She went into the house via the back door and into the kitchen, having to make numerous trips back and forth to her car to bring in all the supplies. It was now beginning to rain, so she grabbed Eddie’s cloth cap and his donkey jacket to fetch the remaining bags. She couldn’t have looked less like a detective inspector if she’d tried, but she was also feeling happier than she had for a long time.
Jane was just sorting out the paint brushes in the kitchen when the back door opened and a handsome, grey-haired man walked in, wearing a paint-splattered boiler suit.
‘I’ve just caught the blokes next door filling up my son’s skip, so I told them they should effing hire their own!’
Jane smiled. ‘You must be Eddie’s father?’
‘That’s right. I would’ve been here a bit earlier, but I had a complicated plumbing job on. Are you helping the lads out?’
‘Yes, as much as I can.’
He moved closer and leaned in. ‘I knew Eddie was scraping the barrel a bit for workers, but apparently this woman wants the whole house refurbished. Be a nice earner.’
Jane cocked her head to one side, removing Eddie’s cap. ‘Actually, I’m that woman.’
‘Oh, blimey! Sorry, love, I, er...’
Jane extended her hand. ‘I’m Jane Tennison.’
Eddie’s father, who had big, calloused hands, shook Jane’s hand enthusiastically and introduced himself. ‘I’m Anthony Fraser... Tony. I ’ave to tell you that you are nothin’ like what I expected.’
Jane could hardly resist smiling as his son’s description of him was perfect.
‘I was just going to make some sandwiches and a pot of tea,’ Jane said with a smile.
‘That is very kind of you... thank you. If you’ll just excuse me, I am going to let my son know I have arrived.’ Tony hurried past Jane, opening the kitchen door to go into the hall, which looked as if a sandstorm had just hit.
It was after five o’clock and Jane had been scraping wallpaper for hours. Despite having worn out two pairs of yellow marigold gloves and the fact that her right arm was aching, she had still only managed to clear one part of the wall in the hall — so she had finally given up and made herself a large gin and tonic. But Eddie and his team had worked flat out. The only break Eddie had taken was when he had joked about her meeting his father and thanked her for the constant supply of tea and sandwiches.
Jane was impressed at the way the men had prepared and then cleaned up after themselves, neatly covering furniture with dust sheets and sweeping up all the sawdust from the now-finished sanding. As the men left, Eddie came in, covered in sawdust again, saying that he was just going to return the sanding machine as he didn’t want to pay for an extra day.
‘The floorboards will take a while to settle, then we need to wash everything down, then after that the focus will be on stripping all the wallpaper. The lads can be here again by half past seven tomorrow if that’s all right with you.’
‘It’s fine with me, Eddie... they have worked so hard. They’re a great bunch of guys.’
He smiled. ‘My dad is having a look at your shower head,’ he laughed. ‘I was wondering if you’d maybe like to meet down the pub later tonight?’
‘You know something, Eddie, I think I’m going to have a long bath — unless the shower is working properly — and maybe just make a bowl of pasta.’
He cocked his head to one side. ‘Is that a no?’
‘To the pub, yes, but if you’d like to have some pasta, it would be lovely to share it with you.’
He grinned. ‘I’ll bring the wine.’
Saturday night turned out to be very special. Eddie had returned wearing a pristine white T-shirt and black jeans, with a fashionable leather jacket and the cap that Jane had used earlier. He gave no indication that he expected to stay the night with her — in fact, quite the opposite. When he’d said he would need to go back home to get his work clothes, Jane couldn’t hide her disappointment. But then he went over to his leather jacket and took out a new razor from the pocket.
‘I suppose I could always leave early in the morning and be back in time for the lads,’ he said with a grin.
If the first time they had been together was a blur to Jane, the second night was not. She had never come across anyone quite like Eddie, although she had mixed with many different types of men at the Met. He somehow always managed to make her laugh, and his physical presence was boyish one moment and very protective the next. In addition, he was a very skilful and considerate lover.
But however good he made her feel, Jane was not contemplating having a relationship with Eddie just now. With everything else she had on her plate, she decided she would just make this a casual affair.
Eddie woke her up the following morning with a cup of tea and toast. He was already dressed and ready to leave.
‘The lads should be here before eight, but hopefully I’ll be back in time to get them started... and the old geezer is also going to lend a hand.’
Jane sat up and glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table. It was not quite six.
‘You’re out of bacon, and you’ll need some bread and butter, but I can pick them up from the corner shop on my way back,’ Eddie said.
‘No, don’t worry. I’ll do it. This is very good service!’ she said, raising her mug of tea.
‘I aim to please.’ Eddie leaned forward and kissed her briefly on the cheek. She could hear him whistling as he stomped down the stairs, then the front door slammed behind him.
Jane didn’t bother to shower but redressed in her scruffy clothes and began dampening down more wallpaper ready to strip it. By the time Eddie’s team arrived Jane’s right arm was already aching again. She decided this morning she’d try to get to know the four lads better. She knew two of them were Portuguese, and one was Jamaican. The fourth man was an extraordinarily tough-looking Irishman. As soon as they arrived, she brewed up a large pot of tea while they took off their overcoats in her kitchen, and then stayed chatting for a few minutes until they got down to work.
They left a variety of Sunday newspapers on her kitchen table, along with their flasks and Tupperware sandwich boxes. Jane sighed as she washed up the dirty mugs and the blare of their transistor radios began to echo down the hall.
Eddie had returned and was outside piling bags of stripped wallpaper into the now almost overflowing skip. Jane had heard him giving out the orders for the day’s work, but he always did it with a laugh and a joke, and it was clear his team were happy to work hard for him. When his father arrived at midday, the repartee between father and son was quite comical and Jane found it hard not to laugh as Tony thumbed through the wallpaper catalogues.
‘In my opinion, officer, you would be better off with lining paper, and a couple of your walls will need to be replastered. My son is useless at it himself, but he knows one of the best plasterers in the business. We’re also going to check for damp around your front door as there are some dodgy patches.’
As the work continued, the incessant blast of different radio channels began to give Jane a headache. She made herself a cup of coffee to drink whilst she was looking through the wallpaper catalogues. It was only then that she noticed the headline in the partly folded News of the World: HOUSE OF HORRORS DEMOLITION GOES AHEAD. The articles had several photographs of the Stockwell property, including one of the half-demolished shelter. There were also photographs of what purported to be the concrete breeze blocks that had encased the body of the baby.