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  Watch Your Back

  Book 4 of the Bootleggers’ Chronicles series

  Sherilyn Decter

  Copyright © Sherilyn Decter All rights reserved

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property and prohibited.

  Watch Your Back is a work of historical fiction in which the author has occasionally taken artistic liberties for the sake of the narrative and to provide a sense of authenticity. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, dialogue, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Print ISBN: 978-1-9990014-6-9

  EPub ISBN: 978-1-9990014-7-6

  Edited by: Marie Beswick-Arthur www.mariebeswickarthur.com

  Cover Design by: JDSmith Designs www.jdsmith-design.com

  Chapter 1

  T all brick walls turn the alley into a canyon. Rusted-metal fire escapes climb past broken or boarded windows, reaching to the rooftops. Overflowing garbage cans stink from the August heat.

  A pack of boys in knickers and soft caps gather at the end of the alley: circling, jeering, ravenous. There’s blood in the air. The sounds of a fight fill the area: grunts, groans, punches, swearing. One boy is taking a pummeling. His arms are up, covering his face, leaving his body exposed. The other boy, taller and heavier, presses his advantage, punching the weaker lad a couple of times in the gut.

  “Way to go, Dutch.” “Give it to ‘im again.” “Slug him.”

  The smaller boy groans and falls to his knees. Towering over him, Dutch shoves him to the ground with his foot. The boy curls into a ball, knees tucked in close to his chin. Straddling him, Dutch forces him onto his back and drops on top of him, crushing his chest, knees pinning him to the ground.

  “Learned yer lesson, Barnes-ey-boy? Understand the rules?” Dutch taunts.

  Dutch’s knees grind into Tommy Barnes’ upper arms, his weight crushing Tommy’s chest. The gravel rips into his back through his thin shirt. The bitter taste of blood fills his mouth. Tommy squints through swollen eyes. Looming above him, Dutch’s red face sneers as he winds up to deliver another punch.

  Knuckles connect with Tommy’s mouth. His teeth bite into the soft inside of his lip. A slice of pain rises above the dull aches everywhere else.

  Mama. Help me.

  Tommy’s eyes close and his body goes limp. He can’t fight any more. Dutch is too big and too sly. He gives up. There are too many of them.

  “You stay away from our turf, ya hear? Or there’ll be more of this.” Dutch jabs his fist into Tommy’s face again, smashing his cheekbone.

  Through a split lip, Tommy makes a noise that could be a ‘yes’. He’d nod his head, but it feels broken.

  As Dutch gets up, he grinds his knees deeper into Tommy’s arms. Tommy groans, his eyes still closed. He can sense the other boy still looming over him. A sharp kick in the right ribs confirms it.

  “What a lightweight. Come on, Swifty. Let’s get outta here before his mama shows up.” Swifty takes one more shot. Tommy grunts. Swifty stomps hard on Tommy’s shoulder. Tommy screams in pain. Pigeons, gathered on nearby rooftops, scatter and wheel away.

  Tommy wants to curl up and die. White hot pain grips his shoulder and his side, ripping him apart. His face throbs. His body feels crushed. There’s blood in his mouth. He can’t breathe. He can’t see. He can’t move.

  Hurt, bleeding, beaten, he lies there listening to their footsteps. Victorious voices fade. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to end up. He flexes his fingers, glad they can still move. He waits until all he can hear are rats in the garbage and pigeons resettling. He tries to roll onto his side, but can’t make it over. His ribs flare scarlet in pain. Stars dance behind swollen eyelids. It hurts too much. Maybe I’ll just lie here a while longer. If he stays very still, it doesn’t hurt so much. His breath’s ragged, shallow. He ever so slowly turns his head to spit. He feels and tastes large, glutinous gobs of blood.

  Tommy wishes he could cry, but eleven year old boys don’t cry. How am I going to get home? A traitorous tear slides down the side of his face, mixing with the blood, creating a wet, pink trail that slides into his ear.

  It’s 1928, and the mean streets of Philadelphia just got a little meaner.

  * * * *

  Tommy’s mother, Maggie Barnes, is in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on supper. She’s been glancing at the clock by the stove. Where has that boy gotten to now? He knows what time supper is. He’s been late every night this week. She can hear the shuffling of feet and the occasional sigh from the restless lodgers in the dining room.

  Reg Littleton, one of her lodgers, pokes his head into the kitchen. “Need a hand with anything, Maggie?” He’s a bit on the heavy side, not a Fatty Arbuckle by any stretch, but certainly shows that he hasn’t turned away from any of Maggie’s good cooking.

  “Thanks, Reg, but I’m just waiting on Tommy. He should have been home half an hour ago. Darn that boy. I’ll bring the stew through now and we’ll start.”

  Reg holds the dining room door open for her as she carries the tureen of rich beef stew through to her lodgers; they’re one of the reasons a widow with a young son can manage to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Reg slides in next to Archie, while Dick sits beside Tommy’s empty chair. Maggie puts the stew in the center of the table and sits at the head.

  There’s worry on her face. It mars her pretty features. Picking up on her mood, the men at the table quietly begin to pass the food.

  “Any idea where the boy is at?” Archie asks. He’s a fussy man, thinning hair combed over to one side. He looks the part of a high school math teacher, dressed in his suit and tie, even on a hot summer evening.

  Dick Beamish, a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, has his shirt sleeves rolled up and his jacket off. A ginger, his freckles have blossomed in the summer sun. “I haven’t seen him since he left to do papers this morning. Has he been gone all day?”

  “He was home for lunch, but then ran out the door right after he finished. You remember what summer holidays are like. He and that boy Jimmy are wandering all over the place getting into mischief. I’m lucky he gets hungry or I wouldn’t see him at all some days. But he’s always home before now.” The worried look on Maggie’s face runs contrary to the light tone of her words.

  With the timing of a fortune teller’s prediction, the front door opens and is followed by shuffling.

  “Tommy?” Maggie can’t see the front door from where she’s sitting, but Reg can. He is out of his chair in an instant. Maggie, alarmed, starts for the front hall.

  “Tommy. Oh, my God. What’s happened?” Her son is barely standing, one arm held close, the other wrapped around his body, shielding his ribs. His face is bloody and one eye is swollen shut. His shirt is ripped, smeared with blood and dirt. Beside him, helping hold him upright, is a stranger. At the site of Maggie, the man grabs his cloth cap off his head.

  “Ma’am? I found yer boy walking along the street and brought him home. He’s in pretty bad shape. If you need, I can take you both to the hospital.”

  “Sit here on the stairs, Tommy,” she says. Tommy groans as he collapses on the second step. He coughs and a trickle of blood dribbles down his chin. Crouching, holding him by the shoulders, Maggie looks Tommy over quickly. She dabs at his face with the hem of her apron. ”Can you talk? Where does it hurt?”

  Tommy looks up at his mother, one eye swollen shut, and bursts into tears. “All over, Mother. It hurts all over.” He winces as he tries to talk, and the words don’t come out clearly. Maggie runs her hands over his arms and catches the flinch. She gently pulls them away from his body, but he moans and wraps them close again
.

  “It’s his ribs, Maggie.” Dick says from behind her. “Does it hurt to breathe, lad?”

  Tommy takes a shallow breath and shudders. He nods.

  Reg shakes the stranger’s hand. “Thanks, mister. For bringing him home. We can run him over to Hahnemann in my car.”

  “Well, if you’re sure. I’ll be off now that he’s home. My missus will have supper on the table.” He doffs his cap and is gone before Maggie can turn around to thank him.

  “Come on, Tommy. Let’s get you up.” Dick says, leaning down to put his arm around the boy. “Easy does it.”

  Tommy sways and moans, knees buckling.

  “I’ll go start the car and meet you out front,” Reg says, reaching for the front door.

  Archie steps up to Maggie, handing her a wet cloth wrapped around ice. “This might help for his eye.”

  Maggie nods and presses the cloth gingerly to Tommy’s face. “Ouch, Ma. Hurts.” He wails. Without Dick’s supporting arm he would crumple.

  Slowly, the group make their way down the veranda steps to the waiting car. Not everyone will be able to fit into the Packard. Dick settles Tommy in the back seat with Maggie and climbs into the front passenger seat beside Reg. “We’ll call as soon as the doctor’s seen him,” he says to Archie, who is standing anxiously by the car.

  Once the patient is in the car, slow turns to frantic. Reg guns the engine, planning to be heavy on the pedal. “Good luck, Tommy,” Archie says, his hand in the air, waving goodbye, watching the car fishtail before disappearing around the corner.

  Chapter 2

  M aggie ladles broth into a bowl, lays a few slices of soft bread on a plate, and pours a large glass of milk. She’s weighing the advice of the doctor at the hospital to press charges against Tommy’s attackers, if she can get Tommy to tell her who they were. Setting the food on a tray, she carries it upstairs, puts a bright smile on her face, then pushes Tommy’s bedroom door.

  “Hello, sweetheart. How are you feeling? Did you sleep?”

  Tommy, wrapped in a blanket and braced by pillows, sits upright in a chair they’d carried into his bedroom last night after the hospital visit. The doctor had examined the x-rays and recommended that Tommy should sit, rather than lie, for the next week to ten days while his tightly wrapped broken rib and cracked ribs heal. But more important than anything was that the position would make it easier to breathe and help ward off a chance of a lung infection.

  The bruised and battered face looks up at her. Oh my poor, precious son.

  One eye is still swollen shut. Black stitches on his forehead run like railway tracks, closing the biggest gash. His face is a mass of cuts and purple and blue bruises. The doctor had said that they’d take a day or two to ripen and bloom before they started to fade. Tommy’s arm is in a sling, holding his repaired dislocated shoulder in place. Under his pajama top, thick binding covers his injured ribs.

  Dart, Tommy’s cat, black with a white paw and a tail that looks like it was dipped in white paint, is curled up on his lap; a protective guardian in front of Tommy’s injured forearm.

  “Sorry, Mother. I doz’ off. Wha’ you say? Lunch?” Tommy mumbles around loose teeth and a swollen jaw. He struggles to find a comfortable position. With Maggie’s help, and a couple of grunts and groans, he shifts his body so he can lean forward a little to eat. The movement has drained what little color he had, leaving the bruises standing out in stark relief. Maggie puts Dart on the bed and places the food tray on top of a pillow on Tommy’s lap.

  “You’re sure you don’t want me to feed you?”

  “No, I do it,” he stammers, struggling to get the soup to his mouth and then to swallow.

  “Well, if you’re sure. How about I read to you while you eat?” Maggie reads from The Man in the Iron Mask while Tommy slurps his soup. At the end of the chapter, she closes the book, marking her place with her finger. “I’m going to call Joe and file a police report.”

  “No, Mother. Come back. Hurt me more.” Maggie hears his panic and comes over to soothe him.

  Tommy, his heart racing at the thought of the newsies attacking him again, flinches at the sound of a soft knock at the door.

  “Hey, champ.” Dick, seeing Tommy’s distress, speaks in a reassuring voice. He puts a couple of issues of Baseball Magazine and National Geographic on top of his dresser. “Thought you might like something to read.”

  “Thanks, Mishter Bee… Shwell.” Tommy tries to smile, but winces instead. A small grunt of pain slips out.

  Maggie nods to the half empty bowl. “Can you eat more, sweetheart?”

  Tommy turns his head slightly, the pain from moving stamped on his face. Maggie removes the bowl.

  Dick sits on the bed, across from the chair. “So, what the heck happened, kiddo? You look like you went a few rounds with Dempsy and lost. What were you doing downtown?”

  “I fin’ papers. Had extra from customers away. Holiday. Sell them. Extra money.” Tommy stumbles and mumbles through his answer. Shallow breaths. A few winces as a word stretches against the ripped mouth.

  Maggie watches the interview, alert for any sign of flagging. She’s not yet heard the story and is curious. Hopefully, Tommy will remember who did this atrocious thing and we can bring charges.

  Dick shakes his head. “You run into Dutch and some of his newsies?”

  Tommy nods, picking at the top of his blanket, not meeting Dick’s eyes. “Newsies. More than few.”

  “Dutch is a rough character, Tommy, but I’ve not heard him coming after someone for a couple of papers before.” Dick’s a good reporter and can tell there’s more to the story.

  Maggie hands Tommy a glass of water. His hand shakes as he takes a sip and hands it back.

  Slowly, with much prodding, it all comes out, a word at a time. For the last week, Walter McGuiness, the supervisor down in Circulation, has been giving Tommy extra papers to sell, splitting the profits.

  Dick shakes his head. “Okay, kid. I think I might nose around a bit. The scheme has the makings of a great story.”

  “I think that’s all the story we’ll hear today, Dick,” says Maggie. “Can you maybe help him to the bathroom?”

  Slowly, the two adults get him standing. Tommy sways, leaning heavily against Dick. After the trip across the hall, Maggie and Dick reverse the effort, trying to cause as little pain as possible as Tommy settles back into his chair.

  The effort has left Tommy pale and shaking. He takes short breaths, trying to get air into his lungs. The bindings around his upper body are tight and don’t allow for much movement. He cradles his arm in the sling, adjusting it on the pillow in his lap. Dart jumps up and curls next to it.

  Maggie leans down to shoo the cat, but Tommy says, “Like Dart. Okay?” Every word he tries to pronounce is forced through his mashed mouth and sore jaw.

  Maggie smiles at him, her face etched with concern. She brushes a bit of hair off his face.

  “Sure, sweetie. Take these aspirins with some water. I’ll read to you again for a bit. Dick, can you run this tray downstairs? Just leave it on the kitchen counter.”

  * * * *

  Coming down the stairs, Dick meets fellow lodger Archie Mansfield going up. “How’s the patient?”

  “Pretty beat up. They really did a number on him.”

  “We should call the cops,” Archie says.

  “I overheard Maggie talking to him about it. He knows who did it but he’s pretty scared. I think that’s as bad as the bruises and broken bones, seeing a spunky kid like Tommy afraid. Whatcha got there?” Dick asks, nodding to a stack of books cradled in Archie’s arms.

  “I walked over to the library and picked up a few books he might like: Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles. With summer vacation ending in a few weeks, I found a text book on mathematics. I thought that we could work on some math problems so he doesn’t fall behind if he can’t start school right away.”

  “Maggie’s in there readin
g to him. It might be a few days before he can hold a book. Except for the math book, those others were favorites when I was a kid. I might just borrow one to read when he’s finished.”

  Archie turns sideways, trying to get past Dick and the tray. They jostle and the books fall, and out slips a magazine which boasts a busty woman holding a gun. “What’s this then? Not just serious tomes, eh?” says Dick. “Don’t you think True Detective Mysteries magazine isn’t a bit trashy for a kid like Tommy? If it really is for Tommy, you rascal,” Dick says with an exaggerated wink.

  Archie snatches them up. “A boy cannot exist on mathematics alone, Dick,” he says, brushing past on his way to Tommy’s room.

  Dick chuckles as he leaves the tray on the kitchen counter. He heads into his room off the kitchen to make a note of the information Tommy shared, and to start a list of some of the missing pieces he’ll need to check into.