Chapter Nine
The following day the newspapers were full of the story of another young girl who had been raped and beaten. This girl wasn’t so lucky and her body was found in Bond Gate in the early hours of the morning by a railway man on his way to work.
‘It comes to something when a woman can’t walk out in safety after dark on her own,’ Susan said fearfully during a quiet moment in the shop.
‘And what must that poor girl’s family be going through.
It’s bad enough when you lose a child to illness as I did, but for them to die in a violent way like this is unthinkable.
Let’s just hope the police catch him this time.
Until then I shan’t be venturing out alone after dark. ’
‘It’s awful, poor soul,’ Annie agreed. A customer entered the shop at that moment so the conversation was stopped from going any further, but now the women of the town lived in fear. There was a murderer amongst them and until he was caught none of them would feel safe.
Much later in the afternoon as Annie was about to close the shop, Mrs Taylor-Lloyd breezed in looking none too pleased. Annie had sent Susan home some time before suffering with a headache.
‘Is what Reginald is telling me correct . . . that you and Montgomery are expecting a child?’ she said without preamble before Annie had even had time to greet her.
‘Er . . . yes, yes, it is.’ Annie felt her cheeks redden.
‘Why wasn’t I informed before now?’
‘We assumed Reggie would have told you. He’s known for a while,’ Annie answered in a small voice. ‘And I thought you would have noticed when you visited. I can hardly hide the fact.’
The woman said caustically, ‘Well he’s only just told me and I didn’t notice. As Montgomery’s mother, I would have thought you’d have the decency to inform us personally.’
‘I can only apologise,’ Annie answered primly.
‘And how are you settling in at the house?’
‘Very well, thank you. We’ve done a lot of improvements since you last visited.’
‘So, I assume you’ll be getting rid of this place now and turning your attention to being a proper wife and mother?’
‘Actually, I have every intention of carrying on working.’ Annie’s temper was rising, although outwardly she was calm. She wouldn’t give the woman the satisfaction of seeing that she’d been able to rile her.
‘And how do you propose to do that with a baby to look after?’
‘I have some wonderful friends who will be more than willing to help out with childcare, and Susan will manage the shop when I’m not here. Monty is quite happy with that arrangement,’ she added and was pleased to see that for once the woman was temporarily speechless.
‘I see,’ Mrs Taylor-Lloyd said eventually as she turned to leave. Disapproval was coming off her in waves and she left without another word, slamming the shop door resoundingly.
Annie stifled a sigh. The woman really was an insufferable snob but she was Monty’s mother, so she supposed she would have to try and get along with her.
She told Monty about the visit that evening over dinner and he frowned.
‘I suppose I should have made a point of going to tell them,’ he said guiltily.
He’d been visiting his parents less and less because he didn’t feel particularly welcome when he did go, and he and Annie always seemed to have so much to do.
He’d also assumed that they would already know about the baby.
‘But I thought she would have noticed without being told,’ Annie pointed out as she patted her swollen stomach. ‘Anyway, it’s too late to worry about it now. She’ll calm down once she gets used to the idea. You never know, she might even get to like the idea of becoming a grandmother.’
Monty doubted it but he didn’t comment.