Free Songbird by Josephine Cox Page B

equally certain it wasn’t the man who looked after the stage-lighting because he had a distinctive limp. Nor could they have belonged to Raymond, whose lumbering tread rocked the building. And as far as she was aware, the barmen hardly ever came back here.
    Of course, it could have been someone looking for the loos and taking a wrong turn. Yes, that must be it! Someone had taken a wrong turn and got lost.
    Nonetheless, for some strange reason, Maddy was filled with a sense of foreboding.
    “You’re beginning to imagine things,” she told herself, and gave a harsh little laugh. “It’s Alice’s fault, for putting the fear of God into you.”
    Having reached the dressing room, she went quickly inside, instantly taken aback by the odor of a heady perfume, quite different from her own. “Raymond’s been at it with a new cleaning wax, she thought. He’s always trying some new product or another.
    She glanced about. There were no signs of the struggle from last night, she observed wryly. All had been neatly swept aside… like herself!
    Going straightway to the new mirror that had been secured to the wall, she stared at herself, feeling like a kid on her first date.
    He won’t be able to resist me, she beamed. Then, reaching for her lipliner, she was amazed to see that her own hairbrush and cosmetics were gone, and in their place was an expensive range of powders and lipsticks, together with a beautiful silver-backed hairbrush.
    While her mind was reeling with the shock, she heard the musicians strike up and then the sweet uplifted voice of a woman in song. It was a voice she had not heard before, and it was really good.
    At first she would not let herself believe the obvious, but when she was made to accept the truth, her hopes of a reunion with Steve were cruelly dashed. He’s found another singer to take my place, she thought, and her heart lurched. It seemed that Alice was right, after all. Steve really did want to get rid of her. She had let herself believe that her love was strong enough to bring him round to the idea of family and commitment. But now, she realized that it was never meant to be.
    Not only had he beaten and humiliated her by throwing her out onto the streets, but hardly was her back turned than he had brought in another singer to take her place.
    That was the final turning point.
    If there had been the slightest hope that he might come round to wanting her and the baby, that hope was gone; she had no illusions now. It was over. Steve Drayton had wiped her out of his life, as though she never existed.
    Slumped in the chair, she let the emotions flow, and when sorrow flared to anger, she picked up the silver-backed hairbrush. For what seemed an age she examined the beauty of it; with the fine, curved handle, it was a magnificent thing.
    The sight of a few delicate strands of blonde hair caught in the bristles was like salt in the wound.
He
gave her this, Maddy thought — and no doubt he told her the same wicked lies he told me. It wasn’t all that long ago since he gave
me
a hairbrush not too different from the one I am holding. The man is a liar and a cheat. No good to anyone.
    Gripping the hairbrush so hard it hurt, with one vicious swipe Maddy sent the entire collection of cosmetics crashing to the floor. She glanced at the wreckage and thought how like her own life it was.
    Taking a moment to compose herself, she reached into the bottom drawer, took out a box of her own makeup, and dabbed a shower of cream powder over her cheekbones. She then tidied her crumpled dress, and fluffed her thick, dark hair. “You don’t need him.” She spoke to her reflection in the mirror. “But you can’t let him get away with it so easily. Don’t let him think he’s broken you.”
    Striding from the dressing room, she made her way to the top of the stairs; from here she could view both the stage and the bar area.
    She saw him straightaway. Leaning against the bottom of the stage, he was looking up at the