Chapter 90
The Lyons was quiet. The dinner service was ending, and the waitresses were ready for the end of the shift.
Cook ignored the protests of the waitress on the door and took a seat. Another young waitress approached him, but he pointed behind her, at the girl he’d talked with the first time. The time he’d come looking for Ruby.
She took her time about it, finished what she was doing at the till, then eventually joined him. She stood over him, her notepad out, ready for his order.
‘There’s something you didn’t tell me,’ Cook said.
‘No law against that,’ the waitress replied.
‘I wasn’t the only one who was asking about Ruby,’ Cook said.
‘Never said you was,’ the waitress replied.
‘You didn’t mention it,’ Cook said.
‘You didn’t ask.’
‘It was a young man. A soldier,’ Cook said.
‘See? You didn’t need me to tell you.’
‘I’ll buy you a cup of tea,’ Cook said.
The waitress looked around to see if she was about to get in trouble. Evidently, she didn’t see anything alarming, because she pulled out a chair and sat opposite Cook. She took a packet of cigarettes from a pocket in her apron and lit up.
‘When did he come in?’ Cook asked.
‘Came in a few days in a row, couple of weeks ago,’ she said. ‘Watching, he was. Watching out for her.’
‘But she was already gone,’ Cook said.
The waitress pointed her cigarette at him.
‘There you go again. Asking me a question but you know the answer. You’d better buy me that cuppa before you realise you don’t need me sitting here.’ She waved to her counterpart, at the counter.
‘Tea for two over here if you don’t mind. And a slice of lemon cake. He’s buying.’
‘What did he say?’ Cook asked.
‘Had a nasty cut on his face.’ She drew a line down her cheek. ‘Reckon he was back from Dunkirk. Didn’t want to let on. Which meant he’d deserted, if you ask me.’
‘Her boyfriend,’ Cook said. ‘Gone into the army. Gone to France to give Hitler what for.’
The waitress poured tea for two and started in on the cake.
‘He’s spending his nights in the shelter at Dickins and Jones,’ Cook said, remembering where the young man’s father had been heading. A loose end he’d let go. As he said it, he knew it was the missing piece of the puzzle. A burst of adrenaline as he saw the end in sight.
‘Wrong,’ the waitress replied, shaking her head. ‘They wouldn’t let him in. They’ve got their standards, see. They get so many people lining up they can be picky.’
She nodded at Cook.
‘Unlike us,’ she said.
Cook thought she was mistaken. Either way, it was something he could test. He gulped down his tea. Dickins & Jones was only a ten-minute walk.
‘He’s in the same place he always is,’ she said. ‘Since I told him where Ruby was working.’
Cook must have looked blank, which pleased the waitress. She knew something he didn’t.
‘You come from Piccadilly Circus?’ she asked.
He nodded. The truth was more complicated, but he didn’t want to slow down her narrative.
She smiled, pleased she’d got it right.
‘You walked past him just now,’ she said. ‘Opposite the hotel. I think he’s keeping an eye out for her. Maybe you should have done that if you were so keen to find her.’