Candy [THOMAS SHELBY]

Chapter Sixty-Three

Josephine shuffled into the booth as the last of the Garrison's patrons were ushered out and was boxed in by Polly and Ada. Lizzie took the end seat by Ada, Arthur took a seat at a nearby table and Tommy stayed standing, leaning on one of the pillars.

"Can I begin this meeting with a proposal? From now on, we find somewhere else to meet." Lizzie said as she settled down in her seat.

"Tommy believes that being seen mixing with the common people is good politics," Ada replied, taking the opportunity to take a jab at her brother

"Hmm. Well, if this is our campaign for socialism, perhaps next time, Polly, you won't wear earrings worth more than the pub."

"Right. Family meeting. First item." Ada pulled something out of her purse and placed it on the table, "This. Dug out of our Finn's arm yesterday by Aberama Gold using your gin and a razor blade."

"What the hell?" Josephine gasped out, picking up the bullet from the table.

"He says they were sent to Limehouse. Chinatown." Ada retells the story

"Sent by fucking who?" Lizzie asked, just as taken back

"Sent by me." Tommy let out a soft grunt, "I told Finn to stay out of this.

He obviously didn't listen."

"Did you explicitly tell him to stay out of it or was it more of a suggestion?" Josephine asked, raising her brow.

Finn was twenty-one and wanted to be like his older brothers despite there not being a need to be and whilst Josephine understood that he wanted to be like them and get closer to them, she didn't want him to needlessly die on some stupid mission.

"What's in Chinatown, Tommy? What the fuck is going on?"

"Fifty thousand pounds. In cash."

"He said they were sent to Chinatown to kill somebody," Ada revealed

"That kid needs educating, Tommy, he really does," Arthur grumbled

"It was a particular opportunity," Polly spoke up for the first time

"A particular opportunity presented to me in confidence. I dealt with it in confidence."

"But you told Polly." Josephine didn't expect Tommy to tell her everything but putting Finn in a situation like that was something she expected to be told.

"Tommy told me there was a pimp in East London who sold kids," Polly told her

Arthur spoke up, "Fucking kids, Josephine, eh? Hmm?"

"This pimp was blackmailing a senior member of the House of Lords, -a very wealthy man," Tommy explained as if that made the situation any better.

Josephine slammed her hands on the table, unable to believe what they were saying "So the pimp who sold the kids is dead but what about the person who was buying the kids? He managed to get rid of the one who was blackmailing him but now he'll just go to the next pimp and keep Tommy on call if they end up blackmailing him too. Where are your morals? You find no issue with who you're deciding to protect but whoever that is, is just as bad as the fucking pimp"

There was a tense silence after Josephine's outburst until Arthur broke it,

"Now this pimp is lying in a ditch, covered in flies. World's a better place."

"Holy fuck! So now your business is improving the world?" Ada stared at her brothers in disbelief.

"Sometimes, Ada...killing is a kindness. Hmm?" Arthur attempted to comfort his sister.