Devoted (John Shelby)

Part 11

"What the fuck do you mean that Arthur and Michael are in jail?" Cynthia asked in shock to her husband who just got off the phone with Polly.

"They're both in jail, Arthur for murder and Michael for arson" John said, "look we need to go" John grabbed his suit jacket and grabbed his wife's hand and started leading her out of the door.

"What about the kids?" She questioned.

"They'll be fine, I'll get someone to look after them" John said, dragging her along.

They made a small detour to the house of their nanny who agreed to look after the kids and John and Cynthia made their way to the betting den. When they got there, Finn and Polly were waiting, Finn standing with his hat in his hands and Polly smoking on a chair.

John decided to sit down and Cynthia paced around the room nervously waiting for Tommy to tell them more. It took a while before the man arrived. "John?" He said firstly, looking at him, hoping he'd give him information on what happened.

"The coppers have lifted ten of our men in Camden Town, the rest are on the run"

"They've taken Michael" Finn added.

"Business first" Tommy said, dismissing the boy.

"They took Michael" Polly repeated what Finn said, Tommy dismissed Polly like he did with Finn. "They picked him up-" Polly tried to say but Tommy talked over her.

"Polly, business first." He gave Polly a pointed look before turning to John once more, "John?" He said for John to carry on what he was saying before.

"They took all of our whiskey, so they'll be sipping that for Christmas. They've impounded all of our vans, put their own locks on the warehouse. The Eden club and all our pubs have been raided by the coppers and handed back to Sabini and Solomons. The Black Country boys think it was Arthur who killed Billy 'cause that's what the coppers told them. So no more free passes for our whiskey boats." John told Tommy.

"I don't care about whiskey. I don't care about Billy Kitchen" Polly said, "I want my son out of prison now"

"Polly a man has died, show some respect. Plus we all want Michael and Arthur out of jail and we'll get to that, just let the men speak"

"You can't speak to me you bit-"

"Don't talk to my wife that way" John said defensively to Polly, he reached out for Cynthia and sat her on his lap putting an arm around her protectively.

"You'll need to put a muzzle on her" Polly grumbled.

"Alright, enough" Tommy said before John could retort.

"I've spoken to Johnny dogs" Cynthia said, remembering seeing him when John was talking to the nanny.

"This meeting should just be family" Polly said, raising her nose in the air, looking down at Cynthia as if she were dirt.

"I can help" she said.

"It's family only, she is not blood, Tommy" Polly said angrily.

"Let her speak" Tommy said.

"Or is this business-"

"Enough!" Tommy shouted, getting Polly to shut up, he then lowered his voice, "enough, Polly. Cynthia?"

"I spoke to Johnny Dogs. The Lees are kin" Cynthia started.