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Back The Dazzle of the Light Save as PDF
Chapters (55)
  1. Praise for Georgina Clarke
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. 35
  37. 36
  38. 37
  39. 38
  40. 39
  41. 40
  42. 41
  43. 42
  44. 43
  45. 44
  46. 45
  47. 46
  48. 47
  49. 48
  50. 49
  51. Historical Note
  52. Acknowledgements
  53. Also by Georgina Clarke
  54. About the Author
  55. Copyright

‘All I know is that some of the Elephant boys have been arrested. Billy Walsh is among them.’

‘What?’

‘Coppers went to the Crown after they’d been here. Clara was furious about it. They arrested Billy. He ran away from them – stupid boy – and got a few bruises for his troubles when they caught up with him.’

‘Did the police say why? Did Clara know?’

He shakes his head. ‘He’s been doing some work over the river – like you. The same man running the operations, I think. That nightclub owner. Apparently, there were raids in Soho yesterday. Clara didn’t know much about it, but Billy was involved. And Moss.’

‘Peter Lazenby. He runs it all.’ Peter could have been arrested as well. ‘I need to go out.’

‘You need to eat first,’ Solly says. ‘You won’t be any good to anyone with an empty stomach. Go and dress, and I’ll fry you an egg.’

He is right. Her stomach aches for food. And if Peter has been arrested, there will be little she can do about it.

‘Oh, and Maggs wants you on a job later. This afternoon. She left the details, but I know you’re to meet her at three o’clock on the corner of Marylebone Lane and Wigmore Street.’

She groans.

‘You’re back in the Forties, Ruby. If Maggs says jump, you ask how high. You might have been the toast of the Crown on Thursday, but you’re only one of the girls by Saturday. You know how it works.’

45

45

Saturday morning

The story is in the newspaper. Not the Kensington Gazette, but the Daily Express.

The Express has pursued the story with all of its famed crusading zeal. It has a perfect narrative at its heart: corrupt politicians mixing with rich men and notorious criminals. But the Express has made more of it even than that. Already, the reports have told of the aristocratic nightclub owner, and the drug dealers and the prostitutes that haunt his club. Peter Lazenby has been named, linked with criminal gangs from Southwark, Clerkenwell and Birmingham. Deals have been made with politicians that protect the interests of these gangs selling untaxed goods, and so blind eyes have been turned to criminal activity. The details are lurid even as the reality is squalid.

The police have acted swiftly. Men have been arrested. Mr Mortimer, the proprietor of a letting agency next door to the Angel, is among them. Bags of cocaine and crates of whisky were found in his cellar. A surprise raid by the police led to other arrests: men found in possession of stolen goods and women dealing in cocaine are now in the cells.