Sinbound

(27) Threats and funerals

"Miss Shelby, how may I help you?" Justin's mother - Heather - asks, opening the door to find Alex stood there.

"If you want your son to remain with all his limbs intact, you'll get him out of Birmingham... soon," Alex states, watching as a horrified look comes onto Heathers face.

"What? Surely this can be talked about," Heather says.

"I won't repeat myself, and this isn't a fucking discussion, your son laid his hands on a girl who has some very powerful people willing to do anything for her," Alex says.

"Justin! Get down here!" Heather shouts up the stairs, "what have you done?"

Justin descends the stairs, a look of fear coming onto his face when he sees Alex stood there.

"I'm being patient with you both, and you should take the warning as leniency on my behalf, don't come back to Birmingham," Alex says.

-

"Lex, we agreed, as the business becomes more legal, less threats," Tommy sighs as he and Polly enter Alex's office.

"I've already cut down on the killings, now you want me stop with the threats, that's asking a lot," Alex responds.

"Thomas, your sister is not irrational, I'm sure she has a valid reason and hasn't just done this for fun," Polly says.

"Go on, I'm listening," Tommy states expectingly.

"I can't tell you, but if I did, you would not be against me on this, trust me," Alex replies.

"Alex, you can't do things like this and then not tell us why, that in fact does make it difficult to trust your judgment," Tommy says.

"Ask Amari, she'll tell you that this wasn't irrational, and I actually was a lot more lenient than I wanted to be, I should've torn Justin's head off," Alex states.

"Justin," Polly repeats quietly.

So Melanie had told Polly about her relationship with the man. Truly, Alex was expecting Justin to be maybe 17, a year older than Melanie, but the man who showed up at the door had to have been at least 21.

"Alex, why?"

"Because I fucking well had to!" Alex snaps, "stop monitoring my every move, I am not a kid, stop questioning me about every little thing and just have some faith that I'm not some sociopath who threatens people for the fun of it!"

"Thomas, drop it," Polly speaks softly, "I believe that she had a good reason for her actions."

"You'd believe anything she tells you," Tommy scoffs.

"Watch your tone," Alex warns, standing up from her desk chair.

"Is that a valid threat too?" Tommy remarks.

"Speak to Pol with that fucking condescending tone again, and you best believe your head will be impaled through that window," Alex says, "now get out of my office."

Alex notices them both leaving, "not you, Pol, you can stay, but he needs to leave."

-

"Ada? What are you doing here?" Alex asks, walking into the snug, finding Ada sat with her brothers and aunt, Karl was on Finns lap.

"What's wrong?" Alex queries, as Ada walks over to her, mascara stains beneath her eyes from where she'd been crying.

Alex looks over Ada's shoulder confused, as her younger sister pulls her in for a hug.

Polly makes eye contact with Alex, who stares down at her sister bewildered, before looking back up at her aunt, who mouths to her that Freddie had passed.

Alex never knew why people came to her for comforting, she was no good at it, really. She had no idea what to say. But in the past couple of weeks, she'd had two different people clutching onto her whilst crying.

"Do you need a place to stay?" Alex asks, and Ada nods against her shoulder, "for a couple of days, yes please."

-

"It's a lovely day," Lewis comments, as the sun beams down upon them.

"Lewis, this is one of those things we've talked about, think before you speak," Bentley states, as they walk along the gravel towards where the funeral was being held.

"The weather is lovely," Lewis corrects, as they spot Alex stood with a cigarette between her lips, Amari by her side near one of the cars.

"I fucking hate funerals, when I die, just burn my body to ashes and sprinkle me in the cut," Alex mumbles.

"That is mortifying," Amari states, smacking her arm, "no talking about you dying."

"She's right, that was grotesque," Bentley agrees, "especially at a funeral... your sisters husbands funeral."

"That might explain her temperamental attitude this morning," Alex replies.

"Might?" Amari responds.

-

Alex notices Freddie's communist friends staring at Amari from across the grave. She could also tell Amari was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the attention.

She softly entwines their hands, raising Amari's hand to place a kiss on her knuckles. That seemed to make them uncomfortable for staring, as she saw a few shocked faces before they turned back towards the ceremony.

"I promised my friend, Freddie Thorne, that I'd say a few words over his grave if he should pass before me," Tommy speaks, "I made this promise before he became my brother in law, when we were in France, fighting for the King."

"In the end, it wasn't war that took Freddie, it was pestilence," Tommy says, "but Freddie passed on his soul and his spirit to a new generation before he was cruelly taken."

It was as if Karl knew he was being spoken about, as he chose that moment to start crying in Ada's arms.

-

"What's happening with you and Amari?" Polly asks her niece as they sit on a bench smoking, watching Tommy and Ada walk through the graveyard.

"Something," Alex shrugs.

"Is that a smile I see creeping onto your face?" Polly teases.

"Oh be quiet," Alex says, taking a drag from her cigarette.

"It's not a bad thing to smile, Lexi, in fact.. it's quite nice, seeing you like this," Polly states.

"Doesn't look like that conversations going well," Alex responds, gesturing to Ada and Tommy.

"I'll go and intercept, you stay here," Polly instructs.

"Where's the fun in that? I'm sure I could cheer them both up," Alex responds.

"I'm sure you think that," Polly tuts, "stay here, I'll be back in a moment."

Alex does as she's told. Putting out her cigarette as Arthur rushes over to her, "the pubs been bombed."

-

"It happened around 7 am, nobody saw anything, there were no patrols in the area," Moss says, holding up the rope that blocked off the pub so Alex, Tommy and Polly could duck under.

"Any idea who might have done it?" Moss asks.

"I'd say it was a problem with the gas," Alex answers, as Tommy discretely hands Moss some cash, "it's just been fitted."

"The structure has not yet been declared safe," Moss tells Polly as she enters the pub, Alex following her, catching the door that had fallen off its hinges and was about to crash over Pollys head.

"You reckon there's any bottles of rum that are still drinkable?" Alex asks, going behind the bar.

"I wouldn't touch any of it," Polly responds, leaning down to pick up some green confetti.