No Shit, Sherlock

Silly Drunken Man

"How many girls work here?" Enola asks.

We're walking through the factory with Bessie, the young girl smiles as we walk by a group of girls.

"I believe there's around five or six hundred of us now."

I notice a girl ahead of us, she's significantly shorter than the rest of us, and her hair is pulled back into pigtails. "What's the age requirement to work here?"

Bessie frowns, "They don't ask for your age."

We make it to the foreman who is checking everyone's mouths before allowing them in. I watch curiously as he prevents a woman from entering, she glares at me, and it's then that I notice how swollen her mouth is.

"New girls, sign in."

Enola and I take turns signing our names and wait for him to check our mouths.

Enola goes first, "What are you checking for?"

"Typhus."

He pushes Enola away and gestures for me to come forward. He grabs my face, forcing my mouth open, and then smirks. "You're not bad looking for a match girl."

I pull away from him in disgust and walk with Enola and Bessie. "Why must men be so disgusting?"

Bessie and Enola pair up while I work at the station behind them with an older woman. I can hear them whisper, but can't understand what they're saying.

Enola drops matches on the floor and the foreman slams his cane on to their table, "That's a penny off your wages!"

"She's just learning the way, Mr. Crouch."

"Well then she better learn quicker or I'm docking a penny off yours as well."

The man walks by me, brushing his arm against mine. It takes everything in me to not physically gag. I imagine puking on the job wouldn't go very well.

I see Enola sneak off while the foreman isn't looking and notice that she's heading towards the office upstairs. I look around anxiously and see that Mae is watching her as well, the two of us share a panicked look, but continue working.

She definitely knows something we don't, but why is she hiding it? Wouldn't she want her friend to be found?

~~°°••°°~~

"So here's what I've gathered, Sarah got into an argument with Mr. Crouch the day she disappeared. He accused her of stealing, and when I went into the office the owners were having a meeting, they were talking about a theif. I went through the books and there were some pages ripped out."

I listen to Enola as we walk through the streets, we're on our way to 'The Stag Antlers' the pub Sarah worked at.

"And when I asked Bessie how she managed to get into the office she said  a fire had broke out at one of the workstations."

"Mae's workstation," I reply.

"Exactly."

"So they were working together? But why would they steal papers?"

"I don't know yet, but we'll look into it later," she replies.

We finally spot Mae ahead of us and quietly follow her. The girl stops suddenly and looks over her shoulder, Enola links arms with a random man while I hide behind a barrel.