Living With Mr Shelby

Chapter Five

Tommy sat at his desk reading the paper looking for where his horse had placed the day before. He was pleased to see that he had made a small fortune of the horse. He glanced up when Officer Campbell limped into his office without knocking and sat in the chair opposite his desk waiting for Tommy to pay him attention.

"Can I help you Mr Campbell?" Tommy sighed, getting tired of this man's antics. He just needed to find a way to get rid of him for good but couldn't think of a time or place that would be appropriate.

"Not really Mr Shelby. Just came to see your new offices but, now that you mention it I'm looking for a young girl and word has it you know her." Mr Campbell leaned back in his chair and watched Tommy carefully. Tommy made a great effort to not give away his emotions.

"And who would that be?" Tommy asked casually as if he didn't have a clue who the officer could mean. But deep down he knew exactly who Mr Campbell had been talking about.

"From what I've heard she's called Lola Farnsworth. Just wondering why a nice young lady would be hanging around with the Shelbys." Campbell didn't need to know about the girl. He had heard his officers talking about the girl and wanted to know if she held any importance to Tommy. He sighed bitterly as Tommy had no reaction to his comment and continued sorting through the paperwork in front of him.

"She knows a relative of mine, not a personal friend. I've only spoken with her a few times if you're trying to find out how well I know her." Tommy said standing up and leading Campbell out of the room and down the corridor. Tommy watched from the window as Campbell hurried out and climbed into his car. One of the officers didn't get back in the car but headed up the road.

"Get some men on Farnsworth." Tommy muttered to Michael who had been jotting down a list of numbers John had given him. The young man nodded at his cousin. Once he was sure the officer had left he hurried down to Charlie Strong's work yard and told him to find some men to watch Lola and that Tommy would pay them at the end of the week.

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I glanced out of the window down at the men that I was sure Tommy had ordered to watch me. It had taken a little while to find out much about him. But once I had managed to find someone to give me a job, it wasn't anything big, just getting groceries for an elderly neighbour, I had learnt that Tommy was the head of a gang called the Peaky Blinders. Supposedly everyone here was afraid of them and went out of their way to give them what they wanted. At least that's what the gossip I'd managed to hear said. I wasn't sure how much of it I believed. But I had to admit it did make sense.

I had spent the morning sitting in the window seat basking in the lazy sun that tried to pour it's way through the smokey air reading one of the few novels I had brought with me. As much as I hated Tommy paying for my room it gave me a lot of free time to do whatever I wanted I knew I'd have to go back and speak to Tommy when he was in a better mood as he was only covering my room and I would have to find more work once my money ran out.

A small knock at my door drew me away from the window and the men outside seemed to notice my reaction. I counted the three men still standing outside, meaning that it wasn't one of them, and swallowed nervously. I hadn't noticed anyone I knew coming up to the inn. I hesitated and stood up brushing my silky blue skirt with my hands to get rid of any crinkles and padded over to the door curling my toes as the cold wooden floor tingled against my bare feet.

"Yes can I help you?" I asked as I opened the door a man in a round topped hat and an expensive suit stood in the doorway, he pushed me aside with his cane and strolled into my room flicking through my papers and unpacked luggage bags. He seemed to pay no mind to your objections about his intrusion and practically turned his nose up at you when he spared you a glance.

"Mr Shelby says he doesn't know you. But he's been paying for this room for two weeks." Campbell didn't ask a question he simply stated what he knew and expected an explanation from me as I stood by the door a little confused as to who this Irishman was.

I saw Isaiah the local preacher's son and one of Finn's best friends watching the room, he nodded at me when he caught my eye and I left the door open a little knowing the boy would be outside until the man left.

"I'm friends with a friend of his. He doesn't really know me at all." I said repeating the line Polly had asked me to say in case anyone asked why the Shelby's were paying for my residency. The man looked unimpressed by my answer and turned to leave shooting Isaiah a nasty look and began to limp towards the stairs.

"I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon Miss." He said pausing at the top of the stairs to fix me with a hard look. He seemed to be trying to intimidate me into gushing some sort of secret. I just fixed him with a hard stare back and he huffed. I watched as he continued his way out of the building.

"Tommy ain't gonna be happy with this." Isaiah said now standing next to me, I shrugged, not really caring what Tommy thought. Nothing bad happened so why should he be so worried about the stranger.

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I was unfortunately wrong about Tommy's fears as Finn was sent to fetch me and bring me to what he called a family meeting. Which turned out to be more of an interrogation so the Shelbys could find out how much I knew about Billy Kimber.

"She's tired Tommy and clearly doesn't know anything else." Polly snapped as he asked me the same questions again. The boys and a woman who had introduced herself as Ada had left to do their own thing. My childhood friend and third cousin Esme who was a Lee but was now married to John had greeted me happily and I finally found out why I had been pulled into the Shelby family's life so quickly.

"Right." Tommy said agreeing with his Aunt who was watching me sympathetically. It turned out that Esme had recognized me at the celebration party the other night at the Garrison but was too busy getting John home to come over and talk to me. So when Tommy came round the next day to fetch John she had told him who I was.

"You haven't even told her about her new living arrangements have you Thomas?" Polly snapped as she watched me carefully for my reaction. I had learnt rather quickly that I had to keep my emotions hidden and I would have the chance to speak my mind to Polly or Tommy later. A courtesy, I had been informed by Esme during the meeting, that was only given to family members.

"You're moving." Was all Tommy said as he stood from his seat and slid his cap over the back of his head tilting it in a gentlemanly manner and strode out of the room. Polly put up a hand to silence me and followed Tommy out of the room she returned moments later looking a little relieved.

"What's wrong Polly?" I asked as she picked up her cigarette with a new pair of silver tongs Tommy had bought her.

"You're lucky, you were going to be stuck in this three bed flat with us but Tommy's bought the flat next to the bookies a few days ago. He was gonna give it to Arthur but now he's moving into it." She said slowly looking at me carefully. We both knew that Tommy intended to have me move in with him but we were playing a game, Polly wanted me to refuse or give into Tommy.

If I refused Polly might have me turned over to Billy Kimber because we both knew Tommy was trying to keep me under his control. But with the freedom and protection he gave his women and to refuse the offer would be dishonorable. To you or Tommy you weren't sure. But If I went gladly, Polly would suspect that I had some sort of feeling for her Nephew and that would make me untrustworthy. Like the last woman that Tommy had fallen for. None of them would tell me why women who loved Tommy were untrusted. Esme had whispered that Tommy had got mixed up with the wrong sort of girl but when I gave her a look begging for more information she shook her head and turned back to the conversation the boys were having over our heads.