by Beezy Marsh
‘Just that the grassing you up was the start of it,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want to worry you, but I think they are going to try to drive you out of the West End. Billy Sullivan and his mob are trying to take the heat off their bit of business by making the cozzers focus on yours. I might be able to find out more, but I’m going to need to stay undercover in Soho to do it.’
I mulled it over for a moment. I quite liked the idea of a permanent spy in Billy Sullivan’s camp. But it troubled me a little that she was so keen, especially given how much she said she hated clubland.
‘You can stay in Soho, for now,’ I said. ‘But I’ll keep a close eye on you and it won’t be forever. Don’t get too comfy in your sequins.’
I pointed to her tea, which was stone cold.
‘Drink up, we’re going shopping. Did you remember your hoister’s drawers?’
She downed it in one gulp and traipsed after me to the car: ‘Yes, Alice.’
Now, I don’t know which bright spark it was who decided to put a garden on top of a shop in Kensington but if you’ve never seen the view from the famous roof gardens of Derry and Tom’s, you ain’t lived. Whoever it was had more money than sense because they even brought in a load of pink flamingos to strut about and startle the posh ladies while they eat their cucumber sandwiches.
I love it up there, mainly because hiding behind the bushes is a perfect place for a bag swap, but also for the view. I can see right over the roofs to Kensington Palace, where the other Queen of London likes to take her tea. Granted, it’s always a bit chilly in winter, but the pleasure gardens of Derry and Tom’s truly are a hoister’s paradise.
As we drew up to the store, I told my driver to keep the engine running outside, in case we needed to make a quick getaway.
We turned heads, stepping out of my car, looking like three well-to-do ladies on a nice afternoon jaunt.
‘Tell me we don’t have to go and freeze our knockers off on the top of the shop again,’ groaned Molly, pulling her mink stole tighter around her shoulders, as we shuffled through the snow.
Molly hated heights, especially when she’d been on the sauce. She claimed it brought on her vertigo up on the roof but I think it was just the ride up in the lift made her feel sick as a dog because she was half-cut and unsteady on her feet.
‘Oh, show some enthusiasm, Molly,’ I chided. ‘It’s Nell’s first time in Derry and Tom’s and she needs to know the lie of the land.’
A blast of heat escaped as we pushed open the heavy glass doors to the shop and stepped inside.
The colour returned to Nell’s cheeks as we wandered the length of the elegant downstairs shopfloor, stopping at glass cabinets filled with bracelets, watches, rings and every kind of jewellery. I let her linger and take it all in while Molly scoured the shop for walkers.
I could see by the look on Nell’s face that she was dying to nick something; she was like a kid in a sweet shop. I liked that, it meant she hadn’t lost her bottle.
‘We’ll do those last,’ I said. Let’s start with some nice furs. There’s a good market for them in this freezing weather.’
Nell nodded in agreement.
‘Nervous?’ I said, tucking a lovely woollen scarf into my handbag as we walked past a display stand near the door, which was piled high with knitted goods.
‘A bit,’ she said. ‘I just don’t want to get caught like last time.’
‘Oh, you won’t that was just bad luck,’ I chided.
She gave me a funny look and then glanced away: ‘Really bad luck.’
‘Once you get back into it, you’ll remember everything,’ I said. ‘It’s like riding a bike. I promise I will look after you, Nell, you are one of my girls.’
She seemed mollified by that.
We climbed the staircase to the first floor and I had to stop half way and lean on my silver-topped cane. My legs weren’t as fast as they used to be and although I didn’t admit it, that was troubling me. That stick weren’t just for show these days or for thwacking people round the head with. I needed it because sometimes, out of the blue, my legs were going all sort of numb and tingly; a bit like when you’ve slept badly and you get that dead leg feeling.
Nell clocked me resting.
‘Everything alright, Alice?’
‘Yes, just out of puff,’ I lied, gritting my teeth and climbing the last flight of stairs.
The fur floor at Derry and Tom’s was packed to the rafters with women trying things on, parading up and down in fur mufflers and hats, while shop assistants darted to and fro, laden with pelts.
The sight of such rich pickings made my heart beat a little faster. There were beautiful musquash, long sable wraps, blue fox stoles and rails full of marmot and mink. It was like half the Canadian wilderness was in there, ready to be nicked. The only question was how many trips could we make before we were spotted?
Molly sidled up, having scouted the place, and pulled off her beige wool overcoat, to reveal a thigh-skimming sable fur. With Nell by my side, I went to the rails and found another fur exactly like it and all three of us stood by the mirror as I slipped it on.
‘Looks very lovely on Madam,’ said an elderly female shop assistant. ‘Would Madam like to try the hat to go with it?’
‘Yes, Madam would,’ I said, as Nell suppressed a giggle.
While her back was turned, Molly and me swapped coats. Quick as a flash, I told Nell to pull another sable from the rails and try that on, to create a bit of a distraction. Nell was fumbling around over the other side of the rails as I saw the shop assistant returning, brandishing the most enormous fur hat.
‘Hurry up, Nell!’ I hissed.
Quick as a flash, Molly put her woollen coat on over the top of the fur I had given her and strolled off and soon just her red hair was visible, at the other end of the shop floor.
Nell stood there, twirling around in her fur coat, while I tried the hat on.
‘No, I don’t think it suits me after all,’ I said, struggling to keep a straight face as I handed it back to the assistant. I looked like one of the guards on parade outside Buckingham Palace, in one of those massive bearskin hats.
‘Nell, you do look a sight in that coat, put it back on the hanger, darling, because Mummy is not going to pay for that,’ I added, sweetly.
Molly was already nowhere to be seen so the pair of us went to walk off towards the staircase when the shop assistant grabbed at my arm.
‘You need to return that fur!’ she said, rather too loudly for my liking.
‘You are mistaken,’ I said, brushing her off and opening my coat to show her the label. ‘How dare you accuse me! This is a Gamages fur!’ And that was no lie, for indeed it was; one I’d hoisted from Gamages in my drawers last week.
‘I’m so sorry, my mistake, Madam,’ she said, returning to the rails and flicking through, as if she was counting her stock.
‘I should think so too!’ I huffed.
I had already stuffed the spare hanger in my handbag, safe in the knowledge that Molly would be depositing a fine sable coat from Derry and Tom’s in the boot of my car outside.
‘That was the shuffle,’ I explained to Nell, as we went down in the lift to have a closer look at the jewellery on the ground floor. ‘It’s all about distraction. It’s a bit like a music hall act or one of those chase the lady card games, where the punters are the mugs because they always lose. Well, the shop always loses on this one. When we go back up you can have a go at clouting a mink stole, to see how much you can remember.’
‘I already have,’ she said, with a laugh, waddling along like a duck. ‘I did it when you were trying on the hat. It’s tucked down the leg of my knickers.’
‘You are a crafty little devil,’ I murmured, in approval.
‘Oh, you have no clue,’ she said, smiling at me, her eyes dancing with delight. ‘That was fun!’
I knew I was right about her, from the get-go, but that proved it. I pushed the niggling doubt I had about her and Billy Sullivan getting
too cosy to the back of my mind.
Nell was born to be one of The Forty Thieves, just like me.
Chapter Twenty
NELL
Kensington, London, March 1947
They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend and that day in Derry and Tom’s, I became mates with them for the first time in my life.
As we swept back into the shop, the sight of so many wealthy women swarming around displays of opulent gold jewellery almost overpowered me. They had long, elegant necks, like swans, and they wore beautifully fitted leather gloves which showed off their delicate fingers as they picked their way through tray after tray of gems which would cost more than a year’s salary for any man.
I ain’t ashamed to say I wanted to be like them. I wanted to have so much money that I could afford to flit like a butterfly between precious stones. Being with The Forty Thieves offered me some hope of owning a few stones of my own. Don’t get me wrong, I hadn’t forgotten about getting even with Alice but as I was here anyway, I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, was I? Besides, I had to keep her sweet, to get her trust me, so that she’d never see the fatal blow coming until it was too late.
‘See anything you fancy?’ murmured Alice.
‘All of it,’ I said, my eyes gleaming with desire.
‘My daughter would like to look at some engagement rings,’ Alice chimed, in her plummiest voice.
As a creaky old shop assistant pulled a velvet-backed tray full of sparklers out from under the counter, I began to understand the thrill of hoisting, the pleasure of touching luxury and the temptation to tuck it away in a pocket, rather than paying for it at the till. It was like a drug and I was hooked. He laid the tray in front of me and I held a dazzling square-cut emerald ring up to the light, mesmerised by it.
‘Let’s see what we can filch,’ Molly breathed in my ear. ‘Can I have a closer look at that one, please, my good man,’ she said, grandly pointing a fat finger at another tray in the glass case.
While the bald-headed assistant bobbed down to oblige, she deftly swiped a diamond solitaire from my tray and Alice quickly replaced it with a paste one she had concealed in her gloved palm. They were like a double act; well-rehearsed, with perfect timing. I felt like an on-looker but I didn’t care. I was in heaven surrounded by so much luxury and I was learning fast. These were all skills I was planning to steal and use for myself, once I had put paid to Alice’s hoisting career.
Through the window, dusk was falling on the snow-covered streets and dim lights flickered softly, making everything feel so cosy. Assistants spoke in whispers to each other, their voices little more than quiet echoes in the showroom. There were marble columns and mirrors everywhere, so that the women could see how gorgeous they looked in their winter coats, with swagged shoulders and huge turned back cuffs, diamonds glinting at their ears and their throats.
I put the emerald ring on my finger and it shone. I imagined being the kind of Kensington lady who would get up and choose what jewels to wear, perhaps to have a different one for every day of the week, instead of freezing half to death in a shared bedroom above a cobbler’s in Soho.
‘May we see some watches?’ said Alice, pulling the ring off my finger and handing it back to the assistant. There was another emerald ring next to it, smaller, round, but just as lovely. My fingers traced across the stone, longingly, for an instant before Alice dug me in the ribs, quite hard, to get me to focus. I wanted to slap her for that but instead I smiled, placidly.
He nodded his approval and we moved to the next counter, where he produced another tray of ladies’ wrist-watches; dainty little things in yellow gold. One had diamonds around the clock-face and I knew from the moment I laid eyes on it that Alice was going to nick it. She just glowed when she looked at it.
‘Coughing fit,’ she whispered, and I dutifully pretended to choke, clasping my throat.
‘Oh, my dear!’ cried the assistant. ‘Are you alright?’
‘I think it might be the ‘flu,’ I gasped. I flung myself forward over the counter, knocking the tray of watches flying, as Alice shoved something in my pocket with one hand and slammed a couple of fake watches down on the glass top, with her other.
Other shoppers turned around, startled, and I pulled myself up straight, clearing my throat, as Molly slapped me on the back, harder than was necessary. She nearly knocked me flat again.
‘I think my daughter might need a little air,’ said Alice, smoothly. ‘Thank you for your time.’
With that, we strolled towards the lift.
‘I am not going up to that sodding roof garden,’ scowled Molly. ‘I’ll take the stairs back to furs, nick a few bits and pieces, and then meet you in the car.’
‘Oh, suit yourself,’ said Alice. She was grinning from ear to ear as she turned to face me.
‘Well done, Nell,’ she said. ‘Quite a performance. You are a natural at this.’
I was honing my acting skills by pretending to be in her thrall the whole time. Shakespeare himself would have been proud of me.
I put my hand in my pocket and felt the roundness of a clockface and the leather strap.
‘You can give it to me but don’t take it out, not yet, it’s not safe,’ Alice whispered as we got into the lift.
And then I saw him, striding towards us, just as the lift doors were closing. Alice stepped forward to press the button to make the lift go up, but he pushed through and practically bumped into her, forcing his way inside.
I’d like to think it was my desire for revenge that made me do it, but in the moment, it was more like fear. I dropped the watch into Alice’s pocket while she had her back to me.
Then the doors closed and all three of us were heading skywards, to the top floor.
‘Hello, Nell,’ said Detective Sgt Eddie Hart, as I shrunk back in terror.
‘Who’s your friend?’
‘I’m Annie Black, a close chum of Nell’s family,’ said Alice. They stood almost eye to eye. If she was scared, she didn’t show it: ‘And who might you be? Someone without any manners?’
She was as tall as any fella and twice as bold.
I was plastered to the back of the lift, knowing full well I had a stolen mink wrap hidden in the left leg of my drawers and I had just planted a stolen watch on the Queen of Thieves. The mink appeared to be taking on a life of its own and was getting hot and uncomfortable. I swear I felt it wriggle.
I didn’t want to go back to jail but there was no way out. And in any case, when Alice found out what I’d done, planting that nicked watch on her, she’d probably make sure my life was no longer worth living. Either way I was in deep.
‘Turn out your pockets,’ said Detective Sgt Hart, grabbing hold of me roughly, plunging his hands into my coat.
‘Get off me!’ I cried.
Alice tussled with him to try to stop him searching me. They were like two blokes in a bar brawl and she kneed him in the groin just as the lift stopped at the roof-gardens and the doors opened, to a crowd of startled shoppers. She was defending me, as if her life depended on it.
‘Get your hands off her!’ shouted Alice, in a voice loud enough to wake the dead. ‘Help! We are being attacked by a madman!’
A couple of chivalrous have-a-go heroes yanked the cozzer out of the lift and away from us. ‘I’m a police officer and these two are thieves!’ he spluttered, windmilling his arms, trying in vain to shake them off. ‘I have reason to believe they have stolen a very expensive watch.’
‘Nonsense!’ scoffed Alice. ‘You made a pass at my beautiful daughter in the lift and she rebuffed you and now you are making up these silly stories.’ She straightened her hat and smoothed down the front her coat.
Several ladies gasped in horror and one shouted: ‘Shame on him!’
I started to cry, right on cue. I was scared witless so finding a few tears was easy. The thought of Holloway jail again was enough to make me blub.
‘Will no one save us from this beastly man!’ said Alice, flinging
her arms wide. ‘As God is my witness, there is nothing in my pockets, look!’ She pulled the pockets of her fur coat out, so that the lining was visible.
Then she pointed a finger at Detective Sgt Hart, who was spluttering with rage and indignation. ‘I wonder if the same can be said for you! I fancy you are one of those spivvy types.’
There were clucks of indignation from the women and one of the men put his hand firmly inside Sgt Hart’s pocket and pulled out the gold and diamond watch.
‘So!’ said Alice, triumphantly. ‘He is a thief! Come along, my dear, I think you have been through enough.’ She turned to me and pushed me back into the lift, as a mob surrounded Detective Sgt Hart.
She pushed the button and sped back down to the ground floor.
My heart was doing somersaults as her eyes bored into mine.
‘Seems you are more light-fingered than I realized, aren’t you? I know I said you could palm the watch off on me but that was quite a stunt you pulled. Were you trying to drop me in hot water, little Nelly?’
She loomed over me.
‘I knew you’d get rid of it,’ I gasped. ‘If I’d kept the watch, we’d have been done for! I wasn’t thinking straight, I’m sorry!’
She put her hands on my shoulders and her face softened: ‘It’s alright, I understand. It was your first time in a tight spot and sometimes the rules go out of the window and we all have to rely on our wits. I admire your spirit, Nell, if the truth be told.
‘But now it’s time for you to do a little favour for me in return.’
We sat in silence as the car crawled through the backstreets towards the river in near total darkness. The blackout was back, enveloping the whole city, so that only the lights of the tug-boats and barges could be seen dappling the swirling waters of the Thames.
‘Are you angry with me?’ I stammered, eventually. My hands started to shake, and Alice offered me a swig from her hipflask.
‘Oh, love, I’ve seen it all before,’ she said. ‘My girls have to do all sorts to get themselves out of a scrape and if we are in it together, we work as a team. Ain’t that right, Molly?’
