King of Thieves by Adam Shand

Author:Adam Shand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: TRU000000, HIS004000
ISBN: 9781742690186
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd
Published: 2010-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

9

A practical affair

The Australian Index of 4 December 1969 recorded the fact that Arthur William Delaney had obtained a British passport by false statement and was ‘now in Australia’. This intelligence rather undersold the King’s meanderings at that point. With the heat increasing in London, the King was on the move. Sure, he had been home a few times—just long enough to seal the most important relationship of his life—but, if anything, his wanderlust had intensified. That was probably a good thing—as charming as he was, Alexis would probably have strangled him if they had spent all their time together.

Arthur had worn Alexis down over a long period. Despite her original misgivings—she had thought him too full of himself, vain and arrogant—they had started working together in Sydney and she had never seen a better thief. Also, he was generous and awfully persistent— a character even. As part of his campaign, he had wooed Alexis’ mother, taking her out for dinner and buying her flowers. Under this all-out charm offensive, Alexis had finally begun to look at Arthur in a different light. But she never got carried away with romance. First and foremost, she wanted stability and a home for herself and her daughter, Debbie. Maybe Arthur might come in handy after all, considering what a great money getter he was.

As a single mum surviving on the hoist, she had to be very careful. To fall blindly in love with Arthur would be a very foolish thing to do—if he went down, so too would she. It was important she keep her bets hedged. Officially, she was in a relationship with another hoister, ‘Skinny Fred’ McKinnon, but increasingly she was spending time working with Arthur. And Arthur was living with an off-and-on lover named Barbara Bourke, but that would never inhibit him at all. Their professional relationship flourished, even as Alexis kept Arthur at arm’s length as a lover.

Skinny Fred was a tall, amiable fellow—not a bad sort of a thief, but not a patch on Arthur. Eventually, it dawned on Alexis that Skinny Fred would never take her round the world like Arthur would. Her relationship with Arthur would always be a gamble, but by now there was enough trust to take the risk. Their relationship, one of Sydney’s worst kept secrets, came out in the open when Alexis invited Arthur to move into her place, or at least stay with her on his forays through Sydney. Suddenly Skinny Fred was history.

Alexis hoped that, if she rode Arthur hard enough, the two of them might end up with something—a house even, a place to call her own. But most of her friends told her she was mad—Arthur would gamble every last cent they had, and then some. If he had his way, their life would be lived from day to day, from job to job. There would never be enough money to satisfy him; his quest had nothing to do with cash.

But it would be the same for any woman who chose a crook for a lover.

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