Miss Chapman said those houses weren’t to be opened up again until the heirs had been found, just kept weatherproof. So I’m no wiser about the contents than you are.’ Arthur looked disappointed. ‘If it’s in that slum, it can’t be up to much – though anything’s welcome, of course.’ Mr Lloyd nodded. ‘Yes, and you know what he’s like. You’ll definitely need to be on your guard, Mr Chapman.’ I’d recognise him by sight. Folk speak well of him.’ Arthur closed his eyes, murmuring, ‘I hope I don’t wake up and find this is all a dream.’

Well, it’s good that you can identify him yourself,’ Biff said. ‘That’ll save me one job. What do we need to do next, Mr Lloyd?’ Arthur flushed, looking embarrassed. ‘I don’t have proper lodgings. You could leave a message for me at the church hostel in East Rivenshaw. I earn my night’s shelter there by doing some cleaning, and they let me leave my spare clothes in the cellar, but no one can stay there during the day so I never know where I’ll be then.’ Biff turned to stare in that direction and saw a scrawny, sad-looking man of about the right age, who looked chilled through and was holding his hands out to the fire. Nod- ding thanks to the barman, he pushed the shilling across the counter, not surprised at how swiftly it vanished. He stared into space for a few seconds, then said in a husky voice, ‘She’s not let me speak to my little Beatie since, not once, and has threatened to bring down the law on me if I go near them, even though I’ve give up the booze.’ My wife died two years ago, an’ I started drinking. I let myself get cheated out of what savings I didn’t spend on beer. I’d talk to anyone, buy them a drink rather than go home to an empty house. I missed my Susan that badly I could hardly think straight for the first few months.We’d been wed since we were eighteen, you see, courting since we were fourteen.’

Cover

Tears came into Arthur’s eyes and he blinked furiously. ‘I don’t deserve anything. I’ve made a mess of my life in the past two years.Yes, a right old mess, and all my own fault.’ Well, I could certainly do with a good meal, so I’ll thank you kindly for that offer.’ He stood up, leaving the rest of his drink, so Biff left his beer. It had served its purpose and he didn’t enjoy drinking in the daytime anyway. After a moment’s thought, he snapped his fingers. ‘Ah. Dad’s second cousin on his father’s side. He allus spoke well of her. I didn’t think she knew I existed, though.’ After a slight hesitation the man took it, read it and dropped it on the table. ‘Has she set a detective on me now?’ She’d known her youngest lad was clever, but no one she knew had ever had a son go to a university.What would happen to him there? Would it change him, make him look down on the rest of the family? She paused, head on one side. No, not their Lucas.

After a searching gaze, the man said, ‘The poor sod definitely needs some good news, for a change. He’s the one in the corner by the fire.’

You may also like

Lancashire, 1936. With her son Gabriel finally married, and her youngest following his dreams of becoming a doctor, Gwynneth Harte finds herself with an empty nest - until a fire forces her to move in with Gabriel and his wife Maisie at their home on Daisy Street. She wished he was at home to open the letter and put her out of her misery about when he’d be leaving. She shouldn’t begrudge him this chance and she didn’t, but these people would take him away from her, she knew they would, and things would never be the same. Biff’s companion seemed to relax a little once they were seated. ‘Eh, it’s a long time since I’ve been in a posh place like this.’