The Angel in the Corner - Monica Dickens [80]
The items on Mollie’s list were not large, but they involved going to several different shops. Some of them, like the box of chocolates and the lavender bath salts, seemed unnecessary at a time of crisis, as if Mollie had deliberately added them to the list to give Virginia as much trouble as possible. It was late in the afternoon when she got back to the house and handed over the shopping bags and the handful of change, which Mollie spread on the kitchen table to count.
As Virginia went towards the door which led to the basement, she heard a bellow from one of the rooms upstairs. It was a weird sound, neither human nor animal. It seemed to hang on the air like a balloon, having its own substance. Mollie looked at Virginia sharply. Virginia pretended that she had not heard and opened the door quickly as another tormented cry from upstairs set the hair bristling on the back of the scared tortoise-shell cat, and its tail flicking straight up in the air.
‘Joe, it’s awful. He’s making a terrible noise. I never knew drunk people sounded like that.’ Virginia was into the room and talking before she realized that Joe was not alone.
‘They don’t usually,’ Joe said. ‘But this one’s got D.T.s. Jin, this is Ed Morris, a business friend of mine.’
‘Pleased to meet you, my dear.’ Mr Morris, who was a short, rubbery man in a pink shirt and pale trousers, sprang out of the chair and grasped Virginia’s hand, hurting her fingers with his large jewelled ring. ‘Bit late to offer my felicitations, but I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you before. Now I see why Joe keeps you away from his friends.’ His eyes bulged a little as he looked at her.
‘Don’t trust a one of you,’ Joe said easily. He put his hands on Virginia’s waist and spun her round. ‘Isn’t she something?’
Virginia felt like a prize heifer in an auction ring. ‘Joe,’ she said uncomfortably, ‘I think you ought to go up and see if Mollie needs you. She shouldn’t be alone with Paul when he’s like that.’
‘Landlord got ‘em again?’ Ed Morris said, rubbing his hands cheerfully. ‘I know how to deal with that. Let’s all go up. Make a party of it.’
‘Gentlemen are requested to wear strait-jackets.’ Joe laughed, and he and Ed Morris, enjoying their own wit, encouraged each other to make some more crude jokes about Paul. Ed’s accent was fairly rough, and Virginia noticed that Joe slipped with him into a more careless way of speech.
‘Don’t laugh about it,’ she said, frowning at Joe. ‘It isn’t funny to Mollie, I promise you. I wish you’d go up. She may need a man to help her with Paul.’
‘She needs a man all right, but not for that.’ Joe winked at Ed. ‘Don’t worry about old Mollie. She can cope with it. She’s had enough practice.’
‘Aren’t you going up, then?’
‘Of course not. Don’t panic, Jin. This is just routine stuff. Happens all the time.’ Virginia took a book and sat by the table to read until Mr Morris left. He and Joe were talking about things that meant nothing to her, and about people she did not know.
‘Who was that man?’ she asked, when Mr Morris had gone, blowing her a kiss, and hopping up the steps as if his legs were springs. ‘Why were you trying to show off?’
‘I wasn’t. Don’t get nasty with me, just because you did your girl guide act, and I wouldn’t play boy scout. Ed and I were just having a bit of fun, that’s all. Since when have you got so serious?’ He sat on the bed and swung his feet up on to the cover which attempted to make it look like a divan. ‘God, I’m tired. I haven’t done a thing all day, and I’m as tired as a dog.’ He put a cushion under his head, punched it and settled down. ‘Ed’s a good chap,’ he said with his eyes half closed. ‘You’ll like him when you know him better.’
‘Do you see him often? What did you mean, he was a business friend? What business? Don’t tell me he’s anything to do with that publisher.’
‘He’s in a much better racket than that. He’s a bookie. He’s the man I work for on and off, taking bets on commission.’
‘Oh, I see.’
‘Well, don’t make that face about