Nightfall had brought with it an end to the noise and commotion of the day, and in its place was an atmosphere of tranquillity. Poplar was at peace. The roads and streets were devoid of any motorcars or people, and the gentle lapping of the Thames on the riverbank was a soothing sound to hear. Rainwater that had fallen earlier that day had collected in the cracks in the cobblestones, and orange light from the street lamps glinted in the murky pools. Up above, the dark clouds were slowly parting, giving way to the stars, but still obscuring the moon.
The stillness of the night was broken by the sound of laughter echoing down the road. It was a sweet and light-hearted sound, and anybody listening would have been momentarily entranced by it.
"Delia!"
Another female voice, rich and clipped, called out after the owner of the laugh.
"Oh do come on, Pats! You have to keep up!"
The reply was an unmistakable Welsh accent, the words lilting and musical. Two young women burst out from a dark back alley onto the terrace. The shorter, Welshwoman, with dark hair, had the taller, redheaded woman by the hand.
"See, that wasn't so bad, Patsy, was it now?"
Patsy leant back against the bricks to catch her breath.
"I'm not so sure I trust your shortcuts, Deels!" she chuckled between pants, "I think I prefer the usual way,"
"Ah, but where's the fun in that?"
Patsy straightened up to look about the deserted street.
"It's a jolly good thing nobody's about!" she remarked, but Delia wasn't paying any attention.
Already she had begun to make her way up the cobbled street back towards Nonnatus House. Patsy was still for a moment, admiring the way Delia looked from behind in her white and blue dress; the way it swayed with her hips as she walked, and the way it glowed slightly in the dim light. She was beautiful.
"Come on you," Delia smiled, turning and extending her hand for Patsy.
They joined hands again and began to stroll up the road. Delia's heels made a rhythmic clicking sound on the stones, and their steps fell into time with one another.
Just as they reached the end of the terrace and turned left onto the main street towards Nonnatus House, there was a scrabbling in the alley across the road.
Immediately, Patsy felt Delia's grip on her hand tighten significantly. They both stopped, their breaths coming short and fast.
"Nurse?"
Delia flinched and released Patsy's hand, putting a good metre between them, her terror of being caught holding Patsy's hand suddenly outweighing her fear of whoever was calling for them.
"Nurse?" the voice came again.
"Who's there?" Patsy replied, her own voice wavering a little.
From a narrow alley opposite them, a young woman with a pale, frightened expression emerged. It was just visible in the streetlight that she was wearing a flowery dress, but that her knees and hands were grubby, and her makeup was smudged. Even from where they were standing, Patsy could see that her eyes were red from crying.
"Is everything alright?" Patsy asked, the relief in her voice audible.
"Yes, I mean, I am… but it's my friend… she," the woman broke off looking back down into the alley.
Delia stepped a little closer to the other woman. "Do you need a nurse?"
The woman nodded, "I recognised you from Nonnatus. My friend needs help. She got hurt and I thought that she wasn't too bad but… she ain't alright,"
Patsy nodded, understanding straight away.
"Lead the way, Miss…?"
"I'm just Karen, and my friend's Ruth. She's in a bad way. She doesn't even look at me when I say her name,"
Already Patsy and Delia were clearly concerned. They followed Karen down into the alley. Here, the cobbles were covered in algae, and were treacherous underfoot. Discarded bits of metal and wood lay about on the ground, and it smelt damp and unpleasant. About three quarters of the way down the alley, the buildings overhead were joined together so that the passage was covered. The cobbles were drier and cleaner, and the light from the entrance at the other end provided enough visibility to see who they had come for.
A young woman, with auburn hair strewn over her face, was slumped against the alley wall, several metres away from the road above. Grazes and bruises ran all down her arm, and her head hung limply forward. Both nurses hurried towards her.
Delia knelt on the ground in front of her and delicately brushed the hair out of her face. The woman was pretty, but there was a nasty cut above her right eye and another purple bruise on her cheekbone.
"Ruth!" Karen sobbed.
Patsy placed two fingers on Ruth's wrist.
"It's fast," she noted, "and her breathing is laboured,"
"Ruth?" Delia called softly, "Can you hear me?"
The girl stirred and mumbled something incoherent. Karen gave another wail and turned away, her head in her hands.
"Karen, I need to know exactly what happened to Ruth," Patsy said, standing up and placing a hand on her shoulder.
Delia looked up and watched Patsy try to comfort Karen. The redheaded nurse wrapped her arm around her and held her to her until the most violent sobs had subsided. Her shoulders jolted with each heave, but she began to recover with Patsy's comforting embrace helping her to relax.
"Just tell us when you are ready,"
"There were these men, about five of them, and… Ruth and I were coming out of this place, and they set on me and she tried to push one of them off me and then… he just hit her,"
"Where did he hit her?"
"I could barely see anything; it was so fast! But, I think he hit her here," she pointed at her side, "And then she fell to the floor and…"
"And?"
"And then they left," she said simply.
As the words left her mouth, Delia's heart went out to Karen. She looked so broken and empty, standing in the darkness and shivering in the cool night air. Her hair had fallen loose in places, and there were streaks in the dirt on her face from where she had been crying.
"Karen?" Patsy said gently, "Why didn't you call for the police, or an ambulance? If you could see that she was injured, you could have at least notified the owner of the establishment that you left,"
The young woman visibly paled and she began stammering as she tried to find an answer.
"Well, see, she wasn't t so bad at first… a bit confused… but she could walk, and she didn't want fuss or to give anyone any trouble, see? It was only when we were walking that she began to stagger, and then she was sick, so we sat here and… and…"
Carefully, Delia stood up and took Karen's hand, cupping it reassuringly.
"Karen, we're not here to pass any judgement. You don't have to fear us. We just want to know why this has happened so that we can help,"
There must have been something in the softness of Delia's accent, or her honest blue eyes, because Karen's resistance began to melt away.
"I couldn't tell you, even if I wanted to. You wouldn't stay here a minute longer if you knew,"
Delia gave her a small smile and shook her head.
"I promise you, we won't leave this spot, not even if you told us that you had just stolen the crown jewels,"
This made even Karen give a little laugh.
"You promise?"
"Yes," Patsy confirmed, meeting Delia's eyes and giving her a look of determination, "We promise,"
Karen took a deep breath, her fingers knotting together anxiously.
"It's because…"