I had sworn Polly to secrecy when she found out I had lied to John about what had actually happened. She wasn't happy about it but she agreed. Tommy was still in the hospital and had refused visits from anyone other than Arthur who had said he was in a bad way. Lily, John and I had been staying in the Shelby house, wanting to show a united front.
John was always hovering around me. He was trying to hide it but I could see the concern in his face every time I looked at him. The other men weren't stupid enough to ask questions so I spent most of my time either in Tommy's office or the kitchen. None of the Shelbys were happy about it but I insisted that I still wanted to carry on as normal, for Lily's sake if nothing else. Not that anything was normal for her. She was constantly being held by someone. Mainly me but often Polly, John or Arthur. None of us being able to let her out of our sights in case there was another attack.
It was two days after the attack that Uncle Charlie came to me. He knocked on the door and came in when I smiled at him through the glass. I could see Arthur walking around with a sleeping Lily in his arms. How she managed to sleep through his shouting was amazing to me. "You look bloody awful, Evie." he said, closing the door behind him. "Thanks, Uncle Charlie." I laughed, shifting my attention back to him. He wasn't wrong. The majority of my face had come out in ugly black and blue bruising. You could clearly see the blue handprint around my neck although the ones on my arms were covered by my long sleeve blouse. "I assume you didn't come here just to tell me how amazing I look." I smiled, leaning back in my chair.
"Tommy discharged himself from the hospital last night." he started, taking a seat. "What? Where is he?" I asked, sitting forward again. "He's alright, he's with Curly. He's taken the January to London." he told me. "London? Tommy is going back to fucking London?" I laughed, incredulous. Charlie nodded at me. "He wants you to meet him in Camden in four days. He said to get Scudboat to drive you down." he finished. "Camden?" I asked, thinking for a moment. Then it clicked. Alfie Solomons owned Camden. I nodded at the older man. "I'll be there." I assured him. "How are you doing, Evie?" Charlie asked, seriously as he leant forward in his chair. "I'm fine, Uncle Charlie. Honestly." I smiled as I repeated the well used lie. He didn't look convinced but stood up. "I'll leave you to it then, Evie bird." he said. I nodded, standing and moving around the desk to give him a hug. He left the office, going into the shop and speaking to Scudboat. No doubt giving him the order to take me to Camden in four days. "What has Tommy got planned?" I mumbled before turning back to the books.
"Tommy, what the hell are we doing here?" I asked as we walked into the bakery. I had met him in Camden as he had requested and he had quickly led me here. "Turns out those new friends of yours, Ruth and Jacob, put in a good word about you to Jacob's father and he's called us in." Tommy explained. "He's called you in, you mean. I'm just here to shut up and look pretty." I responded, crossing my arms over my chest. "He asked for you by name, Evie. He said 'Let's break bread and bring Evelyn with you'." Tommy said as a man approached us. He patted Tommy down, checking for weapons, before moving to check me. "You're not touching me, sunshine." I told him, removing my coat and handing it to him.
"Leave her alone, Ollie. She's only little." A cockney voice came from the other side of the room. "Did you come by yourself?" the same voice asked. The man approaching us was tall, around the same height as John but a lot wider. "Seems so." Tommy responded. "Well, you're a brave lad, ain't you?" the man replied. I gave him a polite smile when he looked at me. "Evelyn Shelby." I introduced, sticking my hand out to him. He shook it gingerly, "I know who you are. My son has told me all about you. He says you've got the eyes of the fucking devil and can make any man get down on his knees for you. Is that what you are here to do?" he replied. "You invited me here, Mr Solomons." I reminded. "He also said you've got these Shelby men around your little finger." he told me. "Really? I was under the impression it was all men." I replied with a coy smile. He thought about this for a moment.
"You want to take a look at my bakery?" he asked, voice softer now. "I'd love to." I smiled, gesturing for him to lead the way. He turned and led us deeper into the bakery. "What do you make?" I asked, falling into step with him leaving Tommy to follow behind. "We bake all sorts here, mate, yeah." Alfie replied. "Did you know we bake over 10,000 loaves a week? Can you believe it? We bake the white bread, we bake the brown bread. We bake all sorts. Would you like to try some?" he continued, coming to a stop in front of a table full of rum bottles. "Bread? Yeah?" He was talking to Tommy again now.
"What would you like? Brown or white?" he asked. "Try the brown." Tommy replied, taking a drag from his cigarette. "Brown, right. And for your wife?" Alfie asked. "I'm not Thomas' wife, Mr Solomons. But I think you already knew that. I'll have brown as well." I smiled. He looked between Tommy and I for a moment. "Please, call me Alfie." he told me before turning to pour the drinks. He handed one to Tommy and handed one to me, both taking a sip. "Not bad." Tommy remarked. "Not bad, eh? Not bad?" Alfies tone was almost threatening. "It's fucking awful, that stuff. The fucking brown stuff is awful. It is for the workers. Yeah. The white stuff, now that is for the bosses. Come, look." he told us and wandered off. Tommy and I shared a look before following him into his office.
"Well, I've heard very bad, bad, bad things about you Birmingham people." Alfie begun as we sat in his office. "You're Gypsies, right? So what, do you live in a fucking tent or a caravan?" he asked, looking between us both. "We came here to discuss business with you, Mr. Solomons." Tommy replied. Alfie clapped his hands. "Well, rum is for fun and fucking, isn't it. So, now whiskey, that is for business." Alfie conceded going in his desk drawer and pulling out a bottle. "Let's talk first, eh?" Tommy replied. Alfie looked between us again, putting the bottle on the table and stroking his beard. "Suit yourself." he said after a long moment.
"They say you had your life saved by a policeman and he stopped you from being raped. Such a shame to see such a pretty face bruised like that." Alfie said, watching us closely. "I have policemen on my payroll." Tommy told him. "I don't like policemen because policemen, they can't be trusted." Alfie replied, rubbing his hands together. "Mr Sabini uses policemen all the time. That's why he's winning the war in London and you are losing it." Tommy countered. Alfie didn't like the argument. "A war ain't over till it's over, mate." he replied, brow furrowing. "You were in the war?" he asked Tommy. Tommy sat silent as Alfie opened his drawer. "I once carried out my own personal form of a stigmata on an Italian. I pushed his face up against the trench and shoved a six-inch nail up his fucking nose and I hammered it home with a duckboard. It was fucking biblical, mate. So don't come in here with her devil eyes and sit there in my chair and tell me that I am losing my war to a fucking wop." he said, keeping eye contact with Tommy the whole time.
"That war was a long time ago. You need to be more realistic." Tommy told him. Alfie slammed the drawer shut and sat forward, resting his forearms on the desk in front of him. "Realistic, yeah? Realistic?" Alfie repeated. "If you weren't losing the war, you wouldn't have sent me the telegram." Tommy added. "Really? You forgot your fucking telegram. The telegram just said, 'Hello.' Face it, you want to sell me something. What? Is it her? I'd be interested if it were her." Alfie said, gesturing towards me. "We join forces." Tommy told him, ignoring his comments about me. "Fuck off. No! Categorical. Fucking ridiculous." Alfie told him, leaning back in his chair. "Mr Solomons." it was Tommy's turn to lean forward on his chair now. "Your distillery provides one-tenth of your income. Protection is another ten percent and the rest you make from the race tracks." Tommy began as Alfie opened his drawer again.
"We know you keep a gun in the drawer, beside the whiskey." I said, causing both men to look at me. "We know you offer a deal or death." I added. He watched me for a moment. "My son tell you that, did he?" Alfie questioned. I shrugged. "Amongst other things, Alfie. I know what Thomas here is saying makes you angry. But he is offering you a solution. We both are. You see, Mr Sabini is running all your bookies off your courses. And he is closing down the premises that take your rum. And people don't trust your protection anymore." I responded, watching the man closely. Alfie thought for a moment, before turning back to Tommy. "You shot Billy Kimber, right? You did, you fucking shot him. That's you." he asked, pointing a finger at him. I looked at Tommy from the corner of my eye as he looked back at Alfie, emotionless. "You fucking betrayed him, mate. So it'll be appropriate to do what I'm thinking in my head to you right now." Alfie added.
"I can offer you a hundred good men. All with weapons. And a new relationship with the police." Tommy offered. "Intelligence. Intelligence is a very valuable thing, ain't it, my friend? The lovely Evie here has it in bucket loads to go with her devastating looks. But usually it comes far too fucking late." Alfie replied, pulling a gun, cocking it and levelling it at Tommy's face. "Let's say I shot you already, right, in the fucking face. And the bullet goes bone, mush, bone, cabinet over there. Which is a shame, isn't it? That cabinet is fucked. I gotta get shot of it. So, what I do is this." Alfie dropped the gun, disarming it and placed it on the desk. "I cut that cabinet in half, don't I? I do, I'll just cut the cabinet, I cut." Tommy wiped his nose with his hand and when he dropped it I saw the blood. Alfie pulled out a rag from his apron and threw it on the desk in front of Tommy. "I cut the cabinet literally in half, mate. And I take one half of the cabinet, I put it into a barrel and take the other half of the cabinet and all it's pieces put that in another barrel. And I send this barrel off to Mandalay and the other barrel off to somewhere like, I don't know. Timbuktu. Have you ever been?" Alfie asked us. I shook my head as Tommy spoke. "No." Still watching Alfie. "No? Would you like to go?" Alfie asked. "No." Tommy said again.
"I always thought you'd have a great, big fucking gold ring in your nose. I am sorry. Go on. Tell us your plan." Alfie told him, sitting back in his chair.