Not Just A 'Shelby'

Chapter 10: Battered and Bruised.

Tom had been summoned by Polly to the church. He sat a pew behind her and sighed.

"I have ten minutes, what do you want?" He asked. He in fact did not have ten minutes, he had the whole day. He just wanted to seem important.

Polly finished her prayer and made the sign of the cross, getting off her knees and sitting in the pew, never looking to Thomas. "An explanation. I've always been able to tell when you're hiding something. And if I knew that Dotty knew I would have gone to her first, but she doesn't. Does she?"

She waited for an answer from him, but they sat in silence. She continued. "People around here talk. Some of them work at the BSA. I've been talking to the wives of Factory hands. Detectives have been asking questions in the proofing shops." She turned to look at him. "Nothing happens in that factory without you knowing it. Speak. God and Aunt Polly are listening."

They sat in silence for a few seconds. Finally, Tom let out a sigh, not meeting Polly's eyes. "It was meant to be routine. I had a buyer in London for some motorcycles. I asked my men to steal me four bikes with petrol engines. I'm guessing my men were drunk. There's a still inside the factory that makes tram line gin. They picked up the wrong fucking crate. The boys dropped it to Charlie Strong's yard as agreed. Inside were 25 Lewis machine guns, 10,000 round of ammunition, 50 semiautomatic rifles, 200 pistols with shells."

"Jesus, Tommy."

"All bound for Libya, sitting right there in Charlie's yard."

Polly quickly turned to face her nephew. "Tell me you threw them in the cut."

"We put them in the stables out of the rain. The guns hadn't been greased yet."

Polly turned to Tom and started beating his shoulders. Tom swatted her hands away. "So that's why they sent a copper from Belfast."

"Maybe, Maybe not."

"Thomas, you sell those guns to anyone who has use for them, you will hang." A priest walks through the church, halting the duo's conversation. When he exited the church, Polly spoke again. "Dump them somewhere the police can find them. Maybe if they know they hadn't fallen into the wrong hands, this might blow over. Tell Charlie to dump them tonight."

"No. He won't move contraband under a full moon. Three days until it wanes."

"Then you'll do the right thing?" Polly questioned. She turned back to the front. "Does Dorthea know about this? You two seem to tell each other everything."

"No. I didn't want her involved. She doesn't know anything about this."

"You have your mother's common sense, but your father's devilment. I see them fighting. Let your mother win." Polly then stood and exited the church.

♛

Dot had spent her day off at home. She had expanded a portion of the window in the den to fit her tall frame, dubbing it her reading corner. John poked his head from the kitchen. "Thea, can you grab some butter and bread from the market. Finn and Ada ate it all this morning and didn't tell anyone. I'm trying to make the kids food."

"And you're going to feed them bread and butter? J, let me fix them a proper meal."

"Oh Thea, you're a life saver." He kissed her cheek and ran back to his house. Dot set her book down and grabbed her suit coat and hat.

Grabbing her cap and coat, she stepped out the house and began her journey to the market. After about 5 minutes of walking, she began to feel a knot forming in her stomach, something she knew meant bad was going to happen. Looking over her shoulder, she spotted two large men following her. Turning right, she stepped into a shortcut her brothers had taught her, the men still following her. While turning her head over her shoulder, she bumped into a firm chest. "Oi! Watch where you're going." She turned to the man and was met with a fist. Falling to the ground, Dot had no time to catch herself. Two more pairs of feet came from behind her and kicked her in the stomach, then back. They continued the assault until she passed out from the pain.