Josephine Cox 3-Book Collection 2: The Loner, Born Bad, Three Letters. Josephine Cox

mean to be: it was just her way.

      As they closed the gap between Lenny and themselves, Annie lowered her voice. ‘Just look at him,’ she whispered excitedly. ‘Isn’t he gorgeous?’ Her eager eyes appraised Lenny’s strong physique, and the way his thick mop of brown hair fell haphazardly over one eye as he bent to retrieve the keepnet. ‘Who wants Ian Lacey when you can have Lenny Reynolds?’ Annie said dreamily. ‘Lenny’s already finished with school, and he’s really ambitious. He’s already got his own fruit and veg stall on the market.’

      She leaned over and whispered in her friend’s ear, ‘I’ve seen him on a Saturday morning. I hide round the corner and watch him. He’s really good at selling. The customers like him … they keep coming back. One woman said she’ll never buy her cabbages from anybody else, ’cause his are the freshest she’s ever had, and the cheapest into the bargain. Oh, Jude, I really do like him!’

      Judy was about to giggle about the cabbages, but was glad she didn’t, for just then, Annie fell into a sudden dark mood. ‘Lenny is kind and decent,’ she said harshly. ‘Different from some people who don’t give a bugger!’

      Her face contorted with rage, she quickly stooped to collect a handful of stones, which she then impatiently threw one after the other into the water, sending the ducks swimming away in all directions. ‘Some people love to hurt others. They don’t deserve to walk about free … don’t deserve to live!’ The last stone was hurled with such viciousness, it frightened the ducks into the air.

      Reaching out, Judy took hold of her hand. ‘Annie, please don’t.’ She saw how nervous the ducks were. ‘There’s no need to take it out on them.’

      When she looked up, she was surprised to see that the other girl was actually crying. ‘Who’s hurting you?’ she asked worriedly. ‘What’s going on that you can’t talk to me about?’

      ‘I’ve already told you – there’s nothing going on.’ Wiping her face with the cuff of her sleeve, Annie took to her heels and ran to where Lenny was collecting his fishing gear. ‘Packing up already?’ she complained. ‘I was hoping you might show me how to catch a fish.’

      ‘I might have done, but you’ve frightened them all away,’ he chided light-heartedly. ‘The ducks too, by the looks of it.’ Like everyone else he knew how unpredictable Annie could be. Added to that, she had a frightening temper, which was why she had few friends, except for Judy, who was always there for her, loyal and protective. ‘All right, are you, Jude?’ His eager smile was for her and her alone.

      Judy returned his smile. ‘Yes, thank you, Lenny.’ Curious, she looked into his keepnet. ‘Did you catch anything?’

      ‘A few tiddlers,’ he replied. ‘Nowt worth keeping.’ At which he tipped the net into the water and watched the small fish swim away.

      For the next half hour, the three of them sat and talked about Lenny’s market-stall, and his plans to open a shop one day. ‘I know how to buy cheap stuff and sell it out for a profit,’ he said proudly. ‘I learn summat new every day.’ He helped himself to a couple of leftover jelly babies.

      A short time later, the three of them took a lazy walk to the spinney, and when they came out the other end, they sat on a fallen tree by the river’s edge and dipped their bare toes in the water.

      ‘I love it out here,’ Lenny confided. ‘I’d like to build a house right in the middle of a field, somewhere nice and peaceful, with plenty of animals, and I’d put a great big fence round it, so no one can get in.’

      ‘Except me?’ Annie hinted hopefully.

      He laughed. ‘All right, except you … and Judy.’ While he talked to Annie, he was thinking of Judy, and when they walked on again, he walked next to her, while Annie pushed up to him on his other side. But he didn’t mind that.

      ‘Has anyone heard from Davie?’ he wanted to know.

      ‘Not yet,’ Judy answered. ‘Although he was at his mam’s funeral today. I didn’t get a chance to speak to him, though. But I might be going to see his grandad tonight. Happen he’s heard something.’

      ‘I’ll walk you there if you like?’

      ‘I’ll come too,’ Annie offered. ‘We could have fish and chips on the way back.’

      ‘That would be nice,’ Judy agreed, ‘but I expect I’ll be going with Mam and Dad.’

      As always, Annie never missed an opportunity. ‘You can walk me to the chippie later if you like?’ she told Lenny. ‘I might even buy you a bag o’ chips.’

      He laughed. ‘All right, if you like. I’ve got nothing else to do, and I hate staying indoors.’ He had good reason for preferring to be outdoors. But he could not discuss that with anyone.

      Annie continued to flirt shamelessly with him, while he kept glancing at Judy. Annie seemed too intent on Lenny to notice, and Judy was lost in thoughts about Davie.

      At the mouth of the river they went their separate ways. ‘See you outside the corner shop on Derwent Street at six o’clock!’ Annie wasn’t about to let him forget. ‘You haven’t changed your mind, have you?’

      ‘I said I’d be there and I will.’ It would give him a chance to find out how Judy felt about Davie, he thought. Annie had a big gob on her, and she couldn’t keep a secret. He said his goodbyes and took his leave. With his fishing rod slung over his shoulder, and his wicker basket swinging from his fist, he made a fine figure of a young man.

      ‘He kept looking at you,’ Annie told Judy. ‘If I didn’t know how besotted you are with Davie, I might have to fight you for him.’

      When Judy looked taken aback, Annie flung an arm round her shoulder. ‘Sorry. I wouldn’t fight you, not even if you were to rip out my eyes and leave me for the crows,’ she laughed. ‘All the same … hands off Lenny. He’s mine!’

      ‘Annie?’

      ‘What?’

      ‘Where do you think Davie is now?’

      ‘Dunno.’

      ‘Do you think he’s safe?’

      Annie shrugged. ‘Dunno,’ she repeated. There followed a brief silence, before she added cheerfully, ‘Look, I know how fond you are of Davie, but there are plenty more fish in the sea. You’ll soon forget him.’

      But having said it, Annie knew different.

      Judy would never forget Davie.

      Even if, in the whole of her life, she never saw him again.

PART TWO

      Blackpool, 1957

On the Run

Chapter Ten

      IT WAS A hot morning in late July, and the Everly Brothers’ top ten hit ‘Bye Bye Love’ was blaring out all over the fairground as the maintenance team inspected the rides before opening to the public. On Blackpool’s famous Pleasure Beach, Billy Joe’s Fairground was a right crowd-puller with thrilling rides like the Dive Bomber, Cake Walk, Octopus, Jet Planes, Meteorite and Moon Rocket. But it was sheer hard graft to keep the machinery in tip-top order, and no one worked more single-mindedly than the youth the other men knew by the name of Davie.

      ‘Dear God, man! Must you drive the boy so hard?’

      Some people claimed that Eli Clements was as old as Methuselah, but no one knew his true age, for he never divulged it to any living