Fair and Tender Ladies by Chris Nickson Page A

to make the man pay for his remark about Lizzie.
    His mood brightened as the afternoon passed. He knew he’d find Molly in her usual place, downstream from the warehouses and above the dye works where liquid flowed out and turned the river red and black and green. There’d be one or two others with her, working from first light until dusk, pulling all she found on to the bank and hoping for something she could sell.
    He could see the girl in the distance, her ragged old dress pulled high and clouted between spindly legs as she waded in the shallow water, bending and scooping up handfuls of mud, sifting through for treasure. A boy and a girl lay on the riverbank in the sun.
    The deputy walked heavily as he came close, giving them all a chance to hear him. The two on the grass scuttled away as soon as they saw his face and he stifled a smile. Molly waved and moved towards the bank, extending a hand so he could haul her out of the water.
    â€˜I’ve not seen you in a long time, Mr Sedgwick,’ she said cheerily, keeping her legs bare to dry in the heat.
    â€˜You’ve been a good lass, Molly, no need to go chasing you down. Anything interesting today?’ he asked, nodding at a small collection by her feet.
    â€˜Nowt special. Just a few bits of metal.’ She smiled happily, showing a mouth with both front teeth missing, giving her face a strangely childish look. Thick red hair cascaded down her back and the freckles on her bare flesh appeared dark against her pale skin. She claimed to be fifteen but could easily have passed for eleven, and she’d been a mudlark as long as he’d been a Constable’s man. ‘I found a ring yesterday, I were that excited. It were only brass, but still …’ She shrugged. ‘One day happen I’ll find a gold one.’
    â€˜You never know, you might,’ he told her. ‘I hear you were at Mrs Lee’s on Saturday.’
    â€˜Aye. I found a farthing last thing in the day and I thought I’d treat meself. Right comfy it were, too.’
    â€˜You met a lass called Jenny there.’
    â€˜Jenny?’ She grinned. ‘Oh, I liked her, Mr Sedgwick. She’d only just come to Leeds. And she give me some of the food she had in her basket. She were nice, she were. I told her she could come down here with me if she liked.’
    â€˜She didn’t want to?’
    â€˜She thought she could make money in Leeds.’ She cocked her head. ‘Why are you asking about her, any road?’
    â€˜She’s dead, love.’
    For a moment Molly’s face fell, her mouth collapsing at the corners. She said softly, ‘Aye, well.’
    How many had she known who’d died, he wondered. ‘Did she say where she was going on Sunday?’
    â€˜Just that someone had told her about a place where she could get rich.’
    â€˜Where was that? Did she say?’
    â€˜No, Mr Sedgwick. I din’t bother asking, neither. I knew it were all words, it’d never happen. The likes of us never get rich, do we?’
    â€˜True enough, love.’ He dug in the pocket of his breeches and put two pennies in her hand, enjoying the way her eyes widened in joy and surprise.
    â€˜You look after yourself, Molly lass,’ he said.

ELEVEN
    â€˜Y ou look far away, laddie.’
    People seemed to be saying that to him too often these days, the Constable thought. But it was true, his mind kept drifting back to happier, loving times. He looked up and saw Finer watching him, amusement flickering across his mouth.
    In the shank of an afternoon that felt too hot and too long he’d found a quiet, cool corner in the Old King’s Head. A stream ran under the cellar to chill the ale. He took a sip before answering.
    â€˜I was just thinking.’
    â€˜Well, here is as good a place as any for it.’
    â€˜I thought you’d be enjoying the sun, Mr Finer.’
    â€˜There’s a time for that and a time for this.’