Subtle Invitation [Thomas Shelby]

The Crying River

The journey to her hotel had been easy. It had been the perfect time to reflect on the days events and she had come to the final decision that she was doing the right thing.

As she slipped into her room and took off her coat she caught sight of her own reflection in the vanity mirror. Lily's reflection caught her off guard. Her eyes seemed brighter, her skin paler...her hair wasn't tied up like her mother preferred.

Was this freedom or the realisation of her new life?

—-

"What the fuck Pol!? Why didn't you come and get one of us eh!?" Tommy yelled as he slammed his hand down on the table.

Polly eyed him lazily as she took a drag of her cigarette.

"I had it Tommy. There wasn't anything remotely dangerous about her, she's just a-"

"It's not the point! You know how careful we have to be now"

"Tommy come on, lay off yeah?" Michael said as he reached over the table to calm the situation.

"She told me about what happened to my children Tommy" Polly said as she placed a pointed finger down on the table "She had proof. For fuck sakes she was taken the same night Michael was"

Michael blanched at the information but kept his mouth shut.

"A lot of kids where taken Pol" Tommy warned.

"They where picked, plucked and sold to the highest bidder. To Barron families Tommy. I didn't do anything!" And she quickly stood up to peer down at her nephew, begging him to understand.

"That's a strong accusation"

"Not when there's proof" and Polly slammed down a stack of papers infront of him.

Tommy refused to look at the paperwork and instead eyed his aunt. This was information that he needed to take in alone and he didn't trust his own emotions so he pulled the pile of paper into his hands and stood up.

His own glare met Polly's.

"Just don't fucking do anything until I say eh? We don't need another problem on our hands"

"You have one day Tommy. After that I'm going to meet Miss Adler and we will get to the bottom of this"

"Was this the girl with the fancy car?" He asked, curiously getting the better of him.

Polly shrugged "She said something about parking it somewhere"

"Great, a fucking toff to top it off" he mumbled before he sweeped up his hat and made his way out the door.

—-

"Miss, can I get you another tea?" Lily looked up to see a young gentlemen staring down at her.

Lily had been sat at the table for hours going through stacks of paperwork that she had found. There was so much information that she was trying to condense it into a time line. It was proving difficult.

"Yes please" Lily smiled.

"That's a lot of papers Miss" the young man commented.

Lily didn't know how to reply, she had never been good at idle chit chat. Actually, she had never been good at chatting, having never been allowed to communicate with others passed the pleasantries.

"Yes, lots of work for me to do be doing!"

The young man took the hint but didn't seem too offended as she flashed him another smile.

Just as she got back to her paperwork, biting the end of her pen she felt the air in front of her change and a person take the seat across from her.