Ragged Rose

She was waiting on the corner of City Road and Oakley Crescent when Bobby Lee came swaggering along the pavement, hands in pockets. He greeted her with a cheery smile and she followed him at a discreet distance to The Eagle. It was the first time she had stepped inside a public house and she wrapped her shawl around her head, hoping that no one would recognise her. Bobby weaved his way between tables in the crowded taproom, and Rose was acutely conscious of the curious stares aimed her way. He led her to a settle by the fire where a man sat on his own with a pint tankard on the table in front of him. Through a haze of tobacco smoke that stung her eyes and made her want to cough, Rose took a good look at the person who had requested her presence in such a dramatic manner.

‘This here is the gent.’ Bobby indicated the man with a sweep of his hand.

‘You must be Miss Rose. I’m Todd Scully.’ He half stood and then sank back on the settle. His dark eyes scanned Rose’s face as if he were memorising each feature in turn, but his expression gave nothing away. ‘Take a seat, miss.’

Rose pulled up a stool and sat with her back to the rest of the drinkers. ‘Please say what you have to say, Mr Scully. I’m not comfortable in a place like this.’

A tight little smile played around Scully’s thin lips. ‘That’s not what I heard, Miss Perkins, or should I say Miss Sunshine?’

Rose glanced nervously over her shoulder, but the other customers were too involved in their own business to appear to be listening. ‘I don’t know where you got that piece of information, sir.’

‘Come on, miss. Don’t play games with me. I was hired by a certain someone in the county of Cornwall to find out all I could about the case in question, and, as you and your sister are related to the person at present incarcerated at Her Majesty’s pleasure, it seems logical to start with you.’

‘There’s not much I can tell you, Mr Scully. I don’t know the exact circumstances of the event.’

Scully leaned forward, fixing her with bright, beady eyes, oddly reminiscent of a blackbird about to snatch a worm from the soil. ‘What do you know about the deceased? He was, I’ve been informed, your brother’s friend. They knew each other at Oxford.’

Rose nodded dully. ‘Yes, that’s correct.’ She had met the young man in question on a couple of occasions when Billy had brought him to the vicarage for supper, but she had not been favourably impressed. Gawain Tressidick had struck her as being too full of his own importance, and although Billy had assured her that his friend came from an old and respected Cornish landowning family, she had not considered this to be an excuse for bad manners. Gawain had monopolised the conversation at dinner, and his patronising attitude to her parents had annoyed her to the extent that she had been tempted to get up and leave the room, but good manners had prevailed. It was tragic that he had lost his life in what appeared to have been a barroom brawl, but Rose could not believe that Billy had been involved. She knew that her brother had gone through a wild stage at university, but after the initial excitement of being away from home and free from the strict upbringing they had all endured, Billy had finally settled down and applied himself to his studies.

Scully was regarding her steadily. ‘Was there any bad feeling between them?’

‘No. Not that I know of.’ Rose felt a wave of resentment building up in her breast. What right had this man to call her brother’s good character in question? She met his bold stare with a frown. ‘My brother is the most good-natured, easy-going person you could wish to meet, and he was that person’s friend. No matter what the provocation he wouldn’t have stooped to violence.’

‘But what about the victim? What do you know of his temperament?’

‘Absolutely nothing.’ Rose lowered her voice. ‘I didn’t like him, but then I hardly knew him.’

Scully leaned back against the wooden settle and sipped his ale. ‘I need to ask these questions, you must understand that.’

Rose made as if to stand but he motioned her to remain seated. ‘There is one other thing.’

‘What is it?’ She was growing impatient now. They were attracting unwanted attention and she was desperate to leave before someone recognised her.

‘Money, Miss Rose.’ He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, which he spread out on the table in front of her. ‘My services were engaged by the lawyer defending the case. He wanted you to be aware of the costs that you will incur, and he needs your permission to proceed on that basis.’

Rose scanned the figures and her heart sank. She and Cora had saved every penny of their earnings at Fancello’s, but it would take months to raise such a large sum, if ever. She gulped and swallowed. ‘I understand perfectly.’

‘And you still wish to proceed?’

‘Of course I do. My brother’s life is at stake. If found guilty he will suffer the ultimate penalty, and I know he is innocent. I’d stake my own life on it.’

A slow smile spread across Scully’s craggy features. ‘That’s all I need to know, miss. Rest assured that I will do my best.’

‘Perhaps you would discover more about the person in question if you visited his college in Oxford.’

‘That is next on my list, Miss Rose.’ Scully beckoned to Bobby, who was warming himself by the fire. ‘See the young lady home, boy.’

Rose folded the sheet of paper and tucked it into her reticule. ‘I’ll keep this, if I may, and then I can refer to it if need be.’ She stood up. ‘I know you will do your best, Mr Scully, but I beg you to double your efforts. You will be saving an innocent man from the gallows.’

Scully raised his tankard. ‘I’ll drink to that. Rest assured that everything that can be done will be done.’

Rose made her way out of the taproom, half blinded by smoke and fumes as well as the hot tears that burned the backs of her eyes. Scully’s visit had made the threat to Billy’s life a reality instead of a vague possibility, and now more than ever she knew she must raise the money to pay for his defence. She did not feel like going home to face a barrage of questions from Cora, and she needed to find out exactly how much they had managed to save. Aunt Polly had been entrusted with keeping the money safe as it was not possible for the sisters to open a bank account, and hiding the money in the vicarage was not an option. Rose set off for the house in Old Street, having forgotten that Bobby had been charged with her safety, and it was not until she was on the doorstep that she realised he had followed her. She hesitated with her hand on the doorknocker. ‘Thank you, Bobby. You can go now.’

His freckled features creased in a worried frown. ‘But I was told to see you home, miss. This ain’t the vicarage.’

‘It’s my aunt’s house, so you need not worry.’

‘I got to see you home,’ he said with a stubborn set to his jaw. ‘That was me instructions from Mr Scully, and I don’t get paid unless I tell him I done so.’

Rose knocked on the door. ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a while.’

He leaned nonchalantly against the railings. ‘That’s all right, miss. I got nothing else to do, and I need the money for me night’s lodgings.’

‘Haven’t you got a home to go to?’

‘I doss down wherever I can.’

Rose was about to question him further when Maisie opened the door. ‘Good afternoon, miss.’ She grinned and threw herself at Rose, almost knocking her off the step as she wrapped her in a warm embrace. ‘I ain’t half pleased to see you. I was afraid you might not come again.’

‘Here, you be careful, like.’ Bobby leaped onto the step and steadied Rose, who had staggered backwards and was in danger of toppling over. ‘Watch your manners, nipper.’

Maisie stepped away, glaring at him with narrowed eyes. ‘And who might you be?’

He snatched his cap off his head with a flourish and bowed from the waist. ‘I’m this lady’s protector, just for today, you understand. Anyway, who’s asking, if I might be so bold?’

Rose suppressed a chuckle. ‘Behave yourselves, both of you. Let me in, Maisie, I want to see my aunt.’ She turned to Bobby. ‘Thank you, but you’re free to go. I might be a little while.’

‘I was told to see you home,’ he insisted. ‘And see you home I shall.’

‘Then you’d better step inside because it’s starting to rain.’ Rose glanced up at the darkening sky. Large spots of rain had begun to fall and the gathering clouds promised a sharp downpour. ‘Maisie will take you to the kitchen where I’m sure Cook will find you something to eat and drink.’

Bobby bounded into the hall and closed the door. ‘Ta, miss. I wouldn’t say no to a bite to eat. Come to think of it, nothing has touched me lips since last evening when I bought a baked tater from a cart. Very good it were, too.’

Maisie gave him a cursory glance. ‘You could do with a wash, boy. You’re very dirty.’

Rose could see that this might turn into a squabble but she left them to sort themselves out and went in search of her aunt. At this time of day Polly was usually to be found in the small cubbyhole she called her study, where she pored over the accounts. As Rose had expected, Polly was seated at her desk with a pair of steel-rimmed spectacles balanced on the bridge of her nose.

She looked up. ‘Is anything wrong, Rose?’

‘I’ve just been speaking to a private detective, a Mr Scully. Billy’s lawyer hired him to find out what he could about Gawain Tressidick.’ Rose perched on the edge of the desk. ‘I couldn’t tell him much.’

‘Did he think you and Tressidick were close?’

Rose stared at her in horror. ‘Good heavens, no. Why would he think like that?’

‘If true, it could have been the reason for the fight between William and Tressidick.’

‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ Rose said slowly. ‘But I barely knew Gawain, and what I did know I didn’t like. I told Scully that much, and now he’s gone to Oxford to see if he can find out anything there.’