warning: this chapter includes police brutality and an assault (not a sexual assault) against Trixie in the final scene. If you have any questions or want to read an edited version, please feel free to message me and I'd be happy to provide you with a more accessible version. Please take care of yourselves when reading.
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soundtrack: sptfy.com/bbf12
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"Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." -Matthew 10:16
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Birmingham was a large city, but Trixie had never felt so suffocated in Small Heath until three agents of the Crown were following her closely, waiting for her to slip up. She'd successfully completed an outing with Grace and endured conversation after bloody conversation with James, but those passing interactions were nothing compared to her meetings with Campbell—meetings that had slowed since Tommy's deal and James' arrival in town. Trixie had been prepared to stop them altogether; she figured that meant she could end her engagement sooner, but then, she'd gotten a telegram.
It came as a bit of a shock, since the last telegram she'd received had been the one announcing Luca's death years previous, but the message from Campbell was significantly harder to decode.
Even for someone who had learned to read in a copy of the King's Bible, Trixie had to sit down at her table with a pen and paper to figure out what, exactly, the message meant. Let us share in the Body of Christ—Church. Drink as Judas would—an exchange of information. By the time the boats come in at the week's peak meant Wednesday, at seven in the morning. I will be waiting with bated breath was the part she struggled with most. Was there information she was meant to deliver to him? The only thing that had become anything new was Tommy's impending war (alliance?) with Billy Kimber, and since Grace had been present for that entire exchange, it seemed likely that Campbell was already aware. And after all—what would it matter to him? Men were worth little when there were machine guns at stake.
