The Bomb Girls' Secrets by Daisy Styles

Author:Daisy Styles
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781405929776
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2017-01-27T05:00:00+00:00

27. Edgwick

When Gladys, Maggie and Nora clocked in at the Phoenix the following afternoon, they were met by cheers and applause. Seeing their tear-stained weary faces, the applause faded away as their co-workers crowded round to inquire what was wrong.

‘You won the final: we read about it in the morning papers.’

‘You’re on your way to London!’

‘What’s up?’

‘You look like you’ve lost a tenner and found a fiver!’

Having agreed on a story with Myrtle, Nora and Maggie, stony-faced Gladys explained as best she could. ‘Violet had an accident: she fell off the stage. She’s in hospital; Kit went with her.’

After sympathies were offered, the girls managed to slip into the ladies’, where they snatched a word in private.

‘No word from Edna,’ Gladys said before anybody asked.

‘Christ!’ gasped over-imaginative Nora. ‘Violet could be dead and buried by now.’

Gladys glared at her. ‘Stop that, Nora!’ she cried.

‘I still think we should have gone straight to the police,’ Maggie maintained.

Myrtle nodded, this time in agreement with Maggie. ‘We might have to soon.’

‘Let’s get this shift over with, then, if Edna doesn’t show up, we’ll go down to her chip shop,’ Gladys suggested.

Malc, who hadn’t been able to attend the final due to shifts he couldn’t swop, wasn’t so easy to fob off.

‘What the ’ell’s going on, Glad?’ he asked as he passed through the filling shed. ‘I’ve got two lasses off and bloody Arthur’s not showed up. You’ve got a face as long as a fiddle, them two kids on’t cordite line keep skrikin’, and Myrtle looks like she’s been up all night.’

Sick with fear, Gladys blurted out the whole horrible story.

‘Jesus Christ!’ he gasped.

‘Arthur’s with Edna. We’re all praying that Ian or Kit will phone her. They MUST know something by now – it’s been well over fourteen hours since it happened,’ she added frantically.

Malc dropped his voice to a husky whisper. ‘I’ll jump in’t car when it’s mi break and nip down to Edna’s.’

Gladys’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Oh, Malc, it would be such a relief if you could talk to her,’ she said with a catch in her voice.

Malc returned as the hooter sounded the end of the break. He hurried up to the girls, who were on the point of leaving the canteen; his grim expression said it all.

Crouching in the cold frame, Kit’s heart raced as she saw Ronnie come roaring out of the back door of his house. Incandescent with fury, he shouted as he threw open the shed door.

‘I’ll bloody kill you when I find you, bitch!’

As he raced towards the Anderson shelter, Kit lay almost on top of trembling Violet to smother her sobs. Popping up to peep through the leafy plants, she saw Ronnie come running out of the Anderson shelter; then she ducked down as he headed into the allotment. Seeing only sprawling vegetation all around him, Ronnie turned around and raced back to the house.

‘Has he gone?’ Violet whispered as she came up for air.

‘I think so,’ Kit answered.

‘Shall we make a run for it?’ frantic Violet asked.

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