That was the very last thing Ray wanted her to do, but he showed no alarm. Instead, he draped an arm around Molly’s shoulder and said softly, ‘Look, around you, Molly. This sea of rubble used to be streets and streets of houses, and the people that once lived in them are filling the rescue centres. They are bursting at the seams. The raid you witnessed tonight was one of many. The city has been pounded since August.’
‘What, then?’ Molly asked helplessly.
‘Well,’ Ray said, ‘I am looking after a flat for a friend who can’t live in it at the moment. It’s the first floor of a house not far away and the place is completely empty. It would be somewhere to lay your head down for tonight, at least.’
How Molly longed to do just that, but maybe it wasn’t wise – not that the men had said or done anything remotely suggestive or improper, and Ray in particular had been kindness itself.
‘Neither of us has designs on you, so don’t think that,’ Ray said, and he spoke the truth for he was not attracted to women, men and boys being more his scene. And as for Charlie, though he would sample both, he liked his woman older, far more experienced and willing to indulge in fairly kinky sex. Girls like Molly did not interest him in the slightest.
When Ray said, ‘We won’t even be there; we both have our own places,’ the last of Molly’s reservations fled.
‘All right then,’ she said. ‘I would like to have the use of the flat for tonight at least.’
The house Ray took her to was on the end of a terraced row, and next to it was a wide entry bordered on the other side by a high wall that had once been part of a factory, until it had been decimated by the bombing. The house had been converted into two flats very skilfully, and both were completely self-contained.
Beyond the front door, stairs led to the flat on the first floor while the door underneath the stairs led to the groundfloor flat. In the flat itself, just inside the door, was a hallway. Charlie helped Molly off with her coat, and she took off her dusty hat and scarf too. As she pulled her money belt over her head, she said, ‘I had all my money in there. I was advised that it was the safest way to carry it.’
‘Quite right too,’ Ray said, putting it in the drawer of the cupboard next to the coat stand. ‘There are all sorts of strange people about today. Come on in and see the place.’
Molly was amazed when she saw the opulence of the flat, which even the blackout curtains couldn’t entirely spoil. The floor of the very large living room was carpeted and lit with two glittering chandeliers. And if that wasn’t luxurious enough, two maroon settees and an armchair, which Molly was sure were leather, were grouped around the gas fire with a shining brass fender. Two bureaus of dark wood were in the chimney alcoves, on top of one a fancy wireless, which it bore little resemblance to the one Tom had bought in Buncrana. Against the far wall was a shining, dark wooden dining table, and tucked beneath it were six chairs, again upholstered in maroon leather. And the whole place was heated by radiators.
‘It is absolutely marvellous,’ Molly said. ‘But, Ray, won’t your friend mind me just moving in like this?’
‘No, Molly, he’ll be pleased,’ Ray said. ‘And that is the honest truth. You wouldn’t know the way your old city is now. Empty properties are either occupied by squatters, who have been bombed out, or commandeered by the military. My friend has only got away with it so far because this is on the first floor. Anyway, it’s only for a few days.’
‘Yes, that’s right,’ Molly said. ‘He must have a fine job, this friend of yours.’
‘I wouldn’t know what he does,’ Ray said vaguely. ‘A bit of this and a bit of that.’
Molly thought it a funny sort of job, but she reminded herself that he was Ray’s friend and it really was none of her business. She contented herself with exploring the rest of the flat. There were two doors from the living room. One led to a sparkling kitchen that Molly knew it would be a pleasure to work in. At the other side of the room a door opened on to a small corridor with two further doors leading off that. The first was a bathroom and it had all manner of beauty products left there: body creams and lotions, even some cosmetics, as well as shampoos and soaps such as Molly had never seen in her life before. She wondered at the manner of woman, for it must have been a woman, who would leave all this behind, as if she had left in one hell of a hurry.
She shrugged. That wasn’t her problem and she was more than glad the things were available when she caught sight of herself, for her face was coated with dust and dirt, which was even gilding her eyelashes. Feeling a little daring, she filled the basin with water, which was piping hot, washed her hands and face with the delicious-smelling soap and dried them with the soft, fluffy towels left behind the door. Then she tidied her hair with the comb that she found in the little glass-fronted cabinet on the wall.
Feeling better and more refreshed, she went from there to the bedroom. The bed was very large and she noted the sheets were silk. The fact that they were black with cream edging was unnerving enough, but what really threw her were the mirrors on the ceiling and down the length of one wall. Then she knew that however lavish this place was, she would breath easier when she was away from it.
Back in the main room, the men had opened a bottle of brandy that they said they had found in the cabinet part of the bureau and they had a glass filled for her too, diluted with lemonade. There was something else added to Molly’s glass, which would make her sleep like the dead, for Ray said he didn’t want to come back and find the bird had flown, though he would take the precaution of locking the door.
Molly’s heart sank. She was incredibly tired and would have preferred to seek her bed, even with the black silk sheets, but she knew Ray and Charlie only meant to be kind.
‘I have never tasted alcohol,’ she said, lifting the glass and sniffing apprehensively.
‘Bout time you did then,’ Charlie said. ‘What age are you, anyway? Sixteen? Seventeen?’
‘I was eighteen in February,’ Molly said.
‘Then the brandy will do you no harm at all, and once you have it drunk you will sleep like a top.’
‘I think I would sleep well enough without the brandy.’
‘It’ll be better with, trust me,’ Charlie said. ‘Isn’t that right, Ray?’
‘It’s right,’ Ray said. ‘And when you have it drunk then we will leave you to sleep the sleep of the just. So let us toast the fact that we met up with you tonight.’
Oh, Molly had no trouble toasting that. She didn’t dare think of what might have happened to her if she hadn’t met up with these lovely men. ‘Down the hatch,’ Charlie said as the glasses chinked. Molly took a large swallow and found she liked the taste, and accepted another when she found her glass empty.
But when she had finished that one, she felt very peculiar. She knew Ray and Charlie were talking, but she wasn’t able to register what they were saying. Her head had begun to swim quite alarmingly and when she tried to speak, her voice was befuddled and she couldn’t remember what she had wanted to say.
‘I would say you are a wee bit drunk,’ Ray said with a smile.
Molly tried to say she was sorry but her tongue seemed to have swollen to twice its normal size and what came out was just gobbledegook. Ray and Charlie laughed.
‘Come on,’ Ray said. ‘We’ll help you to bed and be on our way.’
Molly tried to say she didn’t need help, but she was unable to form the words, and when she tried to stand, she found she couldn’t do that either. It was as if her legs belonged to someone else. The two men carried her to the bedroom and laid her on the bed, where her eyes closed of their own volition.
‘What are you doing?’ Charlie asked as Ray began easing Molly’s jumper up.
‘Undressing her.’
‘But,