off down the street.

  One of the men followed him to the door then turned with a shrug. ‘That’s got rid of him, anyway. Wish it was as easy to get rid of that Harry Prebble. Are you all right, lass?’

  She sagged against the wall for a moment in relief. ‘Yes. I am now.’

  ‘He didn’t hurt you?’

  ‘No.’ She suddenly remembered what she’d been trying to do. ‘I have to find my mistress. The police have taken Zachary away. I don’t know what he’s supposed to have done – well, he’d never do anything wrong – but she needs to know so she can help him.’

  One of them frowned. ‘I saw them go. I can’t think now why Marshall hasn’t come out to let us know what’s going on. You’d think he’d be off at once to tell Mr Dawson, too.’ He stood thinking for a minute, then said, ‘You go with this lass, Gordon. I’ll go into the shop and speak to Marshall.’

  ‘All right, Daniel lad, but be careful. Prebble might have left, but his cousin went in after they took Zachary away and the shop lad’s one of them, too.’

  ‘Pete’s just down the road.’ Daniel put two fingers to his lips and whistled shrilly. Another man hurried towards them ‘With two of us, I think we can hold our own. Marshall told me them two shopmen wouldn’t say boo to a goose.’

  With a sigh of relief that she’d not be on her own, Dot locked the front door behind her and hurried off down the street towards the Methodist Chapel Hall.

  ‘I thought at first you were with that man who tried to stop me,’ she told her companion.

  ‘No, we’re friends of Marshall Worth. We’ve been keeping an eye on things for him and Mr Dawson. I’d not give them Prebbles the time of day.’

  When they arrived at the hall she saw Pandora across the room and ran to her, heedless of how everyone stared.

  ‘They’ve taken Zachary away.’

  ‘Who have?’

  ‘The police. And one of Prebble’s cousins tried to stop me coming after you.’

  ‘Do you know why they took him?’

  ‘No. But I came for you as soon as I could. Gordon here helped me get away.’

  Once again Pandora ran through the streets without her hat or jacket. She couldn’t imagine why the police had taken Zachary, but she could definitely guess who was behind it.

  Whatever Mr Featherworth said, she was going to sack Harry Prebble – but not till she’d sorted out Zachary’s problem. He’d never do anything against the law, she was quite certain of that.

  She couldn’t bear to think of him locked up, treated like a criminal.

  As Daniel and his friend walked into the shop, one of the shopmen came towards them. ‘Can I help you?’

  ‘We need to see Marshall Worth. It’s urgent.’

  ‘He’s busy.’

  The door to the packing room opened and Harry’s cousin came out, proving he’d been listening. ‘Worth is working. I’m keeping an eye on things for Harry, who’s had to go out. He won’t want Marshall chatting to his friends in work time, though.’

  ‘I told you, it’s urgent.’

  ‘Marshall can see you after he finishes work.’

  Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel saw the sho
p lad smirking in the doorway to the room at the back, and was suddenly certain that something was going on here as well as at the police station.

  He moved quickly forward, shoving Harry’s cousin before him with a flat hand to the chest.

  ‘What do you think you’re—’

  The shop lad rushed forward to help but Daniel’s companion held him back, while the other two struggled. A woman customer let out a little shriek and rushed outside.

  ‘Help us!’ called the cousin.

  The two shopmen hesitated. One backed away but the other said suddenly, ‘They’ve locked Marshall in the cellar.’

  ‘I’ll see you’re fired when Harry comes back!’ the cousin yelled.

  Daniel found it easy to twist his arm behind his back, because like most Prebbles, he wasn’t a big man. ‘Where’s the cellar?’

  ‘None of your business.’

  The door leading from the shop into the packing room opened and he tensed, wondering if someone else had come to help Prebble. But it was the shopman who’d spoken out, the one who’d just been told he was fired.

  ‘I’ll show you where the cellar is.’ He went across to a rack of keys, reached out then his hand stilled in mid-air. ‘The key’s not here.’

  Daniel gave his captive a shake. ‘Where is it?’

  The smaller man just glared at him.

  ‘Feel in his pockets while I hold him still.’

  The shopman did so and in spite of the man’s struggles, he managed to extract the key. He hurried along the narrow packing room and unlocked the cellar door.

  Daniel said to his companion. ‘You help keep an eye on these sods!’ and started down the cellar steps, calling, ‘Marshall lad, are you there?’

  ‘Aye. What took you so long?’

  Footsteps clattered towards him and Marshall ran up the steps two at a time. He saw the captive and stopped at the top, grinning.

  ‘You’ll be sorry,’ Harry’s cousin said. ‘And you’ll be too late to help Carr, anyway. He’ll have been committed for trial now by the magistrate and they can’t just let him out after that. He’s been stealing from the shop and Harry’s gone to give evidence.’

  ‘I’d better let Mr Dawson know,’ Marshall said. ‘He’ll soon sort it out. Keep them two Prebbles here, lads. I’ve a few bones to pick with them when I get back.’