My Cutthroat Romance

Chapter 12

“You ought to slow down a bit lad. It’ll go straight to your head.” Gerard told Toby as he drank another tumbler of gin.

Mrs. Lovett watched him, leaning on her hand with her elbow on the table, waiting until she had to pour him another.

“They used to give it to us in the workhouse, so’s we could sleep. Not that you’d wanna sleep in that place mind, not with the things what happened in the dark.” Toby replied.

“That’s nice dear. Gerard why don’t you go pop in on Mr. Todd for a tick? Maybe get him down here?” Mrs. Lovett yawned a little.

Gerard stared at her for a second; wanting to say no, but decided against arguing with her while she was tired. He slipped past the table and strolled out of the door. He couldn’t hear anything as he made his way up the stairs.

“Mr. Todd, mum wants you. Where’s Pirelli?” He said casually as he could from the doorway, looking around.

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Sweeney replied, thoughtlessly turning around to face him.

He didn’t look up, he was still wiping his razor, making sure every little bit of blood was cleaned off.

“What happened to your shirt? Where’s Pirelli?” Gerard asked, wide-eyed and terrified of the answer.

The barber looked up with only his eyes and glared at him.

“It doesn’t matter where he is and what happened to my shirt, my dear boy, is none of your business.” 

Gerard gaped at him before looking around again for any signs of what could have happened. His eyes fell on the blood still dripping down the side of the box. He lifted the lid and peeked in before dropping it with a gasp.

“Right, now you’ve got your answers, go tell your mother I’ll be there in a minute.” Sweeney told him firmly.

“Yes Mr. Todd.” Gerard nodded, rushing back out.

His heart pounded wildly in his chest as he made his way downstairs. Did anyone else know? Did his mother know?

“Oh hello. Where’s Mr. T?” Mrs. Lovett asked as he came through the door.

“You might wanna go upstairs and talk to him.” Gerard told her shakily.

Mrs. Lovett nodded before leaving the room. Gerard took her seat and stared at the bottle of gin before taking a swig of it. Toby was already too drunk to care, he just wanted another glass.

“That lad is drinking me out of house and home. How long till Pirelli gets back?” Mrs. Lovett asked.

“He won’t be back.” Mr. Todd replied, turning to face her.

She already knew about what he was doing, so what was the harm in it this time? She gasped at him.

“Mr. T, you didn’t!”

He lifted his head up, still looking down at his razor. The way he did it seemed smug, as though he didn’t care at all. Mrs. Lovett closed the door, still giving him a shocked look as she went and lifted the lid of the chest before gasping and slamming it shut again.

“You’re barking mad! Killing a man what done you no harm!” She whispered.

“He recognized me from the old days. Tried to blackmail me. Half me earnings.” The reply was calm, as though he was completely unaffected by any of it.

“Ah well, that’s a different matter then. For a moment there I thought you’d lost your marbles.” Mrs. Lovett half-sighed, relieved.

He probably [i]had[/i] lost his marbles, but she preferred to agree with him and avoid offending him than risk ending up in the same bloody mess. She pulled the lid up properly to get a better look.

“All that blood. Poor bugger. Oh well.” She mumbled to herself before searching through his clothes, pulling out a purse which she slipped down her corset saying, “Well, waste not, want not.”

All of the time while she was busying herself with that, Sweeney had been cleaning and examining his razor repeatedly, all though it clearly didn’t need any more polishing, it looked better when it was shinier.

“So, what’re we gonna do about the boy then?”  Mrs. Lovett asked.

The barber stared intently at the razor in front of his face for a moment.

“Send him up.” He said quietly.

“Oh, we don’t need to worry about him, he’s a simple thing.” Nellie replied quickly, she’d grown fond of Toby.

“Send him up!” Mr. Todd replied louder, half-ordering Mrs. Lovett to do as she was told.

“Now Mr. T…surely one’s enough for today. Besides I was thinking of hiring the lad to help me around the shop. Me poor knees aren’t what they used to be.” She replied softly.

He didn’t see the point in that, as she already had a son to help her, but he relented anyway.

“Alright.” He replied in a gentler voice as he walked past her, back to his small window.

“Of course we’re gonna have to stock up on the gin. Boy drinks like a sailor.”

Mrs. Lovett thought vaguely of Anthony as she said this.

Sweeney was only half listening as he scanned the streets, seeing if there was anyone interesting walking by. His eyes widened as he saw two figures appear from the same alley that Pirelli and Toby had. One of them pointed towards his shop and the other walked in the direction he had pointed.

“The Judge!” He whispered, stepping back from the window.

He looked around the room quickly before his eyes fell on Mrs. Lovett.

“Get out.” He said before looking around again.

She didn’t quite compute what he’d said.

“Get out!” He growled slightly.

She came to her senses suddenly and left. Sweeney rushed to the dresser to make sure everything was in its proper place and caught a glimpse of his sleeve in the mirror.

[i]“Shit!”[/i]

He grabbed the stained fabric with the other hand as he stared worriedly at his reflection, as though it might give him an idea. He looked down to his left and saw his jacket, snatching it up before throwing it behind him and slipping his arms into the sleeves just in time. The bell above his door chimed as someone entered. He turned to face the Judge, putting on a politely surprised expression.