LITMIR.BIZ

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if her ladyship ain’t got that big green stone in her box in the safe? If it’s good as that it might be held in the bank vault. I heard Mrs Boyd saying some of her heirlooms are kept there.’

      ‘According to my source she had it on recently so I reckon it’s still at the house. Any case, we ain’t gonna know, are we, ’less you get to work and take a gander.’

      ‘I dunno ...’ Ada whined.

      ‘Never mind dunno,’ Bill growled. ‘You just get the bleedin’ necklace and we’ll be in the money.’ He stuffed his hands impatiently in his pockets. He regretted having said so much. Ada was his workhorse, not his partner or confidante. This was a delicate situation and involved people in high places. He would have thought twice before disclosing to Betty what was going on. He put his lips against Ada’s cheek, taking her pointed chin in a stinging grip that made her squirm. ‘You goin’ against me?’

      Ada carefully shook her head.

      ‘Good gel. Course you ain’t. I know you could bring a fuckin’ crystal chandelier out that house with you if you really put yer mind to it, Ada.’ Suddenly he laughed and swooped his lips to hers. He kissed her hard on the mouth, grabbing a breast through the cloth of her heavy cloak.

      Immediately Ada dropped her newly lit cigarette to the ground and wound her arms about his shoulders, plunging her tongue greedily into his open mouth. Her pelvis ground against his groin, and a hand began frantically stroking his erection beneath wool.

      Bill laughed, mingling their alcoholic breath before lifting his head. ‘You’re a right dirty gel, know that, Ada?’ His words were coarse, with no hint of affection. But Bill didn’t really believe Ada expected any wooing, neither did he care if she did. She might once have had an ambition to be a proper girlfriend to him, but he reckoned by now she’d got the message that Betty was his favourite.

      But Ada was passably attractive and had a reasonable figure on her so no red-blooded fellow was going to turn down what she willingly offered, even if he knew it might have been given elsewhere ten minutes previously. It was no secret in their neighbourhood that Ada Stone behaved like a regular nymphomaniac.

      ‘Begging fer a seeing-to right here, are you, Ada?’ Bill goaded her, squeezing harder at her nipple. He waited for her to nod, as she always did, before barking contemptuously, ‘Get yer drawers off then, dirty gel.’

      Ada nipped Bill’s lower lip with teasing teeth as a little thank you. ‘’S’another reason I got to get out o’ that bleedin’ house, Bill,’ she moaned breathlessly, whilst kicking away her underwear and drawing up her nightdress beneath her cloak. She fell back against brickwork, getting into position for him to hoist her up against the wall as he had on other occasions when they’d met on her afternoon off and he’d needed to coax her to obedience. ‘Need yer, don’t I, Bill? Want this all the time. Been ages since we done it ...’

      ‘Been a week,’ he grunted, lifting her and shoving her back then up and down till he’d managed brutally to impale her.

      The rough treatment didn’t worry Ada; she had a constant itch between her legs and any man’s attention to it was encouraged and gratefully received.

      Bill Black heard her sigh of utter relief, felt her impatient bucking, and he chuckled. ‘Don’t tell me there’s not a bloke in a house as big that can’t keep you going till yer day off.’

      ‘I reckon they’re all bleedin’ eunuchs in that place,’ she gasped, bouncing against him, clawing at his back. ‘All too scared of their shadows to act like real men. Nobody there like you, Bill ... wish there was,’ she moaned. ‘Might stay for ever then ...’ Her panted words tailed away into a guttural mewing sound.

      ‘How about one o’ them starched-up women then, if yer real desperate?’ Bill whispered, then realised he liked the idea of that and the fantasy prompted him to drive into her with such force that she started to shriek and gyrate.

      Bill clapped his hand over her mouth and took a startled look about. ‘Fuckin’ shut up, will yer?’ he growled. ‘You’ll bring a crowd down on us.’

      Ada felt exhausted and hungry on returning to the house; Bill hadn’t even offered to walk back with her so she’d flitted through the dark, deserted streets as fast as she could, her cloak wrapped tight about her. Being a criminal herself she knew a lone woman out at night was easy pickings and she hadn’t fancied a crack on the head from a mugger.

      Having gratefully reached her destination she slipped in through the side door and tiptoed along the corridor towards the kitchens, hoping there might be a few easily found titbits lying around. Though she doubted anybody would be about at two o’clock in the morning, nevertheless she took pains to proceed quietly. As she was passing Mrs Venner’s office she heard a sound and started to attention. She frowned in disbelief; she’d believed even that conscientious old biddy would have taken to her bed by now. Ada froze against the wall her heart thumping loudly in her ears. She knew if somebody senior caught her up and about at this hour, with a reek of alcohol and tobacco about her, awkward questions would be asked. It was obvious from the way she was dressed that she’d been out, and she’d just faithfully promised Bill that she’d get the necklace, not the sack ...

      Having strained to listen, and caught low whispering coming from behind the door, Ada’s curiosity overcame her caution and she noiselessly turned the handle. It was locked, but on glancing down she saw a faint light leaking from beneath it. A whimpering little sigh was heard next and it increased her suspicions. She crouched to put her eye to the keyhole. A few moments later she’d stuffed a muffling fist to her mouth and had tumbled backwards onto her posterior in scandalised shock. Her jaw sagged towards her chest, then she silently scrambled up, her features now set in a soundless laugh. She scratched against the door with a fingernail then flattened herself against the wall. She was aware of the quiet within, then a moment later she heard the key turn in the lock and knew one of them would come out to investigate. Before the door was properly open Ada had burst in to confront the two women.

      Felicity Venner recovered composure first. ‘What on earth do you think you’re doing, Stubbs? How dare you burst in like this? Why aren’t you in your dormitory? What have you been doing?’ she breathlessly demanded.

      ‘Not quite what you’ve been doing with Mrs Boyd, that’s fer sure,’ Ada whispered, her face alight with lewd amusement. She backed against the door until it clicked quietly shut while putting a warning finger to her mouth. ‘My preference is for boys. But I’ll admit I’ve been enjoying meself tonight, like you two. My “follower” I reckon you’d call Bill. Big lusty chap, he is, but course you wouldn’t be interested in knowing about any o’ that ...’

      By the light of the small oil lamp it could be seen that Clare Boyd’s face was crimson, and where she’d hastily done up her bodice most of the little pearl buttons were in the wrong hooks. At forty-two, she was only three years younger than her lover but she could have passed for her junior by a decade. Her skin was smoother and her character less robust at times of need. She darted a glance at Felicity Venner, moistening her lips, pleading with the older woman to keep up the bluster and find a plausible way to extricate them both from this awful mess.

      ‘Don’t bother denying what you’ve been up to,’ Ada muttered, intercepting Clare’s frantic look. ‘I seen you at it through the keyhole, and if I give a yell and bring ’em all running you’re gonna have some explaining to do, ain’t you?’ She nodded at Clare’s flushed face. ‘Now what would she be doing here at this time o’ night, and with her blouse all skewwhiff?’ She glanced at Felicity, then at the floor. ‘Them your drawers or hers?’ she asked, having spotted the discarded linen. Before the housekeeper could retrieve her undergarments Ada stamped a foot on them, and drew them out of reach. ‘Never mind ... ain’t the end of the world, you know, getting caught out like this, ’cos I’ve had an idea ...’

      Still in a half-doze, Lucy heard Audrey return from her jaunt but didn’t bother rolling over to confront her roommate about her absence. She’d guessed what Audrey had been getting up to when she went off at night,

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