Fair and Tender Ladies by Chris Nickson Page B

He raised the mug in his hand and gestured at the empty bench across the table. ‘Room for one more?’
    â€˜If you like.’ He didn’t relish company but the man intrigued him. Finer settled with a slow sigh.
    â€˜That’s better,’ he said. ‘Twenty years back I’d have stayed standing. Now I’m happy for a rest.’
    â€˜Are you settling back into Leeds?’ Nottingham asked.
    â€˜I am.’ He drank, savouring the liquid in his mouth, then swallowed and smiled.
    â€˜No thoughts about what you might do?’
    â€˜Do? I’m not going to do anything.’
    The Constable raised his eyebrows. ‘Really? I thought you might have had plans, Mr Finer.’
    â€˜Been hearing things, have you, laddie?’ He laughed.
    â€˜Words are like wildfire here, you ought to remember that.’
    Finer lifted his hands and spread them in surrender. ‘I’d like to give something to this place. Is that so bad?’
    â€˜Not at all,’ Nottingham agreed. ‘But I have my doubts that you’re just doing it out of charity.’
    Finer shook his head slowly. ‘I’ve told you, I’m not the man I was, Constable.’
    â€˜So you say.’
    â€˜I’ve no reason to lie.’
    â€˜No?’ Nottingham asked.
    â€˜No,’ Finer answered flatly. ‘I’ve walked around enough since I came back. I’ve seen all the poor here. There’s that camp down by the river.’
    â€˜Bessie looks after those folk well.’
    â€˜I’m sure she does, but we both know they’d be better off with a roof over their heads. What’ll they do in winter? I have more money than I need and no one else to spend it on. I might as well use to help those who need it.’
    â€˜And make a profit along the way?’
    Finer chuckled. ‘Not quite what you think, laddie. I’m not so daft that I wouldn’t want my investment back. I didn’t grow up here for nothing. But after that, all the money will go back into the workhouse to keep it running.’
    â€˜So it’s not charity at all?’ Nottingham asked.
    â€˜It’s my money that’ll pay to make the workhouse liveable again. Have you been in there lately?’
    The Constable shook his head.
    â€˜It’s going to need hundreds spent on it.’ He listed the points on his fingers. ‘Then there’s finding contracts, a good master for the place. Do you have any idea how much they paid the last one?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Fifty pounds a year and his lodgings.’ He sounded outraged. ‘And he still let the whole bloody thing get out of hand. That’s why they closed.’ He stared at Nottingham. ‘It’s going to cost me at least five hundred to have the place ready.’
    â€˜A very tidy sum.’ More than many merchants cleared in a year, he knew that.
    â€˜I have it and I’ll pay it.’
    â€˜What if you don’t get it back?’ The Constable drained his cup, his eyes firmly on the man.
    Finer shrugged. ‘Then I don’t. I won’t be starving without it. But I’m sure if it’s done right, the workhouse can pay for itself. You know what the problem’s been before?’
    â€˜What?’ He wanted to hear the man’s opinion.
    â€˜The people in charge of everything were clerks. How much do they really know about business?’
    â€˜Certainly not business like yours.’
    â€˜I’ve spent my life turning one penny into two, laddie,’ Finer countered.
    â€˜And how many have you hurt doing that?’
    The man frowned, then replied, ‘I keep telling you, all that’s in the past now. The Corporation’s in favour of my plans.’
    â€˜I’ve no doubt they are. They’ll love anything that sweeps the poor off the streets and doesn’t cost them a penny.’
    â€˜Where the poor will be fed and have beds to sleep in,’ Finer said