‘Could be right,’ Will said. ‘And Ray would have probably picked you up at the station.’
‘I can’t believe that you were mixed up with people like these,’ Betty said.
‘We’ve been through that, Betty,’ Will said, ‘And Christmas Day is not the time to discuss it further. Give Molly your parcels.’
Betty had bought Molly a winter coat. It was dark brown, very stylish, and fitted with a half-belt fastened at the back. The collar and cuffs were trimmed with velvet the exact same shade as the things Will had bought. Ruby gave Molly a pair of fur-lined brown boots.
‘I haven’t been so well dressed for years,’ Molly said in delight at the lovely things chosen just for her. This was true, for through the day she was also wearing Betty’s clothes that she was too big to fit into now.
All through that wonderful Christmas Day and days following, the memories, so long hidden from her, began to flit across Molly’s mind. They weren’t in any order or sequence, and she struggled to make sense of them, but she rejoiced in each one and stored it away. It was New Year’s Eve before she had them in some order and could tell Will, Betty and Ruby about her earlier life.
She told of why she had been forced to go to Ireland and of the years there, and the note from her brother that had sent her scurrying back. She told them how she had met Ray and Charlie at New Street Station, and the raid that so unnerved her.
‘Ray, in particular, seemed so kind and terribly considerate of my fears. The first shelter we were in was caught in the blast of a bomb. It was utter mayhem and I ended up leaving my case behind with everything in it. It was crushed when the shelter collapsed. Without Ray and Charlie that night I would have been lost and so I sort of marked them down as good people, you know?’ She sighed and went on. ‘That allayed any suspicions I might have had about them. After that, it all gets a bit hazy. I suppose that was the drugs, wasn’t it?’
Will nodded. ‘I’d say so. It’s how they usually work. I know little about that side of things, but from what I hear, the girls taken to the whorehouse are often unaware of where they are until it is too late. It is Ray’s job to get them hooked on those powders and gin so they will do anything it takes to get the money for their next fix, or next drink.’
‘And I was nearly one of them,’ Molly said. ‘I didn’t know what I was doing in that flat, and I didn’t care until the night Collingsworth came. I remember him saying he paid dearly to get a virgin and he got so mad when I said I couldn’t do that sort of thing.’
‘How did you get the better of him?’ Will asked. ‘I wondered at the time, and more since I have met you, for you are just a dot of a thing.’
‘Ah, that was just a lucky chance and I took it,’ Molly said, and she went on to explain how she had felled Collingsworth.
‘But how did you get him outside the door?’ Will asked.
‘I was so angry and frightened by then,’ Molly said, ‘I think I could have shifted a steamroller if I’d had to. And then I just rolled him down the stairs.’
‘To the day he dies he will never forgive you for that,’ Will said, and a tremor ran all through Molly at his words.
‘Shut up, Will,’ Betty said sharply. ‘Can’t you see you are scaring the poor girl to death? I for one don’t blame her in the slightest, and I would have done the same or worse in her shoes. Finished off the old bugger, I would have.’
‘I thought she had,’ Will said. ‘Honest, my heart near stopped when I saw him there. Might have solved one problem as well, Betty, but it would make a hundred more. People like that are too influential for folk to be able to bump them off and get away with it. The man isn’t worth ending your life at the end of a hangman’s rope. I was bloody glad the man was still alive, I’ll tell you. Molly,’ he turned to her, ‘I know you lost your case, but have you anything of value at all, because to get away from here you will need money?’
‘I have just this,’ Molly said, withdrawing the locket, ‘though I would hate to part with it.’ She clicked it open and showed him the picture of her parents inside.
‘You wouldn’t get much for it either,’ Will said. ‘It’s gold they are after.’
‘There is nothing else,’ Molly said. ‘I had money, but Ray took it from me – to keep it safe, he said – and I never saw it again. But no, oh, wait,’ she cried suddenly, leaping to her feet with a cry of excitement and pounding up the stairs. ‘I wasn’t sure they would still be there,’ she said when she returned. ‘I had them in the pocket of the wrap I had on.’ She opened her hand to reveal the cufflinks.
‘Those are Collingsworth’s, and solid gold,’ Will said. ‘Where did you get them?’
Molly told him and he whistled in astonishment. ‘God, that was jammy. He hasn’t missed them. He was in no fit state to notice much that night, but even afterwards he’s not said anything. Point is, he owns so many pairs and yet he knows every one. You’ll get a pretty penny for these.’
‘D’you mean someone will buy them?’
‘To pawn them would be best.’
‘Pawn them?’ Molly said, wrinkling her nose. ‘I’ve heard of people pawning things but I have never done it myself. How does it work?’
‘The pawnbroker sort of buys things from you, but gives you a ticket that you can redeem to get the stuff back within a certain time, only you have to pay him more than he gave you. If you don’t redeem it, then he is at liberty to sell it.’
‘Well, we’ll do that then.’
‘Yeah, but not around here,’ Will said. ‘Collingsworth is too well known in these parts and all around the town. Need to go maybe as far as Sutton Coldfield to be safe.’
‘Oh, I know where that is,’ Molly said. ‘That won’t bother me.’
‘And I can’t be involved in this,’ Will said. ‘If ever these are recognised by someone I cannot risk them being traced back to me. With a bit of luck you might well be out of it by then, but we will all still be here.’
‘I know, Will,’ Molly said. ‘You have done more than enough and I would ask no more of you.’ She meant every word and yet she recoiled at the thought of entering a pawnbroker’s. But she knew if she was ever to leave Ruby’s and press on with what she had come to Birmingham for, she had to do it.
Will was still nervous about Molly going out and about, but knew that she really did need to register for a ration book and identity card because everyone did, and they couldn’t manage to feed her without one for much longer. Molly understood Will’s concern, and it wasn’t only Collingsworth she had to be careful of, but the neighbours too.
Early in the New Year, Molly and Ruby were up and out well before it was light, easy enough to do in those dark and dismal winter days, but both women were tired, for there had been a raid the night before and they had had to seek shelter in the cellar and so were feeling very jaded. As they scurried for the tram, Molly heard the frost crackling beneath her feet. The piercing wind cut through her like a knife, despite her good thick coat, and the air was so raw it almost hurt to breath.
And yet she knew the bleak weather conditions worked to their advantage because, in the inky blackness with her hat pulled well down and scarf wrapped around her mouth, Molly felt quite safe, especially as they met few people on the road and those they did were similarly clad. Everyone seemed to be in a rush to get some place too, and she couldn’t blame them one bit. She imagined they were too anxious to be about their own business and under cover as quickly as possible and had no time or inclination to worry about other people on the road. Certainly no one gave them a backward glance, and it was far too chilly for anyone to linger.
The swaying clanking and very draughty