A Mind to Tear a Soul in Two

Chapter Five

Trigger Warning: Attempted rape. Please be advised.

Curled up in the chair in front of her fire, wrapped in a blanket, and lost in her book, Charlotte heard the sound of car engines echoing outside her window. Checking the clock at her bedside, she realised she must've been reading for over two hours — going on three. It was getting late and there was no reason for multiple vehicles to be down the lane at his hour. Looking out the curtains in her bedroom window Charlotte could see a dozen police patrol wagons pulling down Watery Lane.

Watching as dread filled her stomach, she saw the wagons come to a halt along the lane. The coppers started piling out of the vehicles, gathering between the homes numbered five and six. "Shit." Charlotte quickly realised she had seconds to make her escape before the coppers came flooding into the house.

Looking around Charlotte began to panic. Why were they here? Where was Tommy? At least when the coppers raided the place while the boys were at the fair, Polly was here with her. At this moment Polly was God-knows-where being angry with her and Tommy, and there wasn't a single fucking other person in the house or the betting shop.

Knowing she knew she couldn't stay in the house, she tried to make a plan. Grabbing her shoes, cap, and jacket, she snatched her gun and a book off of her bookcase before checking the barrel for bullets and making her way across the hall to Tommy's room.

As she entered his room she could hear the doors downstairs bursting open. Quickly shutting the door and opening up his back window, she stuffed her gun into the jacket pocket and tossed her clothes onto the kitchen roof below.

Straddling the window she reached over to Tommy's desk and grabbed his army issue switch knife laying there; Arthur always told her 'a girl could never been too armed'. Stuffing the knife into her back pocket she placed her copy of Black Beauty on the windowsill. It would prevent the window from closing and at the same time send Tommy a message that she'd managed to escape without being taken by the coppers.

Hearing more racket through the closed bedroom door from the men that had invaded her home, Charlotte threw her leg over the edge and jumped down onto the roof. Squatting in the shadows she quickly tied up her boots, threw on her jacket, and tucked her hair up and under her peaky cap.

Formulating a plan she decided that she'd head down the alley to see if anyone was home at John's and Uncle Charlie's place. If nobody was there, she'd head to the yard. At least there she could saddle a horse to make an escape if things were really bad. Trying Arthur's home was out of the question — she'd have to cross the lane and the path of twenty coppers to get to him. And Polly was up and past the Garrison, so that wasn't an option either.

Fumbling down from the kitchen roof, Charlotte hit the ground and backed herself against the wall waiting to see if anyone else was in the alley and at with her.

When she concluded that the only noise she heard was coming from inside the house, Charlotte continued down the alley keeping to the shadows. Reaching the sixth house down from her own she tried to open the back door. Locked.

Peeking in through the window Charlotte looked for any sign of John, Esme, or the kids. Nothing. Pressing her ear up to the glass of the window she could tell the house was silent. That was a sure sign that nobody was home. The kids woulda been running around bouncing off the walls in the excitement of the coppers. That cousin of Esme's must've shown up early. "Damn."

Two more doors down the lights at Uncle Charlie's place were out. Another dead end. Well, if Charlie wasn't home, he'd have to be at his yard. That had to be the next best place to try.