Lover by Wilson Laura

Author:Wilson, Laura [Wilson, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781934609989
Publisher: Felony & Mayhem Press

Friday 27th September

Rene

Sweet of Hitler to let me have a decent sleep last night. I decided to risk my own bed for once, and slept right through till nearly eleven, so I must have needed it. The sunshine was lovely when I took down the blackout. There are great cracks across the panes, mind you, after last week… Ought to be grateful they’re still there, really.

I went down for cigarettes about midday. Asked Mr Mitten if he’d seen Lily because I wanted to tell her about the man last night saying ‘Poor old Henry’, but he said no. Bridget was in the café, but she hadn’t seen Lily, either. I did the shopping and found a nice piece of fish, so I went home and cooked that for tea and tidied up a bit…artificial silk flowers I’ve got, lovely, but they take a lot of dusting, especially when you get all this grit blowing in through the window after the bombing. Nothing feels clean any more.

I’d got an appointment with one of my regular men-friends at half past five, so I got myself ready, then after that I went out and I thought, well, I’m bound to see Lily now, but when I got to my patch I looked round the corner for her and she still wasn’t there, so I thought, maybe she’s with a regular, too, or she’s gone to the cinema, because we do that sometimes, in the afternoon. We always choose romantic films, and if we like something, we’ll see it three or four times. We like a good cry. She’s crazy about Robert Taylor, got his picture on a cigarette card in her handbag. She even made this little case for it, like an envelope, out of a piece of blue felt, so it won’t get damaged. Calls it her lucky charm. No one knows about it except me, not even Ted.

I was standing there thinking about that when I hear someone shouting ‘Rene! Rene!’ and Kathleen comes haring round the corner with Susie behind her, both of them in a rare old state.

Kathleen said, ‘Oh, it’s terrible—it’s Lily, he’s killed her, last night—’

‘What?’

‘Lily, she’s—’

‘She’s dead?’

‘Yes, last night, she—’

‘Are you sure?’

‘She was killed, Rene. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Murdered.’

‘Murdered? She can’t… I only saw her…’ I was too shocked to think straight, and Kathleen and Susie were both talking nineteen to the dozen.

‘Wait… You mean, like Edie?’

Kathleen said, ‘It was her ponce.’

‘Ted?’

‘Yes, if that’s his name. He’s been arrested.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Mollie heard it from French Marie. She’s got a friend goes in the Black Horse, and she said Lily’s ponce came in and told everyone he’d done for her. Covered in blood, he was.’

‘Ted was?’

‘Yes, I told you. Marie’s friend said he had Lily’s purse with him, full of money, and he just threw it down on the bar and said he was going to buy everyone a drink, and then he said he’d killed her. Everyone heard it. Imagine!’

I was that stunned, I couldn’t really take in what they were saying, not straight away.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.