Stevan Alcock - Blood Relatives

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication I Wilma McCann Emily Jackson Marcella Claxton Irene Richardson Patricia ‘Tina’ Atkinson II Jayne MacDonald Maureen Long Jean Royle (also known as Jean Jordan) Marilyn Moore Yvonne Pearson Helen Rytka Vera Millward Josephine Whitaker Barbara Leach III Jacqueline Hill Acknowledgements About the Publisher

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.4thestate.co.uk

Copyright © Stevan Alcock 2015

The right of Stevan Alcock to be identified as the author

of this work has been asserted by him in accordance

with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988

A catalogue record for this book is

available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Cover photographs © Evening Standard /Getty Images (boys); Jack Hickes/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images (Arndale bus stop)

Source ISBN: 9780007580842

Ebook Edition © March 2015 ISBN: 9780007580859

Version: 2015-12-02

For Peg

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication I Wilma McCann Emily Jackson Marcella Claxton Irene Richardson Patricia ‘Tina’ Atkinson II Jayne MacDonald Maureen Long Jean Royle (also known as Jean Jordan) Marilyn Moore Yvonne Pearson Helen Rytka Vera Millward Josephine Whitaker Barbara Leach III Jacqueline Hill Acknowledgements About the Publisher

Copyright Copyright Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication I Wilma McCann Emily Jackson Marcella Claxton Irene Richardson Patricia ‘Tina’ Atkinson II Jayne MacDonald Maureen Long Jean Royle (also known as Jean Jordan) Marilyn Moore Yvonne Pearson Helen Rytka Vera Millward Josephine Whitaker Barbara Leach III Jacqueline Hill Acknowledgements About the Publisher First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Fourth Estate An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.4thestate.co.uk Copyright © Stevan Alcock 2015 The right of Stevan Alcock to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Cover photographs © Evening Standard /Getty Images (boys); Jack Hickes/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images (Arndale bus stop) Source ISBN: 9780007580842 Ebook Edition © March 2015 ISBN: 9780007580859 Version: 2015-12-02

Dedication Dedication Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication I Wilma McCann Emily Jackson Marcella Claxton Irene Richardson Patricia ‘Tina’ Atkinson II Jayne MacDonald Maureen Long Jean Royle (also known as Jean Jordan) Marilyn Moore Yvonne Pearson Helen Rytka Vera Millward Josephine Whitaker Barbara Leach III Jacqueline Hill Acknowledgements About the Publisher For Peg

I

Wilma McCann

Emily Jackson

Marcella Claxton

Irene Richardson

Patricia ‘Tina’ Atkinson

II

Jayne MacDonald

Maureen Long

Jean Royle (also known as Jean Jordan)

Marilyn Moore

Yvonne Pearson

Helen Rytka

Vera Millward

Josephine Whitaker

Barbara Leach

III

Jacqueline Hill

Acknowledgements

About the Publisher

30/10/1975

The milkman found her. On Prince Philip Playing Fields. He crossed the dew-soaked grass toward what he took to be a bundle of clothes, but then he came across a discarded shoe, and then t’ mutilated body.

Her name wor Wilma McCann.

An hour earlier, wi’ t’ daybreak a mere streak across t’ Leeds skyline, Wilma McCann’s two kids wor found by t’ police, waiting in their nightclothes at a bus stop in t’ Scott Hall Road, hoping to see their mother on t’ next bus from town.

Later on t’ morning the milkman made his gruesome discovery, after he’d told the police, made a statement, phoned his missus from a box on Harehills Lane, the milk float wor working almost parallel wi’ our Corona Soft Drinks wagon up and down Harehills’ red-brick back-to-backs. It worn’t usual for him to be in this street at the same time as us. He wor running way late. Eric, my driver, parped the horn. The milk-float driver beckoned us over, his face taut and joyless.

‘Stay here, Rick. Watch the van. Summat’s up.’

This irked me. My mind wor already racing ahead to t’ end of t’ working day, to t’ terraced house in t’ cul-de-sac where t’ Matterhorn Man lived, and now Eric wor blathering on wi’ t’ milkman and the day wor stretching itsen out before me.

I plonked both feet sulkily on t’ dashboard and mulled on t’ lines of washing slung between t’ backs of t’ terraces. Billowing sheets, flapping underwear and wind-socked nylon shirts. Washing slowed us down even more than some poor cow’s corpse. I’d have to march before t’ wagon wi’ a long pole and hoist up all t’ washing so our grimy vehicle could sneak beneath. The women would hear t’ van and look out skittishly as we passed, watching to make sure their pristine laundry worn’t soiled on t’ line.

Then we’d stop. Stacking half a dozen bottles up each forearm we’d move deftly from back kitchen doorstep to back kitchen door; from Asian kitchens where t’ hands of t’ women wor stained wi’ turmeric, to t’ kitchens of black women who laughed and joked wi’ us in their patois, to Ukrainian and Polish kitchens and English kitchens. Kitchens filled wi’ t’ smells of spices and baking, dank kitchens of stomach-churning grease, dirt and indifference.

Over t’ road, the milkman and Eric wor still confabbing. The milkman wor pointing somewhere. I swore, slammed my fist hard against t’ cab door, clambered out onto t’ back of t’ wagon and noisily dragged some crates about.