big shoutout to @-ohmymy for the new cover!

V

                               TOMMY led the way with long, easy strides straight through to the kitchen. Elizabeth followed behind him slowly, trying to disguise her attempts at studying the house as casual glances. To her dismay there wasn't much to be observed from the hallway; it was dim and narrow, with minimal decoration. She hurried her footsteps careful not to be caught snooping. Tommy entered the kitchen first, sitting himself upright in one of the chairs closest to the door. He motioned for Elizabeth to sit down with an offhanded wave of his arm. She carefully took a seat at the opposite side of the table, giving herself a perfect view of him. "Ada!" He called loudly, though he knew she wouldn't be far away. He grabbed a cigarette from his shiny case, offering Elizabeth one with a stretch of his arm.

"Thank you," She accepted it gratefully, leaning forward to grab it from his hand. Tommy lit his own and held the flame outwards for Elizabeth. She moved in slowly, lowering her head so that the flame and the cigarette could meet, watching through her bottom lashes as the cigarette took its time to react to the hot flame before it was all of a sudden engulfed. Leaning back satisfied she inhaled from her cigarette, watching as the smoke was exhaled outwards. As she looked back over to Tommy, she found his eyes were already firmly planted on her. Merely seconds later, Ada appeared.

"Yes, Thomas?" She asked cockily. Elizabeth admired the young girl. She seemed to be full of the confidence and energy that was usually frowned upon in women. Elizabeth wondered for a moment if it was just a natural part of Ada's character or whether growing up with the self-assurance of a criminal gang for a family had led her to be as spirited as she desired to be.

"Miss Young here would like her face to be checked out by a nurse." Tommy answered, ignoring the use of his full name. "If you can take a look at it then Miss Young can get back on her way." Elizabeth tried to hide the disappointment she felt at being rushed out of the house – there was so much more she wanted to snoop through. She proposed that was exactly the reason why Tommy would want to hurry her up. Who knew what lay hidden in this house? Maybe 25 Lewis machine guns, thought Elizabeth sarcastically.

"Oh, so now I'm a nurse?" Ada asked abruptly, though Elizabeth could see her outrage wasn't genuine. "According to John I'm not!" Elizabeth assumed this was some sort of family joke but it was still amusing to witness.

Tommy sighed with slight annoyance, never having the energy to entertain Ada's performances. "Well at the moment you're the best we've got."

Rolling her eyes, Ada approached Elizabeth so that she could take a look at her face. "It doesn't look too bad, I'll just clean it for you." She assessed proudly, walking over to the other end of the kitchen. While Ada seemed to be prepping, Elizabeth took the time to look around the dark kitchen, glancing at the small kindling fire to her right-hand side. As she looked just over her shoulder she noticed a pair of thick green curtains draped over the entire back wall. Logically thinking, there was no way the kitchen was as far back as the house went considering the size of the house – there were clearly rooms beyond this point. Something was evidently being hidden; a room for the illegal activities, perhaps a storage place for the guns?

Tommy cleared his throat, snapping her out of her thoughts instantly. She turned back around slowly hoping she hadn't been caught staring, though her gut instinct told her Tommy had been watching her the entire time. Ada approached her and started to dap soaked material on to her cheek. Ada made quick work of clearing up the graze, trying her best to be careful. She prewarned Elizabeth when there was about to be a stingy sensation though Elizabeth managed to hold a stoic face, not once hissing at the sensation. Ada finished up and asked if there was anything else that needed to be looked at. "No, it was just my face." Elizabeth answered.

"You might not want to look in a mirror for a while." Ada advised honestly, never being one to beat around the bush. "It's gone a bit red with the cleaning." She held the bottle of disinfectant up explanatorily with a meek smile.

"I don't have a habit of looking in mirrors anyway." She laughed. "Thank you, Ada. You've done a great job." It was a sincere compliment. Ada had been quick, careful and thorough and while Elizabeth hadn't initially wanted her cheek to be looked at she was glad it was Ada who attended it.

Ada smiled proudly. "I'm glad somebody appreciates my nursing abilities." She flashed daggers at Tommy, and Elizabeth yet again felt as though she was witnessing an inside joke between Tommy and Ada. She smiled politely at the interaction.

"Thank you, Ada." Tommy repeated the same line that he had used earlier on, effectively shooing the young girl out from the room. He offered Elizabeth another cigarette which she took, grateful for the extra time she was spending in the house. She didn't want to leave the house without getting at least some information but realistically she knew Tommy wasn't going to offer that up freely.

He lit the cigarette for her, puffing his own and leaning back in the kitchen chair. "Miss Elizabeth Young," he started, staring in to the small fire beside her. "unmarried, works at a sweet shop and moved to Birmingham from the south." Tommy listed shortly, raising an eyebrow to himself. Slowly he lifted his eyes to meet hers. "What made you move to Birmingham, Miss Young? You've no family here I take it?"

Elizabeth's throat was completely dry and while he hadn't stated anything more in depth than the obvious she worried that he might know more than he was letting on, though she hoped if Inspector Campbell hadn't been able to, neither would the Peaky Blinders. The mention of family struck a chord in her chest. Taking a second to puff on her cigarette and compose herself, she answered Tommy the same way she did the taxi driver on her first night. "I just got bored." She answered weakly, trying to form a more solid response. "I'd lived down south my whole life and I wanted to experience something different. I don't have any family here, no. It was a spontaneous decision."

"And have you found it?" Thomas asked. Elizabeth couldn't tear herself from the gaze she'd become trapped in. His eyes were stern and Elizabeth was sure they could see everything; see right through in to her brain. He probably knew her thoughts before she even registered them. She frowned at him, unable to work out what he was asking. Tommy elaborated, seeing her confusion. "Something different, I mean."

"Oh," Elizabeth smiled with relief. "I don't know yet." She shrugged light-heartedly. She knew the trick to telling lies was to say as little as possible – the more that was said the more there was to be caught out on. Short and sweet was the trick.

"Well, unless there's anything else we can do for you Miss Young, I have some business to attend to." Tommy smacked his hands on his knees, standing tall above her. She rose from the chair confidently, trying to ignore the power that radiated from Tommy's presence.

"Yes, I better get going. I still have a flat to fix up," she nodded. "And I prefer to be called Elizabeth, if you don't mind."

Tommy nodded. "Very well, Elizabeth. I'll send some of our men round to help you with your flat."

There was nothing optional about it from the tone of Tommy's voice. Her heart thundered in her chest just imagining the consequences of Tommy's men finding her file. "No, that won't be necessary." She smiled. "I haven't got that many belongings with me anyway at the moment, so there isn't too much to clean up. I can manage just fine."

"If you insist." Tommy agreed easily, walking her to the front door. As he opened the door to let her out, Elizabeth noticed the darkening sky and knew she would need to hurry on home. "It seems to have gotten rather dark Elizabeth. I'll walk you home." Tommy asserted, leaving no room for Elizabeth to protest. "Can't let a lady walk home in the dark by herself, Aunt Pol would kill me."

It was curious to see a member of a gang so freely admit to somebody having some level of influence over them, especially a woman. There was nobody named Pol on her file, and she wondered if this was a name she should add. "That's very kind of you, Mr Shelby."

He reached for the coat rack, pulling out a thick coat. He shoved it on roughly, stepping out of the door and on to the cobbled street. For a small while all that could be heard was the sound of their heels. Fire roared in the factories and yards, the smog and the smoke more evident in the night time than it was in the day. Orange flames lit up the street like lanterns which, in a peculiar way, Elizabeth found quite comforting.

"Have you lived in Birmingham all your life?" She asked, trying not to cringe at her appalling conversation skills.

The question seemed to have such an obvious answer to Tommy, who debated whether or not to respond. She appeared to be a curious girl – he saw how much she wanted to take a sneak peek behind the thick green curtains in the kitchen, unknowingly the other side of a gambling den. "Yes." He nodded, deciding to humour her questioning.

"Were they your sons?" She asked next, finding confidence in the dim light. "The ones who stole the sweets." she added for clarification.

"No." Tommy answered simply. Elizabeth's spirits hadn't been dulled by Tommy's blunt answering, if anything it was spurring her on more. Tommy remained quiet, intrigued with her line of questioning.

Feeling ballsy, Elizabeth tried to gage a reaction. "Mr. Shelby, do you know what the police were looking for? When they were raiding the flat they didn't say much, but Mr Brown said they mentioned something to him about stolen goods."

Tommy took a careful moment to consider the question, glancing at Elizabeth briefly before looking straight ahead. "And how should I know what the coppers are looking for?"

"I don't know, I was just curious. It must be something big for the police to raid everybody's house like that." She feigned innocence.

"They were probably looking for an excuse to try and round the communists up." Tommy answered breezily.

"Oh," Elizabeth mouthed. "Are there many communists around here?" The lack of information was starting to drive her insane. As they turned the corner, Elizabeth pointed out her building. "Looks like you can answer that another day." She tried to joke. "This is my flat." There was something that made her uneasy in telling the Peaky boy where she lived. "Thank you for walking me back, it was very kind of you."

"No trouble at all," he replied breezily. "You tell Tom the Peaky Blinders will bring round his new equipment soon." The reminder of her going behind Tom's back was like a slap in the face. She was dreading his reaction when she told him the Peaky Blinders were sorting out his repairs, per her request.

"And the chest of drawers," Elizabeth reminded him brazenly, smiling cheekily.

Tommy nodded in agreement. "And the chest of drawers. Good night Elizbeth."

With a smile she turned to the door, retrieving her key from her dress pocket. She fumbled with the lock slightly, cheeks slightly heated with embarrassment. Without even turning around she knew Tommy was still stood there. Finally letting herself in to the house, she offered one last smile before closing the door. She leaned against the door for a short while and sighed in relief. Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions and as she quietly made her way up the stairs she wondered how she could feel this wound up without even getting close to the truth.