Vices of My Blood by Maureen Jennings

Author:Maureen Jennings
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780771043239
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Published: 2006-10-01T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

GIVEN THAT MRS. BAGLEY’S ATTITUDE had been as tough as any man’s, Murdoch wasn’t sure if he was going to get anything from her, but after two cups of tea and a thick slice of cake that Crabtree donated from his own dinner, she capitulated. They were seated on the hard bunk beds of the jail cell and even though he’d left the door open, the iron bars were enough to scare anybody into co-operation.

He showed her the poster about the queer plungers and she admitted with a touch of pride that they were the trio it referred to.

“We’ve got several turns. You didn’t see the best, which is Tim here rolling under a carriage.”

“I taught him how to do it,” said Parker. “I used to be an acrobat with a circus.” He gazed at the boy fondly. “He’s good at it. He can hold his breath for two minutes.”

He didn’t say so, but Murdoch assumed that was so the boy could play dead.

“How often do you do the little thief act, the one I witnessed?” Murdoch asked.

“As often as we can, don’t we, Ed? We have to move around so as nobody recognizes us. Sometimes Tim is a coloured boy, sometimes he’s not. People aren’t that observant really.” She had previously soaked her cake in the tea and more or less sucked on it. “I lost all my teeth when I was only twenty-two. I thought it was the worst thing that had ever happened to me, but it turned out to be useful.” She fished in her pocket and took out a kerchief. It was wrapped around a set of gleaming white false teeth. She popped them in her mouth and smiled at Murdoch.

“They’re not so good for eating, they’re really just for show, but they take years off my age, don’t they?” Her words were a bit slurred but with the dentures filling out her hollow cheeks, Olivia looked quite pretty.

“Indeed they do.”

Olivia removed the teeth and wrapped them up again. She bent over, tilted her head slightly, and sucked in her cheeks. “I can go all rheumatic and frail in a tick. Usually I powder my face white and put some red rouge under my eyelids, but I had on the blasted veil today so I didn’t need it. Phew. How women breathe under those things is beyond me. If ever I married which I won’t and if ever I was really a widow, I wouldn’t wear one of them veils, I can tell you that.”

She slurped the last of her tea and put down the cup, looking over at Murdoch shrewdly.

“So are you going to charge us or what? We’re just actors, you know. We don’t take anything that don’t belong to us.”

“You’re frauds and your intention is to deceive people to get money from them. That’s a crime.”

“Oh come on, mister. The coves who give us money don’t miss it. We cost no more than a hot-cross bun to them. You saw them when I was poor Mrs.

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