Winter on the Mersey(100)

‘Then we’ll just have to try somewhere else,’ she said.

Dolly came downstairs, having settled the twins down for a nap, to find no Violet and no Nancy. She knew she shouldn’t, but she felt a quick rush of relief at having a moment of quiet to herself. It was a rare thing in her house and she needed to make the most of it, to use it to gather her strength for whatever was to come. Dolly naturally looked on the bright side of things, but she was having a great deal of difficulty finding a bright side to this. Sarah attacked, Georgie missing – what was going on? She was prepared for tragedy when it was caused by the war. Even though she would never forget her beloved Eddy, she knew he had died in a just cause and for something he wholeheartedly believed in. However, this new turn of events had taken the wind out of her sails.

That wouldn’t do. She knew her family depended on her and she couldn’t let them down. She had to trust that the police would find out what had happened to Georgie and that Sarah’s own resilience would help her to cope with her injuries. She was still sleeping now and that was the best thing for her. Dolly herself must try to comfort Nancy and take care of Tommy when he woke, as well as trying to reassure the other members of the family.

She was under no illusions about Nancy, recognising her middle child would use every available ruse to get her own way and often shirk her responsibilities. Yet this morning had shown her, if Dolly had ever had any doubts, that Nancy genuinely loved her little boy and was heartbroken that he’d gone missing. Deep down her maternal instincts were there, despite what most people thought.

The back door banged and Violet came back in, pushing a hand through her lank hair which had been caught in the stiff wind.

Dolly took in the sight of her daughter-in-law, face pinched with worry, and knew she was extremely anxious for Georgie. The little boy had won the heart of everyone who’d ever looked after him. He’d done nothing to deserve this.

Violet glanced around the room. ‘Where are Nancy and Tommy? Are the twins all right?’

‘The place is deserted,’ Dolly said. ‘Don’t see that often, do we? Don’t worry, the babies have settled down nicely and Tommy was asleep, last I heard.’

Violet raised her hand to her forehead. ‘They’ve gone after him. I bet that’s what’s happened.’

Dolly was puzzled. ‘After Georgie? How would they know where to go?’

Violet sank down on one of the wooden chairs. ‘Because I told them about what Pop said ages ago. Do you remember? That he was sure he’d seen Alfie Delany hanging around Kitty’s front door after dark, and he’d run off as if he was up to no good. Tommy seemed to think it made sense. I asked them to stay here but—’

‘Well, they aren’t here now,’ Dolly said. ‘That Alfie Delaney is a wrong ’un if ever I saw one. I hope they know what they’re doing.’ Her face creased with worry. ‘I hope they aren’t putting themselves in danger.’

Nancy had racked her brains for any ideas as to where a person like Alfie Delaney might take off to, if he hadn’t gone to his mother or to his old place of work, but come up with nothing. ‘I’m not going home until we find him,’ she said firmly. ‘We’re doing no good there. If he makes his own way back, then Mam and Violet will see to him. We’re better out here, even if we’re just combing the streets.’

‘Suppose so,’ said Tommy, beginning to feel his lack of sleep. His feet were weary as he dragged them along the pavement, made heavier by the unshakeable guilt. He was the man of the place and yet he’d let them all down by failing to protect them, even though he’d bolted the back gate after propping up his bike.

His bike. When had Alfie talked to him about the bike? When he’d first hoped to get his job – and also at the pub. He’d seemed to know the man at the bar there, even though the recollection was hazy. But where was the pub? He hadn’t been drunk when Alfie had taken him there, only on the way back. It struck him that it might be a good place to hole up for a while, especially if you were trying to hide a child too. He struggled to picture the sign above the door, but he hadn’t been able to see it clearly at the time. All the same, if he could just remember the way there …

‘Nancy,’ he said, more lively now. ‘I’ve had an idea. But it’ll mean a bit of a walk. It could take a while.’

‘I don’t care,’ said Nancy at once. ‘You’ve had more to do with Alfie than I have. It’s worth a try.’

‘All right, well, we’re going to find the pub he drove me to a few months back. Do you know of any that have been done up quite recently? I don’t know its name, you see.’

Nancy shook her head. ‘Not round here.’ She thought fleetingly of the places she’d gone to with Gary, or way back with Stan, but they’d always taken care to avoid the area around her home. Then she consigned such thoughts to the past where they belonged. There was only one matter on her mind now. ‘I trust you. You lead the way.’

Half an hour later, and with her feet aching, Nancy was beginning to lose track of exactly where they were. It wasn’t an area she knew well, if at all. It seemed quiet, almost empty of people, with a lot of bomb damage in evidence. She could still smell the river though. She hoped Tommy knew what he was doing.

Tommy was growing in confidence with every step. This was the right road, he was sure of it, even though he’d been taken here at a completely different time of day. Looking about him at the area, he decided that if he’d wanted to lie low somewhere, this would be ideal. There was nobody around to ask awkward questions – not like where they lived, or down at the docks. You could probably disappear here for weeks and nobody would be any the wiser.