Josephine Cox 3-Book Collection 1: Midnight, Blood Brothers, Songbird. Josephine Cox
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Название: Josephine Cox 3-Book Collection 1: Midnight, Blood Brothers, Songbird
Автор: Josephine Cox
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современная зарубежная литература
isbn: 9780007515301
isbn:
Libby had been someone he could talk to. She was thoughtful and generous. A loyal and caring friend, come rain or shine. Even now, with other matters on his mind, Libby was paramount in his thoughts. ‘I expect, after all this time, she’s forgotten all about me,’ he murmured. ‘I expect Libby’s married now with a husband and children.’ He found himself envying that man, whoever he might be.
Molly too had once been caring and loving. Recently though, he had seen a different side to her. When he had stopped dancing to her tune, she had revealed her true nature, and it was not pleasant.
Molly had proven to be a fair-weather friend. Like a child, she stamped her foot if she didn’t get her own way, and that did not bode well for a life together; especially when she knew, more than anyone, how badly the nightmares affected him. Thankfully, for some reason he had not suffered a really bad one of late. Perhaps because there was too much to think about, too much to plan for.
When the loud rat-a-tat came at the front door, it startled him. ‘Hold on!’ Springing up, he ran down the stairs at the double. ‘I’m on my way!’
Flinging open the door, Jack was pleased to see the small removal van at the kerbside. ‘Are you Mr Redmond?’ The man who spoke was of burly build, with a tuft of grey hair sticking out each side of his cap.
‘I am, yes,’ Jack confirmed. He led the man and his skinny mate along the passageway to the front room. ‘A lot of the big stuff has been sold off or given away,’ he explained. ‘I thought I’d make a clean sweep. Everything is packed, apart from half a dozen small boxes.
Taking down the paintngs, the burly fellow carefully began bundling them up in bubble-wrap. ‘Hey, look at that!’ He pointed to the painting of a vintage car. ‘My dad had one o’ them! It was his very first car.’
When the packing and loading were done, and the form duly signed, the two men stopped on the path to light a cigarette. Jack overheard the big fellow going into raptures about the paintings. ‘I can’t believe he’s got a painting of a Hillman Minx! I should’ve asked if he wanted to sell it.’
‘Shouldn’t think he’d sell it,’ came the gruff reply. ‘Class bit of engineering, that car was.’
‘It’s not the some these days though, is it? No quality. Same as today’s music. Oh, but we used to have some great bands.’
The skinny man took a long drag on his roll-up. ‘I always used to like the Beatles as a band,’ he said, picking a shred of tobacco off his top lip. ‘But I never could stand that Paul McCartney. He allus looked like a cocky little bugger to me.’
‘Well, maybe that’s because he’s talented an’ you never will be.’
‘Huh! I’d like to see ’im shift a six-foot bed with iron legs on his own.’
The big man’s laughter echoed down the street. ‘Never mind ’im! I’d like to see you do that on yer own. Even I’d ’ave to struggle. I might be built like a tank, but I’m only human. Yer daft sod! What are yer like? You’d be lost without me!’
As always, the foreman had the last word.
Jack took one last look around, then he left the house and went to sit on the front doorstep.
‘You’re leaving then, young man?’ It was Miss Parrot from two doors down. Nobody knew her real name, but they nicknamed her Miss Parrot, because she had a habit of repeating everything anyone said to her.
‘Yes.’ Jack came to the gate. ‘I’m off to pastures new.’
‘Oh, “Off to pastures new,” eh?’
‘That’s right. And I’d best be on my way.’ He stood up. ‘Bye, then. Take care of yourself.’
She gave a nod of her silvery head. ‘Goodbye, then, and good luck.’
Somehow, the sight of her ambling off down the street made him feel sad. Now, with his worldly possessions gone and the house empty, he thought it best to get away, as fast and as far as he could. Putting his suitcase into the boot, he drove to the estate agency, where he handed in his keys.
‘I’m sorry, but Tess has just left for an early lunch. Can I help? I’m up to speed with your case.’ This was Tina Argent, the young woman who had tittle-tattled about him selling his house through this agency, instead of taking it to Molly’s. Jack knew she had leaked the information. He gave her a searching look. ‘I’ve sent everything else to the solicitor. Here are the keys.’ He singled out each one. ‘They all have a label. Back door. Front door. Then these others are for the little green shed out back, and the side gate.’ He signed the necessary form, then turned to leave. At the door he was stopped by her quiet remark: ‘Did you know that Molly and Mal got engaged?’
He nodded. ‘Yes, I’m aware of that.’ ‘Ah! But did you know after they got engaged, they had a shocking bust-up and Mal threatened to call off the wedding?’
Jack was saddened by that, but not altogether surprised, knowing Molly. He was also angry that the information should be bandied about like this. ‘I don’t believe that’s any of my business – or yours.’ he told her coolly. ‘And no, I would not have known if you hadn’t told me.’
Leaning over the desk, he gave her a warning. ‘But did you know that spreading idle gossip concerning other people’s private lives, can get you into a whole heap of trouble?’ He paused to let that snippet of information sink in. ‘You could even lose your job. Is that what you want?’
Blushing bright pink with embarrassment, she said, ‘I didn’t mean anything by it – only I thought you should know, as you and Molly had planned to get married.’ She saw his expression and stuttered, ‘Sorry.’
‘So you should be. So now let that be an end to it, eh?’
Her attitude became instantly sharp and professional. ‘Er, thank you, Mr Redmond. I’ll make sure these keys get to the new owner.’ Swinging about in her swivel-chair, she pretended to be busy.
When she looked up, Jack was gone, and the door firmly closed behind him. Feeling humiliated, and grabbing up the bunch of keys, she threw them over to Tess’s desk with such force that they caught the pen-jar, which flew off the desk and sent the pens flying in all directions. Scrabbling about on her knees to collect them before the boss returned, Tina made the air turn blue with her cursing.
Jack was not looking forward to the long drive, though he had already travelled the same journey several times these past weeks to keep an eye on his house and gradually take more stuff up. He had been very busy in his new job, sitting in on staff interviews and overseeing the first delivery of new vehicles, and most importantly, keeping abreast of and also approving the security precautions at the new showrooms.
It was only now that he realised the true extent of the responsibility he had taken on. But he would shoulder it with pride, and would repay the company with the same trust and loyalty they had shown him. The СКАЧАТЬ