corridor.
Vida ignored them all, and concentrated on Betty.
"Tell 'im wot 'appened toyer." She jerked her head at Monk to indicate who she meant. The other man was apparently too deep in his stupor to be aware of them.
"In't nuffink much ter tell," Betty said resignedly. "I got beat. It still 'urts, but nobody can't do nothing about it. Thought o' carryin' a shiv me self but in't worth it. If I stick the bastards, I'll only get topped fer murder. Anyway, don't s'pose they'll come 'ere again."
"Yeah?" Vida said, her voice thick with derision. "Count on that, would yer? Don' mind goin' out in the streets again, takin' yer chances? "Appy about that, are yer? Yer din't 'ear wot 'appened ter Nellie West, nor Carrie Barker, nor Dot Mac Rae Nor them others wot got raped or beat? Some o' them's only kids. They damn near killed "Etty Drover, poor little cow."
Bettie looked shaken. "I thought that were 'er man wot done that? "E drinks rotten, an' 'e don' know wot 'e does, 'alf the time." She glanced towards the recumbent figure in the corner, and Monk guessed she was only too familiar with the predicament.
"No, it weren' tim Vida said bleakly. "George in't that bad. "E's all wind an' water. "E don' really doer that bad. Shejus likes ter mouth orff. It were a geezer she picked up, an' 'e punched 'er sum mink rotten, an' then kicked 'er, after 'e took 'er. She's all tore, an' still bleedin'. Yer sure yer 'appy ter go out there lookin', are yer?"
Betty stared at her. "Then I'll stay 'ome," she said between clenched teeth. "Or I'll go up the "Aymarket!"
"Don't be a bloody fool!" Vida spat back contemptuously. "You in't "Aymarket quality, an yer knows it. Nor'd they let yer jus' wander up there an' butt in, an' yer knows that too."
"Then I'll 'ave ter stay 'ome an' make do, won't I?" Betty retaliated, her cheeks a dull pink.
Vida stared at the sleeping man in the corner, unutterable scorn in her face. "An' 'e's gonna feed yer kids, is 'e? Grow up, Betty. Yer'll be out there again, rape or no rape, an' yer knows it as well as I do. Answer Monk's questions. We're gonna get these sods. Work together an' we can!"
Betty was too tired to argue. Just this moment, Vida was a worse threat than hunger or violence. She turned to Monk resignedly.
He asked her the same questions he had asked Nellie West, and received roughly the same answers. She had been out in the street to earn a little extra money. It had been a thin week for her husband, she referred to him loosely by that term. He had tried hard, but because of the weather there was nothing. Winters were always hard, especially at the fish market where he often picked up a little work. They had had a fight, over nothing in particular. He had hit her, blackening her eye and pulling out a handful of her hair. She had hit him over the head with an empty gin bottle, knocking him out. It had broken, and she had cut her hand picking up the pieces before the children could tread on them and cut their feet.
It was after that that she had gone to look for a spot of trade to make up the money. She had earned seventeen and sixpence, quite a tidy sum, and was looking to improve on it, when three men had approached her, two from in front, one from behind, and after no more than a few moments' verbal abuse, one of them had held her while the other two had raped her, one after the other. She left badly bruised, one shoulder wrenched and her knees and elbows grazed and bleeding. She had been too frightened to go out again for three weeks after that, or even to allow George anywhere near her. In fact the thought of going out again made her nearly sick with fear although hunger drove her past the door eventually.
Monk questioned her closely for anything she could remember of them.
They had abused her verbally. What were their voices like?
"They spoke proper... like gents. Weren't from around 'ere!" There was no doubt in her at all.
"Old or young?"
"Dunno. Din't see. Can't tell from a voice."
"Clean shaven or bearded?"
"Clean... I think! Don' remember no whiskers. Least... I don' think so."
"What kind of clothes?"
"Dunno."
"Do you remember anything else? A smell, words, a name, anything at