midwife » michael gray. [completed]

CHAPTER THIRTY.

→ CHAPTER THIRTY; ALLEGATIONS. 

The kiss continued, with Hannah placing her hands at the side of Michael's cheek, appreciating the feeling as she did not know when it would come again. It was only a matter of time before the police came knocking on the door and commanded to see Michael. Hannah could see the sight in her mind, the snap of the metal when his luck had run out, the sound of Polly screaming and the start of the engines to take them away. Michael was irrational, but Hannah was willing to forget about that for one night.

The kiss was interrupted by heavy, brash knocking on the door and an irritated Tommy shouting for Michael. Hannah and Michael pulled apart from each other, their lips close together and their breathing heavy, but they remained silent and waited for Tommy to leave. Wretchedly, it never came.

"You need to come now, Michael," Tommy demanded, his voice severe. "And you Hannah."

"Why?" Michael shouted with a grunt, he stood up from his place on the floor and whispered an apology in Hannah's direction as he walked towards the door and unbolted it. Tommy rushed in, looking around to check that it was just the two of them. "If this is something stupid then - "

"Sister Maria knows that you killed Father Hughes. I don't know how, but she does. John and Arthur have somehow made her think that it wasn't you, pretty much given you an alibi but you can't trust her."

Hannah put her face in her hands as she tried to figure out how Sister Maria would have figured it out. One of the midwives must have made an offhanded comment without thinking, just something simple could trigger it. Sister Maria was an intellectual woman, could have been a police detective if they allowed her too, so it was no surprise that she was the first one to find out about Michael's wrongdoing.

"What did you tell her?" Hannah inquired.

Tommy looked over in Hannah's direction and his eyes became softer. "I told her that Michael was with you that day."

"So, you've dragged me further into this web of lies that I didn't want to be in?"

"All you have to do is say that you were with Michael and Polly - "

"It's not that simple, Tommy. What if the police find out that Michael did kill Father Hughes? Sister Maria will know that I have lied to her and I will be thrown out on the streets without a job or even worse, she might tell the police that I was covering for Michael. The relationship that I have built with the mothers around here will be destroyed and for what? So, you lot don't have to serve time for the crimes that you have committed." Hannah was raging as she spoke, her hands flapping all in the air and when she had finished, she looked at the two cowering men with dominance.

"We won't serve time, we will be hung." Michael said, fear noticeable as he spoke.

Hannah turned her focus to Tommy and pointed at him aggressively. "You are supposed to be powerful, isn't that what people believe? I know for a fact that you would be able to get Michael off for the murder or at least stop him from having a death sentence."

Tommy shook his head. "It's not that simple."

"Fuck off," Hannah scoffed. "You should have all been hanging from those ropes years ago, but you've used your power to stop it from happening. Whether that's by paying the cops or messing with the government. Either way, you've stopped it from happening to yourself so why won't you help Michael?"

"This is different to the other crimes. This is a man that was in power with the church, he had a reputation - "

"No, you are selfish, Tommy Shelby and you will not help Michael because it does not benefit you."