Page 22 of His Improper Lady

As he walked through the door of the place, a woman standing behind the bar called out, “Tommy, me lad! Come here and give us a kiss!”

Tom had known Jessie Smith as long as he could remember. As ignorant of her parentage as Tom was, she, too, had worked under Falk, though neither her fingers nor her feet were fast enough to be one of his prime pickpockets. A few years older than Tom, she had spent more of her time cooking food and seeing to the other children’s welfare than she had stealing.

She had had a fondness for Tom, slipping him an extra bit of food or sharing her blanket with him. They had lost track of each other for a few years after Tom had gone to the duchess’s orphanage, but they had run into each other after Tom left the orphanage and started working for the Morelands.

Jessie was at that time working in a pub, one of the few of Falk’s children who had managed to get out of the criminal life. She had been determined to make something more out of herself and, like Tom, did her best to save her pennies. Eventually she’d managed to buy the pub where she worked. Tom had loaned her the money he had been squirreling away for years, and he had never regretted it. She’d made a success of the place and paid him back with interest.

Jessie gave Tom a buss on the cheek, then motioned to an employee to take her place. “Come back to the snug with me, luv, and have something to eat.”

She led Tom back into the snug just off the bar. A barmaid brought them each a pint and a plate of food, and they settled down to eat. After they finished their meal, Jessie leaned back in her chair and looked at him shrewdly. “Well, now, Tom, what brings you around today?”

“Isn’t seeing you enough?” He grinned, and she rolled her eyes. “Truth is, I wanted to ask you about somebody who used to work for Falk. She says she was one of his kids, but I don’t remember her. She’s younger than me, though. Her name is Desiree Malone.”

“The Magnificent Malones?” Jessie laughed. “That’s what they used to call themselves.” She shook her head reminiscently. “Aye, what a pair they were.”

“A pair?” Had the twin brother died? “I thought there were three of them. Brock, Desiree and Wells?”

“No, just Wells and Dezzy. I didn’t know any Brock. Twins they were and looked like little angels—blond and blue eyed. They were there after you left, mostly. At first they came round sometimes just to make a bit of coin, but they lived with their mam. They lived with us later, after their mam died.”

“Their mother died?”

“Aye, ’twas a terrible thing. There was a fire at the circus, you see, and she was killed. Can’t remember her name.”

“Stella?”

Jessie wrinkled her forehead. “I don’t know—could be, I guess, but it don’t sound right. It was something odd, like the others. Even odder.” She shrugged. “Well, I never knew her, you see. Falk brought ’em in to live after that. He knew they were moneymakers, right enough.”

“They didn’t have a father?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. They was part of her act—the Magnificent Malones, you see. But I guess there weren’t much of a show after their mam died.”

“They toured the country?” Tom supposed it didn’t really matter, but he was interested.

“I suppose. But they were at the music halls, as well. Golden Palace and such.”

“I see. So Falk turned them into pickpockets.”

“No. They might have been good at that, too, but what he did was have ’em put on street shows. Like I said, they looked like little angels. I don’t think they were more than four or five, but they could do all these flips and tricks.” She shook her head. “They were something to watch, they were. Keep a crowd looking while the other kids nabbed their watches and wallets.”

“Ah.” Tom nodded. “Do you know what happened to them? Do they still work for Falk?”

“They were there when I left—that must have been, what, three or four years after you did.” She shrugged. “I didn’t keep up with Falk and his lot, though. No, wait—I lied—I do remember. There was another brother. One day he showed up and took ’em away from Falk. It was a big ado. I didn’t see it, but everybody was talking about it.”

“He came from Australia?” That was another dangling thread. His contact had said the man came from Australia with a fortune, but Brock had certainly spoken like an Englishman today.

“I don’t know about that. Just recall he took ’em from Falk and Falk was furious.”

“Did they run swindles for Falk?”

“Swindles? Like tricking folks out of their money?”

“Yes. Pretending to be someone they aren’t or getting someone to put money in a phony business or such.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. About the time I left, he’d started them doing second-story work. They fit in places nobody else could, and they could climb like little monkeys.”

Tom nodded. He was well aware of that.

“I never saw the like of them,” Jessie went on. “But they could have done the swindles, too. They were smart as whips. I don’t know. Like I said, I didn’t keep up with Falk much. Too glad to be rid of him.”