Esteemed Malevolence

XIV: Misgiving Part II (and Bickering)

"Then I'd better go and fetch 'em for ya, 'adn't I?" Eleanor said, rolling her eyes as she turned and passed by him, shielding the side of her face. She carried on through to her shop, but only to turn right to a smaller, narrower staircase that would have been easily missed to any visitor.

She bustled her way up the staircase, careful not to brush against the walls or there would be permanent blood stains etched into the wallpaper. Eventually she reached the landing in which there were two doors - one directly in front of her which led to the claustrophobic bedroom of Mr Todd, the other was to her left and led to the tonsorial parlour. As much as she wanted to snoop around her tenant's boudoir, she was still quite irritated with him and decided to get what she came for.

She opened the door and headed inside, a sharp gasp escaping her once a cold draft hit the skin of her face, neck and cleavage.

" 'Ow does that man stand this cold?" she asked herself, hugging her arms around herself.

She'd wanted to take her time and think to herself to at least stop worrying, but she couldn't stay up there any longer due to the freezing temperature. She rushed over his floorboards - which were strangely impeccable, not a drop of blood in sight - and rifled through his vanity for everything that he'd need. It wasn't long until she had a bundle of items in her arms - his precious box of razors, various brushes and lathers, and finally, his preferred cologne.

She huffed, her breath visibly white as she did so.

"Well, at least 'e can't send me back up 'ere fer anythin' else!" she exclaimed with a proud smirk, turning on her heels carefully as she didn't want to drop anything - especially a certain box filled with his friends...

Finding that her body was growing accustomed to the cold, she headed over to his window, which overlooked the cobbles outside... and she risked a glance over to the alleyway where Mr Todd's last victim had met their end.

Mrs Lovett's breath hitched and her eyes widened at the sight of a shadowy silhouette in a crouched position - due to the dim gaslight near to the passageway it was easy to make out shapes, but not good enough for her to distinguish their features at all. They were small, although they appeared to look taller due to the stove-pipe hat atop their head. From what she could make out, the person was nimble and focused on the cobbles... they were scrubbing them furiously with the head of a brush, and after watching for a good few seconds, Eleanor was finding breathing to be a great difficulty.

Someone had seen the mess.

The law would be onto them in a heartbeat.

Not wishing to watch in horror any longer, she gripped her arms tightly around Mr Todd's shaving equipment and she shoulder barged into the door she'd previously entered, galloping down the staircase, blundering her way back to him.

"Mr T!" she blurted out as she pushed through the parlour door, sucking in handfuls of air violently. "Mr T, someone knows about - !"

As soon as she entered her parlour, the panic evaporated from her mind as her line of sight happened to land on Mr Todd, who was fully at ease in the steaming water.

She froze and her wide eyes turned saucer-like when she realised that he was still completely stark-naked and she received an unimpressed glare from him in return. Luckily, the end of the wash basin blocked everything below his stomach - so that part of him was left to her imagination once again. He held the emotionless expression, however, he didn't appear to be uncomfortable about her watching him, in fact she swore that he was holding back that devilish smirk of his - his eyes were the tell-tale, that's how she knew.