A Death in Chelsea by Lynn Brittney

Author:Lynn Brittney [Brittney, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crime fiction/WW1 fiction
ISBN: 9781912624386
Publisher: MIrror Books
Published: 2019-03-14T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The Hunt for Sydney

Billy had never seen such an old woman. She had wrinkles on wrinkles – her face was wreathed in them and her faded blue eyes looked him up and down and then she broke into a toothless grin.

“You’re a big boy, aren’t you? Like my Sydney.”

Billy nodded and grinned back. Tollman returned from the bar with two half pints of stout, which he placed in front of the old woman.

“There you are, Mrs Baker. That’ll keep you going for another eighty years!” The old lady cackled and shakily lifted one of the half pints to her eager lips and slurped noisily.

This was the third pub they had been in around Holborn, looking for Sydney Baker’s mother, and finally they had found her.

“Carter and his boys don’t know about Sydney’s mother,” Tollman had said confidently, as they strode around the streets that fed off Gray’s Inn Road. Billy had noted that they were searching in some of the worst slum areas in London. The foetid back-to-back houses, with no running water, still with the Victorian standpipe in the centre of the cobbled street, were alive with grubby children and scowling women.

“The Germans would be doing us a favour if they bombed this lot,” he had muttered, earning him a sharp rebuke from Tollman.

“What about the people crammed in these slums?” Tollman had said sharply. “Don’t you care if they’re bombed?”

Billy had blushed. “Sorry Mr Tollman. I didn’t mean that…”

Tollman had softened. “No, I know, lad. Don’t take any notice of me. I’m wound up about finding Sydney. You know,” he had then decided to explain, “some people just get a raw deal in life. Take Sydney’s mum. Violet. Born and then immediately put into the Foundling Hospital up the road here. Spent most of her life as an adult in and out of the Holborn Workhouse round the corner, while her feckless husband was in prison. Then she and Sydney ran a stall in Leather Lane, just next door, for about twenty years eking out a meagre existence. Then Sydney meets Ruth and marries her. But,” he had said firmly, “Sydney has never, never abandoned his mum. Next to his wife, his mum is the most important person in the world to him and if anyone knows where he is, it’s Violet Baker.”

So, they had continued to search the places Violet was known to frequent. She regularly used to toddle up to the Booth’s Gin Distillery in Clerkenwell where she knew the bottling plant foreman and he would give her a tipple of gin to set her up for the day – but she hadn’t been there for a couple of days. Then there was Nicholson’s Distillery, also in Clerkenwell, where she had a similar arrangement, and they were told that Violet had been and gone at about ten that morning. Finally, they went to Reid’s Brewery, off Leather Lane, where people like Violet could partake of a pint of ‘slops’ (the run-off beer from the casking process) for a farthing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.