Free Lizzie's War by Rosie Clarke Page A

Unless things change…’ She sighed and took the cup of tea Beth offered. ‘I’ve done some new designs for the window. I can only hope that will bring some customers in…’
    *
    â€˜Right,’ Ed said when she told him the next day. ‘I’ll go round this evening and sort things out with Oliver, Lizzie – and I’ll be walking you to the stop every night now.’
    â€˜That man warned me that he’d always be there, waiting for me,’ Lizzie said. ‘Do you think I should go to the police?’
    â€˜It’s disgusting, threatening a decent girl like you – and you a widow…’ Ed said. ‘I can’t see that going to the police would do a lot of good, Lizzie. They might come round, take a statement and keep watch for a few nights – but that sort knows to stay in the shadows when coppers are about. He would wait until they gave up and then come after you again. If we want protection we’ll have to pay for it – and once
that type
get their claws into you, you might find yourself in a worse place.’ Lizzie knew he meant the criminal types who would offer protection to a business for payment. ‘It might be that someone is trying to put the squeeze on you – a protection racket…’
    â€˜Oh no, not that,’ Lizzie groaned. ‘Surely they wouldn’t bother with us – we’ve only just started to trade. We don’t earn enough to make it worth their while – do we?’
    She knew that some businesses in London did pay protection money to racketeers, but they usually went after club owners and successful restaurants and pubs. As yet she was only a small wholesaler and if she had to pay protection money she might as well close her doors. Lizzie didn’t feel that it was a petty criminal threatening her – but someone with a personal grudge, and the only person she could think of was Harry’s uncle.
    â€˜Who knows?’ Ed shrugged. ‘First off I’ll pay Oliver a visit and warn him to leave you alone and then we’ll see. I could ask around a bit. I’ve kept out of their way, but there was a time when I knew people – the wrong sort of people, Lizzie. I could see if some of my old contacts have heard anything…’
    â€˜Just talk to Harry’s uncle,’ Lizzie said, ‘and then we’ll see…’ She wasn’t sure it would do much good, but as long as Ed kept his temper and didn’t hit him it surely couldn’t make things worse. Ed wasn’t usually a bad-tempered man, but she knew he felt protective of her and it had upset him to hear that she was being threatened.
    *
    Ed met her the next morning as she arrived at her premises and told her about the row he’d had with his former employer, Lizzie was speechless and then she started to laugh when he told her the reason for their quarrel.
    â€˜Oh, Ed, that is just so ridiculous that it would be funny – if it weren’t so serious. He must be losing his mind… to accuse us of having an affair!’
    â€˜He means it, Lizzie, and he’s tellin’ everyone who will listen that we’re lovers…’
    â€˜How could he be so unfair?’ Lizzie asked. ‘I do love you as a friend and I respect you as a colleague, Ed – but I’m not in love with you and you aren’t with me either. It would be an insult to Madge’s memory to think you would do something like that so soon after…’
    â€˜That’s what I told him, Lizzie,’ Ed said, a tiny pulse throbbing in his neck. ‘To say such a thing about you… I’d have thumped him, but to tell you the truth he looks ill. I think he’s taken on too much and he can’t cope – and he’s let Harry’s death fester inside him until he’s so bitter he can’t see the truth even if it’s in front of him.’
    â€˜Yes, I think that must be his