Doctor Who_ Amorality Tale Part 7

'Call me Vera, dear. If you're going to be staying here a while, we might as well be on first name terms.'

Sarah smiled. 'Alright, Vera and thank you.'

'Don't thank me! It's good to have another woman in the house. It's been just me with Tommy and his boys since my sister Rose died in the Blitz. Arthur is collecting your things from the boarding house, so I'll put them outside your door in the morning. Goodnight dear.' She closed the door as she left.

'Goodnight, Vera,' Sarah replied. She slid a hand under the pillow and pulled out the nightie. It was pink flannelette with lace around the neck, just like Aunt Lavinia used to wear when Sarah stayed with her on summer holidays as a girl.

Sarah took off her clothes and slipped into the nightie. It reached from her neck down to her wrists and ankles. She opened the wardrobe and found a full-length mirror inside one of the doors. The reflected image dismayed her. 'I keep wearing this, I'm going to start looking like Aunt Lavinia!'

'Who could be calling at this hour?' Mrs Kelly pulled her robe tightly around herself before opening the front door of the boarding house. Outside stood a giant of man, smiling apologetically.

'I've come to collect Miss Smith's things from her room.

She's found other accommodation.'

'Oh!' the landlady said. 'But she's paid up for another fortnight!'

Brick pulled a wad of notes from his suit pocket. 'Mr Ramsey said to give you another fortnight's board, for the inconvenience.'

'Be my guest.' Mrs Kelly took the notes from Brick and stepped aside to allow him in. She counted the cash while he lumbered upstairs to gather Sarah's possessions. Mr Kelly appeared from the front room where he had been dozing in front of the fire.

'Who was that?' he asked.

'A man from Tommy Ramsey, come to collect Miss Smith's things.'

Mr Kelly made the sign of the cross without even realising it.

He had enjoyed sneaking a glimpse at their boarder. But if Miss Smith was a girlfriend of Tommy Ramsey and she ever told him what had happened...

'What's wrong?' Mrs Kelly asked her husband. 'You've gone quite pale.'

'I'm not feeling very well,' he replied, bolting for the outhouse.

At the Ramsey household, a black ceramic telephone was ringing. Tommy stubbed out a cigarette before picking up the heavy receiver. 'Do you know what time it is?'

'I'm sorry to disturb you so late, Mr Ramsey it's Valentine.'

The caller's voice quivered with fear.

'What do you want, Detective?' Tommy replied, his voice laced with sarcasm. He smiled at his mother as she came back into the front parlour. Mrs Ramsey returned to her armchair and picked up her knitting.

'I'm at the hospital. There's been a murder and they called me in. A man was stabbed twice near St Luke's Church. He was still alive when he got here but died just after I arrived.'

'Yeah, so?' Tommy was getting impatient with the alcoholic copper. He had little time for people who could not keep control of their vices. Every man has his weakness, but he shouldn't let that weakness ruin his life.

'It was Harris. The dead man was Jim Harris. I thought you should know,' Valentine said. 'I recognised him as soon as I walked in.'

There was a long silence as Tommy absorbed this news.

'Mr Ramsey? You still there?'

'Yes,' Tommy replied, trying to keep all emotion from his voice. He didn't want his mother to know what had happened.

Harris had always been one of her favourites among the lads, after Brick of course. 'Did he say anything before he...went?'

'He had a message for you. I think that was the only thing kept him alive so long. "The Ramsey Mob are history. A new firm is taking over. Tomorrow, midday, outside St Luke's." That was the whole message.'

'Anything else? Did he say who did it?' Tommy demanded.

'Callum. He said it was Callum,' Valentine replied. 'Tommy, I'm sorry '

'Don't be. You did good. Just make sure the old bill don't poke its nose in anywhere near the church at noon tomorrow.'

Tommy put the phone down, his fists shaking with suppressed rage. Where the h.e.l.l was Jack? Tommy's mind raced as he considered his next move.

'Anything wrong, Thomas?' Mrs Ramsey asked, not looking up from her knitting.

'I've got to go out. I might not be back tonight.'

'Well, if you must, but I think a good night's rest never hurt anyone.'

'Tell that to Jim Harris,' Tommy muttered under his breath.

He left the parlour and went upstairs to Sarah's bedroom in a hurry. Tommy opened the door and walked straight in, startling Sarah. She was standing by the window, looking out over the rooftops of London.

'I've got to go out. I want you to stay here tomorrow and '

Tommy began, but was cut short by a shriek from Sarah.

'Who the h.e.l.l do you think you are, bursting in here! I know this is your house, but I don't think that gives you any right to '

Tommy held up his hands in protest. 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry!'

he shouted, before lowering his voice. 'I didn't mean to burst in, I should have knocked.' He stopped speaking, distracted by the silhouette of Sarah's figure created by the moonlight falling through the window behind her.

She folded her arms across her chest. 'Well, what did you want?'

'One of my men has been murdered by a rival gang. Their leader has challenged me to fight him. I need you to stay here and look after Mum for me.' He explained before Sarah could protest again. 'I know, you didn't come here to look after me Mum, but people are going to die tomorrow. I don't want you or her anywhere near the fighting okay?'

Sarah nodded her agreement grumpily.

'Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow.' Tommy was about to leave but couldn't resist a parting remark. 'Nice nightie, by the way.'

Sarah looked down and realised what effect the moonlight was having on the fabric of her nightie. She blushed a deep crimson from embarra.s.sment.

Tommy emerged from the front door of the house just as Jack and Brick arrived back at Tabernacle Street in the Bentley. Brick had seen Jack walking home while returning from the boarding house and given him a lift. Tommy wasn't happy with either of them. 'Where the h.e.l.l have you been? It doesn't take that long to torch a shop!'

'Sorry Tommy, I must have lost track of time,' Jack replied weakly.

'Too busy looking at the fire more like!' Tommy muttered.

He considered Jack's love of arson a useful but dangerous obsession. 'Harris is dead Callum murdered him in the street.

He left a message for me. A meeting at midday tomorrow outside St Luke's Church.'

'Sounds serious,' Jack said.

'That little s.c.r.o.t.e thinks he can take me out. He's got another thing coming. Tommy Ramsey doesn't lay down and die for anybody!' Tommy was furious but his anger was a cold fury, all the more terrifying for its icy control. 'Jack, I want you to man the phones. Get the word out this could be a diversion and I don't want to take any chances.'

'Right!'

'Brick, you're with me in the Bentley. I'm gathering the lads.

If we're facing a bloodbath tomorrow, I'm going mob-handed.

n.o.body kills one of my men and gets away with it. n.o.body!'

Friday, December 5, 1952 Dawn brought the city slowly back to life. PC Andy Hodge was walking the beat around Old Street, nodding his good mornings to the early risers shopkeepers opening up, a milkman finis.h.i.+ng his deliveries, the postman beginning his round. Hodge had walked this part of the East End for two months, since finis.h.i.+ng his initial training. He wasn't a native of the area, but he liked to think the locals were starting to accept him as part of the community. They had even stopped mocking him for the wispy moustache the ruddy-cheeked constable had been trying to grow ever since he arrived.

Hodge was still puzzled by a conversation with his desk sergeant at the station earlier that morning. 'You're relatively new here son, ain't that right?'

'Yes sir.'

'So you probably haven't seen what happens in a gang war.'

'No sir. I know we can expect trouble now that Tommy Ramsey is out of Wandsworth and back on the streets. The lads on last night were saying a watchmender's shop that burnt down looked like arson, but the neighbours didn't see anything,'

Hodge had said. 'People seem to turn a blind eye when it comes to the activities of the Ramsey Mob.'

Sergeant Diggle had looked very uncomfortable at that last statement. 'Word has come down from upstairs. According to Bob Valentine there's going to be a street fight today between Ramsey's men and that new gang of teenagers.'

'Where? When?'

'Midday, outside St Luke's Church.'

'How many men will we have there to stop the fight?'

'n.o.body.'

Hodge had not understood. 'Sorry, sir n.o.body?'

The sergeant smiled wanly. 'Upstairs believe this is a local dispute and we should leave the gangs to sort each other out. I mean, what does it matter if one criminal hurts another criminal?

Just one criminal less for us to worry about, right? So you're to make sure you stay away from St Luke's at midday.'

'But what if an innocent bystander gets hurt?' Hodge protested.

'Trust me, there won't be any bystanders.'

'But we can't just surrender the streets to gang violence.

That's wrong!'

The sergeant started to get angry. 'You're not here to decide what's right and what's wrong, constable! You're here to follow orders!'

'I thought I was here to enforce the law,' Hodge protested.

'You are just make sure you do it somewhere else at midday, alright?' Diggle despaired of the over-eager constable. 'I don't know. You youngsters, come in here full of your lofty ideals the sooner you get a taste of the harsh realities of life, the better for all of us!'

An hour later and Hodge was still reliving the conversation in his head. Was he naive? A do-gooder with no grasp of the real world? Standing back and letting two gangs kill each other on the street went against everything he believed in, everything he had been taught in training.

A pretty young woman standing on a doorstep said h.e.l.lo to the constable as he pa.s.sed. He looked back at the property and realised where he was standing outside the home of Tommy Ramsey at.15 Tabernacle Street.

'Morning, Miss,' Hodge said before continuing on his way.

He had made his mind up. Orders or no orders, he was going to be outside the church at noon. You had to stand up for what you believe in, Hodge told himself. Otherwise, what was the point in anything?

Sarah Jane Smith watched the police constable stroll away. He had a kind face but it was creased by some inner worry. What could he have to fret about, she wondered while taking another sip from her cup of tea.

Across the street the front door of the opposite house opened and the woman who had given Sarah directions stepped out, also nursing a cup of tea. 'h.e.l.lo again!'

'h.e.l.lo,' Sarah replied. 'Thanks for the directions.'

'That's alright, love. You were looking a bit lost,' Mary said.

She looked up and down the road, but none of the other women had come out yet to start the morning scrubbing ritual. 'Do you want to come inside?'

Sarah smiled. 'Okay.' It was nice to be made welcome. She crossed the road and followed Mary inside, shutting the door behind her. They went into the front room and sat at a table in front of the fireplace. The room was tiny.

Mary looked Sarah up and down. 'I've got to say, you don't look like Tommy Ramsey's normal type.'