red↳ thomas shelby

- V. -

[B i r m i n g h a m , 1 9 1 9]

! TW: MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT !

Theo King was worried; Zara was missing. Theo knew his sister could take care of herself, but Zara never disappeared for longer than two days at most, and it had been a week since anybody had seen her. James told him she would be fine, and she was prepared for any situation, but Theo's twin instinct told him something was horribly wrong.

He first went to investigate her house, noticing that the door was locked and there was no evidence of a break in. When Theo broke into her house (he'd get the now broken door fixed later), nothing looked out of the ordinary, and the house was as neat and tidy as Zara always kept it. After poking around for a while, Theo concluded that it wasn't likely she was taken from her home, and continued his search for his sister elsewhere.

Next, Theo walked into downtown Small Heath to see if anyone had seen anything, or knew where his sister was. The streets were unusually crowded, and Theo decided to start asking everyone he saw, desperate for any information on Zara's whereabouts. Unfortunately, the people of Small Heath were useless, and a frustrated Theo made his way to the Garrison pub to drink his sorrows away before he came up with another plan. Much like when Zara enters the pub, the room became silent and Theo smirked at the power he holds. Usually he would soak in the attention, but his concern for his sister was growing rapidly and all he wanted was a bottle of whiskey.

Theo plopped down at the bar with a sigh, raising an eyebrow at a certain blonde barmaid who approached him. Theo immediately noticed that she didn't fit into the rough atmosphere of the Garrison, she was too pretty, too soft.

"I'll just get a whiskey please, love." Theo weakly smiled, running his hand over his face, "And keep 'em comin'."

"Rough day?" Grace asked softly, filling a glass and pushing Theo's drink in front of him.

"Like you wouldn't even believe." Theo whined, downing his drink.

Grace leaned over the bar as she refilled Theo's drink. "Try me. You might find barmaids are excellent listeners."

"I'm Theo. Theo King."

"Grace Burgess."

Theo shook the barmaid's hand. "Say, how long have you worked here? I would've remembered seeing you."

"I'm fairly new." Grace responded. "I just moved here from Dublin."

Theo hummed. "And what brought you to this shithole?"

Grace was stunned by his blunt tone. "Ireland hasn't been safe recently, with the IRA running around and all."

Theo finished his drink, Grace automatically poured him another one.

"I don't believe you." Grace's eyes widened as she opened her mouth, ready to spill an excuse. "But that's none of my business." Grace relaxed.

"So Mr. King, why has your day been so terrible?" Grace asked, eager to change the subject.

"My sister has been missing for a week. She runs off sometimes, but she always comes back in a day or two."

"Who's your sister?" Grace asked curiously.

"Zara King."

Grace's blood ran cold as she remembered Inspector Campbell's words from their meeting. She knew he planned to "get her out of the way", but surely he wouldn't kill her? Theo noticed the change in Grace's demeanor, but didn't say anything, narrowing his eyes at the barmaid.