Tiger Bay Blues by Catrin Collier Read Free Book Online Page A

crouched in front of Judy. ‘Did he hurt you, Judy?’
    She shook her head dumbly.
    ‘Are you sure?’
    She pulled at the ragged edge of her dress and nodded a reply.
    Harry leaned over, sank his fingers into Charlie’s collar, hauled him to his feet and shoved him into the hall, as Lloyd and Sali appeared.
    Lloyd took in the situation at a glance and closed the front door behind them.
    Jed helped Judy to her feet. ‘She’s my niece …’
    ‘She’s a bloody half-caste,’ Charlie slurred. ‘Everyone knows coloured girls are always begging for it. They’re not like white girls … they …’
    Jed closed his hand into a fist and squared up in front of Charlie.
    ‘No, Jed.’ Toby pushed him aside.
    ‘The bastard …’
    ‘I couldn’t agree with you more,’ Toby said coldly. ‘But I introduced him into this house and I’m ashamed to say he’s here at my invitation. The honour is entirely mine.’ He punched Charlie solidly on the jaw.
    Charlie fell backwards and hit the floor.
    ‘The unfortunate thing about drunks is that they never really hurt themselves.’ Toby blew on his fist to cool it.

Chapter Three
    ‘Are you absolutely sure Charlie Moore didn’t hurt you, Judy?’ Jed King sat beside his niece on the sofa in the Evanses’ sitting room and looked earnestly into her eyes.
    Judy’s voice was huskier than ever. ‘He put his hands around my neck and tore my frock, but he was too drunk to do anything else. To be honest, Uncle Jed, I think he even tore my frock by accident. The lace caught in his signet ring. You won’t tell the police, will you?’ She looked at him in alarm. ‘Remember what happened to Diane Robertson?’ She turned from her uncle to Lloyd, who was standing in front of the hearth. ‘Please, Mr Evans,’ she begged, ‘don’t call the police.’
    ‘We can’t simply ignore what Charlie Moore did to you,’ Lloyd said firmly. ‘He attacked you. He could attack another girl.’
    ‘That’s a risk we’ll have to take, Mr Evans. For Judy’s sake,’ Jed interrupted.
    ‘But the man could have killed her.’
    ‘We all know what he had on his mind and it wasn’t murder.’ Jed glanced apologetically at Sali, who was sitting in one of the easy chairs. ‘Diane Robertson was a friend of Judy’s. She was  …’ He cleared his throat uneasily. ‘She was attacked by the son of one of the high-ups in a bank in Bute Street.’ He didn’t have to say any more. Lloyd and Sali knew he meant raped. ‘Diane’s father was a West Indian seaman, her mother Welsh, from Newport. Having faith in British justice, they insisted the police prosecute the boy. But his family are rich; they employed a barrister who painted Diane as a loose woman. She was only fourteen, and worked as a daily maid to two spinsters. One of her brothers walked her to and from work, and she wasn’t allowed out in the evenings except with her family. Apart from the one time she ran down to Bute Street in the evening when she wanted to buy some cotton thread and her brothers were out. The character references the family priest and her teachers gave in court didn’t make any difference to the judge, or to Diana’s employers. They sacked her, she lost her reputation and the boy walked away scot-free.’
    ‘I’m sorry,’ Lloyd sympathised.
    ‘That would be bad enough if it was the end of it, but it wasn’t. Not wanting to bring any more disgrace on her family, Diane ran away from home. Her mother hoped she’d gone to London or one of the other big cities to look for work. Two months later they found her body in the dock. She’d drowned herself.’
    ‘I can see why you don’t want me to call the police,’ Lloyd murmured.
    Judy stared down at her hands in her lap. She’d spent the last twenty minutes upstairs with Sali and Edyth. Fortunately, Edyth was the same size as her and she’d given her a blue organza frock to replace her torn evening gown. Sali had also made her a present of a lace scarf, which