Chapter 50

Once she was certain that she was not being observed, Arabella walked briskly down the hallway leading away from the main function rooms. Freed from Tilly's company, she could feel her anger at Tommy's actions bubbling to the surface again but it was a relief, finally, to be on her way to confront him. Although she didn't dare allow herself to contemplate what she would find when she found him, she felt the faint tugging of what could almost be excitement too. She let herself through an unobtrusive door marked Employees Only which opened on to a dimly lit flight of stairs leading to the casino's vast labyrinth of cellars.

The brick-lined underground rooms were chill but dry, and the constant temperature made them perfect for the storage of comestibles – particularly the vast array of wines and spirits that the casino offered. But not all of the rooms were filled with bottles or crates. One, in the furthest reaches of the maze, was kept available for other purposes. Today the lonely room was definitely in use; two grim faced Blinders stood to attention outside. Their eyes widened in surprise as she stalked towards them. Even veiled they knew her too well to mistake her for anyone else.

'I need to see Tommy urgently. Let me through.' Her tone left no room for demurral. One tried though. Brave boy.

'Mrs Shelby, I should probably go and…'

'Get out of my way. Now!' Her rage threatened to boil over. Smartly, if reluctantly, the two men stepped aside.

Adrenaline driving her onwards, Arabella pulled open the heavy wooden door and slipped through. Before her she found three men frozen in a disturbing tableau. An unknown man of no more than 25 was bound to a chair in the centre of the room, blood was oozing from dozens of scrapes and cuts across his face and chest, and he had pissed himself with fear. To one side, an expressionless Johnny Dogs lounged against a table on which was arrayed a variety of wicked looking blades and tools. Tommy stood behind the prisoner, his blood-spattered face illuminated by the light from the single bright bulb. Arabella swallowed a mouthful of bile.

She'd known that violence formed part of the Shelby's working life - after all that had happened, how could she not? Her head pounded as she remembered the gleeful way that she had suggested that they 'make an example' of one of the men running the blackjack scam. At the time she had meant it but it had almost been like a game to her, being a gangster's wife, but it wasn't a game. Now that she had seen Tommy amidst the vicious, bone-cracking reality of his life, she could no longer pretend ignorance of the cost of doing business.

And when it came down to it, were the Shelbys really any different from the Changrettas, Solomons and his men, or even Hughes and the Odd Fellows? Their motivations (or their self-serving justifications, at least) may have differed somewhat but in the end, underneath the wealth and glamour and the talk of honour it always seemed to end with a terrified captive in a tiny room dying by inches.

Arabella's family tree was full of the criminal, the depraved, and the merely infamous, and it seemed that the family line had once again bred true in her. This innocent young man was here because of her, because of what she had discovered, and because of what she had suggested. It was her who had put an innocent man in this room, and it was her who had put this dead look back into her husband's eyes. It seemed that she was no better than any of them. It was not a happy realisation but it was, in some ways, comforting to recognise that there was a reason for some of the darker impulses that she had.


'Thomas, a word if you please.' Arabella's voice was icily polite, her emotions locked tightly away.

Tommy neither spoke nor moved. Instead, he blinked owlishly at her like a man with concussion until Johnny jolted him back to his senses by clearing his throat loudly. Walking jerkily towards her, Tommy grabbed her roughly by the arm and dragged her out through the door. Dismissing the two guards with a jerk of his head, he demanded to know why she was there.

'You have the wrong man', she hissed. 'You could torture that poor fellow from now until doomsday, but he'll never give you what you want because he doesn't know anything.'

'But he was sitting where you said he would be and making money hand over first.' Tommy was defensive, unwilling to believe that he had made such a fundamental error.

'Well I'm sure the money will come as a great comfort to him.' Arabella's sarcasm was palpable. 'The men you need are taking a break right now at one of your roulette tables. You should have waited for me like you bloody well promised.' Throwing up her hands in exasperation she continued. 'Well, word of this will surely get out so now we need to do the best we can to salvage the situation.'

Briskly, she took a handkerchief from her evening bag and began to dab away at the spots of blood on his hands and face. He let her clean him up as meekly as a child even when she dampened one corner of the handkerchief with her tongue in order to deal with a particularly stubborn streak. Eventually satisfied she said. 'Now come upstairs with me and I will point out the ones you need to bring down here.'

Johnny slipped through the door behind them. 'What shall we do with the lad?'

'Pay the poor bastard off, threaten him if you need to, and for the love of god find him some other clothes to wear before you let him go', Arabella replied smoothly.


It was little more than five minutes' work to pull the two men away from the roulette table. Everyone knew the rules, and cheats were regularly removed. It did not disturb the other players, in fact it reassured them. They liked to know that the casino took the enjoyment of its honest patrons seriously. And they particularly liked the way the cheats winnings were used to buy champagne for everyone who had been at the table. But this time the guilty parties were not taken outside to have the usual beating applied. Instead, they were hustled unceremoniously down the little hidden staircase and along to the secluded room, their protestations going unheard over the music and chatter.

Whilst all this was going on, Arabella took a few moments to check that Tilly was OK. Through the crowd she could see that the girl had palled up with a garrulous couple who were seated next to her; all three were laughing happily as they collected their winnings. Arabella recognized the pair from Harry's previous visits. They were the son and daughter of a self-made man who had started out in trade and, despite the family's change in status, he had not permitted them to be raised with any airs and graces. Consequently, they were more good-hearted and reliable than most of those who frequented the casino. Tilly would be safe enough with them whilst we see to business downstairs, she thought. Although, judging by the increasing pile of chips in front of her, Tilly seemed to be well able to take care of herself.

As she went back to the cellar, Arabella wondered idly whether the parlour maid would be interested in learning how to play poker.