Partners In Crime: Watch Them Break

Chapter 13: The Devil Makes Three

"He's not a villain. He's just a boy."

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Three weeks after she met Isaac, Beth left Eliza with Moran so she could go to the store again.

She was going to cook dinner. Well, she was probably going to burn down a kitchen, but that didn't  matter. It was the thought of it that she liked. Little Beth Moriarty, the doting housewife. But she wasn't a wife anymore. No, she was a doting house widow. But that was alright. It had been a year. She had grieved. She had broke. But she had a little family now. Moran was her best friend. Eliza, her adorable baby daughter. Eliza was just about four months old now, and Beth wanted to celebrate. She'd make herself and Moran a nice steaming dinner. Beth had decided on a stereotypical pot roast. She needed the meat, some ingredients for sauce, tomatoes, vegetables...

She bought it as soon as she could. She just wanted to be home. It was almost silly. Having separation anxiety from her baby. Yet at the same time, it was understandable. It was her child. Her little girl, with her fluffy dark hair and her bambi brown eyes. A perfect, adorable mix of her parents.

Beth was brought out of her thoughts by the cashier asking, "Are you alright, ma'am?"

"Oh, yes. Just thinking."

"Alright then," He handed her bags to her, "Will that be all?"

"Yes. Thank you."

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She took the scenic route home. It took ten more minutes to walk to the house this way, yet she didn't mind. It was pretty, with beautiful trees and flowers dotting the land. The sidewalk was crowded, sure, but it didn't matter. The houses to her right were small, and plain, but that brought some man-made simplicity to the scene. Flower pots and cooling pies rested on windowsills, people would walk their dogs up and down the street. Little girls and boys running in the street, moving away when a car wanted to drive past. There, surprisingly, wasn't much traffic at this time of day. Everyone was at work or school. That just made the day even more lovely. She turned her head at the sound of a mother calling her children in for a snack. Saying how they should keep their energy up if they wanted to play for a while longer. A 4-year old girl and a 6-year old boy scampered inside, smiles on their faces and laughs in the air.

She barely even noticed when a man bumped her shoulder, slipping something into her hand.

She looked down, eyes wide, and opened her palm. A note was there, small and folded to a near impossible point. Beth swerved her way onto a bench, and sat down to read. The paper was torn and old - Now resembling  a leathery cloth more than actual paper. The actual writing was vaguely familiar, yet she couldn't remember where she had seen it.

Hey Heartbreaker,

Go 3 blocks down. Go into the closed shop. I'll be waiting.

Looking up, she noticed how impossibly wrong the scenery had gotten within moments. Sure, there were still children and pies and flowers, yet there was also an underlying tone of danger brought along with it. Past the street and a few parked cars was a woman sitting on the bench. She was eyeing Beth with a smirk on her face. Waving, the woman twirled her wrist, before pointing in the direction Beth was supposed to go.

Beth stood, shoving the note into her jacket pocket and calmly walking in the opposite direction. Her groceries were still in her hands. They were rather unceremoniously dropped whenever Beth she saw a man getting out of his car a few yards ahead. He moved his arm a little too far back, and she could see a pistol tucked into a hip holster. Beth turned, this time in the direction the note told her to go, and ran.

She must have looked rather odd. Running through the sidewalk, her forgotten groceries splattered on the ground. Her pace should have been slow. If she had been in this situation a little over a year prior, she would have confidently sauntered up to them and gouged out their eyes with her thumbs. James would be beside her, clapping her on, or helping her fight her way out. It would have been fun and reckless. Yet she couldn't be fun and reckless anymore. It was stupid, with so much at risk and one of the most powerful men in London being dead for over a year. No one would be able to bail her out of prison, self defense or not. They'd fingerprint her, find out who she was, and she'd never see Eliza again.

She wasn't sure what to do at this point. Running back to the flat seemed like the best option. Yet it was too far, and she'd put Eliza at risk of all sorts of things. To the authorities would be even worse. She could fight it out, yet that would most likely leave her dead or in handcuffs. Besides, she hadn't really fought anyone in a year. She supposed she was retired from the criminal life. In hindsight, that had been a stupid decision.

Full speed ahead, footsteps were echoing behind her. Two pairs. The man's and the woman's. Heels and boots.

Beth stopped for barely a second, looking for somewhere to go. She was already out of breath. It had been too long since she had done this. It wasn't like she could outrun them forever. A chain link fence to someone's yard looked like a promising choice. She leaped at it, and scrambled her way up, desperate.

"No you don't!" She heard the woman yell. Beth nearly made it over the fence, yet her ankle was grabbed. She shrieked. Yet she had ran to a less populated area of town. Less people to hear her cries. Less people to get help. Beth kicked with her other foot, and the woman let go. Beth was at the top of the fence, screaming as she lost her balance and fell to the other side. Yet that was alright. It was a little safer, at least.

The man was over the fence in a heartbeat, it seemed. Beth had barely gotten up before he was grabbing her hair, and throwing her back to the ground. Screaming, Beth clawed at his hands, and he hissed as she drew blood.

"Toby! Stop!" The woman pulled his hand off of her with a growl, "The boss said to not hurt her!"

"So? What does he care? It's not like he'll know-"

"He'll skin our hides if she even has some hair out of place! And look at her!"

They both stopped, looking down at Beth. Her face was covered with dirt and sweat. Her arm was bleeding from attempting to stop her fall. It looked as though she had stepped wrong as well - Her ankle looked a little swollen.

The man cursed. "F***."

"Exactly, you stupid bastard! Get your head out of your arse and help her up! The boss is going to goddamn kill us because of you!"

Beth could remember the last few times she had been in a situation like this. She had grinned as she beat her attackers to bloody pulps. Called them names with a laugh.

Yep. It was true. She had turned domestic. Yet that didn't mean she didn't have a plan.

"Come on, let me blindfold her. She'll probably break your nose if you touch her again." The woman took a piece of cloth out of her pocket.

Beth let the woman blindfold her. Lift her into a van. Drive her to the building that she really should have just walked to in the first place.

The blindfold was taken off and she was pushed out of the van.

"Walk in there," The man gestured to the mom-and-pop fast food store in front of them, "There's a chair. Sit down and wait. The boss'll be there soon."

Beth nodded, limping ever so slightly as she went inside.