Chapter 386: Hastings’ Secret

Chapter 382 The Secret of Hastings

London, Taulhamletts, Whitechapel district, in Mr. Martin’s tavern.

It was late in the evening, and Mr. Martin’s business was, as usual, as hot as ever.

As a businessman who started out as a counterfeiter, Judd Martin was very satisfied with his life now.

Although the bulk of his income was still from adulterated beer, at least Martin could proudly proclaim that his liquor was free of green alum and other harmful substances, compared to his counterparts in the East End.

And with this kind of wealth, Martin was relieved that he didn’t have to go to bed every day and make a long, heartfelt confession to God.

The only reason he was able to keep his store open in the complicated Whitechapel was, of course, the man of honor in his life, the God of Scotland Yard, Arthur Hastings.

Mr. Martin’s niece remembers well that when the news came that Mr. Hastings had been shot in Liverpool, her uncle, who was reading the paper, was so frightened that he fell straight out of his chair.

In order to keep abreast of the progress of the Liverpool shooting case and Mr. Hastings’ injuries, the miserly Mr. Martin spared no expense in throwing away two shillings to wipe out all the newspapers that reported the news in the market.

It was only when he was certain that Mr. Hastings was not dead that the middle-aged man fell asleep in his bed.

It was only then that Anne realized how much power Mr. Hastings, who occasionally came in for coffee, really wielded.

Although Annie didn’t know what the words meant, and Mr. Sheriff and Uncle might not know what they meant, the odd accents sounded learned.

Of course, she couldn’t help having a little thought of her own.

The two gentlemen were quite willing to answer the lady’s questions when they were in a pleasant mood.

Not only that, but the admired young officer was promoted to Assistant Superintendent, making him the number three man in Scotland Yard after the Chief Constable, Rowan, and the Deputy Chief Constable, Sir Brian Mayne.

Taking advantage of the gap between the two men’s conversation, Anne, who was serving wine and food, asked about Mr. Hastings out of curiosity.

As the saying goes, Shun was born in the field drains, Fu Shuo was raised in the fields of drains, Jiao Li was raised in the fields of fish and salt, Guan Yiwu was raised in the fields of field drains, Sun Shuo was raised in the fields of the sea, and Thyme was raised in the field of field drains. ……

In the evening, the sheriff, who seldom shows a good face to others, visited Martin’s Tavern in person, and talked with Mr. Martin about his brotherhood. After a warm conversation, the two were surprised to find that the niece of Mr. Sheriff’s aunt’s family married Mr. Martin’s hometown of Kent, so they can be counted as half a hometown mile.

It was only then that she learned of Mr. Hastings’ storied family history.

These Whitechapel local dignitaries surrounded him, each with a smile that could have been the weight of the year on his face.

He was flanked by the ever-unsmiling sheriff, the somewhat balding deacon of the Poorhouse, the local pastor with his Scriptures and a cross on his chest, and several elders of the Scotland Yard Presbyterian Church.

Anne remembered well her visit to the butcher’s store the other day and seeing Mr. Hastings walking out of the Whitechapel police station with a spirited look on his face.

However, after Mr. Hastings’ visit to the police station, the sheriff had said nothing about the incident.

And in order to help Arthur heal, Mr. Martin got up early the next morning and went to the church confessional to help Mr. Hastings confess his sins, overstepping his bounds.

According to Mr. Sheriff’s explanation, Mr. Hastings was inspiring everyone in Whitechapel Police Station, and was using his own experience to teach everyone one thing: in this era, even if you are a clay legged man, it doesn’t matter, as long as you have enough talent and a little bit of luck, you will be able to climb up the ladder. And he, Arthur Hastings, was the luck of the big guys.

And Mr. Hastings wasn’t all braggadocio.

Even more dramatic was the fact that the sheriff had clearly requested a few days before that Martin’s Tavern should be closed during cholera control.

Perhaps Martin’s piety really did the trick, or perhaps Mr. Hastings’ own life was hard, in short, he returned from Liverpool alive and well.

Who would have thought that such a great man would have been just three years ago a sergeant who had to live on credit with her uncle?
Perhaps it was Mr. Hastings’s rise to prominence that irritated Mr. Sergeant, who even recited on the spot a speech Mr. Hastings had given to the constables when he visited Whitechapel Police Station.

And not only that, but the sergeant, who was in his early thirties and had a scar at the corner of his mouth, had even confronted the parish priest, who was an advocate of prohibition, over the matter of the tavern, and had called the deacon of the Poorhouse, who had reported Martin’s Tavern for selling illegal publications, to the police station to give him a scolding.

Because it seems that the last Sergeant of the Whitechapel Police Station, the Ledley known to the group as ‘Mudslinger’, has left the Whitechapel shithouse and has been transferred to work under Mr. Hastings.

She knew that people like Mr. Hastings belonged to the real ladies, those Misses and Ladies, after all. If it had been a few years ago, when he was a poor little constable, he might have had some chance for himself, but now the door was closed.

Anne was not chagrined, however, for she already had someone she liked.

The heartless one should be made to get a job under Mr. Hastings, if he could.

Not that the fellow would be much of an up-and-comer, just that he wouldn’t spend all his time with the assholes who drank and made trouble at the docks.

Anne thought about these things and absentmindedly wiped the table.

Suddenly, the wind chimes hanging in front of the tavern door tinkled.

Anne put away her rag, looked up, and was pleasantly surprised, “Mr. Hastings?”

Arthur took a look at a few of the store’s familiar landlubbers, took off his hat and spoke, “Good evening, ma’am. Where is your uncle? I have a private room reservation with him.”

“My uncle is in the back kitchen. He said this is the first time you’ve come to the store this year, so he has to treat you well and remove the bad luck you brought back from Liverpool.”

“No need to be so polite.” Arthur joked, “I don’t ask for much, as long as Mr. Martin doesn’t add anything extra to my dish.”

“You’re the one who’s overthinking it.” Anne returned with a smile, “He’s stingy and has a poor memory, but he’s remembered everything you’ve instructed him to do.”

“Alright, then I’ll go up first.”

Arthur was about to go up the stairs, when suddenly, Anne voiced out and stopped him, “Wait a minute, Mr. Hastings!”

“Hmm?” Arthur turned around and asked, “Anything else?”

“That ……”

Anne wasn’t sure how to start this conversation, as a country girl from Kent, she only remembered that as a child her mother would always take something when she asked for something.

But what was the one gift she could take for someone like Mr. Hastings?

Farm produce like eggs didn’t seem to be in short supply for Mr. Hastings.

Arthur saw Anne’s consternation, and he opened his mouth to ask, “What’s the matter? Did someone bully you? Or is your uncle not paying you your regular salary again?”

“No, it’s not my uncle. He doesn’t pay me much, but if I want to buy something not too expensive, he’ll still nod his head in agreement ……”

Arthur snickered with one hand on the armrest, “Girl, next time something like this happens, you can come to the London District Attorney’s Office for help. Although civil cases are outside of our jurisdiction, given that most of our newly recruited prosecutors there are inexperienced, I believe there are quite a few of them who are still willing to find some small cases to practice on.”

As soon as Arthur’s words left his mouth, a commotion could be heard coming from outside the door of the tavern. With a bang, the tavern door was kicked open.

A beaten and bruised man was thrown onto the floor of the tavern, and the five big thugs fishtailed in, followed by a brittle and disdainful cold snort.

Heels clicked on the floor as Fiona, in a black and red dress, had a wide-brimmed hat with a fluffy white feather sticking out of it slung over her head.

She stood beside the man with a thin cigarette stem in her lacey white gloved hand, “Where’s Martin? Come out and answer me if you’re alive! If you’re dead, I’ll lift the lid off your coffin tonight!”

Martin lifted the curtain of the back kitchen partition and came out rubbing his hands and smiling, “Ms. Ivan, it’s not good for a girl to be angry all the time, look at you, it’s just tarnishing your natural beauty.”

Fiona sipped her cigarette and puffed smoke towards Martin’s face, “Mr. Martin, I don’t want to disturb your business. You are a businessman, I am also a businessman, we should be in harmony. However, the man your niece chose came to my place to whore for nothing. If I turn a blind eye to this and pretend I don’t know anything about it, that’s a bad rule of the trade. If everyone did what he did, would our trade still be viable?”

“Ah ……” Martin looked at the half-dead gangster lying on the ground: “You said he ah! You don’t have to show me any mercy, I don’t even know this kind of bastard. You can decide for yourself what you want to do, whether you want to sink in the Thames or sell them into slavery in the Americas, you are free to do so.”

“Uncle!”

Anne heard this and rushed out, “How could you do this to John?”

Seeing this, Martin just glared at his niece, “What are you doing? You’re not even off duty today!”

He took out a broom from behind the counter and shoved it into Annie’s hand, “If you feel idle, I’ll assign you a new job to sweep this pile of social garbage on the floor outside.”

“Huh?!” Fiona reached out and stopped in front of Annie, rushing at Martin and speaking, “Martin, what do you mean? We haven’t finished our business yet. If you don’t pay the bill for him, then he can’t go out.”

“Fiona.”

Arthur, who had been leaning against the armrest watching the scene for half a day, raised his hand to greet her, “Don’t make a scene, I don’t want to be out of the office during off-duty hours. How much does he owe you, I’ll pay it for him.”

“Huh?”

Fiona heard someone call her name and was about to get angry, but her eyes turned to see that the one who spoke turned out to be the black hat on the stairs, and the swear words that were on her lips instantly turned a corner and circled back to her stomach.

“Oh! There you are, my dear! You are as generous and kind as ever, and in that case I agree.”

Fiona lifted her cigarette stub and gave the kid on the ground a disgusted kick, “You bastard, you’re lucky to have stumbled upon the kindest person in all of London today. But next time you dare to do that, you won’t be so lucky.”

At the end of her sentence, Fiona raised her head and glared at Anne, fished a ticket out of her pocket and sent it into her hand, “Take him to be treated for his injuries. Lastly, keep an eye on your man. He seems to think he’s so attractive, he’s completely unaware that he has to pay for sex with other women besides you.”

Anne sniffed and simply shot back with a vicious look as she assisted her sweetheart out of the tavern.

Fiona saw this and just read rather disparagingly, “Still too young!”

The diners who were watching saw that there was no more fun, and could only clink their glasses together and laugh with a toast: “What a spoilsport.”

Fiona glanced at the group of diners, turned her head and commanded the fighters, “You guys stand guard here, I’m happy today, feel free to order whatever you want to eat, I’m going to talk business with my dear.”

Fiona scooted over to Arthur and with a slight lift of her hand, she raised her jaw at Arthur, signaling him to take hold.

Arthur just chuckled at the sight, “Where did you learn that? It’s kinda uppity.”

Fiona didn’t really care, “That’s for sure, I had a special etiquette teacher. As for you, you’ve been hanging out at so many cocktail parties, haven’t you learned any semblance of gentlemanly manners?”

“Of course I haven’t learned any gentlemanly manners, Ms. Ivan, you must know that I used to be a pig farmer, and now I’m just changing my field. But, as you have learned it so well, I’ll try to go along with your imitation.”

Arthur owed a slight bow and led Fiona by the hand into the box on the second floor.

The two had just sat down when they heard Fiona unable to stop complaining, “Damn! You are indeed a pig farmer, holding a lady’s hand, you actually use the same force as leading a pig.”

Arthur responded while pouring tea, “Mountain pigs can’t eat fine chaff, so bear with it, ma’am.”

“Huh?” Fiona knocked on the table with great dissatisfaction, “It’s hard to satisfy a debtor with an attitude like yours.”

“So? How much does Annie’s boyfriend owe you?”

“Not much.” Fiona held up a finger, “That much.”

“A pound?”

Arthur frowned and fished a ticket out of his pocket and laid it on the table, “You’re practically robbing the city, the robbers in the city of London may not be able to rob that much money in a single job.”

“High risk, high reward, high quality service naturally deserves a high price.”

Fiona stretched her back and said, “If you want to earn this money, I can also introduce you. Aren’t there still a lot of brats these days who think about getting rich overnight by marrying a rich merchant’s widow? It’s just that they do the long term and we do the short term, I don’t see any difference between us.”

With that said, Fiona lowered her head again to peer at the corner of Arthur’s eye, “By the way, have you gotten over your injury? You’re halfway through the Liverpool case, why don’t you move on? If there’s anything you’re not comfortable stepping up to, I can help. Of course, my request is that you can’t be gracious, and if I do the job, you can’t end up throwing me in the slammer again.”

“I appreciate your concern, ma’am, but keep your nose out of the Liverpool case and just do your own business.”

“Wow ……” Fiona narrowed her eyes, then whirled around and snapped them open again, “Well, darling, since you’ve said that, I’ll trust you, and if you won’t let me touch it, then I won’t touch it.”

Arthur took a sip of his tea, “I hope you really are as well behaved as you say you are, but then again, I find your answer a little disappointing again, because I was expecting you to be a little more rebellious.”

Speaking of which, Arthur fished a file out of his bag and tossed it onto the table, shaking his head rather regretfully, “Looks like you might not be able to do this job.”

“What’s this?”

“What you wanted.”

“What I want?”

Fiona was about to pick up the document when Arthur suddenly reached out and pressed down on her palm, “Think about it, if you accept what you want, then out of the principle of fair trade, you must also offer me a corresponding reward.”

Fiona suddenly narrowed her eyes and smiled as she returned, “Your reward has always been sitting right here, can you blame me for not giving it if you don’t take it yourself? You take what you want yourself, just like I do.”

At the end of her sentence, Fiona didn’t give Arthur a chance to open his mouth as she swooshed the papers out from under Arthur’s palm.

Just after unfolding the cover of the document, the smile on her face suddenly froze, and after a short pause, she exclaimed, “My God! Honey, how did you get this!”

(End of chapter)