Mersey Murder Mysteries Collection

Chapter 20

Nineteen sixty-six had been a good year so far for the people of Liverpool. The blue half of Merseyside had celebrated an F.A. Cup triumph for Everton, while the reds of Liverpool had claimed the league title. All this was followed by England"s memorable World Cup victory in a thrilling final at Wembley against West Germany. Musically, The Beatles continued to dominate the pop charts, with Paperback Writer hitting the number one position in June. Liverpool"s own darling of the pop charts, Cilla Black released the beautiful Don"t Answer Me in the summer after earlier recording the title track to the Michael Caine film, Alfie, with Burt Bacharach.

Paperback WriterDon"t Answer MeAlfieFor the music industry in general, there had been a few trials and tribulations, with Radio Caroline South"s pirate radio ship MV Mi Amigo running aground in January on the beach at Frinton, and in other news the country had been horrified by the terrible case of the Moors Murders which finally saw Ian Brady and Myra Hindley go on trial for the brutal torture and slayings of three children.

MV Mi AmigoA wind of change swept the fashion industry. Almost overnight, Mary Quant"s mini-skirt was suddenly "in" and for the first time, the amount of leg shown by the young women of Britain showed teenage boys and men alike that women really did have legs that extended up and beyond their knees.

For the younger generation then, all seemed well, but for the former members of Brendan Kane and the Planets, life had taken an unfortunate downturn.

Following the inevitable break up of the group after the failure of their demo disc two years earlier, Brendan, still full of belief and ambition had launched himself on a grueling tour of the clubs in Liverpool and its surrounding area. He"d saved hard after the initial split with The Planets and had first taken driving lessons, and after passing his driving test had bought himself a second-hand Hillman Minx, picked up for thirty pounds at a local motor auction. He"d carried on working at the bookshop by day and would drive himself to gigs at night, usually ending up tired beyond belief by the end of each week, and having to start all over again as Monday dawned once more. At least he had his own place, having rented a small flat above a shop in the city centre. Sadly, he"d as yet failed to attract that elusive recording contract, though his dreams of stardom kept him going through the tiredness.

He and Marie continued to see each other, usually at the flat, and the couple had somehow managed to keep their relationship a secret until a few months earlier, when a friend of Mickey"s had seen them kissing and romantically entangled, quite by chance in a pub in Wigan. Mickey, who, with the others had long suspected a romance between the couple, and who was now working as a bricklayer had tried to be sensible and had sat down with his sister and tried to talk her out of the relationship with Brendan, telling her it could lead to nothing. Marie however, informed her elder brother about the long-standing nature of their love affair and even though Mickey attempted to change her mind by bringing accounts clerk Ronnie in on the secret, Marie would hear none of it. Mickey and Ronnie then confronted Brendan, who refused to listen to their entreaties to end the affair.

A kind of lull ensued, as the former group members saw less and less of each other, though Brendan maintained a closer relationship with Phil Oxley than he did with the brothers, who, for the sake of their sister, maintained a civilized silence about the affair with Brendan. Phil had at least managed to remain in the music business, now playing drums regularly for a local dance band, not quite pop stardom, but it was regular work and paid well.

Brendan held Marie close as they lay together in bed in the small city centre flat. Marie"s head rested on his shoulder as they relaxed in the aftermath of a particularly passionate love-making session.

“It"s just not happening for me here, Marie. In England, I mean. Look how long I"ve been trying, first with The Planets, and now on my own. I know I can do better, I just know it.”

“But Brendan, darling, just what else can you do that you haven"t already tried?”

Lying naked beside him, the warmth and intense satisfaction of their recent lovemaking still coursing through her body, the truth was, Marie wasn"t really too concerned about Brendan"s career at that particular moment. All that changed with his next words, however.

“I can go to America. That"s what else I can do, Marie.”

The look of shock on Marie"s face was palpable as his words struck home like an arrow to her heart.

“America? You"ve got to be joking, Brendan, surely.”

“No joke, Babe. The States could be just the place to start and build up a whole new career.”

“But nobody in America has ever heard of you. What makes you think you"ll have a better chance of success over there than you"ve had here?”

“I"ve got to try something, anything or I"ll go through my life wondering what might have been if I hadn"t tried. I thought you"d understand that.”

“Understanding is one thing, but, what about us, Brendan? Sounds as if your mind"s made up and you"re prepared to just bugger off to America and leave me here. I thought you loved me. I thought we had a future together, that we"d be together forever. Not much chance of that Brendan, is there, with you on the other side of the world and me stuck here in an office in Liverpool for the rest of my life?”

Brendan leaned over and tried to kiss her, but Marie turned her face away at the last minute, leaving him with a mouthful of blonde hair. Taking her head in his hands, he gently turned her face until they were facing each other once again, and with a smile on his face he said,

“Do you really think I"d just leave you here all alone?”

Marie looked questioningly at him.

“Well, I…”

“Look, you silly girl, you know I love you, always have and always will. I was going to explain things a bit better. Didn"t mean for it to come out like it has, but anyway, I want to go over there and maybe try a change of name, get an agent or a manager or whatever it takes to get started in America, and I want you to come with me, you daft bugger.”

“Me? Go to America with you? Are you crazy?”

“No, Marie, I"m not. Why shouldn"t you come with me? We want to be together, don"t we?

“I know, but me Mam and Dad"ll never allow it, especially me Dad. You know how strict he is on religious things.”

“Oh, come on, Marie. This is the nineteen sixties for God"s sake. All that Papist and Proddie stuff is way out of date now, except for that lot over in Ireland.”

“God, don"t let me Dad ever hear you saying, that word, you know, Papists. He"d go ballistic.”

“Give over, Marie. I bet he calls Protestants proddies, though and that"s okay is it?”

“Look, I know he"s a bit of an old dinosaur, but he"s still me Dad. He"d never agree to me living with you over here, never mind in bloody America.”

“Who said anything about living together? I meant I want you to go with me as my wife. I want you to marry me, Marie. Say you will, please.”

A look of pure shock showed on Marie"s face as she took in Brendan"s words. She felt her hands beginning to tremble as she pulled herself up into a sitting position in the bed.

“Brendan, of course I want to marry you. You know I do, but, Mam and Dad won"t allow it, you know they won"t.”

“Then we don"t ask them. We go over to America and get married there. I"ve read about places where you can go, wedding chapels they call them. All you need"s your birth certificate and a couple of witnesses, and you have to have some kind of blood test I think.”

“What for?”

“Oh, I dunno. Probably to make sure you"re not carrying any diseases or something. Anyway, if we plan it carefully and quietly we can probably be there in a couple of months.”

“Two months? Oh God, Brendan, I so want to say yes, but it"s all so sudden and well, a bit scary, more like a lot scary really. I mean, I couldn"t just up sticks and leave without a word to anyone.”

“We can wait until nearer the time and then maybe just tell Mickey, or maybe Ronnie. They love you too, even though they might be pissed off with me, and if we can show them it"s what you want and it"s going to make you happy, I"ll bet you they won"t say anything to your Mam and Dad, at least until after we"ve left.”

Marie"s head was awhirl with all Brendan had said in the last few minutes. She needed time to think. Sliding her legs out of the bed and on to the floor, she reached across and quickly slipped Brendan"s blue denim shirt over her shoulders.

“Where"re you going? Brendan asked, admiring her legs as she paced out of the bedroom.

“Kitchen,” Marie replied. “I need a drink. Want one?”

“Sure, just a Coke, please.”

Marie quickly lifted two bottles of Coca-Cola from the small fridge in the kitchen, pausing for a moment to listen to the song playing on Radio Luxembourg, Cilla Black"s Don"t Answer Me. She stood admiring Brendan"s new Grundig radio as she found the bottle opener and removed the tops from two bottles of Coke, then returned to the bedroom, holding one bottle out towards Brendan, who took it from her gratefully, and took a long slug from the bottle.

Don"t Answer Me“Well?” he asked.

“Let me think, Brendan. I want to say yes, you know I do, but it"s a massive step.”

“Okay, I understand. Let"s not say anything else tonight. Just promise me you"ll think about it.”

“Of course I will, silly. I just need for it all to sink in, work out how to sort everything out, you know?

In truth, Brendan had blurted out his American idea pretty much on the hoof and hadn"t really thought it through. He"d no real idea about how to go about emigrating to the USA and knew he"d have to do some fast, serious fact-finding now that he"d revealed his plans to Marie. Could he really plan and execute his ideas in the space of two months. Would Marie say yes?

After he and Marie made love once more, the couple dressed, and an awkward silence descended upon them as neither appeared to know quite what to say to each other in light of the evening"s turn of events. Brendan drove her home and dropped her on the corner of her street, watching her as she walked to her door, then he drove home, fell into bed, and spent a sleepless night as his mind raced, alive with thoughts of a future with Marie in a brave new world, as man and wife, with a new career and a whole new life ahead of them. He knew he had two major hurdles to overcome if he were to turn his latest dream into reality. First, he needed Marie"s commitment to join him if he did manage to arrange to leave Liverpool and head for the USA, and secondly, and perhaps most important, there remained the problems that might ensue from her family when they found about their plans.

The Red River Café was hardly the most salubrious establishment in the area. Standing at the end of a row of pre-war terraced houses, close to an area bombed extensively during the war and still bearing its scars as a bombsite, the café was, nevertheless a popular meeting place for the younger generation and it was here that Brendan had arranged to meet former group member, Phil Oxley. One of the reasons for the Red River"s popularity was the beautiful Wurlitzer Juke Box that stood in one corner of the establishment and Sam Beckett, owner of the café, always made sure it was filled with the latest chart hits, making his place a major attraction for the local youths and young adults, eager to sit and feed the machine with money in order to hear their latest favourites.

Arriving two minutes before the pre-arranged time, Phil walked though the café door to find Brendan waiting for him, seated at a table near the window. Phil took a seat at the Formica-topped table, and reached across to shake hands with his old friend.

“Hiya, Phil. How"s things?” Brendan asked.

“I"m doing good, Brendan, thanks. How about yourself?”

“That"s what I wanted to talk to you about, Phil, but hey, let"s get a drink first. What"ll you have?”

“Espresso for me, please,” Phil replied and Brendan pushed his chair back, rose and walked to the counter. In a minute or so the satisfying hiss of the espresso machine signalled the coffee was ready and he returned to the table with two cups of espresso on a plastic tray, which he placed on the table before regaining his seat and smiling at Phil.

“So, how"s it going with the dance band, Phil? Bit different from The Planets, eh?”

“It is, but they"re a good crowd, the fellas in the band. Mostly a lot older than me, of course, but hey, some of that dance band music is really cool, you know? The swing sound and the big band sounds like those bands in the war played really get people up and dancing, and Bob, the bandleader says I"m one of the best drummers they"ve had for years, and you know, a lot of the band music was like the roots of a lot of our rock "n roll. The Jive, the Lindy Hop and lots more all came out of the big band music during the war.”

“That"s good mate, it really is. But listen, I"ve something important to tell you, and to be honest, I could do with your advice.”

“Well, there"s a first. Not often you"ve ever been unsure enough to want my advice, mate.”

Brendan smiled as he replied, “Well, there"s always a first time, Phil and this is really important, and I"m just not sure what to do.”

Phil realised his friend was deadly serious and he could see worry etched on Brendan"s face, and so he dropped the air of flippancy he"d at first adopted and prepared to listen carefully to his friend.

Half an hour later, Brendan finally came to the end of his story, Phil having listened to his friend with only sporadic interruptions for the occasional question, and to replenish their espressos at the counter.

“So, Phil, what d"you think?” Brendan looked at Oxley hopefully after finishing presenting his ideas for the future to his friend.

“What do I think? I think you"re bloody mad, Brendan Kane, that"s what I think. Bloody hell, man, you"ve always been a bit of a dreamer, you know you have, but this is taking it to the limit, man. You"ve told me in your own words you don"t really know much about moving to the States, so, if you"re serious about this hare-brained scheme of yours, you"d better contact the US Embassy or whoever you need to get in touch with to find out if your idea even has a chance of working. You might not fit the, what do they call it…? Oh yeah, the criteria, that"s the word. You might not fit the criteria they set for people wanting to go and live over there. No, be quiet and friggin" listen to me,” he said quickly as he could see Brendan was about to interject and interrupt his reply. “You"ve asked for my help and my advice, so let me tell you what I think, then you can have another go, okay?”

Brendan nodded and Phil continued.

“As I see it, that"s the first part of your problem, and probably the easiest bit to get sorted. The hard part is Marie, and I don"t mean the bit about marrying her, or persuading her to go to America with you. She"d go with you like a shot, man. You"d have had to be blind, deaf and dumb not to see how much she"s been love with you these last few years. Oh yes, Brendan bloody big man Kane. We all knew, even though you"d both worked hard at keeping it a secret for a long time. Eventually you couldn"t disguise the looks that passed between you and we all thought you"d tell us when you wanted to and we just kept quiet and let you play your little game of secrets.”

“How long had you known?” Brendan had to ask, unable to keep silent any longer.

“Oh, from soon after we cut the demo disc, not long before we packed in the group. But anyway, like I said, that"s not the big problem. It"s her family, Brendan. They"re staunch Catholics, you know that. They"re not going to take too kindly to their only daughter running off with some proddie kid to get married and then moving halfway around the bloody world to live in another bloody country. You might just win Mickey and Ronnie round in the end but it"s their parents that"s your problem. They"ll kick up such a stink, Brendan lad, they really will.”

“But they can"t stop us, can they, Phil, if we really want to go?”

“You"re not thinking straight, man. Look, Marie is twenty, right?”

Brendan nodded in the affirmative.

“Well then, until she"s twenty-one, she can"t get married without her parent"s permission. That"s the law, Brendan, and that"s all there is to it.”

“s**t,” said Brendan, his face a mask of frustration. You mean we"ve got to wait another six months until her birthday?”

Phil thought for a few second before replying, a sudden thought giving him and idea that might just help his friend.

“There"s one way you might be able to get round it, I"ve just remembered something”

“What? Come on, Phil, don"t muck about, what is it?” Brendan asked; eager to hear of anything that might help him out of what he saw as a serious setback to his plans.

“Elope to Scotland,” Phil spoke with a broad grin on his face.

“Scotland? Why the bloody hell should we go to friggin" Scotland?”

“Because, you numpty, the law"s different up there, that"s why. Have you never heard of people running away and eloping to Gretna Green?”

“I"ve heard of the place, sure, but I"ve never really thought about getting married before so can"t say I"ve really thought much about those stories.”

“Brendan, man, they"re not stories, it"s a fact. In Scotland, it"s legal to get married at sixteen. All I think you have to do is qualify by living there, just for a week or two, I"m not sure, you"d have to find out. It"s just over the border in Scotland. The two of you could bugger off up there, stay in a B & B or something and then get married, all nice and legal, and her parents couldn"t do a thing about it when you come back as Mr. and Mrs. Brendan Kane.”

The smile that appeared on Brendan"s face stretched from ear to ear as he listened to Phil"s potential solution to one of the major hurdles standing between him and Marie becoming a legally married couple.

“You"re a bloody genius, Phil,” he exclaimed. “If I can get Marie to agree to come away with me, it might just work.”

“Yeah, but remember you need to find out about going to the States first, and if I were you I"d try and get Mickey and Ronnie on your side too. You"re gonna need some back-up eventually when their parents do find out. They"re going to want to cut your bloody legs off, and maybe other more sensitive body parts too when they find out what you"ve been doing with their precious Marie.”

“I"ve hardly had much to do with them since the group split up, Phil. I know they were pissed off at me when we folded, and I"ve only seen them now and then since, so I doubt they"ll be too happy about helping me out here.”

“You"re a real prat sometimes, Brendan, you know that? Sure they were mad at you. We all were, but like I said they"ve known about you and Marie for a while and if they weren"t your friends, don"t you think they"d have tried to split you up before now? Just because they were angry back then doesn"t mean they"re going to do anything that might hurt Marie or interfere with her happiness. Give "em a chance, man.”

“But, how? What do I say to them?”

“Tell them the truth, man, you might be surprised.”

“Will you help me Phil? To set up a meeting with them, I mean? I"d feel better with you there to back me up, you know?”

“What, just in case they want to give you a good battering?” Phil laughed.

Brendan tried to return the smile but it wouldn"t form on his face.

“You really don"t think they"d want to…?”

“Give over, you great pillock. With Marie there with you? They"re not morons you know. Anyway, yes, for old time"s sake and because I happen to think you and Marie are good for each other, I"ll help you.”

Brendan jumped up from his seat at the table and almost ran round to the other side where he wrapped his arms round Phil"s shoulders and hugged his friend.

“Thanks, Phil, I don"t know how to thank you.”

“Hey, be careful, you"ll give people the wrong idea,” Phil laughed.

Brendan drew back, smiling like a Cheshire cat and grabbed Phil"s hand and shook it briskly.

“That"s more like it, mate,” Phil chuckled. “Well, let"s have another coffee and try and work out how we"re going to sort your bloody mess of a life out, eh?”