The Fight for Lizzie Flowers

by Carol Rivers

  ‘How long do we wait?’

  ‘Give me fifteen minutes. The deal should be done by then.’

  Lizzie nodded doubtfully. ‘Bert and me are coming after you if you’re not out by then.’

  ‘Don’t worry. I’ll have Frank with me.’

  ‘Me?’ Frank said from the rear of the van. ‘You’ve got to be kidding. I’ll only hold you up.’

  ‘Then I’ll go slowly, just for your benefit.’ Danny turned to look at Frank hidden in the darkness. A pale, frightened face stared back at him.

  ‘Why don’t you take Bert?’ Frank objected, clapping Bert on the shoulder. ‘He’s twice my size and fit as a fiddle.’

  ‘You’re a Flowers, Frank. I want Savage to clock you bringing up the rear, like Lizzie said, a united front. He won’t be expecting that.’ Danny went to the back of the van and unlatched the double doors.

  Frank climbed out, still protesting. ‘This ain’t a good idea, Danny.’

  ‘It’s the best one I’ve had tonight.’

  Frank hesitated and reached for his stick.

  Danny grabbed his arm. ‘You won’t need that.’ If there was trouble, Danny knew Frank would be about as much use as a pork pie at a Jewish wedding, as Bill always said. But that was old news. His brother had been a liability for years and he wasn’t going to lay odds that Frank would change now. But it was time Frank earned himself some respect.

  ‘What about the gun?’ Frank looked pale and stooped as he stood up. He put his hand on the bulge of his suit pocket. ‘I don’t feel safe with the only shooter. What if someone spots it?’

  ‘They won’t be asking for a character reference. So get your head up and if you don’t try any death-defying stunts, you’ll survive.’

  Frank pulled his shoulders back an inch. He glanced warily behind him. ‘Don’t mind admitting that—’

  ‘Yeah, I know, your back hurts.’ Danny set off down the lane. He was wearing his best suit and tie for the occasion. He wanted Savage to know he was taking this deal seriously. He had to make an impression; convince Savage to come to the wharf tomorrow. Indicate that his demand for six hundred pounds would bring a result.

  ‘Blimey, where’s the fire?’ Frank muttered as he tried to keep up.

  ‘When we get inside, don’t say a word,’ Danny threw over his shoulder. ‘Let me do the talking.’

  ‘You can say that again,’ Frank mumbled, puffing.

  Danny came to an abrupt halt as he reached the lit window. He looked up at the old hostelry, its weathered boards and oak timbers in need of repair. There were figures inside, but the dirty, sagging curtain drawn across the glass gave no clue as to how many.

  ‘There it is,’ said Frank nervously, pointing up at the sign.

  Danny read aloud, ‘Leonard Savage & Co. Security and Credit Brokers.’ He saw with satisfaction that someone had thrown paint at the grubby black lettering, some of which had trickled down to the window, running into a lake on the ledge. ‘A popular man by all accounts,’ sneered Danny, and pushed the door open.

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Lizzie turned to Bert, wiping the sweat from her forehead. The van felt like an oven. It was only a short while since Danny and Frank had gone, but she was anxious to follow them. ‘Can you see anyone suspicious?’ she said, narrowing her eyes at the deserted lane.

  ‘Yeah, over there.’ Bert clamped a hand on her shoulder. ‘There’s some old sort on the other side of the road.’

  ‘It’s only a woman.’

  ‘Looks like a dock dolly,’ Bert agreed. ‘She might have her minder in tow.’

  ‘We’ll wait till she goes by, then.’

  But the figure lingered and was, as Bert suggested, joined by a man. ‘It’s a knocking shop,’ Bert said. ‘They could be busy all night—’

  Lizzie didn’t wait for him to finish. She opened the van door. Bert jumped out from the back and joined her. They stood under the moonlight in the balmy summer air, looking back and forth along the lane. ‘There’s another geezer coming up,’ Bert warned softly. ‘On his own, see?’

  Lizzie nodded at the stumbling figure. The drunk seemed to pose no danger. ‘Let’s take a look in the window.’ She hurried towards the light. Her summer dress was damp and clung to her. Even her hair, tied behind her head, felt sticky on her neck. She went a little faster.

  Bert pulled her back. ‘Hang on there, gel.’ Lizzie knew her nerves were getting the better of her. She tried to quell the unsettled feeling in her stomach. Danny knew what he was doing. What could go wrong? She tried to take a deep breath. But she was so anxious, she couldn’t. The moon and its light cast even more shadows; they seemed to move around the two people on the other side of the road.

  She stood still. The sweat was ice cold on her forehead. The door opened and a dull light flowed out. Before Bert could grab her, someone roughly pulled her in.

  A sack was over her head; her hands were tied behind her back. It had all happened so quickly. She was being pushed along, stumbling her way forward. What had happened to Bert?

  Suddenly she was made to stop. The sack was pulled from her head; she blinked at the sudden light.

  ‘We meet again, Mrs Flowers.’ Leonard Savage was standing in front of her. Behind him were his men, positioned around the old inn in a dim light. Gone was the polished bar and welcoming hearth with horse brasses, tongs and scuttle. Now the room looked neglected, abandoned, with cobwebs strung across the narrow wooden staircase leading to the upper floor.

  ‘Where’s my brother? Where’s Danny?’ she managed to croak.

  ‘All in good time.’ Savage was smiling, looking every inch the gangster surrounded by his mob. It was as if he had dressed especially for the occasion: a blue pinstripe suit, a white tie folded into a huge knot beneath his chin, a dark-coloured Homburg on his head and a cigar poised between his fingers.

  ‘So what have you to say for yourself, my dear?’ Savage said, his smile false. ‘You come here with your friend, a greedy fool who should have accepted my money when first offered . . .’ Savage shook his head and slowly walked towards her. ‘Did he really expect me to bargain? Did you?’ She flinched as, folding his hand into a fist, he drew his knuckle down her cheek. ‘Now, let’s you and me be sensible, shall we? I’m certain we can come to an arrangement.’ His fingers went over her hair.

  ‘Wh-what sort of arrangement?’ she stammered.

  ‘I hear you’re thinking of expanding.’

  She turned her head sharply. ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘I told you, I know everything.’

  ‘It’s no business of yours what I do.’ Lizzie tried to stop her voice from shaking. How did he know about Mr James’s shop? He must have followed her there.

  ‘How very short-sighted,’ he snapped, blowing thick grey smoke in her face. ‘Meet your new partner, Mrs Flowers. We’ll be working closely together. Very closely.’ He smiled as he looked into her eyes. ‘You’ll run the shops for me, and receive a small percentage. I’m certain we’ll get along – after a fashion. In fact, I’m looking forward to our close acquaintanceship.’

  How could I have been so blind? Lizzie thought as she stared at him. This man intends to take everything, including me.

  ‘As I say, such a pity this hasn’t ended in a more civilized way.’ Savage drew an envelope from his pocket. ‘You’ll watch and learn as you see Mr Flowers sign this. After which, I’m sure you’ll be ready to meet my – er – terms.’

  ‘Danny will never sign his land over.’

  ‘Not without encouragement, I agree. I hope you have a strong stomach, my dear.’

  Lizzie drew in a breath. Danny had underestimated this man. They all had.

  Savage leaned forward and murmured, ‘You have beautiful skin, by the way.’

  Lizzie closed her eyes as he touched her; he made her skin crawl.

  ‘Did you really think – the both of you – that I didn’t anticipate resistance? Why, I know every trick in the book and believe me, he will sign the pap
ers.’ Savage added slowly, ‘And you’ll encourage him, as neither of you would want those pretty children to be orphaned so early in their young lives, now, would you?’

  Lizzie stared at him in disbelief. It was as if someone had stuck a knife into her ribs. Her mouth dried and she couldn’t move. It was Polly and Tom he was threatening.

  ‘And of course there’s the mechanic,’ Savage continued easily. ‘A man who has caused me a great deal of inconvenience. He took out two of my men only yesterday. Now, I wonder what his fate will be?’

  Lizzie was very afraid. But she was also very angry. If Savage was going to kill them all, why hadn’t he done so already? It must be because he wanted those papers signed. And he was using her to do it. But if she refused to help him, what about the children?

  ‘I miss Albert, you know,’ Savage told her. ‘He washed up with the tide at Gravesend a week ago . . .’ He raised his hairless eyebrows. ‘Albert had many good points but he was always a tea leaf. I can only assume he was caught in the act by someone. I wonder who that someone could be.’

  Lizzie looked into his eyes. ‘You’ll never know, will you?’

  ‘Sadly not.’

  ‘You knocked my brother-in-law off his bike,’ she said without shifting her gaze, ‘and drove away.’

  ‘Ah, the man with the bicycle!’ Savage dismissed with a wave of his hand. ‘He should have looked where he was going.’

  ‘You killed him,’ Lizzie accused, her green eyes glinting.

  Savage began to laugh. He wiped the tears of amusement from his eyes, until suddenly he stopped. ‘Enough of this! I was prepared to be fair. Who wouldn’t consider my proposition as reasonable? Only a fool would refuse.’

  ‘Did you really expect Danny to agree after what you’ve done to us?’ Lizzie said helplessly, her wrists painful behind her back. ‘One day, the law will catch up with you.’

  Savage came close to her, his breath on her face and his smile fading. ‘The law is in my pocket, where it should be, Mrs Flowers. The only effective law in the East End is mine. As you are about to discover.’

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Bert was slowly recovering from the clout to his head; he counted himself lucky he had a thick skull. But in the few moments he was out he’d been parted from Lizzie and that was worrying him. Though as it was now very dark, he couldn’t see exactly where he was, but there was movement in the animal’s straw he could smell and feel around him. It must be a stable and, from what he could gauge, listening carefully, there weren’t any horses. With his hands and feet bound together, he tried to roll over.

  ‘Is that you, Bert?’ It was Frank’s voice.

  ‘Yeah, what’s going on?’

  ‘Dunno. My hands and feet are tied.’

  ‘It’s as black as the ace of spades in here.’ Bert tried to wriggle his hands but they were clamped at his backside. ‘Someone’s trussed us up like turkeys. We’ve got to get out.’

  ‘Easier said than done,’ Frank replied, ‘I can’t move without giving meself gyp.’

  Bert sighed heavily, gazing into the dark. ‘What happened to you and Danny?’

  ‘It was a set-up. The moment we walked in, they nabbed us. Savage never intended to deal. They shoved me out here – in the stable – and I heard them knocking Danny about. Then it went quiet and I’ve been lying here, till they brought you.’

  ‘Savage was waiting for us,’ Bert said, trying to see into the pitch black. ‘Must have been.’

  ‘Where’s Lizzie?’

  ‘Wish I knew.’

  ‘Danny should have kept her out of it.’

  ‘If she makes her mind up, nothing ain’t gonna stop her.’ Bert moved agitatedly, trying to kick his legs free from the ropes round his ankles. ‘Somehow we’ve got to get free.’

  ‘Yeah, and what do we do then? These characters are tooled up to the eyeballs. I saw enough shooters to stock an army. Let’s face it, we’re well out of our league here. Danny should have sold to Savage when the garage was burned down. Now we’re all going to pay a penalty.’

  ‘Don’t you ever stop moaning?’

  ‘Not when I’ve something to moan about.’

  ‘Have you got the gun?’ Bert asked hopefully, thinking perhaps he could reach Frank’s pocket.

  ‘What do you think?’ Frank huffed. ‘They found it and laughed at it. Said it was a kid’s toy.’

  Bert suddenly sat up. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘That breathing sound.’

  ‘It’s probably a horse.’

  Bert squinted, listening. ‘There’s someone in here with us.’

  ‘Wh-who?’ stammered Frank.

  Bert strained his chin forward. ‘Danny, Cal, are you there?’ He cricked his neck upwards to a shaft of light in the roof. Now his eyes were accustomed to the darkness, he could see the twinkle of stars. As he looked down he could make out a shape, a motionless shape. It didn’t look like a horse. ‘Danny? Is that you?’ he called, his heart thrusting hopefully against his ribs.

  ‘Bert?’ said a voice. It was Danny’s.

  ‘Blimey, Danny are you—’

  ‘Someone’s coming,’ Frank interrupted.

  Bert lay still. He listened to the march of boots across a yard. He heard voices and then a rattle and a clink. Suddenly the stable door swung open, shedding a gloomy light onto two figures. One of them was holding an oil lamp, the other a shotgun. Bert swallowed hard, feeling the prickle of fear on his neck. The lamp swung and the man with the gun stepped forward.

  ‘Don’t shoot!’ Frank shrieked. ‘We ain’t done nothing!’

  The men looked at one another, smiling, enjoying their captives’ terror. Bert licked the sour taste from his lips. Shot on his back, like a defenceless animal, wasn’t the way he planned to go. His mind flashed to the night he and Danny ditched Albert in the Thames. The poor sod hadn’t thought that he’d meet his end that way either. No doubt about it, life was a bugger.

  ‘But why us, why me and Danny? I’m just a small trader and Danny’s land can’t be worth that much, can it?’ Lizzie demanded as she stood in front of Savage. She knew he was trying to intimidate her, but she’d be damned if she let her fear show.

  Savage continued to look at her in amusement. ‘Wrong on both counts, my dear,’ he said slowly, enjoying the surprise on her face. ‘You are the only woman in the East End who has survived a bombing and brought her business back from the dead. An example to us all, of course, and someone I want working for me, rather than against me.’

  Lizzie suddenly began to understand this man’s mind and the strategy he had planned to pursue his racketeering. Once she and those like her who flatly refused his demands had fallen, he would have no argument with others, like the stallholders who had resisted in the past and failed.

  ‘As for your friend, Flowers,’ Savage continued as he casually blew smoke into the air, ‘he’s just not willing to see sense, is he? I was prepared to give him a generous price for his land, a sum many men would have grabbed with both hands.’

  ‘But why do you want Morley’s Wharf so much?’ Lizzie said in confusion. ‘It doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘Oh, wrong again, Mrs Flowers. For I have it on good authority from friends in high places that some of London’s wharfs are to be expanded and developed. A very rich and lucrative transaction for godforsaken pieces of marshland, like Morley’s Wharf.’ He paused, tilted his head to one side and murmured, ‘But perhaps a vision too far for your eyes, my dear?’

  ‘You’ll never get away with it,’ Lizzie breathed on a choked whisper. ‘The law won’t let you. You can’t force a person to sell their property.’

  At this, Savage’s mouth fell open and with a sickening belly laugh he clapped his hand on his chest. ‘Oh, from the mouths of babes!’ he derided, laughing until the tears glistened in his eyes and he swept them away with a fat finger.

  Lizzie stood there feeling humiliated as he slowly recovered, his smile turning to a frightening grimace.<
br />
  ‘The first rule of good business,’ he told her in a menacing voice, ‘is planning. To plan well, you must know everything. How many times have I told you this?’ He stopped, staring into her gaze as if he despaired of her. ‘The law – you say – won’t let me do as I wish? My dear Mrs Flowers, the law has helped me. A bent copper of some influence on the payroll together with his minions allows me to work in complete freedom. And Charlie Bray met the criteria.’

  ‘Bray?’ Lizzie repeated. ‘He works for you?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘So it was you who had Danny pulled in for the Limehouse corpse?’

  ‘Indeed.’ Savage moved closer. ‘As was Duncan King.’

  ‘But – Duncan King was a—’

  ‘A low-life and expendable,’ Savage completed for her. ‘He was also the same build and same hair colour as your husband. With a little imaginative clothing, King finally served a purpose.’

  ‘You killed him?’ Lizzie gasped.

  ‘Not personally, but yes, he met with an accident and ended up as we all know at the bottom of the river.’

  ‘So you meant Danny to misidentify him?’

  ‘Of course. Your husband had disappeared, and I have to admit that I didn’t know or care where he was at the time. I suspected my predecessor, Ferreter, had got rid of him and it was the perfect opportunity to pull in his brother who had the motive for murder.’ Savage pointed his cigar in her face. ‘You, my dear. He intended to have you, come what may. And put an end to his own brother to achieve it.’

  ‘Danny would never have done such a thing,’ Lizzie burst out. ‘No one who knew Danny would believe it—’

  ‘The law would,’ Savage broke in calmly. ‘And all would have gone according to plan if that fool Bray had managed to make the charge stick. God knows why he didn’t. But it’s a mistake that I shan’t forget in a great hurry.’ He sighed, walking away from her, only to turn suddenly, his expression bland. ‘Now all your questions are answered—’