Chapter 6

But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—

Till I scarcely more than muttered "Other friends have flown before—

On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."

Then the bird said "Nevermore."

Edgar Allan Poe

The Wind moon looked fat and magnificent the way its light was diffusing through the clouds in the night sky. Within the stretched shadows of the street, he was walking with his eyes firmly falling on Candy's house. The windows were dark. He approached with quiet steps. Stood right at her door for just a smidgeon of time and then left as soon as he had arrived. Having been already one hour late for his meeting he quickened his step.

"You are late", the man said sounding gruff.

Billy Pike looked as rough and stern as he sounded. Of short stature and a face lined from the harshness in life, he wasn't someone who was prone to bullshit. His chestnut stare was restless as he scanned everything and everyone while he spoke.

"I know", the recipient of his complaint replied with a tone equally abrupt.

They ordered two pints and sat at a quiet table in a corner. Late Friday night kept the bar staff inside the Blind Beggar pulling pints without a break. After, getting their thirst sated while staring at the stream of punters standing at the bar, they turned to each other.

"So, where were you?", Billy asked bringing his companion's lateness to the fore.

The young man's stare remained firm.

"Had things to take care and they couldn't wait", he said without wanting to give any more explanations.

"Well, this isn't the way doing the things we do...", Billy commended with a low voice.

He looked annoyed, no doubt about it. His companion was getting frustrated to his need of prodding.

"Look Billy, do you want to do this...?", he cut him before he could on. "Or not...?"

"I can go home and forget all bout tonight", he added.

"No, no...the birdie's flying tonight", Billy hurried to reply.

"OK...let's not waste more time then", the man said.

They downed the remainder of their pints and got up, left the pub and disappeared in the night.

Her friends were waiting for her for yet another night of dance and frolicking at the Embassy club. Despite loving the dance nights with her friends, her mind was elsewhere. Not only that particular night but several nights now.

A week had passed since her unexpected acquaintance of Christian Blake and he had not given any signs of life. If you had asked her, she would say that it was a night to remember and he had looked like he had enjoyed the time in her company too. Unless he had acted on purely gentleman's terms. Keeping her at his apartment with wine and enjoyable conversation just so she would not risk her life acting like the fool she was inside the pub.

For the days that passed, she tried to dismiss her thoughts of his no show as selfish. Why would Christian attempt a repeat meeting? After all, she was not a stunner. Growing up had given her confidence in her looks but she was also a realist. She wasn't stick thin and wasn't graced with an elegant nose and razor high cheekbones but she had a wholesome beauty and loved her smile. She was also a woman however and despite trying to find excuses of Christian's disappearance after that memorable night, she could not help but keep her mind occupied with the fact that he hadn't send a note of thank you even. The last observation made her huff without realising it. Her growing frustration caught her by surprise. She was getting obsessed with a man she had spent just a night and this reaction wasn't her. Last time she was getting so into a man from the first time they laid eyes to one another was a very long time ago.

She looked at herself in the mirror, approving of her reflection. She was wearing a pale pink chiffon and silver beaded party dress which made her smokey green eyes look even more intense. She wore her hair with a left side parting, having gathered them on that side behind her ear where she had them secured with a scarlet red rosebud made of silk. Put on her bright red lipstick, her pearl jewellery and her black dance heels. She was ready.

She drank the last remnants of her champagne in the tall crystal flute, spritzed her neck and the insides of her wrists with My Sin by Lanvin, her favourite perfume, wanting to feel seductive that night. Christian could very well be a bore and perhaps it was better he hadn't showed up. There were plenty more guys to flirt around and she was just fine with that. She broke into a wide smile, eyes sparkling, opened the door and left.

"That was my life in the year 1925. The soul and life of every party, part of the "en vogue" crowd in London. We were young, life was a game and we had fun playing it. No, love wouldn't survive it. There wasn't a place for that here. But I didn't care. I was through with love. What an overrated feeling..."

Lord Loyd's mansion in Eaton Square looked imposing under the moonlight, with its bright white exterior and the grand entrance which stood between two tall grecian style columns. They had been surveilling the property for the whole week. According to the information gathered, the family would be out for the night. Lord Loyd with his wife had left for the countryside and the daughter had left awhile ago, all dressed up for partying in some posh London club. All was good and the streets were empty. Dressed in black, they were moving in the shadows.

"Ok, Black Feathers, do yer magic...", Billy whispered to his companion who was still and had his eyes nailed to the house.

"You stay here Billy", he replied while peering through the mask he slid to cover half his face.

"Any bluebottles* 'round, you know how it goes", he added. (*bluebottles = policemen)

"Aye...I sing to the top of ma voice"

Billy stayed put while the silhouette of the man next to him started to stretch the moment he stepped out into the moonlight. From their hiding point, up to the balcony above the main door, he entered the house by opening the big window like a raven flying to its nest without a sound.

The house inside was a misshapen web of dark corners and long drawn shadows borne from the moonlight entering the big windows. He moved with ease. It was not difficult for him. Having spent a week inside the property, his eyes, while looking at Lady Mildred and his canvas, had also memorised everything else that stood inside the drawing room, her parlour sort of speak, since she loved that room. His skills of conversation and even more of flirting with the blue bloods, had made him a figure of trust and lust at the same time, although he remained unobtainable which was even more tantalising for the women of stature such as Lady Mildred Loyd, the wife of Lord Loyd. They had also made it possible for him to wander about, and even become privy to the location of the safe, when he suggested for the Lady to wear some fancy necklace for her portrait, as this would give her a more regal presence, upon his suggestion.

The door of the Lord Loyd's office clicked open under his gloved hand. For a moment he stood still, taking in the cricks and cracks of the house. There was an uneasy feeling inside him this time. He wasn't his usual calm and focused self. For a week now, he had thrown himself to the task, painting the portrait of Lady Mildred but he wasn't at all there. He had found the whole process a struggle. Instead, his mind was stuck on that Friday night spent with this unusual, spirited blonde American. She was so much different from any other woman he had met and even though she hung with the bright young crowd of London, a vapid and superfluous bunch of rich young adults whose only care was to party, it was obvious to him from the very start that she wasn't cut of the same fabric. She may not have had the looks of a film siren but the way she carried herself, so certain but at the same time having this air of honest elegance, not the one made up by attending savoir vivre classes but something innate, an inborn empathy which gave her eyes and smile a light like nothing he had seen before. She had invaded his being since then.

With light moves, he removed the painting hanging behind the big mahogany desk. When he opened the safe, he promised to give himself a break from that hidden life of his. The one that excited him and had filled him with purpose since he had found out he wasn't really part of this circuit of the rich and silver spooned. Instead he was a pawn, a stolen baby, between a Duke and Philip Blake, a successful London banker, his late father.

Billy's out of tune song and the noise at the front door threw a bucket of cold water on his thoughts. Quick as a lightning, he shoved the black bag with the jewels in his breast pocket, pulled his mask down and left the room with his breath being the only sound he made. Closed the window and waited, crouching at the balcony corner. Checked the street below. It was quiet again. He heard a light whistling. Footsteps on the stairs inside. Threw the rope and went down in one smooth swoop. Before anything else was heard from inside the mansion, he was walking away with Billy, back in the world of shadows. His breath was fast.

"I'm done Billy...need a break", he turned and looked at the man as he was handing him the mask.

"Aye...no worries Black Feathers, take ol the time ye need", Billie said and patted him on the back. "Ol the time ye need".

The faint fragrance of spring permeated the darkness with a stillness that could bring chills up your spine. Candy and Alexander strolled in the quiet street after the night out together, stopping in front of her door.

"Well, that's where I live...", she said with a smile and looked at her date with clear eyes, "I've had a great time tonight Alex, thank you!"

"The pleasure was all mine Rose", he replied, "I've grown quite fond to your company you know", he continued looking at her with meaningful eyes.

"Oh you're exaggerating Alex, but thank you nevertheless...you're very sweet", she reciprocated, putting her palms on his chest, keeping a distance to the closeness their bodies had at that moment.

She wasn't attracted to Alexander in such a way. She had fun dancing with him and that was enough. He cupped her gloved hands with his and squeezed her fingers that lay on his chest, before lowering his head, to touch her lips with his. They were cool under his kiss, without a hint of anything simmering below the surface. There was nothing more in their friendship than what it was, just friends. He sighed faintly and pulled his face up to meet with an apology in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Alex...", she said.

He felt awkward, chuckled and buried his fingers through his hair.

"No need to apologise Rose...I'm attracted to you...I cannot hide it, and at least I tried...friends, is fine by me", he said with a smile carrying a hint of sadness.

She smiled back at him with relief.

"Dancing...next week again...maybe?", she asked him.

"You can count me in", he replied and stood upright. His fingers still entwined with hers, he pulled her hand up and planted a gentle kiss on the fabric of her glove. "Sleep tight", he said as he gave her one last look, before turning around to leave her be.

"Goodnight Rose!", he said loudly as he walked away.

Candy waved at him. "Goodnight Alex!", she said back.

She took a deep breath, unlocked her door and went in. That was a bit awkward but at least it ended well, she thought to herself. Surely though, Alexander wasn't the one to push away her persisting thoughts of Christian.

She turned on the light switch by her side. Her eyes fell on a white enveloped card, half hidden under her shoe. She picked it up and took the stiff bone-white card out of the envelope. Her eyes widened with disbelief. Her body touched the closed front door. She started slipping against it, until she sat down on the floor with a face that fell apart by her utter surprise while the card lay in the palm of her hand. She brought it once more in front of her eyes and read it.

For Miss Scarlet Rose

Please forgive my inexcusable absence

I would like to share breakfast with you

Be ready tomorrow at 10am, if you want to know more...

C

She stared at his elegant handwriting, its black inked fluid lines. It was as if warm wind was blowing inside of her, making her sweat, turning everything upside down in its pass.

"C...Christian!", she whispered.

His message, apologetic and just as unexpected and bold as his introduction. "To share breakfast with me...", she talked to herself again while instances of a man and a woman sharing breakfast together came to her mind. True, anyone could share an innocent breakfast with another. Why then, when this simple statement was coming from him, brought her images of a couple sharing breakfast in bed? She pressed her flushed cheeks with her hands, her lips squeezed together, leaving an annoyed sigh. She was either getting crazy...or desperate for a lover in her life.

She did flirt a lot, and wasn't shy to kissing but she had never attempted to sleep with anyone since her views on life changed. Of all the things that made her nervous regarding having sex with someone, she was hesitant of the baggage a potential relationship carried with it. Becoming too emotionally involved with hopeful guys who waited for her signal of approval. Sad but true, since Terry was pushed so abruptly out from her life, her heart had closed to those feelings of close emotional intimacy, feelings of love. She had developed a constant fear of heartbreak, deciding to let no one to get too close to her, to become dependent of their presence in her life.

No matter how alluring this man was to her right now, she had made up her mind on some things and she was determined to keep them that way. That did not stop the fine hairs on her arms to stand upright the moment she glanced at the card one last time before leaving it on her dresser, getting ready to dive under her duvet. She was very curious indeed to sharing breakfast with him, she thought as she closed her eyes, hoping to fall asleep quickly for the next day to dawn.