The Fight for Lizzie Flowers (39 page)

‘Let me go.’ Lizzie pulled her arm again but, with her hands tied, she knew resistance was useless. Where was he going to take her?

Lizzie knew there was no escape. She stumbled as he pushed her towards the door. It was opened by one of his men carrying a gun. ‘You know what you have to do,’ Savage instructed.
‘Flowers will cooperate when he knows we have her – and should it be necessary, his boy. Then, when he’s signed – tidy up.’ Savage pushed Lizzie into the warm, dark
night.

She looked along the street for help. It was deserted. The van stood to one side, but it was empty. If she screamed would the people in the brothel hear her?

But before she could think what to do, a limousine she recognized as Savage’s drew up. The driver, wearing a peaked cap, got out and opened the back door. Savage roughly thrust her in. She
stayed still, trying to get her breath, looking out of the window, wondering, if she yelled out, would anyone come to help her?

Savage climbed in beside her. He waved to the driver. ‘Carry on.’

Lizzie closed her eyes. When she opened them the car was going smoothly along the lane. She glared at Savage with hatred in her eyes.

He laughed aloud, shaking his head. ‘My dear, if you could see your face!’

‘What are you going to do to Danny and the others?’

‘Do you really want to know?’ he spluttered, sliding his hat from his bald head and balancing it on his knee. ‘Why, of course you do. Curiosity gets the cat, and women are
feline, are they not?’ He laughed again at his own joke. ‘Sadly, there isn’t much to tell. They will be dispatched – I have a system, a rather clever one. Tried and tested
many times. Crude, cold and wet. But very effective.’

‘What do you mean?’ Lizzie whispered, her breath caught in her throat.

Savage’s smile left his face. ‘Just remember, my dear, I’ve warned you. And if you and your Polly want to survive, then behave!’ He placed his fingers over her thigh.

‘Such beauty. You would do well to try to preserve it.’ He pulled her face round to him, squeezing hard. ‘Mrs Flowers.’

Just then, the car swerved. Flowers let go of her and leaned forward. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he yelled at the driver.

There was no reply as the driver brought the Daimler to a sharp halt. Lizzie heard Leonard Savage’s growl of anger as the back door was thrust open.

‘Why have you stopped, you idiot?’ he demanded, staring up.

‘Because this is the end of your journey,’ replied a voice in a throaty drawl. Lizzie watched in breathless silence as the driver doffed his hat and made a low sweep of his arm.
‘This way – sir.’

‘Who are you?’ Savage said, a thread of fear in his voice.

‘Why now, would you believe it? Such wit in this fellow,’ laughed the Irishman. ‘A grand man like yourself should recognize the stench of his own turf. The same place as not a
few minutes ago you were describing to the lady beside you.’

Savage recoiled. ‘Murphy!’

‘As ever was.’

‘But you’re dead!’

‘And truly resurrected,’ Murphy said, reaching in and grasping Savage by the throat. ‘Did you think this day would never come?’ Murphy spat into Savage’s face.
‘Well, here I am to haunt you. And to see you surely on your way to hell.’

Lizzie heard Savage scream as Murphy dragged him from the car and Danny stepped forward to help.

‘I’ll give you everything, every penny I have,’ pleaded Savage on his knees.

In the light of the many Tilleys now lit in the stable yard, held aloft by Murphy’s men, Lizzie could see the Irishman clearly. He was younger than she had first thought and slim, with a
proud bearing, his features chiselled and lean. His brown hair was razored at the sides and his leather waistcoat hung loosely across his bare chest. His soldiers, as he called them, stood watching
silently.

‘There’s nothing you can give me,’ Murphy said, ‘that wasn’t mine already.’

‘Don’t kill me,’ Savage begged, squirming on his knees towards Danny, Bert and Frank. ‘Tell him to give me another chance. I promise you’ll never see me again.
You’ll have your land—’

‘I already have it,’ Danny said coldly. ‘You’ve nothing to bargain with. As I had nothing. Your time’s up in the East End.’

‘No!’ Savage shrieked as Murphy signalled to two of his men. ‘Take him to the well.’

‘What?’ Savage bleated as they pulled him to his feet. ‘You’re putting me down there? But you can’t!’ Savage stared around him, sweat pouring from his bald
head. He looked at Lizzie. ‘Don’t let him do it! Please, I beg you!’

‘Is there no other way?’ Lizzie asked Murphy.

‘So the dog can bite again?’ Murphy smiled. ‘What’s more important to you? This man or your family?’

‘I wouldn’t harm anyone, I promise,’ Savage screamed. ‘I’ll change. Just give me the chance—’

‘I’m giving you a chance,’ Murphy said, his voice thick with emotion. ‘The same chance as you gave me and the friend of this man, who fell foul of you.’ He narrowed
his eyes, pushing his face into Savage’s. ‘But I warn you, fight hard to stay afloat down there in the dark. Grasp at the wet stone until your knuckles bleed and your heart is bursting
out from your ribs. Fight, or else you’ll be sucked down, into the bowels of the Thames. Keep that in mind as the freezing water fills your mouth and enters your lungs.’

At the sound of Savage’s screams, Lizzie turned away. She had heard and seen enough of violence and madness. Leonard Savage didn’t deserve a chance. But Murphy was giving him one; a
chance in a million perhaps, but it was more than Richard had had.

More than Savage would have given any of them, if he had won the day.

One month later

It was six o’clock on an unseasonably hot September morning and Lizzie was trying to fight off the effects of the dramatic arrival of her brother-in-law on her doorstep,
just over an hour before. She’d been making breakfast for Polly and Bert when they’d heard a car screech to a halt outside. Next, there had been an almighty banging on the shop window.
They’d rushed downstairs to find Syd outside, tearing his fingers through his uncombed hair.

‘You’ve got to come with me,’ he’d implored when Lizzie had unlocked the door. ‘Flo’s had pains all night. She won’t let me drive her to
hospital.’

‘You mean the baby’s on its way?’ Lizzie had asked.

‘Dunno.’ Syd had looked desperate. ‘You’ve got to come and see.’

It had taken Lizzie only a few moments to gather her things and leave Polly in the care of her uncle before Syd drove them wildly to Langley Street.

But when they’d arrived at the house and rushed upstairs to the bedroom, they’d found Flo fast asleep in bed. Just where Syd had left her.

Now Lizzie gazed at her sister, who had woken at the disturbance. ‘What’s going on?’ she demanded sleepily, surprised to see Lizzie. ‘Syd, I told you it was a false
alarm.’

‘What do I know about having babies?’ Syd groaned, glancing sheepishly at Lizzie and collapsing in the chair.

Flo struggled to sit up, pushing her damp fringe from her forehead. ‘Whatever it was has stopped now.’

Lizzie sat down on the bed and smiled. ‘Are you sure?’

Flo nodded and pointed to her bump. ‘I reckon he was having a lark inside there.’ She grinned at Syd. ‘Trust a man to panic’

Red-faced, Syd stood up and wrung out the flannel in the enamel bowl. ‘What else was I to do? Stand around twiddling me fingers?’

Flo chuckled. ‘He was hopping around in the early hours trying to find his trousers. I couldn’t help seeing the funny side.’

‘Trust me, there’s nothing funny about seeing your wife in agony,’ Syd protested, thrusting his hands in his pockets.

‘I had a few pains yesterday, but they weren’t very strong.’

‘You didn’t tell me,’ Syd replied shortly.

‘No, because you would have fussed. And me waters ain’t broke yet and there’s almost three weeks to go.’

‘Syd did right,’ Lizzie said as she looked at her downcast brother-in-law. ‘Dr Shaw said because of your near miscarriage he wanted you back the minute you started labour. By
rights you should be in the hospital by now.’

‘Not likely!’ Flo exclaimed. ‘You won’t ever catch me near that place again.’

‘What?’ Lizzie said in surprise, staring at Flo.

‘Precisely my point,’ Syd interrupted. ‘You’d better tell your sister what you told me.’

Flo shrugged, looking guilty. ‘I want you to deliver the baby, Lizzie.’

‘Me?’ Lizzie half laughed. ‘Flo, don’t joke at a time like this.’

‘I’m not. You helped to bring Polly into the world. She came out all right, didn’t she?’

‘I had no choice,’ Lizzie protested. ‘Babs was in a terrible state and there wasn’t anyone to help, just you and me. If Frank hadn’t gone to get Dr Tapper, I dread
to think what would have happened.’

Lizzie still had nightmares about the day Polly was born. Babs had been in a terrible state, sick and undernourished and very distressed. Frank, who was thought to be the father, had been
drinking heavily with Vinnie, their brother. Lizzie would never forgive Vinnie for running off and leaving them. At least Frank had eventually gone for help.

‘Babs had a breech birth,’ Flo reminded her calmly, ‘but this baby is coming out the normal way. And I guarantee you I won’t need no hospital.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘I just do, that’s all.’ Flo’s face crumpled as she held her stomach.

Syd sprang forward. ‘Have the pains started again?’

Flo looked up and grinned. ‘No, you silly, I just want to wee.’

Syd sighed, passing his hand across his forehead. ‘Christ, I’m having kittens here.’

‘You’re lucky it’s only kittens and not a baby.’ Flo threw back the sheet. ‘Go and make a cuppa, love, while I use the commode.’

When Syd had gone and they had taken care of nature’s demands, Lizzie helped Flo back to bed. Her sister was breathless at the effort it cost her and flopped back heavily against the
pillow. ‘Sorry Syd caused a fuss,’ she apologized, glancing across to the empty landing. ‘But now he’s out of the way, I’ve got something to tell you.’

‘And I’ve got something to tell you,’ Lizzie interrupted as she plumped Flo’s pillows. ‘I ain’t delivering this baby, no matter how hard you try to get round
me.’

‘Just listen first.’ Flo pulled her down on the bed again. ‘Do you believe in ghosts?’

‘Ghosts?’ Lizzie repeated, a half-smile on her face. ‘What sort of ghosts?’

‘Real ones, like spirits returned from the dead. Do you think there are such things?’

Realizing Flo was serious, Lizzie considered the question before replying. ‘As I haven’t met one, I don’t know. I suppose I might if I did. Why?’

‘Well, I’ve seen a real-life ghost.’

Lizzie grinned. ‘You ain’t delirious again, are you?’

‘No, course not. Do you want to know when?’

Lizzie rolled her eyes. ‘You’re going to tell me, anyway.’

Flo nodded, her eyes beginning to sparkle. ‘It was in hospital, the night you and Frank took me there. I was in a sort of twilight world, wondering what me chances were of ever getting out
of that place again.’

‘Flo, the hospital wasn’t so bad.’

‘To me it was. I couldn’t sleep and was listening to all the moans and groans going on around me and you know, I thought, if I die here in this hospital bed, would me and my baby
come back to haunt this place?’

‘Flo, what a thing to think!’

‘Couldn’t help it. I was frightened out of me wits. I knew I had to stay for my baby’s sake. But I kept thinking about those nurses at the sanatorium when I had scarlet fever
and how, when someone died, like the girl in the bed next to me, there was those white figures that drifted silently in during the night and took her away. Next morning her bed was empty. I never
saw her again.’

‘That girl was very ill, Flo.’

‘Yes, but I was very scared. I thought it might be me next.’

Lizzie touched Flo’s hand. ‘I’m sorry, love, it must have been awful.’

‘You see, my very worst fear in life – the fear of dying in hospital – started when I had scarlet fever and had to stay at the sanatorium.’

‘They wouldn’t let me stay with you,’ Lizzie said sadly. ‘I could have spread the infection.’

A soft smile touched Flo’s lips. ‘Someone
was
with me this time.’

‘Someone? Who?’

‘Ma,’ Flo whispered, her brown eyes very wide. ‘She was suddenly standing by the bed as real as you are now sitting there. It felt so normal, like I was a kid again. I just
said, “Ma, I don’t want to lose my baby. And I don’t want to die, neither.” And you know what she said in reply? She said, “You won’t die, nor will the baby,
because your sister is going to bring it into this world.” That was all. That was just what she said, word for word. And then she went away.’

Lizzie shook her head slowly. ‘Couldn’t it have been a dream?’

‘It wasn’t. She was real.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘Because last night, when I started to have pains, and before I woke Syd up, Ma came into my mind again. She wasn’t there, this time. But I heard her saying you would bring my child
into the world and not to be afraid. Then the pains went away, by which time Syd was up and on his feet. I didn’t realize the bugger would rush off at a tangent and wake you up.’

‘He didn’t. We were up already.’

‘That’s good.’

‘Syd has every right to be worried. So am I.’

‘You needn’t be. It’s all in hand.’

Lizzie looked at her sister and a slow smile formed on her lips. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do with you, Florence Allen. No, sorry, Florence Miller.’

Flo smiled, sliding her hanky over her damp brow. ‘I think I’ll just have another forty winks. Them pains fagged me out last night. Can you go downstairs and cheer up my other half
before you go?’

‘Are you sure you’re all right?’

‘Course I am.’ Flo’s eyes began to close. Very soon she had drifted off and Lizzie tucked the sheet over her hand. What had happened to Flo in the hospital, she wondered? She
was frightened and alone with memories of the sanatorium tormenting her, so it was not surprising Flo had hated her stay there. But could Ma really have come to visit her little sister or was the
dream so clear it seemed as if Ma was standing by the bed? Had fear or love, whichever had been the greatest, bridged the gap between life and what everyone thought of as death?