Anchor

Chapter Five

In regards to how much a bottle of whisky would be I'm sorry I'm not sure how much it would cost, I did try to have a look but there were a lot of mixed answers)
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It was an intimidating look; the pub was filled with the regular people who occupied it on a Saturday night. But that wasn't what sent chills down my spine. The doors opened sending in a quick cold breeze which cooled my heated skin and shown us all three Shelby brothers examining the pubs every detail. The middle one must have been Tommy, his face and eyes seemed cool and indifferent to his surroundings but I could see he was calculating everything he saw. On his right was John who seemed to look better and on his left was Arthur, he seemed to still look hammered but he had a dangerous look in his eye which told everyone to back off or there will be in trouble.

"Whatever they want, it's on the house" Harry whispered in my ear and I couldn't help but frown, didn't Harry realize he lost a fortune to the Shelby brothers 'on the house' drinks? The pub quieted ever so slightly before carrying on talking and laughing loudly. It seemed the absence of the Shelby brothers didn't waver any fear people had of them. And now I could understand why.

I saw John's eyes connect with mine and he tried to make his way to the bar but was stopped by something Tommy said, with a reluctant look and a twirl of his toothpick he walked to the back room with his brother. Tommy walked to the bar with people parting like the sea for him until he was facing me.

"Bottle of whisky and three glasses"

Nodding I passed Harry who gave a greeting to Tommy who of course didn't reply back, he just lit his cigarette. Closing my eyes I tried to calm the anger which surged through me, I knew of people who had raised themselves from the gutter of their home and climbed to the top to reach the high ends of parliament however they never lost respect for their men. Grabbing the whisky I kept hold of the top as he went to grab it his steel blue eyes connecting with mine as we seemed to have a stare down

"25 cents"

"Emily" Harry gently placed his hand on my arm but I didn't waver my eyes from Tommy's who seemed to only now recognize me

"You're the one from the fair, the one my brother seems fascinated by"

I couldn't help but frown at that, was he talking about John? "I'm the one from the fair, and it's still 25 cents"

I didn't realize the pub had gone silent until I heard Harry shuffle beside me. Finally after what seemed like an eternity Tommy nodded with a slight smirk "alright" reaching into his pockets he placed the money on the top and I finally let go of the bottle. The pub once again filled with noise as they realized I wasn't going to get shot. Turning towards the back room door I spotted John standing there assessing me with a smile and shake of his head before following Tommy into the back room.

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Once the pub was cleared and a slight lecture from Harry I finally made my way home, I had taken the day off to spend the day with my siblings. With a heavy sigh I leaned back against the locked door and looked up to see David standing at the top of the stairs

"What you doing up?"

He shrugged and sat at the top of the stairs "couldn't sleep"

I smiled softly, just as I made my way up I heard a knock at the door I signalled for David to go into his room and he did. Grabbing the bat behind the door I slowly opened the door to see a man, roughly in his 50s, moustache and a suit, behind him were two coppers

"Yeah" I questioned

He tilted his hat "Miss Sanders? My name is inspector Campbell may we come in?"