A Lesser Evil - Lesley Pearse [147]
Yvette couldn’t share her optimism. It wasn’t as if they could count on the police finding them. Even if Dan and Frank were convinced that something bad had happened to Fifi, and had demanded the police search for her, they weren’t likely to come out this way looking. And it might be days before anyone realized Yvette was missing too. If the police couldn’t squeeze the names of the men who’d been at his card game out of Alfie Muckle, there was absolutely no chance he’d do or say anything to help find her and Fifi. Besides, Alfie was a mere pawn in this game. If he wasn’t safely in prison, he’d almost certainly be dead, as John Bolton was.
Yvette knelt down beside Fifi and tenderly stroked her brow. She had become so fond of the girl, and that affection had grown during the time they’d been locked up in here. It had been Fifi who had held things together, right up till today. She certainly wasn’t the rather spoilt child Yvette first took her for. She thought of games to play to pass the time, they had sung and made up stories. She’d made Yvette correct her as she tried to speak her schoolgirl French, and she had used many long English words and made Yvette tell her what they meant.
At night it was Fifi who’d drawn Yvette into her arms to keep her warm, and she’d kept her fears to herself.
Even the way Fifi always wanted to know everything about people didn’t seem nosiness any longer, she was just curious to know what made them tick. She cared, and wanted to understand. Yvette thought that if there were more people like her, the world would be a far better place.
Fifi opened her eyes wearily and tried to smile. ‘Dan will find us,’ she said with conviction. ‘I bet he’s leant on every-one at the pub to find out what they know, and his mates at work will help too. You mustn’t despair, Yvette. There’s Martin as well, I haven’t given up on him yet. He didn’t seem so bad; he may have got in with a nasty crowd and maybe they’ve stopped him coming out here with food. But I’m absolutely sure he won’t let us die here.’
Yvette’s eyes filled with tears, for the younger woman’s trust was so touching. ‘I weesh I had your faith,’ she said. ‘But I ’ave seen such wickedness in my life that I doubt everyone.’
‘Why don’t you tell me about it?’ Fifi asked. ‘Come and lie beside me. We’ll snuggle up under the blanket to warm each other. You and I are going to be best friends for life once we get out of here, because of this horrible time we’ve shared. So we shouldn’t have secrets from one another, should we?’
Yvette was already very cold, the light was fading, and the prospect of yet another interminable night plagued with hunger pains, tantalizing visions of food and her limbs aching from scrunching them up to keep warm, was daunting. Telling Fifi about her demons might distract them both for a while, and maybe it might help the girl to see that the world wasn’t the bright, beautiful place she believed it to be, and there couldn’t always be a happy ending.
‘I’ve kept my secrets for a long, long time,’ Yvette warned Fifi as she lay down and cuddled close to her. ‘It will be’ard for me to tell you them, but you tell me all about you, and maybe you should know me too.’
Yvette began with how it was for her as a child, the father she never knew, the tiny apartment in rue du Jardin, and her mother constantly sewing.
‘We were very poor,’ Yvette said. ‘Sometimes when Mama’s ladies didn’t pay her, we were hungry, but we had very happy times too. Mama used to like me to read to her while she sewed, and I make dresses for my doll from ze scraps of ze fine fabrics left over. On summer nights when it began to get dark and she couldn’t sew any more, we would go out for walks down by ze Seine and watch the boats going past. We peep in the windows of the big houses, and stop outside grand restaurants to hear ze music. Mama always say she missed me when I was at school, but she was very proud because I was clever, always top of my class, she hoped that I would be able to get a good job