Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection

It was a poky place, with a tiny window overlooking the main road, and a bed that looked as if it was out of the ark. ‘I pride myself on my cleanliness.’ Flinging the eiderdown back, the woman displayed the stark-white sheets underneath. ‘If the bed is clean, you can be sure everything else is too, that’s my motto.’

She showed Lilian where the bathroom was, and told her what time breakfast would be, and which room to go to. ‘You can get food at the pub, or there’s the fish and chip shop,’ she told her. Then she bade her goodnight and went back down to her half-read newspaper.

Left on her own, Lilian unpacked only what she needed, afterwards laying the case on the armchair in the corner. She paid a visit to the bathroom, where she splashed her face and neck with cold water to freshen up.

Ten minutes after arriving, she was on her way out, to where the taxi-driver had been taking a well-earned nap. ‘Sorry, Miss!’ Her tapping on the window had woken him. Leaping out, he let her into the car, before clambering back into the driving seat, shivering when the chilly evening air got into his bones. ‘The harbour is it, Miss?’ She had mentioned it before.

Lilian gave him the full address and, filled with excitement at the thought of seeing Tom, she anxiously settled back. She had to think what she would say, because he didn’t even know she was coming. ‘I hope he’ll be pleased to see me.’

The driver cocked an ear. ‘What was that, Miss?’

‘Nothing.’ Lilian grew agitated. ‘I was just thinking out loud.’

Curious, he sneaked a look at her in his mirror; to see her softly talking to herself, and sometimes smiling. ‘God! I hope I haven’t picked up some bloody crackpot.’ There had been a case in Dorchester where a driver was attacked by his passenger. It was the first time anyone had heard of such a thing. In the end it turned out to be some drunk who’d had an argument with his girlfriend. Right now, he was languishing in prison where he belonged.

By the time they came up the hill towards Tom’s house, Lilian’s heart was beating nineteen to the dozen. ‘Be in, Tom,’ she muttered, increasingly anxious. ‘Please be in!’

She was disappointed. When they arrived, the house was in darkness; however many times she banged on the door, there was no answer.

‘What the devil d’you think you’re doing … trying to knock the damned door down, from the sound of it!’ The man from next door had been alerted by her continuous banging. ‘He’s not in – can’t you tell that … I mean, look! The house is in darkness. If he were in, you’d expect there to be a light on.’

An old misery, he kept himself to himself, though he quietly relished the gossip in the village shop, and liked to watch the goings-on from his window. What he didn’t like was being disturbed by some stranger pounding on next door.

He shook his fist at her. ‘Clear off! And give an old man some peace, why don’t you?’

Lilian was desperate. ‘Do you know where I can find him?’

The man continued chewing on his baccy, his avaricious old eyes noting the slim figure and the pretty face, and he smiled knowingly. ‘Who are you then?’

Now that she was here, Lilian’s fantasy had become reality. ‘I’m his sweetheart.’

‘I see.’ He chewed a bit more and stared at her a bit longer before asking, ‘Does he know you’re looking for him?’ In his own youth he had often played one woman off against another. It was a man’s thing.

‘No. I wanted to surprise him.’

He chuckled, and chewed a bit more and rolled the baccy round in his mouth, before telling her with great glee, ‘Oh, you’ll do that all right. He’s gone to see his other sweetheart …’ He pointed in the direction of Kathy’s home. ‘You’ll find him down there … Barden House, that’s the name. That’s where you’ll find him … with his other sweetheart, name of Kathy.’ Muttering and chuckling, he went back inside.

Lilian was confused and upset. ‘Barden House,’ she told the driver. ‘Back down to the harbour. Be quick!’ She must have told him that a dozen times as he drove round looking for Barden House, but in the end, impatient and edgy, she told him to stop the car.

Glad to do so, he parked by the harbour while she set off to find the house the old man had mentioned. ‘You needn’t wait for me.’ Digging in her purse, she took out a handful of coins and threw them into his lap.

He watched her running across the road to the houses. ‘Mad as a hatter!’ he muttered, driving off with his foot hard down on the accelerator.

As he went, he couldn’t help but see another taxi parked at a big old house opposite. ‘Watch out, mate,’ he laughed, ‘you don’t want to be picking that one up. If you ask me, she’s straight from the funny farm!’

Having located the house, and being camouflaged by the dark, at a point where there was no street-lamp, Lilian crept up the path. From here she had a clear view in through the window. What she saw only served to infuriate her all the more.

As promised, Tom had called in before setting off to London. ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ he murmured, his gaze enfolding Kathy, ‘but I have to, you know that, don’t you?’ He saw the misery in her light-brown eyes and his heart ached to be with her. ‘I had thought about asking you to go with me,’ he confessed, ‘but I know you can’t just leave your job. And in any case, I would have to be out and about, going places, seeing people, asking questions. I need to get to the bottom of what happened. The inspector’s already promised he’ll work with me. He says he’s as keen as I am to see this case solved.’

Drawing her to him, he held her for a time. ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can.’

‘I wouldn’t let you go if I didn’t believe that.’

In his arms, Kathy felt safe from the world. She had shed her tears, and now she was resigned to the idea of Tom going away, if only because she knew it meant they could be together all the sooner.

‘Look at me.’ Holding her at arm’s length, he smiled into her troubled eyes. ‘I love you.’

She gave a small nervous laugh. ‘I love you too.’

‘If I asked you, would you come with me?’

‘No.’ She wanted to go with him, but it was wiser not to. ‘It’s not my place. You go and do what you have to do,’ she murmured. ‘I’ve got my job to do, and I’ll still be here when you get back.’

He nodded, a smile lighting his face. ‘You’d better be!’

They talked a while longer, and kissed, and held onto each other for a while. There was so much in their hearts they wanted to say, yet each knew what the other was feeling, and it was all right.

Outside, looking in, Lilian was beside herself with rage.

She could not hear what they were saying, but the sight of another woman in Tom’s arms was too much. ‘Bastard!’ she kept saying. ‘You bastard!’ In her tortured mind, she could only see that he had deceived her. He had left her alone in London, and now he was deceiving her with another woman. ‘BASTARD!’

‘I’d better go, darling.’ With his arm round Kathy, Tom started towards the door.

‘I’ll see you to the taxi.’

‘No need. It’s chilly out there. You stay in the warm.’

Kathy would not take no for an answer. ‘I’ll get my coat. I think I left it in the kitchen when I got back earlier.’

He shook his head and smiled. ‘What will I do with you, eh? An obstinate woman who won’t do as she’s told?’

‘Marry me.’ Kathy’s deep-down love was alive in her eyes as she looked up at him.

For a precious moment they held each other. ‘That’s what I’ve promised for us,’ he murmured. ‘There is nothing I want more in all the world.’

From outside, Lilian saw Kathy go through a door at the back of the room. A moment later she returned, dressed in a long blue wool coat.

Tom put his arm round her and they walked across the sitting room; when Lilian saw them turn, almost as if they were coming right at her, she panicked.

Running away, she hid behind the wall, where they could not see her. And neither could she see them.

Panting and fearful in her hiding place, she peeped round the corner to see the two of them walking down the path, arm in arm, for all the world like lovers.

When suddenly Kathy looked back, she dived behind the wall again and kept out of sight.

Enraged, she didn’t see Tom get into the taxi, and she didn’t see how Kathy waved him goodbye, her sad face betraying her deeper feelings.

Instead, she stayed where she was, stiff with rage, her back pressed against the wall, her nails scraping the brickwork until the blood spurted from her fingertips. ‘Bastard!’ She was distraught. ‘Bastards, the pair of them!’