Part 12 (1/2)

The four lieutenants filed out of the dining room, followed by Brick. Jack stayed behind to talk with Tommy.

'We need to think about security for the house. No knowing if that monster is a one-off. There could be others,' the younger man said.

'Good point. I want two men near the front door of the house at all times. n.o.body comes or goes without my say so, I don't care who they are.'

Sarah had been pondering Tommy's description of how Callum had transformed. 'From what you told me, these creatures can imitate people change shape. How will you know if somebody is actually who they say they are?'

'I been worrying about that too,' Tommy replied. 'It didn't like the fire, did it? We'll use that as a test. Jack, you still got your lighter?'

'Of course!' He pulled it from his pocket and gave the lighter to Tommy. The gangster snapped back the lid, lighting the Zippo.

'Now, put your hand out.'

'But, Tommy ' Jack protested.

'Put your hand out,' Tommy growled. 'Otherwise, I'll have to a.s.sume you're not being completely honest with me.'

Jack put out his hand and held it over the lighter's flame, his face creasing at the pain as his skin burnt. After a few seconds Tommy took the lighter away. Jack rubbed his scorched palm, a hurt look on his face. 'I thought you trusted me!'

'After what I've seen today, I don't trust n.o.body anymore.'

Tommy looked at Sarah. 'You next.'

'You can't think I '

'You've been in the area less than a month, you've wormed your way into my home and you're the last person I'd suspect.'

Tommy loomed over her, his expression bleak and pitiless. 'Now put your hand over the flame!'

Sarah reached out her hand tentatively. Tommy grabbed the wrist and held her open palm over the flame. Jack looked on appreciatively, enjoying the spectacle of her pain. Sarah cried out but refused to pull away. She wouldn't give Jack the satisfaction.

After what seemed an age, Tommy was satisfied. Without comment he put his own hand over the flame and kept it there longer than either of them. He showed no pain in his expression or in his eyes only steely resolve. In the end Sarah could stand it no longer. She pulled the lighter away from Tommy. He smiled at her.

'Thanks. So, no monsters in this room. Jack, test the lighter on Brick. If he pa.s.ses, get him to test the others. n.o.body's going to give him any grief.'

Jack left the room, his eyes dancing at the prospect of using the lighter on another person's flesh. Tommy watched him go. 'I worry about that boy, sometimes he's a little too fond of fires for my liking.'

'Hmm,' Sarah agreed, nursing her burnt hand.

'You were right that arm I sliced off Callum might have helped convince the old bill. But I couldn't admit that in front of the lads,' Tommy said.

'Couldn't admit a woman was right and you were wrong.'

'Something like that,' he said, looking at the fireplace.

'Doesn't matter now. Our only piece of evidence has gone up in smoke.'

Outside, the smoke from the chimney of 15 Tabernacle Street rose up into the twilight sky. Across London residents were lighting coal fires to ward off the chill winter evening. Factories belched out smoke and fumes, joining the pollution from the domestic fires. The worst concentration was in the East End, where many streets were little more than slums.

As night fell, the temperature began to drop rapidly. A dense layer of fog settled over the city, enveloping streets and lamp lights. By four o'clock, the smoke began mixing with the fog to form a thick, yellow smog. Visibility was soon down to a few feet.

Billy and Charlie only found the Ramsey family home because of the two men standing guard outside the front door. The brothers would probably have stumbled past otherwise, squinting to see the house numbers in the gloaming. 'Is this Tommy Ramsey's place?' Billy asked.

'What's it to you, sonny?' Both men standing guard were wearing scarves around their faces to keep out the acrid smog.

'n.o.body calls me sonny, I'm ' Billy began to rage but Charlie kept him in check. Starting a fight would not help their cause.

'We want to join the Ramsey Mob. We want to help you,'

Charlie said.

'Weren't you two of the s.c.r.o.t.es we were going to fight outside St Luke's today? Why the h.e.l.l should we trust you?'

Billy was getting impatient. 'Maybe you didn't notice, but that thing was killing our gang at the same time it was killing your men. Now, can we come inside or not?'

The two guards whispered between themselves before letting the brothers in. Billy and Charlie were escorted into a small, windowless back room and told to wait. A few minutes later, the ma.s.sive figure of Brick appeared in the doorway.

'b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l,' Billy whispered. 'Talk about out of the frying pan...!'

Brick loomed over them, holding Jack's flaming Zippo lighter. 'Put your hand over the flame.'

'What?'

'If you want to join the Ramsey Mob, you have to put your hand over the flame,' Brick explained.

'Like an initiation test,' Charlie speculated. He held his palm over the flame, gritting his teeth against the pain. After a few seconds Brick pushed him away. Billy followed his brother's lead and subjected himself to the test. Satisfied, Brick closed the Zippo.

'You can sleep in here for the night. Tommy'll talk to you in the morning.' Brick stepped out into the hallway. 'I'll bring you some food later.' He closed the door and then locked it. Billy hammered against the heavy wood but could not move it. He glared at his brother.

'Well, this was another of your great ideas!'

Upstairs, Tommy and Sarah were having dinner. Mrs Ramsey had already eaten and gone to bed early, leaving them together.

Sarah picked at her food. Spam fritters were hardly the height of haute cuisine and Mrs Ramsey liked to boil all vegetables until they resembled an unhappy mush of different colours. Tommy shovelled his food with gusto, then helped finish off the remains of Sarah's helping.

'One thing I learned in the army never turn your nose up at a meal. You never know when you'll get the chance of another,' he said between mouthfuls. 'Don't you like vegetables or something?'

'I just prefer them to be a little less well done. Boiling them just drains away all the natural goodness, especially if you pour the water away after.'

'You don't like me Mum's cooking, you can always sling your hook.'

'No, it's not that,' Sarah replied. 'I'm just not very hungry.'

Tommy pushed his plate to one side. 'What did you mean earlier when you said you'd seen stranger things? That creature today it wasn't human. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't human.'