Elizabeth lifted her head up to peer over the table as she heard the front door open, nodding over to Tommy as he came in the front door. Tommy nodded back in greeting as he pulled off his hat and coat, tilting his head to look through the curtain as she turned her focus back on the fire, throwing the last couple logs they had inside on. She brushed her hands off before pushing up off the floor, grabbing her sweeping brush once she was on her feet.
"Tom, we need more wood in." She called to her twin, Tommy glanced over and nodded in acknowledgement, his focus moving to the clock.
"When's dinner ready?" He asked as he walked over to the curtains. Elizabeth hummed, looking over at the clock as she calculated how long it had been in the oven for.
"A couple hours?" She answered, returning the brush to its place behind the armchair glancing over her shoulder at her brother as she replied.
"Why so late?" Tommy asked, frowning at her as he glanced back at the clock. Elizabeth frowned, looking across at her brother in confusion as she rubbed down the front of her apron.
"He didn't tell you?" She questioned, before rolling her eyes, "Oh, of course he didn't." She sighed, turning around to face her brother, "I'm going to be looking after the shop for a bit with Scudboat so John can tell you his family announcement." Tommy frowned at her as Elizabeth looked down, seeming to try and hold in a laugh.
"What announcement?" Tommy pressed, seeing his sister taking a calming breath. Elizabeth lifted her head to look up at him.
"Tommy, nothing you could say would let me ruin this surprise for you but let me just say – I told him exactly what you'd say and if you don't say it, I'm out 2." Elizabeth chuckled, moving over to lean against the wall beside the doors to the shop. Tommy rolled his eyes, not finding it amusing in the slightest, a bad mood over him since Jeremiah's news about Ada and Freddie returning.
"Tell John he best be here on time." Tommy ordered her, Elizabeth shaking her head in easy defiance.
"Tommy, I promise, you will want to deal with this before any crazier notions get into that boys head." She insisted. Her twin ignored her, pulling out a cigarette and walking into the shop. Elizabeth shook her head at him for trying to ruin what would be family fun but followed, having nothing else to do in the house, having spent the last few days cleaning it from top to bottom. Sighing, she passed Tommy and pushed herself up to sit on an unused counter, Tommy leaning beside her as they watched the boys at work.
"I've had a tip off. I need this bet." A customer shouted, glancing back and fore between the board and Scudboat.
"The race has started..." Scudboat answered, waving the man off.
"Please." He tried, again.
"No!" Scudboat repeated.
"Ugh. Fine." The man huffed, throwing a hat filled with money on the floor. Tommy and all the other men in the room quickly got to their feet, expecting trouble.
"Get rid of him." Scudboat ordered the two men closest to them.
"He said no. Now get out." The man closest repeated, pushing the man back from the table. Elizabeth watched, tilting her head as the man seemed to glance around the room but think better of it.
"All right, all right, I'm off. I'm off." He relented. Elizabeth shook her head, smiling at the floor as she slid off the table, following Tommy as he walked off, over to his office.
Tommy politely held the door open for her, rolling his eyes as his sister swooped in and immediately sat on his desk, pouring them both a drink. He'd noticed she'd been in better spirits the past couple weeks and couldn't for the life of him work out why. He'd gone as far to check her room for any kind of opium, worried she may have stolen some of his stash, but hadn't found any, leaving him clueless as to what had occurred to put her in high spirits. As relieved as he was that she was happy, he was concerned about the suddenness of it, knowing a few men in the trenches that had almost seemed to do the same before going mad a few weeks later. He was loath to ruin it with his news of Ada but knew she would prefer to know.
Elizabeth watched as Tommy closed the office door, feeling a frown come over her face as he let out a sigh and came to sit in his chair, not looking at her. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, wondering what had put him in such a mood. She knew he had been worried about her, and knew he had searched her room, and figured it was in relation to her new almost pre-war happiness.
It was because of the gun.
She'd been sleeping, actually sleeping, for the past few weeks. No nightmares, no sudden awakenings. She'd been able to sleep for more than 3 hours a night the first time in months and she couldn't help but feel so much more like herself. And it was all because of the gun she'd stolen from John's desk. It had been an accidental discovery. She'd fallen asleep with it under her pillow the night after the Kimber incident and ever since then whenever it wasn't close, she'd have nightmares.
"Ada's back." Tommy sighed as he leaned forward to look over some documents on his desk, cutting into his sisters daydreaming. Elizabeth snapped her gaze over to him.
"What? When?" She asked, her smiling falling as a concerned look crossed her face, "Is she ok?"
"Came back this morning according to Jeremiah, with Freddie." Tommy revealed to his twin who let out a small sound of frustration at the mention of their brother-in-law.
"He's so fucking stubborn." She bit out, glaring down at the table, Tommy nodding his agreement.
"Don't know much more than that, Freddie managed to slip away from Jeremiah." Elizabeth sighed and nodded her head.
"Understandable, he's used to skulking between safe houses." She shrugged, before looking over at Tommy, "I'd suggest keeping a few extra men out a night, darkness would be the best time for Freddie to move Ada so far along. They won't want to be moving her about too much either so if there is a sighting, safe bet is they'll stay within a few streets." Elizabeth reeled off, Tommy nodding along as he scanned the document in front of him, listening to her expertise.
Neither said anything more on the topic, Tommy moving his focus to the documents as Elizabeth got up to walk around the office, pausing to peer out the windows and sticking her hands in the pocket of the apron. She watched as the men slowly began to tidy up the takings for the day, handing out winnings to the few people that hung around. She glanced over her shoulder to see Tommy watching her and frowned.
"What?" She asked, seeing a look on his face that usually meant trouble.
"I'm thinking about making peace with the Lee's." Tommy revealed to her, Elizabeth eyed him, waiting for him to continue and frowning deeper when nothing came.
"What's going on in your head?" She asked, only to twist back to the window as the front door slammed closed. She heard Tommy sigh and looked back to see him shake his head.
"Tell you later." He promised, pushing himself to his feet and leading the two out of the office. Elizabeth went over to Scudboats desk, scanning over the numbers as Polly entered from the house, pausing at the meeting table to look over the takings for the day.
"It's a good day." Polly called to the twins. Tommy nodding his head in agreement as he joined the older woman.
"Where's John?" Tommy asked, glancing over at Elizabeth who waved him off, not looking up.
"I already told you I'd stay." She answered.
"Johns in The Garrison. Says he wants a meeting about a family matter. After he's said his piece, he'll come back and take El's place with Scudboat." Polly told Tommy; somewhat repeating what Elizabeth had already told him. Tommy sighed as his aunt and sister ganged up on him.
"El, Scudboat, John will be here in ten minutes." Polly promised as she pulled on her coat, walking past the two.
"Alright." Scudboat called back as El nodded her head, continuing to stare down at the book to cover her amusement at the event that was about to proceed, slightly gutted to miss out but happy to cover for ten minutes to allow Polly, Tommy, and Arthur to have a laugh.
"Five." Tommy promised, pointing at the pair of them as he quickly followed Polly out the door.
"Tom!" Elizabeth called exasperatedly after her twin, trying not to chuckle as they two departed. Scudboat cast her a confused glance that she waved off.
She pushed off the desk and began getting to work, moving to pick up any of the newly completed books as Scudboat went over to lock the doors. Elizabeth hummed to herself as she began to organise the bookshelf, having noticed a few days ago that a few were no longer in date order, Finn had been obviously 'helping' John. Hearing Scuboat heading back over to his desk, she cast a look over her shoulder as he began re-counting the takings of the day and checking against the book. Her head twisted 180 degrees when she heard a loud deep thump from the doors that lead through to the house, pulling away from the shelve and closer to Scudboat. The two shared a look before turning back to the door as they listened, Elizabeth frowning as she began to hear some whispering.
"It's probably John." Scudboat nodded as Elizabeth shook her head.
"He would have come in by now," She countered, lowering her voice, stepping further away from the bookcase slowly and quietly, gesturing for Scudboat to get up. He rolled his eyes but stood, opening his mouth to counter when a pile of men barged in from the double doors.
Elizabeth's eyes widened in fear as she recognised a few faces, realising it was the Lee family and they were clearly out for revenge. Scudboat pulled out his pistol as she dived over the banister, grunting as she landed on her feet but fell forward as she tried to dive into an office. Her right hand grazed the handle of Tommy's office, only for her to let out a small shriek of surprise as a hand to grabbed onto her, pulling her back and forcing her to stop, pushing her to kneel on the ground. She struggled as she glanced over towards Scudboat, a worried look over her face as she recognised Erasmus Lee standing over him, someone she'd been very familiar with back in her younger years.
"This is for Cheltenham." He shouted, slamming the butt of his gun into Scudboats face, knocking him out, "We just taking back what's ours. There's loot in here, search everywhere!" The Senior Lee ordered the rest of them, his eyes moving over to the still struggling Elizabeth as she continued to be held. Seeing his gaze, Elizabeth stopped her struggle and plastered a Shelby smirk on her face, trying to mask her fear as the rest of the men continued to loot.
"Erasmus." She greeted as he kneeled in front of her, looking like he'd seen a ghost.
"Ellie?" He asked, recognising the girl that used to travel with Charlie out to trade horses, "or is it Elizabeth now?" He frowned, not having realised who exactly Ellie was when the name Elizabeth had been mentioned for death.
"Depends on who's talking to me, Raz or Erasmus Lee." She countered, earning a hard look from Erasmus.
"You're marked for death." He responded, straightening up. Elizabeth nodded her head slowly, knowing it would have been a long shot to play on old emotions.
"Then its Elizabeth." She sighed, before eyeing the gun in his hands, knowing there wouldn't be much she could say to get out of this with her life, "You won't have long before my brothers get back." He eyed her, seeing her almost accepting her fate and shook his head, lifting the gun.
"Apologies old friend, but blood is owed. I'll ensure you're found." He offered, knowing it wasn't much but as much peace as she could be offered in a war between families. Elizabeth let out a bitter chuckle, nodding her head and accepting the terms, knowing it was as good as she would get.
"We can't do it here." The man holding her shouted, looking over to Erasmus, who glared back at him.
"She deserves to be found." He argued.
"She can get a funeral out in the country, where it's safe." The man countered, not wanting to face the anger and retaliation from the Shelby brothers at finding their sister's body, the mystery of what happened would allow for some ability to deny it was them. Elizabeth glared up at the other man.
"You're going to have to drag me out of Birmingham kicking and screaming, if I am to go, it'll be in my own fucking home." She spat at him, angered at the thought she would take him from her family and deny them the opportunity to say goodbye.
"Erasmus, be quick we've been spotted." Another man shouted as he came back in from the pantry doors, Elizabeth frowning heavily when she spotted that he was carrying wire cutters. Erasmus and the other man continued to argue over her fate as she remained kneeling. She took the chance to lean forward slightly and look over at Scudboat, sighing in relief as she realised, he was still breathing and seemed close to coming around. She glanced back up, seeing the two men seeming to get more agitated as they argued, and knew if she had a chance to make any kind of exit it would be now. She closed her eyes, doing a quick silent prayer before apologising to her brothers, hoping they'd understand that she had tried to get out. Letting out a breath, she opened her eyes and moved.
Elizabeth pushed off her knees, rolling back into the man who fought to steal her away, and head butting him in the nose. She pulled her arms free as soon as he loosened his grip to grab his bleeding face and spun around, running towards Tommy's office as fast as she could. Her hand gripped the handle tightly as she twisted and threw open the door, she had just made it through the frame when a sharp pain ripped through her right shoulder. She let out a gasp that quickly turned into a cry of pain, as she fell to the floor. She let out a few sharp breaths as she rolled onto her back, feeling her panic rise as Erasmus moved closer, his shot gun still raised but his eyes on the blood that was already seeping from the wound.
"We need to go!" A voice called frantically in the background, making Erasmus turn around. He seemed to stop and debate for a moment before lowering the gun. He looked down at her grimly before kneeling beside the woman he had once called a friend, giving her a grim look as he watched the blood beginning to pool under her slightly. Elizabeth watched, panting, as Erasmus reached down and placed his fingers in her blood before backing up, and closing the door, using her blood to draw a crucifix on the door to Tommy's office. She winced, letting out a few gasps of pain as the shadow of the Lee disappeared from view.
"Fuck!" She cried out, tears gathering in her eyes as she tried to get a good view of the wound, her hands beginning to shake preventing her from getting up. She tried to take a few calming breaths, trying not to panic, remembering it would be making her blood flow faster.
It felt like an eternity before Elizabeth heard a thunder of footsteps in the shop, followed by the loud shouts of John and Arthur swearing. She winced, as she tried to sit up again, the pain in her shoulder growing with the action. She used her left arm to hug her right, trying to hold in the tears of pain at the movement, unable to move any further than that.
"What the bloody hell happened here?" She heard Arthur shout at Scudboat, as she tried to get to her feet, knowing they'd never hear her in the office unless she shouted, and she couldn't catch her breath enough to do so.
"The Lees, all of them. Cousins, nephews. Even the bastards." Scudboat answered, holding a cloth to his head that Polly had grabbed for him, having been shocked awake by a massive bang.
"They've taken anything they can lay their hands on. Four cash boxes." Polly reported, pulling out the boxes from the storage unit they kept them in.
"They left these." Tommy frowned, coming into the shop with the cutters, having found them placed above the fireplace in the kitchen, against a photo of the three eldest Shelby's as children.
"Wire cutters? Why would they leave wire cutters?" Polly asked, twisting to look at the boys as she paused, not understanding the reason.
"Nobody move." Arthur ordered looking around a grim look of realisation over his face, as Tommy nodded slowly.
"I think our friends are playing the game." Tommy agreed.
"What game?" Polly shrugged off with frustration, walking a few steps with the empty boxes intent to begin the cleaning process and in no mood for stupid games.
"Pol, don't, don't touch anything." John ordered, reaching his hand out to stop the woman for walking further. Polly eyed the men, concern growing with how serious they were getting.
"Erasmus Lee was in France." Tommy reminded the men, nodding his head as he looked around the room, looking for any signs.
"Shit." Scudboat breathed, getting to his feet slowly to look around. Polly continued to look on confused, waiting for one man to explain.
"When we gave up ground to the Germans, we'd leave behind booby traps set up with wires. Then we'd leave wire cutters. It's part of the joke." Tommy explained to their aunt, who's face fell.
"Somewhere in here there's a hand grenade." John announced, fearful.
Elizabeth groaned as she finally seemed to manage to catch her breath, glancing down once more before shooting her head to the sky trying not to panic at the amount of the blood that was beginning to cover her shirt. She winced but began to shuffle over to the desk, able to see the shadows of her brothers still in the room and knowing she needed to stand up, needed to get help. She took a moment to rest against the desk, closing her eyes for a moment.
"Holy Jesus." Polly breathed, looking around with horror as she tried to locate a wire.
"Attached to a wire. Don't move any chairs. Or open any doors. Go easy, John boy, easy." Arthur ordered John as the two of them began moving further into the shop, John's eyes frowning as he caught a glimpse of something on Tommy's office window.
"Nah." Tommy bit out, shaking his head, "Boys, no, there's nothing here. If it was in here, it would have blown by now. It was my name on that bullet Erasmus sent. He set up a trap all right. He set it up just for me." Tommy finished, turning as he tried to think of where they could have put the grenade. Arthur looked across at Tommy, a slight look of horror on his face as a thought just occurred to him.
"Elizabeth." He breathed, earning four pairs of eyes on him, "Yours and Elizabeths name." Arthur reminded Tommy. Tommy turned his gaze to Scudboat who looked down in horror, as if suddenly remembering he wasn't the only one that had been attacked.
"Where is she?" Tommy asked him, "Scudboat, where is she?" He repeated, coming closer to the man, grabbing his shoulder.
"I dunno, she dived over the railing, then got grabbed." Scudboat frowned as he tried to remember what had happened before he'd been knocked out. John and Arthur shared a look of concern, Polly's eyes wide as horrors began to flood her mind with all the possibilities of what may have happened to her eldest niece. Tommy shook his head, looking around the room as he tried to catch a glimpse of her in amongst the flipped tables and chairs.
"No, no. She's here." He breathed, desperately not wanting to believe his war had potentially caused her death, "She's still here."
"Tommy." Arthur cautioned, seeing the man's anger rising.
"Fucking find her Arthur." He shouted, pointing at him, before looking down at the wire cutters and quickly leaving through the front door.
Arthur nodded to John, the two brothers still being cautious but walking on through the ruins of the shop. Polly remained frozen in place, grasping her rosary, feeling dizzy as her worry for her niece filled her. Scudboat followed behind the two Shelby brothers, guilt filling him as he realised the woman may have met a grizzly end while he'd been unconscious and unable to help. John nodded to the drawing of a crucifix on Tommys office he'd noticed. Arthur frowning as the two closed in, noticing the image was in blood, and looking around the door for any sign of a wire. Seeing nothing he tried to peer in.
"Lil, you there?" Arthur called in, Elizabeth opening her eyes when she heard her name, frowning in confusion.
"Arthur?" She questioned; her voice weaker than she had expected.
"Lil?" John shouted in, hearing a quiet voice from within. Elizabeth took a breath, mustering her strength before shouting once more.
"John?" She called, as loud as she could.
"Lil!" Arthur cried, sounding relieved, there was a pause before he continued, "Is there a grenade in there with you?" Elizabeth frowned, peering around the room.
"I can't see one." She answered as loudly as she could. Two seconds later the door was opened, and Arthur appeared in the room. He frowned, his gaze falling to the floor and a frown coming over his face as he noted blood covering the right side of her shirt, spreading from the top of her arm, all the way down to her waist. He knelt down beside her as John came into the room and froze at the door, unable to hide his horror at seeing his sister covered in so much blood.
"What the fuck happened?" Arthur demanded as he walked over, John shouting for Polly.
"Blood was owed." Elizabeth answered, her voice sounding far away. Arthur frowned, looking from his sister to the pile of blood to the hole up in the wall. Arthur laid his sister down, as Polly ran in, the woman coming over and placing her hands on the young woman's cheeks.
"She's been shot." Arthur told Polly, who looked down at the younger girl with horror as he pulled out the handkerchief from his pocket to hold over the area where most of the blood was coming from, "Scudboat, get Jeremiah."
"What?" Polly hissed at Arthur, fearing the reason to call for the preacher, as Scudboat disappeared from the office.
"He was the best man for taking care of wounds." Arthur explained, understanding his aunts fear at him calling for the man, "he can stitch her up."
"I'll, I'll get Tommy." John stuttered out, backing out of the room. Arthur and Polly didn't stop him, letting the man run out the room.
"Hey Artie," Elizabeth hummed, feeling a wave of tiredness washing over her, "I'm sorry for always drinking your good whiskey, or pouring it away."
"You're not allowed to call me that, Bessy." Arthur called back playfully, glancing over at Polly with a tinge of fear. He'd seen men reach this stage, and not many made it back, "but it's alright."
"Oh." Elizabeth replied sounding surprised, reaching her left hand up to pat her eldest brother on the cheek, frowning as she noticed some blood on him and tried to wipe it off, only to smudge it further, "that's good, cause I did it all the time. It tasted better." Arthur nodded and chuckled, trying to keep her spirits up even as tears came to his eyes.
"Oh, hey Pol, when did you come in?" Elizabeth asked as her head fell to the right where her Aunt sat.
"El, you're going to be ok." Polly promised her niece. Elizabeth' smiled at the women before it fell into a frown, tears appearing in the woman's eyes.
"Where's Tom?" Elizabeth asked, before wincing as if suddenly remembering something was wrong, "It hurts."
"Just hang on Lil, Tommys on his way." Arthur told her, continuing to apply pressure.
"Arthur, it hurts." Elizabeth cried again, tears falling down the side of her face as Polly tried to wipe them away.
"I know it does. I know." Arthur tried to comfort, letting out a sigh of relief as John appeared back, Tommy just behind.
"Lil!" Tommy called, pushing past John who seemed to freeze again and quickly kneeling beside Polly who backed away, seeing Finn appear and trying to look in past John. The older woman cast a sad glance over at her niece, sending a silent prayer before gently leading the youngest Shelby away from the office, knowing it would be what Elizabeth would want and allowing the four eldest Shelbys a moment together. Scudboat appeared back just a second later.
"Scudboat, where's," Arthur asked, looking over at the man as Tommy continued to stare down at his sister, seeing her blood covering most of her shirt and Arthur's hands.
"On his way." Scudboat promised, before backing out the room to allow his cousins some time, able to tell that it could very well be Elizabeths last moments. John continued to stare from the doorway, unable to get closer as he stared down at his sister and the blood around her in horror. Elizabeth tilted her head up to look at Tommy, a frown coming over her face as she noticed he was upset.
"Hey Tom, are you ok?" Elizabeth asked, seeming to tilt her head making Tommy chuckle bitterly.
"Bloody hole in your shoulder and you're asking if I'm alright." Tommy shook his head at her, Elizabeth smiled, happy she'd made him laugh before a frown appeared back over her face and she winced.
"It hurts Tom." She whispered to him, Arthur and Tommy sharing a look of concern.
"I know Lil, just a bit longer." Tommy promised, "then we'll go to the races 'ey, and this time you can actually see the horses." Tommy tried, wanting to keep her hopes up. Elizabeth moved her gaze to the ceiling, tears rolling down her cheeks as her mind began to feel foggy and she felt an impending feeling of death creeping up on her.
"I'm sorry Tom, I tried, I did, but you can make peace now?" She asked, humming as her eyes blinked slowly, "Bloods been paid."
"We'll make peace, Lil but you have to keep your eyes open." Tommy tried, breathing a sigh of relief as Jeremiah appeared, bag in hand, "we're gonna get you fixed up, and you're gonna help make peace."
"Hey Tom, I, I'm sorry, for everything." Elizabeth sniffed, trying but failing to keep her eyes open, "you too Arthur, John, Ada, Finn, Pol… I tried." Tommy shook his head at her as Jeremiah removed Arthur's hands and pulled out some scissors, getting to work.
"Hey, nothing to apologise for. Rest now Lil, and we'll talk later." Tommy promised, as he pulled off his jacket and began rolling up his sleeve, already knowing Elizabeth would need blood.
"Okay." She breathed, trusting her brother, and letting her eyes fall closed.