Lynda Plante - Tennison

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.

‘You got a fuckin’ nerve coming here and spyin’ on us. My grandson’s dead cos you bastards give him a beating.’

The room was silent and people looked at each other wondering what was going on.

‘SHE’S A BLOODY COPPER!’ Nancy hollered as loud as she could.

Jane could see everyone was looking at her and, terrified, she tried to push her way through the men behind her and out of the snug, but they didn’t move. Ma Phillips made another lunge, grabbed Jane’s shoulder, spun her round and spat in her face. Everyone began crowing and screaming and even though the pianist started playing and singing another verse they all began herding around Jane. It was Renee who grabbed Nancy and pulled her away from Jane.

‘That’s enough, the lot o’ ya! Leave ’er alone, Nancy. She’s uniform, not CID filth, and nuffin’ to do with Eddie’s death.’

Unsteady as she was on her feet Renee stepped forward and positioned herself between Nancy and Jane.

‘I know this girl and she’s all right. Leave it to me and I’ll see her out. Go on, get back to yer singing.’

Nancy glared at Jane.

Renee raised her arm to hold Nancy back and spoke calmly. ‘We’re here to show respect to your grandson Eddie. He’d be turning in his grave if you got nicked for belting a copper at his wake.’

Renee waved her hands for everyone to back off, hooked her arm through Jane’s and moved towards the exit to the back yard of the pub. Jane helped her keep her balance.

Once in the rear yard Jane helped Renee sit down by a bench table covered in dirty glasses. She took a tissue out from her bag and wiped Nancy’s spit off her face.

Renee looked at her and shrugged. ‘It was my fault Nancy kicked off. I recognized you first and said you were a copper. I didn’t get a chance to finish telling her you’d helped me out before she erupted. But to be honest, luv, you shouldn’t have come here.’

‘I’m sorry, but my bus broke down and—’

‘Whatever the reason I don’t wanna hear it. You did me a good turn and I figured I owed you one.’

‘I really appreciate what you did in there.’

Renee started to stand up but stumbled back onto the seat.

Jane hesitated but couldn’t stop herself. ‘So how’s your family? I heard your husband was released recently.’

Renee looked up with a squinting half-smile on her face.

‘If John and Clifford could see me now they’d not be best pleased, but family is family, no matter what I got notions about, but...’ She tried to straighten her hat. ‘My David’s the only decent one. I take care of him cos the other two are no-good bastards.’

Holding on to the table she pulled herself to her feet and started to return to the snug, but stopped and glared at a woman at an adjacent table. She had long dyed blonde hair and was wearing a silver lamé dress.

‘You slag!’ Renee shouted.

Jane couldn’t believe it: one minute Renee was fine and the next she was screeching in a rage. Unbeknownst to Jane this was the woman Clifford had been having an affair with for years. Renee lurched across the table, picked up a half-finished pint and threw it over the woman, who jumped up and started screaming whilst clutching her soaking-wet hair. Jane watched aghast as Renee threw a punch that missed before toppling forward knocking the woman to the ground. Shouts and cat-calls erupted as the pair of them struggled and punched at each other, and people came out from the snug wondering what on earth the ruckus was about.