East End Angel Part 20

'Not all of it.' A wry smile tilted a corner of his mouth. 'Fire brigade managed to get it under control before it spread upstairs. The tenants renting the place fell akip on the sofa and let sparks from the grate set the rug alight. They all got out safely, so that's the main thing; two kids under five were carried down the stairs by firemen. The other three were able to get themselves out with their parents' help.'

Kathy digested that for some moments. 'Thank G.o.d it didn't end in a tragedy. I'm sure those poor people wish they'd not been so careless. They're all homeless now, I suppose.'

'They've moved into the rooms I was going to let Ruby have. Just as well she didn't need 'em after all. That house is in Shadwell and it's a bit smaller than they've been used to. Bit of a squash for them but it'll do fer now till the other one is repaired and they can go back.'

Kathy continued staring at his profile. Suddenly he looked her way, catching her quietly studying him.

'What?' He raised a quizzical eyebrow.

'Nothing,' she said softly, settling back again in the seat and closing her eyes.

'I like a girl with a good appet.i.te.'

'Are you hinting I'm greedy?' Kathy put down her knife and fork, feigning indignation. She'd certainly been enjoying her dinner, and a throng waiting for tables to become vacant was proof that many other people also liked the meals on offer. The grill in Wapping that Nick had chosen was teeming with people yet the atmosphere was buoyant rather than rowdy. Somehow he'd managed to jump the queue; Kathy reckoned it was because he and the Greek proprietor were on first-name terms.

'Eat up.' Nick laughed. 'I'm just saying I like a girl who appreciates good food.'

Kathy again tucked into her juicy steak, wondering if his wife had been a picky eater. She put Blanche Raven from her mind; she'd vowed to herself when Nick called for her earlier that she wouldn't pry about his wife and seem jealous. 'I've no intention of leaving a morsel on the plate,' she said airily.

'You'd like my mum's cooking. She does a cracking Sunday roast.'

'I love roast lamb; not that we could afford to have it very often, but it reminds me of being at home ... always plenty of mint sauce with it,' Kathy said. 'Mum used to grow a big pot of mint out the back.'

'Roast beef and horseradish.' Nick mentioned his favourite with a slow nod then sat back patting his stomach. 'Not sure if I've got room for apple pie and custard. How about you?'

Kathy sighed. 'Wish I could but I'm full to bursting.'

'Another drink?' Nick crooked a finger and a waiter was hovering close in seconds, pad and pencil in hand.

'Nothing for me, thanks,' Kathy said.

'Sure?'

Kathy gave a smile of confirmation, sipping her port and lemon.

Nick ordered himself another beer and sat back, gazing at her.

'Hope Ruby and the children are settled for the night.' Kathy had been musing on the family while enjoying her blow-out supper, and feeling rather guilty as they were sure to have very little food. Whatever Matilda had she'd share with them, even if it were just bread and dripping. Before leaving the Bunk, Kathy had tried to press a ten-shilling note on to Matilda when they'd been alone. The woman had refused to take it to help out with the cost of keeping the family.

'They'll all be tucked up in bed by now,' Nick said. He laid a hand over her fingers, curled on the tablecloth. 'You've done as much as you can, for now, Kath,' he said softly.

'I know ...' She felt sorry when he withdrew his stroking touch. 'So you were going to tell me a bit about yourself,' she reminded him.

'What do you want to know?'

'Is there anything I should know?' Kathy returned.

Nick received his beer, immediately taking a swallow, his slate-grey eyes meeting Kathy's over the rim of the gla.s.s. He put it down abruptly. 'Do you believe me now when I say I'm getting divorced and don't have any children?'

'Yes ...'

'That's a good start ...' He sounded wryly amused. 'I live in a house close to Victoria Park and I've got a work yard off Commercial Road so spend most of my day there or at a storage shed down by the docks.'

'You said you rent properties out to families. Is that your living then?' Kathy asked interestedly.

'Yeah ... plus a bit of this and that.'

Kathy's ears p.r.i.c.ked up at that throwaway comment. It sounded like something her father might say when explaining how he spent his working life. 'By the looks of things, you've been successful at this and that,' she remarked a touch acidly.

'Had some lucky breaks along the way. I've not always been my own boss. A few years back I used to drive a lorry for Wes Silver. Heard of him, have you?'

Kathy frowned. The name seemed vaguely familiar and she told Nick so.

'I was driving one of his lorries towards Birmingham when it got hijacked and the load went missing. It was about the same time my wife told me she'd been having an affair with Wes and was thinking of leaving me.'

Kathy blinked, moistened her lips. 'What did you do?' she murmured, astonished that he sounded amused rather than angry at such misfortune.

'I jacked in my job with Wes and kicked Blanche out.' The corners of his mouth had turned down in ruefulness. 'Didn't seem right to carry on with either of them in the circ.u.mstances. Anyway, it turned out I did the right thing: I've never looked back on either score.'

'You bounced back from it all that easily?' Kathy asked.

'Yep ...'

'You're very ... resilient then.'

'Yeah ... that's the word. Ready to go?'

Kathy nodded, standing up.

'I'd ask you in for a hot drink but Dr Worth might get to hear about it from the neighbours and ...'

'Yeah ... I know.' Nick turned off the engine then tapped a hand idly on the steering wheel. 'Anything else you want to ask me, Kath?'

She shook her head, glancing at him through the dusk. They'd driven home in virtual silence but it hadn't been an uncomfortable quiet she'd felt compelled to fill with aimless chatter. She'd enjoyed the evening but now she sensed the atmosphere between them changing ... electrifying, if a way that was both exciting and terrifying.

He laughed softly. 'You think I'm a callous b.a.s.t.a.r.d for not making an effort to keep my wife.'

'I don't ... honestly ...'

'Good ... because with someone else ... someone like you perhaps ... I might have taken it all far more seriously. With Blanche and me it was no great love affair. She makes out now it was, because she wants me back since Wes returned to his wife.'

'You got her pregnant ... you must have been keen on her once,' Kathy pointed out.

'We lived quite close in Bethnal Green as kids, on Cyprus Street. She's a few years younger but we'd hang about in Victoria Park together. She's an only child, same as me. We'd talk about missing having brothers and sisters to muck about with at home. We didn't have much else in common, come to think of it.'

'You could be a bit more gallant, you know.'

'I was extremely gallant ... I married her.' Nick stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

Kathy knew he'd said as much as he was going to about his marriage. Considering this was their first proper date, she couldn't blame him for thinking he'd done more than enough explaining.

She changed the subject. 'Were you hurt during the lorry hijack?'

'Crack on the back of the head from a wrench ... could've been worse ... didn't need a long stay in hospital.'

'Did your boss blame you for losing his merchandise?'

'Nah ... no more than I blamed him over Blanche. Wes knows how it goes: win some, lose some ...'

He suddenly leaned closer, sliding his fingers around Kathy's nape and easing her against him. He touched his mouth to hers, kissing her with teasing courtesy that was so erotic Kathy pressed into him.

'You taste of port,' he said, savouring his lips as Kathy nestled her face against his shoulder.

'I only had a couple.' Kathy murmured a protest, feeling very content yet aware that neighbours' curtains might start twitching if she sat there, collapsed against him, for much longer.

'You gonna come out with me on your next day off?' Nick spoke against her forehead.

She nodded, liking the silky movement of his lips on her skin. 'I have to go in now.' She'd snapped herself out of her lethargy, sitting straight in her seat, aware of how easy it would be to agree to go home with him. But he hadn't invited her to, and she realised he never would; he'd wait till she suggested it ...

'I couldn't sail without seeing you one last time.'

'I ... I thought we'd said goodbye,' Kathy stuttered.

David shoved a hand over his nape, looking hangdog. 'Yeah ... I know ... but I've been missing you and couldn't keep away.'

'Oh, David ... it'll just make things worse for us both.' Kathy sounded torn between exasperation and relief at knowing he was safe and sound for now.

Realising that they were still on the front step, Kathy ushered him inside. 'Of course, I'm glad to see you but ...'

'But you still want things finished between us,' David completed her sentence. 'I haven't come to beg you to give me another chance. I know you've got someone else. I'm off to Dover tomorrow anyway. Can I write to you from time to time?'

'Yes ... of course ... I'd like that ...' Kathy felt confused; in one breath he said he was missing her, in the next he was sounding martyred because he accepted it was over between them. And as far as she was concerned, it was. To give herself some thinking time she disappeared into the kitchen. 'I'll put the kettle on and make you a cup of tea.'

David followed her, and knowing where the cups and saucers were kept, set them. He c.o.c.ked his head, a.s.sessing her pretty outfit. 'Have I come at a bad time? Are you going out?'

'Mmm ...' Kathy put the water to boil on the hob, feeling uneasy that her ex-boyfriend had quite naturally made himself at home, rummaging in the cupboards. The guilt she'd felt at throwing him over was niggling at her once more, although she knew it was Nick she wanted. And Nick was soon due to pick her up and take her to the pictures ...

'Shall I get that?' David went into the hall at the sound of the knock on the front door.

Kathy would rather have made the introduction herself between her past and present loves. But David had moved too fast for her.

'Thought you'd be long gone. Where's Kathy?'

'Who are you?' David demanded, although he knew. A lot of local coppers knew Nick Raven, not through a criminal record but because they coveted his success. His eyes slipped past the tall blond man to the sleek Alvis parked at the kerb. He'd seen that before and fancied owning it.

David gripped at Nick's arm, trying to spin him around on the step, but his effort to send his rival on his way got him nothing but a shove and an impatient glare. David depressingly realised that he had no chance of competing with Nick Raven for Kathy. He'd come with the intention of trying to persuade her to wait for him while he was in Spain fighting the Fascists. David had convinced himself that he'd overreacted to news of Jennifer's pregnancy. She would abort the baby she was carrying. He couldn't be sure it was his and he guessed neither could Jennifer. She was a working girl and getting knocked up must be a professional risk she'd dealt with before. So he'd now calmed down all round because he was still confident that Jennifer wouldn't betray either of them to Kathy.

'You're the new boyfriend, are you?' David sneered, looking Nick up and down. 'You'd better treat her well ... or else ...'

'I'll treat her a d.a.m.n sight better than you did, no doubt about it.'

David licked his lips. There was something unnerving in Raven's hint he had the means of blackmail. His belligerent stare faltered beneath a pair of contemptuous grey eyes. A stirring of anxiety tightened David's chest; if Raven weren't bluffing ... the only way he might have come by such information was from Jennifer.

Snippets of clipped conversation reached Kathy and she sighed despondently, knowing the two men were squaring up. Removing the kettle from the hob, she pinned a smile to her lips and went into the hall with a bright, 'Oh ... have you met ... or shall I make introductions?' She sent Nick a significant look, hoping to convey that David's arrival had been as big a surprise to her as it was to him.

'No tea for me, thanks,' David said distantly. 'I'm off now. Just came to let you know that I'll be sailing tomorrow.'

'Thanks for coming, David. Take care of yourself, won't you ...?' Kathy went down the front path with him and gave him a friendly hug by the gate.

'I made a fool of myself just now ... feeling jealous. Mind if I go and catch up with him to wish him the best?' Nick said smoothly as Kathy came in and shut the door.

'No ... no, of course not ... it's good of you to do it.' She went on tiptoe and gave Nick a rewarding kiss on the lips. 'Hope he appreciates your effort,' she added.

'Yeah ... me too.' Nick was smiling as he went out.

'Goldstein ...'

David swung about, then plunged his hands into his pockets as Nick approached. 'Come to wish me a safe journey?' he asked caustically.

'Nah, come to tell you to stay away from Kathy and her sister when you get back.'

David's back teeth began grinding in resentment. So he'd been right. Jennifer had been blabbing, but it didn't seem Raven was going to elaborate. 'Sounds like we've got more in common than just the one woman, Raven,' David said slyly. 'Been having some pillow talk with Jennifer, have you? I never bothered with conversation with the h.o.r.n.y b.i.t.c.h.' He poked Nick in the chest. 'What Kathy'll want to know is are you keeping away from her slag of a sister?' David glanced back at Kathy's door. 'If it's a toss up who gets who, guess who I choose ...'

'You get n.o.body.' Nick was glad he'd kept quiet long enough to give the p.r.i.c.k enough rope to hang himself. 'I had business around Mare Street and saw you going into a house the other evening at about nine o'clock. Didn't look like you were on official business with Jennifer ...'

David whipped his face aside; he knew exactly the day Nick had referred to. Now, thinking back, it suddenly registered where else he'd recently seen that Alvis parked. If only he'd managed to conquer his l.u.s.t for Jennifer that last time, he'd be home and dry. 'You planning on telling Kathy?'

'I'm not gonna do anything to hurt her. Neither are you. So stay away, and we'll all be just fine.' Nick patted David's arm. 'Understand, don't you?'

'Oh, yeah, I f.u.c.kin' understand ...' David said bitterly. He strode away, knowing his bridges were well and truly burned.

'You were a while.' Kathy had been pacing, waiting for Nick's return, but had refrained from spying on the two men talking.

'Yeah ... we had a conversation.' Nick smiled. 'Ready to go out?'

Kathy nodded but couldn't throw off a niggling uneasiness. 'Was David all right when you spoke to him?'

'Yeah, I think so; I reckon he got the message ...'

'There's somebody outside in the shed.'

'Eh?' Gladys rolled over to blearily eye her husband standing twitching the curtain at the window. 'What d'you say?' she asked, irritated at being woken up. She peered at the small alarm clock on the bedside table, seeing it was past one thirty in the morning.

'There it is again,' Tony whispered.

'What you on about, fer heaven's sake?' Gladys grumbled, struggling upright and craning her neck at him.

'Come 'n' take a look,' Tony hissed. 'Somebody's out in me shed, smoking.'