Painting The Races Red | Tommy Shelby

Chapter Three ✔️

C h a p t e r T h r e e
D e t e r i o r a t i n g F a i t h

"You should get some sleep."

Her head lifted to look at her partner as he spoke to her. They had sat in relative silence in the hospital room for quite some time, both were exhausted from the events of the previous night. Tommy was recovering from the beating he took, while Lynette was trying to keep herself awake after spending a long night of waiting on news for Tommy's condition.

Even after the nurses had informed Lynette that Tommy was going to make it, and moved him to a private room upstairs, she still refused to sleep as she stayed at his bedside when he woke. It had now been three hours since he finally regained consciousness, and she had yet to let go of his hand, fearful that at some point she was going to lose him. Although, Tommy didn't seem to mind the interaction.

"I'll sleep once someone gets here to watch you. News will probably get to Polly first, knowing her she'll send over some of the Blinders."

"You don't trust me?"

She examined the injuries on his face as she responded. His skin was coated in discoloured hues as a result of bruises, accompanied by scrapes on his chin and cheekbones. His right eye was completely swollen shut, the area a vibrant red and purple.

"I don't trust you to stay in bed. Look at the state of yourself Tommy, you need to heal."

Tommy's fingers squeezed her hand. "I'm not going to heal when I'm worrying about you. You need to rest."

Lynette opened her mouth to answer. She knew that because of their stubbornness, this argument could continue on for hours. Before she could speak, the door to the hospital room opened with the entrance of one of the younger nurses.

"Ready for a visitor, Mr Shelby?" the nurse questioned as she peaked around the door, clearly somewhat fearful of the fact that her patient was a Shelby.

"No," Tommy deadpanned.

The nurse disobeyed the response, opening the door for a figure to enter before closing it behind her as she left them on their own. Lynette looked up to the man that had joined them, quickly releasing Tommy's hand as she stood abruptly. A fierce glare was set on the man as she rounded to stand in front of Tommy's bed, making somewhat of a barrier.

"Get out, you're not welcome here."

Campbell chuckled at her statement, walking closer so that he could stand at the end of the metal bed frame. Lynette stayed in her place, only feet away from the officer in case he tried to pull any stunts.

"I'm here on the King's orders. I'm afraid I must insist. Ah, you paid extra for daylight, the racketeering business must be booming. Are you not going to thank me for saving your life?"

Neither answered him. Instead, Tommy pointed to the unit near the windows while speaking through his cracked lips. "Pass me cigarettes?"

Campbell sighed before reluctantly moving across the room to pick up the items from the table. Lynette slowly eased herself into the chair on the left side of Tommy as the man moved away, though she refused to take her eyes away from him.

"Three nights ago at the co-operative stables in Montague Street, there was a murder. A man named Duggan. The Oxfordshire constabulary found his body in a shallow grave."

Lynette tried to keep her expression blank, not wanting Campbell to see her reaction to the statement. She realised that this was what Tommy had been hiding from her these last few days, his off behaviour suddenly made sense. The reason his clothing had reeked of factory spoke was because he had been at Montague Street.