‘No,’ Gracie said. ‘And he never will. I’m his mum and he’s his dad.’ She nodded at Reynolds. ‘That’s all he needs to know.’
‘Who’s the father?’
Gracie shook her head.
‘She wouldn’t say. She was a good girl. Played with the boys in the streets and all that but never got up to anything.’
‘You’ve got your suspicious, though,’ Cook said. ‘You told me everyone knows everyone’s business on the island.’
‘If we had suspicions, there’d be one less person living and breathing on the island,’ Reynolds said.
Cook looked Gracie in the eye. A mother would know, he thought.
But Gracie shook her head. ‘Reynolds is right, and it wouldn’t have been him doing the knife work. It’d be me, don’t you worry about that. If I ever find out who did that to my little girl, God help him. He’ll be going into the river in little pieces.’
‘You think it’s the same man, who she’s with now?’ Cook asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Gracie said.
‘Whoever it was, must be long gone,’ Reynolds said.
‘Frankie said you helped find a girl,’ Gracie said. ‘Another evacuee. Rescued her.’
‘Tell me about the Empire,’ Cook said.
Reynolds sipped his tea. Made a decision.
‘All right,’ he said. ‘She was working with me.’
‘I swear, if you’ve got her into trouble,’ Gracie said.
‘Give it a rest,’ he said. ‘You’re angry. I don’t blame you. But I haven’t done anything to put her in danger. It was her idea.’
‘This should be good,’ Gracie said.
‘She was getting bored at the tea room,’ Reynolds said. ‘One of the girls took her for a drink at the Empire. Show her all the toffs, how the other half live. They ended up chatting with a couple of lads. Got their drinks paid for, got a nice dinner out of it.’
Gracie folded her arms and sat back, distancing herself. Cook wouldn’t have wanted to be on her bad side.
‘She had this idea. Came to me, talked it through,’ Reynolds said. ‘A lot of the toffs were there for the night. What if she got talking to them, found out where they lived. We’d have free run of their house all night, knowing they were tucked up in the shelter there, drinking champagne and waiting for the all clear.’
‘You’re using her to find houses to rob?’ Gracie asked.
‘Her idea,’ Reynolds said.
‘The girl I spoke to said there was a chap Ruby was scared of,’ Cook said. ‘Got to know him but he turned violent. Did she mention him to you?’
Reynolds shook his head.
‘If she had, I’d have gone down there and given him a new smile,’ Reynolds said, his knife appearing in his hand, as if by magic.
The light from the gas lamp fluttered. Reynolds pulled it towards him, took out a metal stopper from the base and gave it three pumps, restoring the light to its former power.
‘We need to find out more about this man,’ Cook said. ‘Well dressed. Ginger hair. If he’s at the Empire, he shouldn’t be hard to find.’
‘I can’t go in there,’ Reynolds said. ‘I’ve had a couple of run-ins. Used up most of my nine lives.’
‘I’ll find him,’ Cook said. ‘I’ll have to find a way in. They’ve made it clear I’m not welcome back.’
