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

she’d wrapped around her neck to hide the bruises.
    ‘I don’t want to think what might have happened if Miss Evans hadn’t knocked on the door of the cloakroom when she did,’ Judy whispered hoarsely, ‘but I’m not badly hurt. The bruises will fade. I couldn’t bear to go to the police. They’d ask all sorts of questions. Want to make me out to be a bad girl …’
    ‘It’s not easy for coloured people to get justice in this country, Mr Evans.’ Jed looked Lloyd in the eye.
    ‘Or anyone from the working classes,’ Lloyd commented.
    Judy rose to her feet. ‘I’ll go out to the band.’
    Jed pulled her back down on to the sofa. ‘There’ll be no more band or singing for you tonight, Judy. If Mrs Evans doesn’t mind, I’d prefer you to stay here and rest for a while.’
    ‘Don’t worry, Mr King, I’ll look after her.’ Sali smiled at the girl. ‘Let’s go into the kitchen and get you a hot drink. That might soothe your throat.’
    ‘I’d also appreciate it if you keep what happened quiet,’ Jed said. ‘Obviously your daughter, Toby and Harry saw it …’
    ‘Toby told the boys that Charlie had passed out in the cloakroom and Miss Hamilton was trying to help him,’ Lloyd answered. ‘So I think I can safely say it won’t go any further.’
    ‘It’s not because of gossip. If my brother Tony ever finds out what Charlie Moore did to Judy, he’d kill him.’
    Sali shuddered. There was an expression in Jed King’s eyes that told her he was deadly serious. She left her chair at a knock on the door.
    Harry walked in. ‘I’m not disturbing you, am I?’
    ‘No,’ Lloyd answered. ‘Mr King and Miss Hamilton don’t want to call the police.’
    ‘Toby was afraid they might not. But, given the influence of the Moore family, he can understand their reluctance. That’s why I’m here. We have to do something with Charlie.’
    ‘As Toby invited him to the wedding, perhaps he can suggest something?’ Lloyd said drily.
    ‘As we see it, we have two options: you can call the police and have him arrested, but,’ Harry flashed a quick glance at Judy, ‘only for being drunk and disorderly.’
    ‘At a private party?’ Lloyd questioned sceptically. ‘That reflects badly on our ability to look after our guests. But then, given what happened to Miss Hamilton, we certainly failed miserably when it came to that duty.’
    ‘However,’ Harry continued, ‘Toby found twenty pounds in Charlie’s wallet when we were cleaning him up after he’d been sick. We could call a taxi, put him in it and send him to his father’s house in Cardiff. Toby has the address. And Toby’s offered to write to Charlie to tell him that after the way he behaved today, he is no longer welcome in this house, or his.’
    ‘What do you think of that idea, Miss Hamilton?’ Lloyd asked.
    ‘I don’t care what happens to that man as long as I don’t have to see him again.’
    ‘I wish you would allow me to call the police. But I understand why you don’t want me to.’ Lloyd walked to the sideboard and picked up the brandy decanter. ‘Can I pour you a drink, Mr King, Miss Hamilton?’
    ‘Please,’ Jed answered for both of them. ‘There is one other thing that perhaps you don’t know, Mr Evans. Charlie Moore is well-known down Tiger Bay. His grandfather founded Moore’s shipping agency, his father Edward runs it, and most of the seamen in our family as well as our friends and neighbours are dependent on the firm for their jobs.’
    ‘That doesn’t give Charlie Moore the right to behave the way he did. Rich and poor should be equal under the law, but as I’ve discovered, that is often far from the case.’ Lloyd handed over the brandies he’d poured.
    ‘If you found that out while working for a white man’s union, Mr Evans, imagine what it’s like for a black man. The Moores have money and influence. We have none. I love Judy dearly, but I agree with her. A woman’s reputation is easily lost, and, once gone, is