her girls were already in the kitchen when they got back, all clamouring to hear about the funeral, she hadn’t noticed immediately that Belle wasn’t there. It was only as she poured everyone a small glass of sweet wine that she missed her.
‘I don’t know. I expect she just went out for a breath of fresh air, you know how she is,’ Mog replied. ‘Did she say anything to any of you?’ she asked the girls.
‘Last time we saw her was just afore you went out,’ Lily replied. Lily and the other four girls were only half dressed, with shabby wraps over grubby-looking chemises and drawers. Not one of them looked as if they’d used a hairbrush in days. Lily’s fair hair looked like a bird’s nest.
The girls’ slovenly appearance, along with their vacuous expressions, made Mog angry. ‘You could have made an effort to look nice to show some respect,’ she snapped at them.
‘But we ain’t opening tonight,’ Lily said in an insolent tone. ‘What’s the point of getting done up if there’s no one calling?’
‘I just hope someone makes an effort at your wake,’ Mog hissed at her. ‘And you could show more concern over Belle.’
‘She’ll be all right,’ Amy chimed in as she twiddled a rat’s tail of greasy hair and chewed the end of it. ‘What can happen to her around ’ere where everyone knows ’er ma?’
By eight that evening Annie was down at Bow Street telling the police she thought her daughter had been snatched and maybe even killed. She and Mog had been all over Seven Dials, asking everyone they knew if they’d seen Belle. But to their distress no one had seen her that day.
The sergeant behind the desk, a big man with a bristling moustache, seemed to find Annie’s claim amusing. ‘That ain’t likely, lady,’ he said, a smirk playing at his lips. ‘Girls of that age, they go wandering. Might even have a young feller for all you know.’
‘She wouldn’t go wandering after dark, and surely you know a girl was murdered in my place just a few days ago? It is possible that same man was watching the house and snatched my Belle.’
‘Now, why would he want her? She ain’t a workin’ girl,’ the policeman said. ‘You said yerself she was in her bed at the time of the murder and you never lets her upstairs of an evening. He probably don’t even know you’ve got a young daughter.’
‘He’s done it to mark my card,’ Annie insisted. ‘It’s like a warning he can do whatever he wants. Kill one of my girls, snatch my Belle, what’s he going to do next?’
The sergeant got up from behind his desk, stretched and yawned. ‘Look, lady, I understand you’re worried, but you can bet yer life she went off to meet a pal and forgot the time. She’ll be scared stiff to come home now ’cos she knows you’ll be mad with her. But she will come back when she gets cold and hungry.’
‘Please start searching for her,’ Annie begged him. ‘At least ask about to see if anyone saw her this afternoon.’
‘Fair enough, we’ll do that starting tomorrow if she don’t come home tonight,’ he agreed. ‘But she will come back, you’ll see.’
At eleven that same night Annie and Mog sat together in the kitchen, both too worried to think of going to bed. They had not been reassured by the policeman’s opinion. They both knew Belle would never have willingly missed Millie’s little wake; to her that would have looked as though she didn’t care about the dead girl. If something else had happened to her, if she’d been knocked down in the street or taken ill, she would have made certain a message was sent to them.
‘I don’t know what to do for the best,’ Annie admitted. ‘If I tell the peelers that I knew the murderer and that Belle saw it happen, they’ll think I was somehow in with him and maybe charge me with obstruction. Yet if I don’t tell ’em they aren’t going to take me seriously enough to look for her. But the worst thing is that if I tell ’em it’s the Falcon
‘I don’t know. I expect she just went out for a breath of fresh air, you know how she is,’ Mog replied. ‘Did she say anything to any of you?’ she asked the girls.
‘Last time we saw her was just afore you went out,’ Lily replied. Lily and the other four girls were only half dressed, with shabby wraps over grubby-looking chemises and drawers. Not one of them looked as if they’d used a hairbrush in days. Lily’s fair hair looked like a bird’s nest.
The girls’ slovenly appearance, along with their vacuous expressions, made Mog angry. ‘You could have made an effort to look nice to show some respect,’ she snapped at them.
‘But we ain’t opening tonight,’ Lily said in an insolent tone. ‘What’s the point of getting done up if there’s no one calling?’
‘I just hope someone makes an effort at your wake,’ Mog hissed at her. ‘And you could show more concern over Belle.’
‘She’ll be all right,’ Amy chimed in as she twiddled a rat’s tail of greasy hair and chewed the end of it. ‘What can happen to her around ’ere where everyone knows ’er ma?’
By eight that evening Annie was down at Bow Street telling the police she thought her daughter had been snatched and maybe even killed. She and Mog had been all over Seven Dials, asking everyone they knew if they’d seen Belle. But to their distress no one had seen her that day.
The sergeant behind the desk, a big man with a bristling moustache, seemed to find Annie’s claim amusing. ‘That ain’t likely, lady,’ he said, a smirk playing at his lips. ‘Girls of that age, they go wandering. Might even have a young feller for all you know.’
‘She wouldn’t go wandering after dark, and surely you know a girl was murdered in my place just a few days ago? It is possible that same man was watching the house and snatched my Belle.’
‘Now, why would he want her? She ain’t a workin’ girl,’ the policeman said. ‘You said yerself she was in her bed at the time of the murder and you never lets her upstairs of an evening. He probably don’t even know you’ve got a young daughter.’
‘He’s done it to mark my card,’ Annie insisted. ‘It’s like a warning he can do whatever he wants. Kill one of my girls, snatch my Belle, what’s he going to do next?’
The sergeant got up from behind his desk, stretched and yawned. ‘Look, lady, I understand you’re worried, but you can bet yer life she went off to meet a pal and forgot the time. She’ll be scared stiff to come home now ’cos she knows you’ll be mad with her. But she will come back when she gets cold and hungry.’
‘Please start searching for her,’ Annie begged him. ‘At least ask about to see if anyone saw her this afternoon.’
‘Fair enough, we’ll do that starting tomorrow if she don’t come home tonight,’ he agreed. ‘But she will come back, you’ll see.’
At eleven that same night Annie and Mog sat together in the kitchen, both too worried to think of going to bed. They had not been reassured by the policeman’s opinion. They both knew Belle would never have willingly missed Millie’s little wake; to her that would have looked as though she didn’t care about the dead girl. If something else had happened to her, if she’d been knocked down in the street or taken ill, she would have made certain a message was sent to them.
‘I don’t know what to do for the best,’ Annie admitted. ‘If I tell the peelers that I knew the murderer and that Belle saw it happen, they’ll think I was somehow in with him and maybe charge me with obstruction. Yet if I don’t tell ’em they aren’t going to take me seriously enough to look for her. But the worst thing is that if I tell ’em it’s the Falcon
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