Winter on the Mersey(99)

Nancy looked at Tommy. ‘We don’t need to stay here for the twins. Mam can cope fine without our help. We should go and see if we can find that Alfie.’

For a moment Tommy looked dubious, and terribly young. Then he nodded. ‘Come on then.’





CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE


Mrs Kerrigan was beside herself when the policeman broke the news to her. ‘That Nancy is a useless mother!’ she screamed. ‘I’ll have her guts for garters, losing the boy like that.’

‘Now, Mrs Kerrigan,’ said the officer, watching the woman’s wild eyes with alarm, ‘there’s no suggestion it was your daughter-in-law’s fault. As I understand it, she wasn’t even there. The boy was staying with her sister and young friend and a burglar broke in. That’s all we know.’

Mrs Kerrigan was having none of it. ‘And where was she, the little trollop? She thinks I don’t know what goes on, but I do. She’s a filthy stop-out, and now look where it’s got her. My poor grandson,’ she added with belated concern.

‘So you’ve no idea where he might be?’ the policeman persisted.

‘Run away as far as he can from her, I shouldn’t wonder.’ The woman was working herself up into a proper state. ‘I’ve a good mind to go round there and give her a piece of my mind.’ She turned to the kitchen table and grabbed her handbag.

‘Now, Mrs Kerrigan, wouldn’t it be more sensible to stay here in case he takes it into his head to come home?’ the officer suggested, but the woman was adamant.

‘I’m going to see my daughter-in-law right away and you can’t stop me,’ she told him. ‘There are things that have needed saying for a long time. I blame myself, staying quiet for as long as I have done. So now I’m not staying quiet any longer. Someone’s got to put that young woman right, and it doesn’t look as if anyone else is going to do it.’ She reached for her coat hanging on a hook beside the back door. ‘If you’ll excuse me.’ She held the door open.

‘We’d better go down to his road to see if the car’s there,’ Tommy suggested, happier now that they were actually out and doing something. ‘I reckon I could spot it easily, seeing as what I’ve been in it.’

Nancy agreed, as it seemed as good a place to start as anywhere. She was tormented by thoughts of what Alfie might do to her boy. What could he possibly know about small children? Would he have thought to give Georgie a blanket or something warm, or was he wandering around in his faded pyjamas? She shuddered at the idea but could not banish the fear from her mind.

Just before the turning to the Delaneys’ road, they caught sight of a small, angry-looking figure marching towards them.

‘Quick,’ said Nancy, pulling Tommy back and into the mouth of one of the alleys that ran along the back yards of the terraces. ‘It’s Sid’s mam. She hasn’t moved that fast for years. She must have heard.’

‘Won’t she want to help?’ Tommy asked.

‘Not her,’ spat Nancy. ‘She’ll be coming round to gloat. She’ll add it to her collection of things to be sad about, that’s what she’s like.’

Tommy stared at the mouth of the alley as the woman passed by, looking neither to left nor right, face set rigid with purpose. ‘She doesn’t look very friendly,’ he admitted.

Nancy pursed her lips. ‘She doesn’t know what a friend is. At best it’s someone to moan to. Horrible old bag. To think they asked me if Georgie would have run off to go back to her. He can’t bear her, and all she’s interested in is making sure he looks good so it’ll reflect well on her. But the poor little fellow, and he’s only just got over that cough, and this will make him worse again. Sorry,’ she added, taking one look at Tommy’s dismayed expression. ‘It’s nothing to do with you, so forget what I said.’

‘Okey doke,’ he said apprehensively. ‘Shall we go on now?’

They threaded their way down the alley and out at the end nearest Alfie’s house. Tommy gazed along the road. ‘It’s not here.’

‘Are you sure?’ Nancy demanded.

‘Of course I am. I’d recognise it anywhere,’ Tommy assured her. ‘Maybe he’s gone down to the docks? He works there, doesn’t he?’

‘I don’t really know my way around there,’ Nancy said nervously, but Tommy was confident.

‘I do though. Danny used to work there, so I went there all the time when I was young. I’ll be able to search all the likely places he could hide a car, no bother.’

Nancy allowed him to guide her down to the docks, where she felt extremely conspicuous in her glamorous coat and heels, but beyond a few astonished looks, most of the dockers paid her very little attention. She’d been so upset she hadn’t even thought to put on something more sensible before coming out again. Tommy ran swiftly around all the places he could think of, mostly where he used to hide when his brother wanted to fetch him home, but again he drew a blank. He knew just about every possible spot where a vehicle of that size could have been tucked away, but it was in none of them.

‘It’s no good,’ he told Nancy disconsolately, hands shoved in his pockets as he came back to meet her. The wind was whipping off the river, and her hair, for once not immaculately styled, was flying wildly around her face. For a moment he thought she was going to cry but she fought it. Instead she nodded briefly and lifted her chin.