Free After Hours by Jenny Oldfield Page B

shocking.’
    â€˜What was he saying?’ Frances gasped. It seemed as if the old runaway had found his way to the court after all.
    George breathed out through his long, straight nose. ‘Not a lot. Just a name. Annie’s name. He kept shouting it over and over.’
    â€˜And did she hear?’
    â€˜No. I reckon she was out down the market.’
    â€˜Let’s be thankful for small mercies,’ Frances breathed, composing herself by folding her hands in her lap. ‘What do you think, Ett? Does it seem like Willie Wiggin to you?’
    Hettie nodded. ‘George told me the second I-got back home from the shop. Then I rang you. Course, George here didn’t have a due who the old man was, and when he tells me, he’s all of a puzzle about it.’
    George came back in. ‘I was thinking, what’s the old sod want, shouting for Annie like that? I’m hoping Duke don’t come out and hear. It wouldn’t look too good, you know. So Harry and me, we hoiked him up on to the old dray cart and laid him out comfy under one of the horse blankets. He was asleep as soon as his head touched the boards.’
    â€˜Drunken stupor, more like.’ Frances failed to muster any charitable feelings towards the old tramp, but then her gaze dropped under Hettie’s reproachful stare. ‘So what happened next, George?’
    â€˜Harry said he’d take him right on up the Mission for me. He has to pass that way anyhow.’ He turned to Hettie. ‘I knew you and your pals could fix him up, and I knew Harry had only to drop off another four barrels before he makes his way back to the brewery. So I says yes, that’s the best thing for him, and that’s the last I saw of the old chap. As far as I know, the Mission’s where he ended up.’
    Billy broke the silence that followed. ‘Like I said, it’s a bad business. It was a narrow squeak, only saved by George’s quick thinking. What if Annie had been in this afternoon? Or what ifDuke had heard the row and come out to investigate? What if Duke had been the one to spot him?’
    Both Frances and Hettie froze at the very idea. So far, their plan had been to keep the tramp away from Annie until the case was proved either way. But the effect on Duke had also preyed on everyone’s minds.
    Billy continued. He stood, arms behind his back, back to the fire, offering his best advice. ‘Look, you plan to visit the old man tomorrow, don’t you? Well, my idea is that you should talk to Annie before you go, give her the chance to come along with you. It’s her old man, when all’s said and done.’
    â€˜ May be her ex -old man!’ Frances protested.
    â€˜No, if it is him, then there’s no ex about it. That’s a knot you can’t untie for love nor money. If I was a betting man, I’d lay money on it,’ Billy said quietly. ‘How come he found his way back to the Duke otherwise?’
    â€˜Coincidence,’ Frances, suggested. ‘And where’s he been all these years?’ She still felt it was impossible; like a man rising from the grave. She sprang to her feet and began to pace the floor. ‘And if so, even if it is him, what right’s he got to come back now and upset everything?’
    â€˜What’s “right” got to do with it?’ Billy shook his head. But his wife looked stricken, so he went and put an arm around her shoulder. ‘Don’t take on. Let’s wait and see.’
    George waited a decent interval for Frances to recover, ‘I think the same as Billy,’ he told Hettie. ‘Annie’s gotta be in on this. I can’t look her in the eye no more, knowing what’s brewing behind her back!’
    Hettie’s eyes filled with tears. ‘You’re a good man, George, and you’re right. We gotta tell Annie!’
    â€˜Tomorrow,’ Frances insisted. ‘Let them have one more night’s peace