Chapter Seven

There was a part of town that seemed unaffected by the economic situation in London, and that part of town belonged to Mary. It was here that rations did not apply, here that expensive foreign alcohol poured from fancy glasses down rich throats into rich bellies clothed in the finest silks. Where under the silk clothed skin, slip hems were bordered by the finest embroidered laces. Sure, it wasn’t exactly like before the war, there were less of them, but Mary didn’t care. The war was over and her life was good, at least superficially. Superficially was all that mattered to her anyways.

Mary opened the blinds in her apartment to let the day in. She stared out over the river and let out a sigh of relief. She reeked of alcohol and cigarette smoke. Last night she had attended a charity ball. They were few and far between these days as not many had the money to attend such an event. She was there though. She came from old money and wasn’t afraid to flaunt it. Her husband, who had been killed a few years back, had always begged her to be more gentle. Gentle with money, gentle with people, gentle towards life. Gentle was not a word she understood well. Though she used to lack this “gentle” quality her husband accused her of lacking, after her husband died she fell over the edge. She had been extravagant with money before, but now she spent it like she was going to die tomorrow, and maybe she was.

Before her husband passed, and especially before the war, she had been the life and envy of every person, at every party, every event. Now people looked at her and didn’t think, rich powerful girl with lots of money. No. They just felt sorry for her and felt at times she should be put in a straight jacket and carted off to somewhere where she couldn’t do herself any harm. She felt her new insanity suited her just fine.

With her hair still done up from the night before, her diamond earrings still clinging to her earlobes, and her luxurious silk dress still hugging her movie star figure, she sauntered into her kitchen. Her hired help had disappeared recently without notifying her so she was left taking care of the place herself. After pouring herself some cool water into a crystal wine glass she flipped on the radio.

“If you are just tuning in, Ms. Lanchester, England’s most famous army nurse, has been found dead! Ms. Lanchester served both in North Africa, Italy, and in Germany…” She turned it off. A profanity leaked out of her lips as the crystal glass shattered on the floor. She hadn’t wanted it to turn out this way. She knew who was responsible and he was going to be hearing from her god dammit. Stepping gingerly across the floor she cuts her foot on the tiny pieces of crystal. God…dammit. The hundreds of tiny diamonds spread across the floor seem to mock her as she limps to the bathroom to tend to her wound.
As she sits on the toilet seat and begins to remove the pieces she is surprised to hear a knock at the door. No one called on her these days. While she didn’t go out of her way to avoid people, people definitely avoided her.

She opened the door, slowly at first, then all the way. The woman at the door wore a cloak covering her head and as the rays of sunlight from the room fell over her she hissed and spread the cloak further over her face.

“Hello Elizabeth.”