The Camden Tales

69 - A Rat

-=₪ July 1908 ₪=-

Regent's Canal Towpath / Camden / 4.11pm

A row of ducks glided past on the serene canal water, their gentle quacking breaking the sound of leaves rustling in the light breeze. The sun cast a glittering path across the water, but Alfie's stare penetrated beyond it all, lost somewhere else entirely.

The echo of her orgasmic wail from her long overdue release lingered in his ears, a sound he found himself replaying over and over. With closed eyes, he saw her climax again and again beneath him, their sex on a continual loop since the moment she had left, and as a result, the day had drifted by in a fog as he had conversed with punters and conducted his business. It seemed so distant and dreamy to the clarity of the lovemaking locked behind his blue eyes. Her scent still lingered on him, her touch still palpable, her kisses a whisper on his lips.

"Alfie?"

He could still see her standing before him in her tiny, pretty underwear. The most delectable gift he had ever had the pleasure of unwrapping.

"Alfie!"

"Hm?"

"What is wrong with you? You seem distracted," said Jacob, who now stood beside him.

"Yeah, I am, as it happens," Alfie admitted, noticing a brown paper bag in Jacob's hand like ones found at the local greengrocers.

"Distracted with what?"

"I have a lot on my mind, don't I? I'm distracted with you trying to get me killed! What's that?" Alfie inquired, nodding to the bag, hoping it contained his requested item.

"You ain't filling me with a lot of confidence," said Jacob, handing over the bag.

Alfie could instantly feel from the weight, coolness through the paper, and overall shape of the concealed item that it was a revolver. He promptly tucked it away in his coat pocket.

"Thank you. This fills me with plenty of confidence."

"You're making me nervous, mate."

"Yeah?" Alfie retorted sharply, turning to Jacob, his eyes shifting left and right between the copper's increasingly nervous countenance. "Would you go in and do what you want me to do unarmed?"

With a slight shake of his head, Jacob quickly conceded that he would not and took a step back.

"If I could just pin something solid on Sage if I can make it stick, then we get that bastard off the streets. He is also the key to cracking other gangs operating in Camden and the wider area. Get me names of men, Alfie, including names of Titanic members, if you can. Titanic are very prolific. The third biggest gang in London, no less."

"Do wonders for your career, won't it?" said Alfie, who had returned to looking across the shimmering water.

"It would, yes," admitted Jacob. "But it's more than that, Alfie. It would solve Moey's rent issues, all of their job worries, your favourite pub's protection concerns, not to mention your mum and brother's circumstances would improve, and the same for everybody else these bastards take advantage of."

Alfie scoffed dismissively. "Yeah? And what do I get?"

"Well, if all that isn't enough, then how about not being arrested for the rap sheet we have on you? Bootlegging, pickpocketing, theft, bribery, extortion--"

"Yeah, alright, ya made yer point," Alfie said, "Have I really done all that?"

Jacob nodded, "Get me the names and solid proof, like documents, letters, receipts, murder weapons, anything like that, and I will clean up with it. None of these groups can function without the big man at the top; we take him down, and everything else falls with him."