Lizzie was still asleep when Bea got inside the house and went into Tommy's office. She wanted to play the piano, but it was early, and the kids were still asleep as well, so she should stay quiet.
Bea looks around the office as a car arrives and stops near the door. She keeps just looking around, without curiosity of who had arrived.
She didn't need to be curious anyway, as the person who arrived made their way straight to the office. Tommy stops when he sees Bea is already inside, then he walks quickly to her, grabs a hold of her throat, chocking her and backs her against one of the bookshelves covering the wall.
"Tom," Bea gasps with scare as she holds his wrist, trying to get his hand away from her throat.
"You fucking lied to me," he says. "You FUCKING. LIED. TO ME!" he then shouts. "AGAIN!"
Bea furrows her brows with fright and keeps trying to ease Tommy's grip on her throat.
Listening to the rucks, Lizzie comes down into the office.
"Tommy, what's going on?" Lizzie asks as she opens the door.
He stares at Bea for a few more seconds, in silence, watching as she struggled to breathe, before loosening his grip on her throat.
"We're conducting a business meeting, Lizzie. Don't interrupt us again," he says turning sideways.
"Tommy, she's..."
"I know who she is. Get out," he tells Lizzie again.
Lizzie looks at the frightened Bea once again before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
Tommy waits a few seconds before speaking to Bea again.
"All those times you lied. Probably more times than I can actually remember, right?"
Bea just exhales.
"You betrayed me," Tommy states. "You betrayed me before and I let it go. I protected you against McCavern. And now... now I find out this."
"What is this exactly?"
"In how many ways have you betrayed me, Beatrice?"
"In none," she affirms.
Tommy chuckles unamused.
"You asked me where I was going. I didn't tell you. Now, take a guess to where I went."
"I heard about London."
Tommy nods slowly. "Margate."
Bea didn't move and continued to stand calmly.
"I spoke to Alfie Solomons," Tommy speaks slowly. "Before I left, he asked me how 'that golden girl', in his own words, was doing after getting back to Birmingham."
Bea smirks.
"I can only assume that this golden girl he spoke about is you, because you recently got back, after being there, and maybe he meant to say your last name, Gold. You still have nothing to say?"
"It's not just because of the name. It's because of my worth. Alfie Solomons says that I am worth a lot more than people might think. That my family has got nothing on me and that who I am is better than anyone else here in Birmingham," Bea answers as if trying to outsmart him.
"Is that what you have to say?"
"What else do you want me to say, Tommy? That you knew it, but decided to ignore it?" Bea dares. "I'm smart, Tommy. Just as smart as you. You knew. It's everywhere."
Bea moves closer to the door and points at a painting that she had made herself. A painting of a beach, like many others.
"It's here, for you to see every time you leave this room," she says. "And it's in your office, so that you can look at it every day whilst working. You recognized the beach when you first saw it. You could see yourself in it." She then points. "Look, at the shape of the man I painted here. That's you. And the one in your office? It's got the shape of a man lying on the sand. Just like when it happened."
"How long?"
"Since the beginning. Since Aberama made me go and live with my sisters and aunt. You found it strange, the first time.... You said you didn't expect me to last so long with my aunt. Well, I didn't. On the third morning there, I packed everything and went away."
"All those times... You asking me, lying straight to my face, to stay in London for a few days to see your sisters, the holidays you went there, just now, when you said you were going away to your sisters, to get better..."
"I have never seen my sisters again, after that time I was forced to go," Bea confirms.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why did you stay in Margate and with Alfie Solomons for so long and so many times?"
"It was peaceful there. Margate is very nice."
"And Alfie?"
"He's taught me a lot more than you think. And still, it's like he wasn't even there at times. Just a ghost, allowing me to rest in his house, eat his food, and do as I pleased."