Josephine Cox - Songbird

While Alice was being tended to, Maddy stated to walk over to the place where Jack was being cared for.

Her heart sank when the medic there prevented her approaching, and informed her that his patient was beyond help.

Maddy began to sob again, but then Ellen appeared out of nowhere, swooped on her and stole her away. “There’s nothing you or anyone can do for him now,” she said. “As for your other friend, she’s in good hands. They said they are taking her to UCH,” she told Maddy.

University College Hospital, where she had been only last night. Maddy was stunned – she could barely take it all in.

Eager to get herself and Maddy as far away as possible, Ellen took charge, sneaking them through the kitchens of the Chinese restaurant next door. “Luckily, the police are all so busy dealing with everyone else, they haven’t had time to catch up with us,” she said.”

And so, the two of them made their escape from this nightmare scene, their ears ringing with the sounds of gunshots, screams, sirens and loudhailers, their minds grappling with the dreadful sights they had witnessed.

Ellen hustled Maddyalong the pavement. “Let’s get a cab and go back to my place.”

“What did you say your name was?” Maddy had taken a liking to this young woman. She seemed strong and sensible.

“Ellen Drew.”

“All right then, Ellen – where are you taking me?” Maddy limped along beside her, cold, bedraggled and bleeding.

“I live in Bethnal Green – in the East End. It’s not too far.” The younger girl flagged down a taxi. “Once we get home, we’ll have a cup of tea, fix you up, and sort out what to do.” As the cab drew to a halt, she helped Maddy in before climbing in beside her. “Bethnal Green please, mate,” she instructed the cabbie. “Drop us off at the corner of Wilmot Street.”

Safely installed in the cab, Maddy took a sideways glance at her companion. She had been wrong about her, she thought. When she overheard her and Drayton talking in the alley, Maddy had believed the girl to be naïve and innocent. Now, having seen how she took charge of the situation, she realized that there was more to the girl than she had previously thought.

A few minutes later, on arriving at their destination, the cabbie stopped exactly where Ellen had instructed. “That’ll be three pounds, if you please.”

“I’ll have to give you an IOU,” Ellen admitted. “Neither of us have got a penny to our names. You see, we had to leave in a hurry and all our stuff is back in Soho.”

Realizing the awkward situation they were in, Maddy slipped off her watch, and handed it to the driver. “This will more than cover the fare,” she said.

“Look, lady, the fare is three pounds – hard cash and no messing.” From the tone of his voice, the man was ready for trouble. “I don’t work for trinkets.”

Leaning forward so as to see his face, Ellen put on her sweetest smile. “Like I said, we got caught up in a brawl, and left our purses behind. It happens, as I’m sure you understand.”

Straining his neck, he looked from her to Maddy. “Working girls, are you?” He winked.

“If you like,” Ellen enticed him.

Maddy was shocked. “NO!” Tugging at Ellen to come away, she told the cabbie, “We’re not prostitutes! It’s just like she said – we got caught up in a fight, and now we just want to get home.”

He glared at them through the mirror. “You must think I was born yesterday,” he said, and gave a snort. “You’ve only got to look at the state of you to know you’re lying.” Gesturing at Maddy’s torn dress, and Ellen’s tousled hair, he sneered, “Picked up a dodgy punter, did you, girls?”

Maddy touched him on the shoulder. “Please, just look at the watch. It’s worth a lot more than three pounds.”

Something in the timbre of her voice made him examine the watch under the light. He was pleasantly surprised. With a gold and silver plaited strap, it boasted the prettiest diamond in the center of the dial. “Stolen, is it?” He knew enough to realize that the watch was good.

“No way! It’s my own watch.” In a softer voice, Maddy entreated him to look on the back.

He scanned the engraving. To Maddy. Happy sixteenth birthday from Daddy.

The driver chuckled nastily. “Sugar daddy, was it?”

“If you don’t want it,” Maddy said angrily, “just give it back!”

“Whoa! Whoa! Take it easy.” He began to believe her story. “What’s your name?

“Maddy… Maddy for short.”

“So what’s the inscription on the back?”

Realizing he was testing her, Maddy correctly repeated it.

“Mmm. I still can’t be sure if it’s stolen. I mean, you could have just memorized it.”

“Like I said, it’s my watch, given to me by my father on my sixteenth birthday.” Choked with memories, she could say no more.

“Okay. But if your father gave it to you, why would you want to let it go?”

“Because I pay my debts, that’s why.”

Maddy recalled the very day her father gave her that watch. Less than a year later, he was taken ill and died soon after; the shock of which killed her mother. Being an only child, Maddy had been left to fend for herself.

Unable to afford the rent on their two-bedroomed flat in Kilburn, North London, she had sold the bits of furniture for knockdown prices to a local secondhand shop, and started a series of live-in jobs at West End pubs, clubs and hotels. Her musical career had started very slowly in just these places. She’d be washing up one minute, and performing the next. It had been a long and often lonely journey through life, until she met Alice and fell in love with the monster she had now left behind.

“Get out, the pair of you!” the driver said resignedly.

As they climbed out, so did he. Seeking Maddy’s attention, he handed her the watch. “Here you are, love. I can see this watch means a lot to you.” He had noticed how tearful she was when handing it over. “We’ll forget the fare. You keep the watch, and don’t go offering it to strangers.”

Taken aback when she flung her arms round him and kissed him on the cheek, he simply nodded and hurried back round to the driver’s door. “Silly girls!” He watched the two of them go arm-in-arm down the street. “Let’s hope they learn how to keep out of trouble.”

As he drove past them, he opened his window to offer a few words of advice. “I don’t know what you’ve been up to, the pair of you, but you need to keep your guard up. There are some real bad buggers out there!”

Having sowed his seed of wisdom he moved on to his next fare, leaving Maddy and Ellen to head for the end terrace house, where they climbed the steps, waited while Ellen found the spare key in a secret place on a ledge by the front door, and went inside.

“It’s nothing grand,” Ellen apologized, putting on the lights and setting a match to a gas fire in the cozy back room. “It was my Aunt Dora’s house. She wasn’t short of money, so when she moved abroad, she signed the deeds over to me.”

While she flung off her jacket she explained, “I haven’t seen my dad for three years. He and my mum and I had a falling out and somehow none of us ever had the guts to apologize. You know how it is… things get twisted and nasty, and everybody digs their heels in. But I’m past worrying about it. The sad thing is that Mum died of liver cancer a year or so ago, before we’d made it up. But, you know what, Maddy, I didn’t cry. She and I never saw eye to eye, and Dad always took her side, even when he knew she was in the wrong – which was most of the time.”

“Have you any brothers or sisters?”

“A sister, Sally.”