The Mersey Daughter (Empire Street #3)(79)

‘Glad to hear it.’ Danny was about to gently tease her some more when one of the neighbours, Mrs Pinkerton, stopped by the gutter and pointed.

‘Well, look who it is.’ Her face was a mixture of delight and malice. ‘Winnie Kennedy’s illegitimate daughter! Where do you think you’re going? This is a shelter for respectable folk and space is limited, I’ll have you know.’

Ruby froze to the spot in shock, gazing at the woman in horror.

‘Cat got your tongue, has it?’ the woman went on, seizing on her target’s weakness. ‘I should think so; you can’t have anything good to say for yourself. I wonder you have the nerve to walk down our street, bastard that you are.’

Sarah gasped at the woman’s crass rudeness. Rita had warned her that the news had got out, but she hadn’t thought anything about it in the urgency to help the girl to the shelter. Now the angry woman was blocking their way, her shoulders drawn back in self-righteousness. What Sarah didn’t know, because Rita hadn’t known either, was if any of the gossip had reached Ruby’s ears. Had she realised the old woman with whom she shared a house, who treated her with such contempt, was actually her mother? From Ruby’s reaction now, Sarah would have guessed not.

‘What?’ she breathed, her face white in the remaining light. ‘What is she saying, Sarah?’

‘Don’t you listen to her, we need to get to the shelter,’ Sarah said firmly, linking her arm more tightly around Ruby’s. ‘She’s just making trouble because she’s got nothing better to do.’ She stared straight at Mrs Pinkerton, as if daring her to interfere any further.

Danny stepped in, using all his charm. ‘Now then, Mrs Pinkerton, we all need to get to the end of the street, so how’s about you turn around and come with us. Let’s not be having any more of these silly rumours.’ He could see the woman had the potential to cause a whole lot of trouble, which was the last thing they needed at the moment.

‘Don’t you soft-soap me, Danny Callaghan.’ Mrs Pinkerton was having none of it. ‘You might use that voice on all them silly young girls to get them to drop their knickers, but I can tell you it won’t wash with me.’

Danny closed his eyes in momentary horror at the image. He’d never used his looks or voice to seduce girls, although he could have if he’d wanted to. He certainly didn’t want to use them on Mrs Pinkerton. ‘Now then, let’s not say anything we might regret,’ he began, trying to pour oil on troubled waters. ‘If you’d just step aside …’

‘I’ll do no such thing.’ The woman was getting more and more enraged, oblivious to the danger they were all now in. ‘She’s not coming into the shelter and that’s all there is to it. I’m amazed she has the gall to walk down the street. We don’t want your sort here,’ she turned her rage from Danny to Ruby, ‘so you can bloody well find somewhere else to hide. You’re a disgrace, and your mother is no better, putting on all those airs and graces for years, pretending she was better than everyone, looking down her nose at her customers. Well, it’s not going to work any more.’

Sarah was just beginning to realise that half the problem was that Mrs Pinkerton hadn’t been one of Winnie’s cronies; she would have missed out on all the black-market luxury goods available only to the select few, so was using this as an excuse to blacken Winnie’s name. But there wasn’t time to dwell on this, because she felt Ruby’s hand break free, and to her horror the girl began to run in the opposite direction to the shelter, down the dock road. Frantically Sarah turned and ran after her, shouting, but Ruby was fast and they could hear her terrified cries of ‘no, no, no …’

‘And good riddance!’ Mrs Pinkerton shouted in triumph, before heading into the shelter and slamming the big door shut.

Danny sped after the two young women, regardless of what such a pace would do to his damaged heart, and caught up with them just as the all-too-familiar drone of enemy aircraft began. ‘Come on,’ he said urgently. ‘Don’t mind her, Ruby, she’s just a poisonous old bag with nothing better to do. We’ve got to get to safety, we can’t stand around out here – we’re sitting targets if we do that.’

Sarah looked into the evening sky and could see the lights from the ground defences sweeping the edges of the clouds. The ack-ack guns would start any minute. Danny was right, they couldn’t stay out here. She shivered in apprehension.

‘Ruby, come on, don’t be daft. She’s talking nonsense. We have to get inside.’

Ruby trembled uncontrollably. ‘She hates me and I don’t know why. What does she mean about Winnie? What’s going on?’

‘She doesn’t hate you, she doesn’t even know you,’ Sarah said insistently, taking the girl’s arm once more and beginning to lead her back along the dock road. ‘You have to ignore what she said, or she’ll have won; she’ll have got her way and stopped you getting to safety. That’s right. Come with us. Danny, you take her other arm, look, we’re nearly there.’

Suddenly there was an enormous explosion and everywhere lit up, the docks illuminated in the orange glow as sparks flew and fires took hold.

Oh no, thought Sarah, we’re too late. She struggled to stand, shifting her treasured satchel so she could support Ruby. Danny glanced anxiously at her.