"Business? And what business do the two of you have that doesn't involve me?" Nora asked.
Tommy turned to look at her for a moment before saying, "The two of you seem close."
"'course we're close. Our mum was always at work, so Alfie looked after me most of the time. I learned a lot from him."
"I can imagine." Tommy responded as he lit a cigarette, took a drag and offered it to Nora.
Nora laughed at Tommy's response and accepted the cigarette. They drove back to London in the dark and Nora told Tommy stories about Alfie when he was younger and the fights she got in because she attempted to be like him as a little girl. Tommy shook his head as her stories became more animated as she went on, proving she learned more than how to fight from her brother. As Nora turned down an alley in London, Tommy looked at her.
"So, what now?" He asked.
"Watch the sky."
"Are you ever going to tell me more than cryptic hints?"
Nora smiled, her dark eyes sparkling in the night as she looked at him. "Don't bet on it."
Tommy looked at her. He looked at her full lips and slowly began to lean in toward her. Her lips parted before the edges of her mouth curled once more.
"Mr. Shelby?" She said in a quiet whisper.
"Hm?"
"This is your stop." She said, and Tommy paused to look at her.
Her eyes were soft as she looked at him for a moment, then she raised her eyebrow. Tommy lifted his hand and ran a knuckle delicately on her cheekbone.
"Tommy…" She said in a breathy voice.
"Yes?" He whispered back.
"Fuck off." She ordered in a whisper.
Tommy chuckled and looked at her before exhaling a sigh. He exited the car and turned back to see her shaking her head with a smile on her face before she drove away.
Nora sat at her desk that same night and examined the drawing on her desk. She looked up as she heard footsteps approaching. Frank, the cameraman, scurried behind Ishmael. Nora noticed what little hair he had around the sides of his head was messy and his clothes unkept.
"Frank." Nora greeted, unenthusiastically.
"Y-you called for me miss?" He answered shakily.
"Yes. I need you to print me five thousand copies of this drawing." She said as she held it up for him to see.
Frank's eyes went wide as he looked at it.
"B-but M-miss…. I'm already receiving death threats for the picture in the paper. People have broken my windows a-and…"
"You said you knew the risks, Frank." Nora pointed out as a crease formed between her eyebrows.
"I-I know. I just didn't think that it would be so violent. My poor mother, she-"
"Oh, yes. You live with your mother. I almost forgot." Nora interrupted as she looked at some papers on her desk, almost bored.
"I won't tell anybody, I swear." Frank bargained causing Nora to freeze and look at him. "Just please don't ask me to print that. If I get caught-"
"Shh shh shh." Nora coaxed as she walked around her desk to hold his face in her hands. "Darling, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do."
A wave of relief wiped over Frank and his shoulders relaxed. "Thank you Miss. Thank you."
"Of course, treacle. We're friends, aren't we?" Nora asked in a sweet voice and Frank nodded. "And as friends I feel that I should take the care of your mother into my own hands."
At these words Frank stopped, his eyes growing wide as he looked at her.
"Then, you won't have to worry about her, and you will be free to go the extra mile for our friendship. Won't you Frank?"
"No, please." Frank began to beg.
"Don't be silly." Nora said as if she were giving him a gift. "Ishmael will go get her and you can take this." She pushed the drawing into his chest. "Once I get those five thousand copies, you can have your mum back and then you are free to leave London."
Frank stood shakily clutching the drawing to his chest as a pair of heels walked toward the office.
"Ah, yes. Anna. I want you to go with Frank. Don't leave his side. If he talks to anyone, then I want you to shoot him." Nora gave a small pistol to Anna, who put it in her bag and looked at Frank. "Also, Adam and Ollie will be outside in the front of the building and the back. If you try to leave, they will shoot you as well. You don't leave that office until you have my prints. You call no one, you take no calls. You will give fifteen hundred copies to Ollie and to Adam by 10 o'clock tomorrow morning for them to pass on. Then you will meet me at noon on the rooftop of Caroline's Dress Shop across from the House of Commons with the remainder. Do you understand?"
Frank's face was red and sweaty by this point, but he nodded his understanding.
"Best be off." Nora said, her voice never losing its cheerfulness as she dismissed him. When he was just outside her office door she yelled, "Oh and Frank? One more thing, darling. I become very busy in the afternoon tomorrow. I would hate for you to be late or not give me what I need by our agreed upon time. I know how much your mother likes to visit the Thames. It would be a great shame if she were to have an accident and fall in because she didn't have proper supervision. We certainly don't want that, do we?"
Frank shook his head as he scurried away.
Anna looked back and Nora said. "Watch him. Monitor everything he prints. If he does anything foolish, kill him." And Anna nodded.
Nora stood on the rooftop of Caroline's Dress Shop, tilting her face toward the sun to allow her face to absorb the warmth. She cracked open an eye as she heard Frank's nervous footsteps behind her.
"Well?" She said as she turned around to face him.
"I-I have them." He said as he held up a large stack of papers. "Took me all night."
"Good." She said as she reached out for them, but he pulled them back from her, causing her eyes to widen and anger to flash across her face.
"I don't want to do this anymore. I want my mum and I want to leave." He said summoning up any courage the little bald man had in him. "If you let me do that, I won't talk to anyone I swear it. I'm not Jewish. I don't hate Jews, but I am not one of you. I want out of all this."
Nora blinked finally and exhaled a breath. "Alright, Frank. You have done very well in all of this. A real soldier."
He smiled as he handed her the stack of papers, which she split with Anna and Ishmael who left immediately.
"And my mother?" Frank asked.
"I'll take you to her. She's in my office." Nora said as she stared at the papers in her hand.
"What are you going to do with the drawing?"
Nora looked up as a swift wind blew her hair around her face. She took a deep breath and threw the papers into the wind to go wherever the wind took them. Then she turned on her heels, not waiting to see who picked up the scattered drawings. She led Frank down her steps and to her car. She drove a few blocks over and picked up Anna, then a few more and picked up Ishmael; both were also paperless.
They drove into Camden town and parked before Nora led them into the factory building. Ishmael followed Nora and Frank into her office as Anna left. Nora stood behind her desk and looked at Frank.
"Where is my mother?" Frank asked as he looked around the room.
"At your house of course. You think I am so much of a monster I would disrupt an old woman's night to have her sit here in my office like a prisoner? I've had men watching over her."
Frank stared at her both in relief and disbelief.
"I need your word you will keep silent." Nora said as she looked at Frank.
"I swear it." He insisted and Nora squinted her eyes, reading him.
"Alright. How bout a drink before you go?" She said as she opened the top right drawer of the desk.
Nora poured them both a drink and Frank took a large drink, his face cheerful. Nora took a drink of the whiskey, never taking her eyes off him. He put his glass on her desk and turned to walk out. He made it to the door when she reached in the drawer, pulled out her revolver and pulled the trigger.
Frank fell lifeless to the floor, blood flowing out the back of his head. Nora looked at Ishmael before saying, "Take care of the body."
Tommy listened to the speeches given in the House of Commons. When their meeting was over, he walked out to hear commotion echoing throughout the building. He started down the stairs and found groups of people standing together looking at what he assumed were pamphlets. As he continued down the stairs, groups stopped talking to at look at him, some with serious expressions, others with smirks as they held back sniggers.
As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he made eye contact with a woman who offered him the pamphlet she held. Tommy's lips parted as he looked at the drawing on the paper.
His eyebrows creased as he looked up and said, "Where did you get this?"
"Fell from the sky." The woman said shrugging.
Tommy looked around at the eyes that were on him when he heard someone stop behind him.
"What is that?" Mosely asked, sensing the awkward tension in the air.
Tommy showed him the paper and Mosely's eyes went wide. "Who did this?"