𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐘 peaky blinders

xvii. RED RIGHT HAND

ACT: TWO
CHAPTER xvii: ' red right hand! '

Polly's herbs worked for about four hours before Eli was back to being a night owl with sleep stubbornly avoiding her like a lover scorned, leaving her to exhaustion's heavy hand to weigh her down for her entire shift in the shop.

It didn't help she was trying to man the shop on her own. She'd gotten used to having a lending hand and now that she was short-staffed, she was starting to realise how handy it had been to have an employee helping her. Ada had been placed on indefinite leave it seemed after she'd all but disappeared with her fiancé and baby-father, Freddie Thorne to go hid in ghetto like rooms that threatened to cave in on it's occupants.

Eli had been up to her eyeballs all day, having just dealt with a difficult customer and having her storm out the door just as another entered. The new customer stepped back abruptly to let the furious faced Ms. Murphy come out the door first, there weren't many who would stand in the way of that beetroot-cheeked woman.

"The singing Galwegian." Eli smiled at the blonde as she wearily stepped into the store after Ms. Murphy had disappeared down the street.

"Should I come back another time, perhaps?" Grace pursed her lips and glanced behind her to reference to the latest departure.

A snort of amusement rang through the shop as Eli shook her head. "No, no. That was just Maureen Murphy being Maureen Murphy, love. She thinks I'm heartless because I refused to take in her kids' school clothes until she could pay me to do it."

"Could you not break the rules just this once?" Grace's eyes clouded with sympathy for the woman who couldn't fix her own children's uniforms, wondering why Eli would be so immune to taking pity on the poor family.

Eliza stared back at her with a silent challenge in her sharp stare, almost wanting Grace to try and change her mind just for it to blow back up in her face. She didn't like people trying to convince her to do something she'd already made up her mind on, but she had no quarrel reminding those who did that she was well and capable of standing by what she had already decided on. "That would charity, sweetheart, not business."

Grace pursed her lips and nodded, quickly accepting she wouldn't get anywhere with arguing with the woman. She could have done that all day — the woman facing her was related by blood to the 'criminal organisation' that murdered her father in cold blood. But arguing would only side track her (not to mention blow her cover if she got on to the topic of the IRA) and she had came with a very important agenda after all.

"I've been told you're the best in the city."

Eli cocked her head at the statement, amusement returning to her tone as she asked, "And who told you that?"