Belle - Lesley Pearse [13]
‘They won’t catch him because I shall say I didn’t know him,’ Annie said. ‘But you mustn’t concern yourself with anything about this business. Only Jacob and I know you were up there, and Jacob won’t tell.’
‘But if the police don’t catch the man he won’t be punished for killing Millie,’ Belle said.
‘Oh, he’ll be punished, make no mistake about that,’ Annie said fiercely.
Chapter Three
Belle was still wide awake when she heard Mog’s distinctive step on the stairs. She had a stiff knee and came down slowly.
‘Mog!’ Belle used a stage whisper because she wasn’t sure whether the police were still upstairs. She’d heard them clonking around earlier and had braced herself for them coming down to her at any minute. ‘Will you come and see me?’
‘Oh ducks, what a to-do!’ Mog exclaimed as she came into the room. There was no gaslight in Belle’s room so she struck a match and lit the candle. ‘Yer ma told me what happened tonight. The police had just gone when I got back. Fancy Millie being murdered! All the girls are scared now, I dare say some of ’em will scarper tomorrow. But I told ’em this place is safer than anywheres else, lightning don’t strike twice in the same place.’
Mog’s lack of hysteria was predictable; she never got really worked up about anything. ‘Poor Millie,’ she went on, her eyes glinting with unshed tears. ‘She were a sweet, good soul, it ain’t never right she were took.’
She perched on the edge of Belle’s bed then and smoothed back her hair from her face. ‘You all right, my lovely? Must ’ave shaken you up sommat chronic.’
‘I didn’t know nothing about it until Ma came down here with the policeman,’ Belle lied.
Mog looked at her sharply. ‘Never! You with ears like a bat! You didn’t even hear the geezer shinning down the drainpipe into the back yard?’
‘Well, I did hear sommat,’ Belle admitted. ‘But I just thought it were a cat getting scraps from the bins.’
Mog sat on the bed silently for a moment or two, her face looking younger and softer in the candlelight. ‘You was still up in Millie’s room when I left. What time did you come down?’ she asked eventually.
Belle shook her head. ‘Don’t rightly know, I didn’t look at the clock. It wasn’t late, the house was quiet.’
‘Annie let the girls go to the music hall, ’cos of the snow. She only kept Millie and Dolly back. I was still here then and the girls made enough noise to wake the dead when they was leaving, all excited and that. Funny you never heard that and come on down!’
Belle felt very uncomfortable now. Mog knew she was lying, just as she always did.
‘You fell asleep up there, didn’t you?’ Mog said worriedly. ‘I was going to come up and find you, but I thought yer ma might larrup you if she saw you up there. Reckoned you’d slink down later when it was all quiet.’
Belle could feel tears welling up. She could never be sure her mother had any real feelings for her, but she had always felt Mog’s love thick and strong just by the way she spoke and looked at her. It was hard to lie to her, even though Annie must have had good reason to insist she should.
Suddenly Mog’s eyes widened in horror. ‘You saw what happened!’ she exclaimed, clamping her hand over her mouth. ‘Oh, sweet Jesus! And your ma told you to say nothin’?’
‘Don’t,’ Belle said weakly. She so much wanted to blurt it all out, to cry and let Mog cuddle her till the fright went away. But when Annie gave an order, everyone had to obey. ‘Just accept I was here asleep.’
Mog caught hold of Belle’s two hands and her small, normally twinkly eyes were cold and serious. ‘No good will come of lying about a killing,’ she insisted. ‘I shall tell Annie that tomorrow and I don’t care how much of a fuss she makes. Aside from it being wicked to let a murderer get away with his crime, any woman should know a young girl needs to talk about something like this, or it will give her nightmares. But I understand you made your ma a promise and I won’t force you to break it tonight.’
Belle took that to mean she was going to give up questioning her for now and she felt both relief and disappointment in equal