"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." -Matthew 26:41
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"The coppers told everyone Arthur had agreed to it when he was arrested. They said the Peaky Blinders had cleared out to the fair to let them do it."
In the living room, all the Shelbys but Ada and Finn had gathered, flasks and cigarettes in hand, as Polly and Trixie filled them in on the news of the raid. They'd returned from the fair a few hours ago, storming into the betting shop as Trixie hunched over on the floor to dig the boxes back out. They'd come in laughing, but when Polly had called them all into the dining room, the bellowing joy had disappeared, clouded over by concern.
Now, Arthur was sat down at the dining room table, taking a gulp from the mug of beer in front of him. Trixie stood wedged between Polly and Tommy, her spine stiff, caught in the middle of the gazes that volleyed between the Peaky Blinders' two leaders.
"I never said nothing to that copper about smashing up bloody houses," Arthur insisted, slamming his beer back down against the table. Trixie blew out a breath. Arthur spent so much time drunk he barely remembered to tie his shoes; who knew what he had said when he was kidnapped and tortured?
"Alright," Tommy interrupted, raising his hands to command silence. "Which pubs did they do?"
Polly struck a match for her cigarette, then offered it to Trixie, who used it to light her own smoke. "The Guns, the Chain, the Marquis," she said. "All the ones you're paid to protect, except the Garrison."
"At least they know to leave the Garrison the fuck alone," John remarked, unscrewing the cap on his flask.
Polly and Trixie shared a look. "I don't think that's the case," Trixie said. "I think they left the Garrison alone because they already have someone watching it."
"Whaddya mean?" John asked. "Who's watching the Garrison?"
"That new barmaid, Grace?" Trixie asked. "Pretty blonde thing? She got to town the same time as the Inspector, she's Irish, too. Harry says she begged to work at the Garrison." After a beat, she added, "No offense to you boys, but no woman in her right mind wants to work at the Garrison."
John howled, elbowing Arthur in the shoulder. His older brother was unmoved, staring into his glass like it was the barrel of a gun. "You think they got a woman to watch us?" John asked.
