A Lesser Evil - Lesley Pearse [104]
‘Why should he?’ she said. ‘In the war we saw terrible things, but after we ’ave to put them aside and go on. It is like that now. Angela is better in heaven, and the other children happier in new homes. I expect Dan feels there is no more to say.’
‘I can’t see it that way,’ Fifi said heatedly. ‘There is so much that doesn’t fit right. We don’t even know for certain it was Alfie that did it, the police won’t say. I heard a woman in the shop say Alfie’s two oldest daughters had babies by him. Is that true?’
‘I don’t know,’ Yvette said, looking away as if wishing she’d never let Fifi in. ‘But you should not be worrying about this, Fifi.’
‘Someone should, if it is true!’ Fifi’s voice rose with anger. ‘If people had really thought he’d done that to the older girls, and done something then, Angela might not have died.’
‘Perhaps,’ Yvette said. ‘But Alfie will be answerable to a higher authority one day, just as you and I will.’
Fifi started to cry. She had expected Yvette to feel as she did. ‘Don’t you sense all the nastiness in this street?’ she sobbed out. ‘We are all partly responsible for what happened. But we were too cowardly to stand up to Molly and Alfie.’
Yvette gave another of her Gallic shrugs. ‘The nastiness was always in this street, there are many damaged people.’
‘What do you mean by that?’ Fifi sniffed.
‘They may all be hurting over something in their past. They cannot feel the way you do about Angela because they have used up all their tears on themselves.’
Fifi stopped to think about that for a moment. ‘Are you that way too?’ she asked eventually.
‘I theenk so,’ Yvette nodded. ‘But you, Fifi, you have so much, love, youth, beauty and intelligence, your life is good.’
This sounded like a re-run of what Miss Diamond had said. ‘It doesn’t feel good,’ Fifi blubbed through tears.
‘I think it is time you grow up and look at ’ow lucky you are,’ Yvette said archly. ‘Many of us ’ave ’ad to live without parents. Yes, you lost your baby, but that happens to many women and one day you’ll ’ave another. Go home now, think about all you ’ave, and be glad.’
Fifi felt completely demoralized. Dan had lost patience with her, Miss Diamond had been dismissive, and now Yvette was packing her off with a message that she should be grateful for what she had.
‘I’m sorry I took up your time,’ she said weakly, getting to her feet and brushing away her tears. ‘I didn’t mean to be a nuisance.’
Chapter twelve
Fifi was singing along with ‘She Loves You’, a new release from the Beatles, on the radio as she changed the sheets on the bed. It was an awkward job with a plastered arm, and when she heard the front-door bell ring she ignored it, thinking it was for Frank. But when it rang long and hard again, she dropped the blankets and went downstairs.
She was feeling happier today than she’d felt for a very long time. Part of it was due to some fantastic lovemaking last night. But that had only come about because after the miserable Saturday with both Miss Diamond and Yvette telling her what was wrong with her, she had decided to try to modify her behaviour.
On Sunday afternoon she and Dan had gone to Hyde Park for a walk, and she didn’t mention Dale Street or the murder once. Out in the sunshine in a place she associated with the happy times when they first came to London, it was easy to be her old self. Dan seemed relaxed and happier too, and they looked out an Evening Standard and sat on the grass ringing round each of the flat-letting agencies that seemed to have plenty of flats on their books.
In the evening they went to see The Day of the Triffids at Leicester Square and when they got home Fifi was too scared to go downstairs alone to use the lavatory, so Dan had to go with her.