Belle - Lesley Pearse [17]
‘She’s already found out in the worst possible way what goes on in this house,’ Mog said fiercely, holding a clenched fist up at Annie. ‘I begged you to send her away to school, I told you again and again that it were only a matter of time before she found out. But you knew best! You thought if you kept her down here she’d never know. God knows it never crossed my mind she’d find out in such a terrible way, but even someone with half a brain would see that a girl as smart as Belle would figure it out for herself any day.’
‘You’re taking liberties, Mog,’ Annie warned, but the usual starch in her voice was missing.
‘I dare take liberties because I love you and Belle.’ Mog’s voice rose. ‘In case you’ve forgotten, it were me what talked the Countess into not throwing you out when you found you were up the duff. I helped Belle into this world, washed and fed her, loved her like she was me own to leave you free to soft-soap the Countess. I’ve been with you both every step of the way, worked for you, lied for you, cried for you, and supported you when things were blackest. You might be the mistress of this house, Annie Cooper, but I’m the glue that’s held your life together.’
Belle had never heard quiet, gentle Mog stand up to anyone before. It made her feel braver too.
She moved until she was standing right in front of her mother. ‘Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t tell the police what that man really looked like and that I saw everything,’ she asked, looking her mother in the eye.
Annie dropped her eyes first. ‘Because he’s a very dangerous, well-connected man. Even if the police were to catch him tonight and lock him away, he’d find a way of hurting us. I can’t take that risk.’
A cold chill ran down Belle’s spine. That wasn’t what she had expected to hear.
‘Why didn’t you refuse to let him in after the first time he was rough with one of the girls?’ Mog asked, but her voice had lost its hard edge as if she already felt defeated.
‘I tried, but he threatened me,’ Annie replied, eyes still cast down and winding her fingers together on her lap. ‘He’d found out something about me. When he kept asking for Millie and she didn’t seem to mind his roughness I thought he’d get bored in time and move on to another house.’
‘I think he loved her,’ Belle volunteered. ‘He said he wanted her to go and live with him.’
‘Men like him don’t love anyone,’ Annie exclaimed contemptuously. ‘A pretty, dumb girl like Millie would be used and then discarded once he’d grown tired of her. She’s better off dead than in a life with him.’
Belle couldn’t help feeling her mother was talking with the voice of experience.
‘What’s his name?’ Mog asked.
‘He called himself Mr Kent, but I happen to know the name he’s known by in other circles is “the Falcon”. But enough of this. The girls have been cooped up in their rooms all day with nothing to eat. It’s time they came down for supper. Not a word to any of them about this, either of you. I shall speak to the police sergeant tomorrow and ask whether they know where Millie came from. If they don’t, I’ll arrange a funeral for her. That’s the best I can do for her.’
Chapter Four
It was four days after the night of Millie’s murder before Belle got a chance to leave the house again. The police had kept calling round at different times to ask more questions and Annie was a bag of nerves. Her fright was not merely about the police, but also that a newspaper man was said to be sniffing around Seven Dials asking questions. She was afraid he might try to get into her place undercover and print a sordid story about it, so she hadn’t opened up for business again.
Rose and May had left two days after the murder. They said they were afraid and were going home to their mothers but Mog was convinced they’d just gone to another brothel to work. As for the other girls, with too much time on their hands they veered from saying they were afraid to be alone with any man to complaining because they weren’t earning any money. Every hour or so there was a heated argument or squabble for Mog