HIS DUCHESS • TOMMY SHELBY

09. wildfire

[09]
"looks can kill."

SMALL HEATH,
BIRMINGHAM

"SO, WHERE DID you go off to last night?" Ada takes off her fur jacket, taking a seat opposite Tommy at his desk.

"I had business to take care of." Tommy answers, before downing his glass of whiskey.

That was a lie.

Ada stares at him, analysing his behaviour. Her brother seemed different these days. There was less warmth in his eyes.

"How long have you been in here, Tom?" She stands up, walking over to the curtains. "At least let some sunlight in and some fresh air."

Tommy sighs, sinking back into his chair. "What do you want, Ada?"

"This business you're doing with the Russians... you're helping them get armoured cars and weapons to fight against the communists in Russia, right? You're helping them rob a factory to get the it all?" Ada had pieced most of it together. "In exchange for what? Money? Jewels? Your fucking life?"

"Ada—"

"No, Tommy." She sits back down. "This is some dangerous shit that you're getting yourself into, do you know how many enemies they have?"

"Ada. At our last family meeting I asked you to do a task for me. Have you done it yet?"

"You and your fucking tasks." Ada rolls her eyes."If you must know, I spoke to one of Freddie's old friends. He's a communist party candidate for Basall Heath, he said he heard that the Soviet Embassy is getting information from someone on the inside."

"And?" Tommy sits up intently. "Did he give you a name?"

Ada sighs deeply. She was clearly hesitant to be involved in all this. "James Monkland."

"Good." Tommy takes out a cigarette. "I knew I could count on you."

"No you fucking can't. Look, I'm a mother, I have a son. I don't want anyone getting killed." Ada stands up heading towards the door hastily.

"The only person that'll get killed is me, Arthur or John if we don't see this through. There's no backing out now. No exceptions."

She halts by the door. It was days like these that Ada couldn't even recognise her own brother. For a long time, it had felt like he wasn't really there.

"She got married yesterday."

Tommy looks up.

"Grace got married in New York to the son of a politician. It's in the papers." Ada continues. In her mind, she thought maybe her words could inflict some sort of emotion or reaction from his blank face— it didn't.

Tommy just sat there, white clouds of smoke escaping his lips, a face frozen in time.

"I know." That was all that came out his mouth.

"Of course you do. You're Thomas Shelby. You know everything before it even fucking happens." Ada rants, whilst putting on her jacket. "Too bad you don't know you'll get yourself killed if you continue this shit."

She leaves, shutting the door behind her.

"I'll also get myself killed if I don't finish it..." Tommy whispers to himself whilst looking up above at the ceiling.

The past wasn't his concern anymore.

She wasn't his concern anymore.

The day she left her engagement ring on that very table, with a note, it was clear that the problem wasn't that she didn't want to get married.