by Mark Dawson
30
THEY ROBBED TWO HOUSES THE WEEK AFTER Edward’s visit to the country and both yielded an excellent return. Edward had invited Chiara to dinner in the city on the evening of the second job, booking a table for them at Rules in Covent Garden. He found himself relaxing more and more into her company. She was intelligent, witty and disarmingly honest about her family. She was also often indiscrete, especially when she had enjoyed a drink or two, and that made her an excellent source of information. He listened to her stories, prompting her in the direction that he wanted, and filed the details away. They would all prove useful, later.
This particular evening was no different. As they enjoyed a reasonable meal she told him more about her father and uncle. George Costello was born in 1889 and his brother, Harry, five years later. The boys’ father had been a respectable watchmaker from Piedmont. The old man had emigrated to England several years previously. There was a market for his talent and, once he had settled, he sent for the rest of his family. The two boys had quickly taken to Little Italy’s natural vocation––crime––and had proven to be very good at it. Petty theft turned to burglary and extortion and, despite their father’s best efforts to rein them in, they started to make money. Both brothers grew to be large and intimidating men, with George in particular marked by a cruel streak and a lack of conscience when it came to doling out pain. The two rapidly earned a reputation, frightening men twice their age into doing their bidding. The Great War provided a brief interregnum––Harry fought, George did not––but with the armistice came a renewed onslaught that saw them wage vicious battles across the racecourses of the south. Their opponents were the Brummagem Boys of Birmingham, a motley band of thugs and bullies infamous for their cruelty.
“My father became a bit of a local celebrity,” Chiara explained. “Him and George were both tearaways, but he had something extra about him. Some of the stories I heard when I was growing up––there was one time, I think it was just after the War, that everyone started on about him. They were in a pub on the Hill and they saw this chap, Thomas Benneworth––they called him the Trimmer because he was handy with his razor––they saw him bothering one of the barmaids. Benneworth was the leader of the Elephant Boys from the Elephant and Castle, a nasty type with a big reputation. This girl wouldn’t have anything to do with him and so he went around the bar and tore her dress off. Just tore it off. My father saw what happened, dragged him outside, beat him black and blue then took his own razor off him and slashed him across his backside––one, two, three, four––noughts and crosses, they called it, you couldn’t sit down for weeks afterwards. Anyway, after that, people wanted to work with him––the Elephant Gang ditched Benneworth and joined them, then there was a Jewish gang from the East End, plenty of others.”
The skirmishes with the Brummagem Boys became worse. A final confrontation was planned after the Derby, on the outskirts of Epsom. Harry Costello learnt of a plan to ambush them on the way back from the course. He filled their charabanc with stooges and alerted the police. The Birmingham gang set about the stooges, killing two men and injuring others. The police arrested everyone and, in the trials that followed, the leaders of the gang were imprisoned. The Costellos won out, the remnants of their rivals seen off to the Midland tracks that had always been their redoubt. The south was clear and ripe for the picking.
Harry led the family through prosperous times for the next twenty years. George had always deferred to his younger brother and was ill-equipped to take his place when he was killed. Rival factions within the family that Harry had glued together by the force of his will now sensed the opportunity to break away, and George, despite the threat entailed by his ominous physical presence, was unable to do anything to stem the losses. The racecourses were lost to a police crackdown and ex-allies who changed allegiance, the Alf White gang from King’s Cross especially. The in-fighting worsened. Two men were shot and killed and the police––no longer in Harry’s pocket––had to act.
As circumstances spun out of control, Violet took a more prominent role in the family’s affairs. Under her stewardship, their position was consolidated. The factions were brought into line. Chiara did not elaborate, but Edward was left in no doubt that violent retaliation had been the reward for their presumption. She began a programme of retrenchment. The racecourses might have been lost to them, but they consolidated with the lesser prize of the dogs. Other existing businesses––betting, extortion, spielers, drinking dens, robbery and blackmail––were continued, although times were not nearly as good. Chiara explained the extent of the Costello family empire dispassionately, without varnish or embarrassment. Edward listened intently. She related how business was not what it used to be. The loss of the income from the horses, so long the bedrock of the family finances, had been a crushing blow. The other activities could only go so far to paper over the cracks. The flow of money was stemmed, and Violet had to cut her cloth accordingly. Men were laid off, hired muscle no longer economic, but that meant that they were vulnerable to other gangs who were jostling for position. Tame policemen could no longer be bought off, and so men started to have their collars felt.
“Rationing has been the saving of us,” she suggested. The burgeoning black market had bought them a reprieve. As austerity continued, with rationing eventually cutting even deeper than during the war, a voracious appetite for goods had developed that the family was well-placed to exploit. They controlled or intimidated dozens of petty thieves, taxing their profits when they sold their booty to spivs like Ruby Ward and then taxing the spivs when they sold on to the public. The drones were making the real money but the family were able to cream a decent profit from the top. The glory days had gone, but there was enough business so that they could afford to retain a modicum of the lifestyle that they had enjoyed before. The prospect of having to sell Halewell Close––very real at one point––had receded, although they were short of the money to maintain it. They could keep it, but unless there was a significant change in their fortunes, Edward knew they would be just presiding over its slow, crumbling decline.
The evening drew to a pleasant conclusion. As Chiara’s cab pulled up to the kerb she put a hand on Edward’s elbow, moved in close and angled her face towards his. Edward leant down, and her lips found his. The kiss was brief but the cool confidence in her eyes flickered, just for a moment, occluded by a streak of passion. With her kiss still warm and moist on his lips, Edward watched as she waved to him from the back of the departing taxi. He looked up into the moonlit sky, and watched the silhouette of a couple as they embraced in the lit window of a third floor room. He was trying to decide if there was any way he might have improved on his courtship. He didn’t think so. He was controlling the pace, and Chiara’s expectations, with an expert touch. He turned and started the walk back towards Hyde Park. He began to plan the next steps. Things were going so well. He wondered whether he might even accelerate a little.
31
JOSEPH ARRANGED FOR FLOWERS to be delivered to the restaurant every day, huge bouquets that Eve couldn’t possibly manage to take home with her. With every fresh delivery came a card inviting her to dinner, yet she turned down each invitation. Joseph spoke to Edward and between them they diagnosed the reason for her reluctance. It wasn’t a lack of interest, they ascertained, just that she was a traditional girl and her sense of propriety needed to be assuaged. The two of them had been younger when they had first courted and the time and distance since then meant that the prospect of a second romance carried with it the possibility of longer term consequences. Edward ventured that she wanted to do things properly and made the suggestion that he and Chiara could offer to accompany them to dinner. He had been correct and that made all the difference for Eve. The prospect of a chaperone gave her licence her to accede to the request and she duly did.
The night was set for the following Friday. Edward spent an hour preparing himself, shaving and brilliantining his hair until it was neatly slicked. He hadn’t seen Chiara
for a couple of days and he wanted to make a good impression. He dressed in a new suit that he had purchased earlier that day, matching it with an icy white shirt and a narrow black tie. He was polishing his shoes when Joseph emerged from his room.
“What do you think?” Joseph said.
Edward thought he looked like a prince, and told him so. His suit was sharp and his shoes were from Belgrave. The genuine Vicuna-hair overcoat over his arm cost sixteen guineas. He was wearing a tie-pin that they had seen in a Mayfair shop-window. It was set with a large pearl as big as his little fingernail, shaped like an onion, that looked like it had been blown out of a tiny bubble-pipe. The ticket had said thirty-five pounds and twelve shillings. He had put a brick through the window and had away with it.
It was a gloomy night, the fog thick and damp. Edward drove them into the East End to collect Eve from the small house she rented with a friend. She was waiting behind the door and opened it before Joseph could knock. As she carefully slid into the back of the car, Edward noticed the curtains flicking back and the face of another girl, framed in the gaslight, staring out with a mixture of anxiety and jealousy.
“Where’s your sister?” she said to Joseph, a little alarmed.
“Don’t worry,” Joseph told her.
“You said––”
“You’ll still have your virtue. She’s meeting us at the restaurant.”
They arrived at Claridges at a little after eight. The restaurant was full, with the first seating of diners coming to the end of their meals and their replacements enjoying aperitifs at the bar. Chiara was waiting for them. She kissed Edward and then her brother on the cheek.
“Goodness me,” she said. “Look at the two of you.”
There was a single empty table and it had been reserved for them. They took their seats and Edward relaxed, looking around the room at the tables full of contented diners. He turned to smile at Chiara. He noticed that her eyes were rimmed with red. And did she look a little pensive?
“Are you alright, Chiara?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’ve been crying.”
“I’m probably worrying about nothing but––”
“Worrying about what?”
“Oh, it’s Roger. The silly old dog. He’s missing.”
“How do you mean?” Joseph said.
“Exactly that. It was bright yesterday afternoon so I let him out––he loves to lie in the sun. I watched him trot out to the lawn and settle down and thought nothing else of it. I was distracted, I can’t even remember what about, but then I realised I hadn’t heard him bark to come back in. I went outside to look. This was six by then, maybe even seven. I looked through the grounds but I couldn’t find him anywhere. I went straight across to Mr. Austin––you know how he chases his birds sometimes––but he hadn’t seen him. I got back home at ten and he still wasn’t there. And I couldn’t find him this morning, either.”
Joseph was ordering a bottle of Médoc from the waiter. “He’ll turn up,” he said when he was done.
“But what if he doesn’t? He’s an old boy now. He never stays outside on his own any more. What if something has happened to him? Maybe he was hit by a car?”
She started to cry. Eve looked worried and confused. Joseph––who could foresee the end of the evening if urgent steps were not made to rescue it––looked pleadingly across the table at Edward.
He took her hand. “It’s alright,” he said soothingly. “He doesn’t strike me as the kind of dog who’d go far. Is that right?”
“No––he never does.”
“Exactly. And so maybe he’s been shut into a shed or a barn. If you ask me, he’ll be home when you get back. And if he isn’t, I’ll drive straight down to you and we can have a proper look around. How’s that?”
“Would you?”
He smiled at her. “Of course I would.”
She squeezed his hand. “Thank you, Edward. I know it’s silly but that dog’s been with me since I was a little girl. I’ve always doted on him a little, haven’t I, Joseph?”
“You certainly have,” Joseph said, rolling his eyes.
“Don’t tease me,” she said, managing a smile of her own.
Not wishing to miss the improvement in her mood, Joseph quickly seized his moment, filled their glasses and raised his. “Cheers,” he toasted. “To good friends. Let’s have a splendid night.”
* * *
A LIGHT FALL of rain had slicked the streets as they emerged outside. The fog had lifted and the clouds had moved away. A clear, open sky spread out overhead. Edward was lightly drunk. It had been a delightful evening. Joseph had been in riotous good form, dominating the table with stories from his childhood, from the war, about the host of characters he knew from The Hill. Chiara had painted the detail inside the lines of her brother’s broad strokes. They spoke about some of the characters from their childhood, friends of their father: Angelo Ginicoli, Pasquale Papa, a bookmaker called Silvio Massardo whom they called ‘shonk’ on account of the size of his nose. Joseph recounted a story of how Harry and George were trapped one night in the Fratellanza Club in Clerkenwell, and were saved from being shot by the manager’s daughter, a poor girl who was in love with Harry.
Edward was content to sit and listen, enjoying the stories, his friend’s high spirits and Chiara’s furtive glances in his direction.
The foursome made their way to Piccadilly Circus, the reflections from the advertisements stretching out across the wet pavements in long, neon stripes. A coster offered chrysanthemums at sixpence a punch and Joseph bought five shilling’s worth––practically an armful––and gave them all to Eve. She stammered out her thanks but Joseph didn’t allow her the chance to finish. He pulled her in close so that the blooms were flattened between their bodies and kissed her on the mouth, the two of them framed for a moment in the light that slanted from the window of a Cypriot café.
Chiara slipped her hand inside Edward’s and gave it a squeeze.
“Who wants another drink?” Joseph said.
Eve looked torn, keen to accede yet reluctant at the same time. The hesitation won out. “No, I’d better not,” she said. “I’m working tomorrow.”
“Then take the day off,” he said. “I’ll pay you what you would have earned.”
“No, that’s alright––it’s getting late, I’m tired and my friend will be expecting me. And I’d be letting the restaurant down, and that’s not fair. Do you mind awfully?”
“What’s the matter with you?” Joseph scowled, irritation flickering darkly. “It’s been a nice evening. Why would you want to spoil it?”
Eve could see the change in his tone, the stirring of his anger. Perhaps she remembered it from when they were younger? Chiara noticed it, too. “Leave her alone, Joseph,” she said. “I’m tired as well, it’s past midnight. Do you mind, Edward?”
“No, of course not.”
Chiara took Eve’s hand. “We can share a cab. Look––here’s one now.” She flagged the driver and he swung in to park alongside them.
Joseph had no time to react. “Thank you for a lovely evening,” Eve said. “Perhaps we could do something together another time?” She added, quietly, but not so quiet that Edward could not hear her, “Just us?”
Joseph was caught between thwarted desire and anticipation. Edward knew that he was not used to being defied, especially when it came to women. Chiara had said as much: he always got his own way. Yet Eve was special and frustrating him just made him even more determined to get what he wanted. “Of course,” he said, banishing his scowl with a gorgeous smile as easily as flicking a switch. “We’ll go for dinner. Me and you. That sounds lovely. Alright?”
Eve smiled in response, relieved that she had not, after all, offended him.
They bid them farewell and got into the cab. Edward and Joseph watched until it had turned the corner.
Joseph shook his head. “What was that all about, Doc?”
Edward clapped him on the back. “She’s shy.
”
“She never used to be.”
“She’s older now. Perhaps it means more.”
“That was what you and my sister were there to sort out.”
“You’re going to have to be patient.”
“Not one of my strengths.” He sighed but then, just as quickly, perked up. “Women! I need a proper drink. You aren’t going to turn me down, are you?”
“Certainly not,” Edward said. “Lead on.”
32
CHARLIE MURPHY tailed the taxi all the way across London. He could hardly believe what he had seen in Piccadilly Circus. He had followed Edward and Joseph to the restaurant but he hadn’t noticed the two girls until they all emerged together at the end of the night. He recognised Chiara Costello. She and Fabian had been together several times recently and it seemed likely––if a little improbable––that they were stepping out together.
It was the sight of the other girl that had knocked him for six.
He had had to check and double check and even then it had taken him a little while to be sure that it was Eve. He hadn’t seen her for five years. She had been fifteen, then, and now she had grown into a beautiful young woman. The coltish innocence of youth had been replaced by a knowingness that he found difficult to match with his memories of her but there was no question about it.
He was sure.
It was definitely her.
Five years. As he followed the taxi into the East End he thought of the effect that her sudden disappearance had had on his brother. Poor Frank. It had almost destroyed him. It had been at the same time as the murders in the West End and he had been convinced that she had been one of poor doxies who ended up as victims. His single-minded obsession with the case had been driven by his fear. They had cleared that case up and still there had been no sign of her and so he had kept searching. He left the police soon afterwards and set up as a private investigator so that he would have more time to look and less protocol to observe. He had continued the search for five long years but he had found nothing. Frank was not a man prone to speaking about his feelings––and the brothers were not close––but Charlie had spoken to Frank’s wife and she had told him how it had torn him apart. Their marriage had failed, he had turned to the bottle and the loss was still tormenting him, even today.