She suddenly wanted to leave and slipped off her stool.
‘It was nice to see you again, Dr Harker.’
‘Ah, leaving me already? Why not stay and have another drink?’
‘I’m on nights as well,’ she lied.
‘Perhaps we could have dinner one evening on your day off? I’m still in London for a couple of weeks yet.’ He peeled away some of the top layer of a beer mat and wrote his contact number on the white bit.
‘Call me when you have a free night.’
She said nothing as he handed her the beer mat. She did not intend to go out with him since she knew he was married, but she smiled and slipped the number into her pocket.
Jane hurried across the road back to the section house, suddenly deciding to ring her parents. Her mother answered in a timid but posh voice.
‘Mrs Tennison speaking, how can I help you?’
‘Mummy, it’s me, Jane.’
‘Oh my good heavens, I was just thinking of you. Your father and I thought you might have come home for Sunday lunch, but we didn’t hear from you and I wanted to ring—’
‘I’ve been really busy, Mum.’
‘You sound a bit down, darling,’ she commented, her voice reverting to its normal tone.
‘I’m fine. I’ve got a couple of days off so I was thinking about coming home.’
The joy in her mother’s voice made her feel tearful.
‘I’m so excited! Pam and her husband will be here for lunch tomorrow as it’s a bank holiday; it’ll be just lovely with all the family together. I miss you, Daddy misses you.’
‘I’ll see you later tonight then. I’ll get the bus and Tube home so should be with you in a couple of hours.’
‘Oh that is good news. I’ll make up your bed right now.’
‘Thanks, Mum, see you later.’
Jane went to her room to get her light denim jacket. She had clothes and nightwear at home so didn’t need to carry anything but her handbag.
She waited at the bus stop outside the section house. It was by now seven forty-five and she realized she had not even thought about what was happening at the station. She gritted her teeth trying not to think about Bradfield, but couldn’t help wondering how the observation on the café and bank were going. The red double-decker bus clattered to a halt at the stop and Jane showed the conductor her warrant card as she climbed on and made her way up the stairs to sit at the back, as usual.
It was very warm. A few windows were open but there were only two passengers on the top deck. Jane felt depressed, staring through the window as the bus stopped and collected a few more passengers whilst some got off. They were just pulling in at the next stop when there was a resounding clash of gears and looking down from the window Jane saw an elderly woman picking up some groceries that had fallen out of her bag. She closed her eyes remembering how she had helped Renee Bentley pick up her groceries, and then assisted her back to the flat on the Pembridge Estate where she had the confrontation with her son John. Jane took a deep breath and felt hurt again, thinking that if she hadn’t recognized John Bentley’s voice Operation Hawk might never have taken place.
She was startled from her thoughts and almost fell from her seat when the bus suddenly jolted forwards and stopped. She pressed her hands hard on the back of the seat in front of her as the gears shuddered and the bus lurched forwards and stopped again. Jane looked down from the window as the bus conductor got off and went to speak to the driver. There were a few shouts and yells from passengers below and one man was swearing profusely.
The conductor got back on the bus and spoke in a loud voice so people upstairs could hear.
‘We got engine trouble so you’re all gonna have to wait for the next bus. Can you come down from upstairs and EVERYBODY OFF, PLEASE.’
Jane made her way downstairs and onto the pavement, where the rest of the passengers were complaining loudly. The conductor remained on the bus and lit a cigarette while the driver went to find the nearest call box to ring for a replacement. Jane heard an upset passenger ask when the next 253 bus would be along and the conductor said about half an hour or more as they were short of drivers.
They were almost directly across the road from the Star and Garter pub, and Jane could see that it had a nice railed rear yard and quite a few people were sitting at the outdoor tables drinking and chatting, kids running around playing games. The double doors to the pub were open and from the noise filtering out to the street it sounded quite lively, with a piano playing and people singing ‘Roll Out The Barrel’.
Jane thought her mother would start to worry if she didn’t arrive within two hours so decided she’d check and see if the pub had a payphone that she could use.
The old-fashioned pub had a big circular counter and was filled with drinkers leaning up against it. The partition leading to the snug bar was crowded and the bellow of ‘Knees Up, Mother Brown’ now began to ring out with the occasional wrong note played on the piano.
Jane found a payphone and put in a quick call to her mother who wondered what all the noise was. Jane explained where she was and what had happened with the bus and her mum thanked her for the call. She then had to edge along the bar before she could find a gap between drinkers to signal to a sweating barman that she wanted to order a drink. She began to feel embarrassed, and out of place, as the mostly male drinkers were overweight, potbellied men. Some of them were in short-sleeved shirts and a few wore vests, exposing their hairy chests gleaming with sweat. There was a round of applause and cheers as the song ended and then thudding out from the piano came a few chords before they started to sing ‘The Lambeth Walk’.
Jane was eventually served and ordered a glass of lemonade. After paying for it she thought she’d have a quick look in the snug where people were still singing at the tops of their voices. Jane was surprised to see the pianist was Irene Bentley, but didn’t recognize the woman standing next to her conducting everyone in the sing-along. It was obvious they had both had a good drink and Renee’s straw hat was lopsided and the flower in the band was flopping up and down as she banged the piano keys. The woman next to her had one hand on the piano top to steady herself and her words were slurred; in fact almost everyone in the snug appeared to be rather drunk as they leaned against each other and swayed to the thumping keys on the old piano. Jane noticed the pint glass on the bar counter with ‘Eddie RIP’ and with a jolt of recognition realized it was the wake for Eddie Phillips. She wondered if the woman with Renee at the piano was his grandmother Nancy. She had not intended moving further into the snug bar, but found herself pushed forwards by two men singing loudly and trying to get through the crowd with a round of drinks. The song ended to loud shouts of ‘A big hand for Nancy and Renee’ and applause filled the room as Renee staggered to her feet, took a bow and Nancy hugged her. She saw Renee look in her direction so gave a nod hello but Renee didn’t respond and instead whispered to Nancy.
A young, thuggish-looking man replaced Renee at the piano and began to sing the popular song:
Jane thought Renee hadn’t recognized her and had just turned to leave when she heard a scream and the singing and piano-playing came to an abrupt halt. Turning round Jane saw Nancy pointing towards her. Her face was sweating and red as she elbowed her way towards Jane, and before she knew it the irate woman had made a grab for her shirt and knocked the lemonade glass out of her hand.