The Boy with the Latch Key. Cathy Sharp

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СКАЧАТЬ she had a part-time secretary who came in once a week to keep the accounts straight. She was efficient, and would type up the report that Beatrice had written out, but she just wasn’t Angela. Oh, well, there was no point in trying to hold on to the past.

      ‘Sister Beatrice, may I have a word?’ Sergeant Sallis tapped the door as he put his head round. ‘I just passed Mrs Adderbury on the stairs. She said she thought you might have time to speak to me?’

      ‘Certainly,’ Beatrice said. She’d known him from the time he’d first joined the force and he was still as helpful and polite as he’d been as a constable. ‘What can I do for you, Sergeant?’

      ‘More of the usual,’ he said ruefully. ‘A couple of children in trouble, I’m afraid. The mother is in our cells awaiting trial for embezzling from her firm. She seems a decent woman and I can’t believe she did it, but the evidence is damning and that means the kids are on their own. I spoke to the Children’s Department and they advised bringing them here until something can be sorted out, otherwise they’ll have to leave London. All their resources are stretched to the limit …’

      ‘You want to know if we have a place for the children?’

      ‘Yes, I’m afraid I do,’ he said regretfully. ‘I know you’re full to bursting – but the boy is rebellious and if we don’t keep them together I think he will get into serious mischief. He went round to the factory where his mother worked in the office and when they told him she’d been arrested he lost his temper. Threw things about and yelled at the manager – called him a liar. Mind you, I don’t like that Reg Prentice myself.’

      ‘Oh dear, the rebellious ones usually end up next door, at least, if they’re girls.’

      ‘Archie is a decent lad. His neighbours all say he’s done his best to help his mother since his father died, but she was having a hard time of it … They live in a row of slum houses that are hardly fit for habitation, but she kept hers like a new pin inside.’

      ‘Do you think she took the money out of desperation?’

      ‘I’ve spoken to her and I believe she’s innocent, but she’s been committed for trial. The evidence seems to prove her guilt, and money has definitely been taken from the firm – stolen cheques as well as cash from the safe …’

      ‘What will happen to her if she’s convicted?’

      ‘She is previously of good character and if we can get someone to speak up for her, she might get off lightly – but it depends who is taking the case.’

      ‘So the children have no home …’

      ‘Literally,’ Sergeant Sallis agreed. ‘Their house was in any case on the list for demolition and now that the rent hasn’t been paid for a couple of weeks, the landlord intends to board it up ready for the bulldozers.’

      ‘In that case they must come here,’ Beatrice said. ‘You know we are mostly a halfway house these days. The majority of our children are passed on to Halfpenny House in Essex. The Board think the air is better there for them and I dare say they’re right – though we’ve had two or three run away from the home there. Some London kids just can’t settle anywhere else.’

      ‘I’m a Londoner myself,’ Sergeant Sallis said and nodded. ‘Right then, I’ll bring them round later. I thought I’d better ask first, because I know you don’t always have room these days. I hoped when they opened that new wing our worries were over, Sister.’

      ‘Yes, so did I, and for a while we managed well,’ Beatrice agreed with a wry smile. ‘However, the local authority needed somewhere to put their disturbed girls and they decided to take over that wing of St Saviour’s, leaving us to carry on here as best we can. I think they should have taken them elsewhere, but the Children’s Department have the power to do as they want these days.’

      ‘You don’t get any trouble from them, do you?’

      ‘From the girls you mean? They can be a bit cheeky, but we haven’t had any real upsets. I think they must be disciplined before they get here. I’m not happy about them being there, because I need the rooms for my orphans, but I was not given an option.’

      ‘I dare say they thought this side of the home was enough for you to manage …’

      ‘I may not be a young woman, Sergeant, but I’m not old,’ Beatrice fixed him with a hard stare. ‘I’ve hardly had a day’s illness for years …’ It wasn’t quite true, but she didn’t like it to be thought that she was too old to do her duty. She had no intention of being retired to the convent while she had breath in her body.

      ‘No, Sister, not at all,’ he said apologetically. ‘I don’t think it would be the same here without you …’

      ‘Well, I have things to do,’ Beatrice said. ‘Bring the children when you’re ready.’

      ‘Yes, I shall – and thank you for your help as always …’

      Beatrice sighed as the door closed behind him. Her visitors had put her off her stride. She would leave the report for later. It was time for her to check on the sick wards and talk to Wendy about the cases of tummy bug they currently had on their hands.

      ‘Well, Billy,’ Staff Nurse Wendy said to the tall, well-built young man who had just fixed her medicine trolley for her. ‘You certainly know what you’re doing with machinery. That wheel has been wonky for weeks. Mr Morris said it was past fixing, but it looks sturdy enough now.’

      ‘I’ve put a steel pin right through and fixed it with a bolt,’ Billy Baggins said and grinned at her. The evidence of his work was spread on the floor, metal shavings, tools and drill, and in his greasy hands, which he was wiping on a much-used cloth. ‘You only have to ask, Nurse, and I’ll see you right. ’Sides, the caretaker has more than enough to do. They make a lot of work next door …’ He jerked his head at the wing used for disturbed girls. ‘He told me he’s had to mend the window at the back three times this month. I reckon they deliberately break the lock so they can get in later at night …’

      ‘And to think you were the rebel of St Saviour’s,’ Wendy said and smiled at him approvingly, as he cleared the mess and packed his tools away in the battered old bag he kept them in. ‘Always running everywhere and getting into trouble with Sister Beatrice.’

      ‘Me and her are mates now,’ Billy said cheekily, ‘at least, most of the time. I doubt she’d feel like taking a cane to me now, even if I upset her – and I shan’t do that. She’s all right, she is …’

      ‘She’s one in a million and don’t you forget it, Billy. No one else would let a great hulking lad like you have the run of the place at your age …’

      ‘I’m looking for a room I can afford,’ Billy said ruefully. ‘You don’t earn much as an apprentice mechanic, you know. I’m saving up for driving lessons, and to get married as well …’

      ‘You’re still set on Mary Ellen then?’ Wendy twinkled at him. ‘I remember seeing you at the Christmas party last year … under the mistletoe …’

      ‘Yeah.’ Billy’s cheeks were slightly pink. ‘We’re promised to each other, but Mary Ellen’s sister won’t let her marry me until I’m doing a proper job – and it will be years before I’m through my apprenticeship.’

      ‘Well, СКАЧАТЬ