Free Black-eyed Devils by Catrin Collier

later he reappeared. ‘Mr Craggs will see you.’ He led the way up two flights of stairs and opened a door. Anna entered the room and the clerk closed the door behind her.
    The office couldn’t have been more different from a miners’ cottage. It was as large as Anna’s parlour, hall, passage and kitchen combined. One wall had wide windows that overlooked Market Square. A fire had been banked up in an enormous marble fireplace, the walls were papered in gold, the elegant furniture mahogany. Arnold Craggs sat behind a massive, leather topped desk that almost filled the room.
    The years had been kind to him. He was still slim and his eyes as blue as Anna remembered. Only his hair had changed. There was more silver than blond in the strands that fell over his forehead. He rose to his feet when she entered and indicated an armchair next to the fire.
    â€˜Hello, Anna. It’s good to see you. Please, sit down.’
    â€˜I’m wet. I’d ruin your chair.’
    â€˜I don’t mind.’
    â€˜I would. I didn’t come here to spoil your furniture.’
    â€˜I’ve been hoping that you come to see me for years. Why now, after all this time?’
    â€˜Because a young Irishman called Thomas Kelly needs help. You were the only person I could think of who might be able to do something for him.’

CHAPTER NINE
    â€˜I wouldn’t go out there, if I were you, boy,’ Constable Davies advised Tom Kelly. Tom had left the cell where he had slept for most of the morning and was walking towards the front door of the police station.
    â€˜I’m a free man, aren’t I?’ Tom asked.
    â€˜You haven’t been arrested. But you’re only as free as the colliery company lets you be. Or do you need reminding that you’ve signed on with them?’ Huw Davies asked.
    â€˜After what happened last night, I don’t need reminding.’
    â€˜I’ve no doubt they’ll send someone to pick you up as soon as the streets are safe.’ Huw sat behind the incident desk.
    â€˜I overheard Sergeant Martin tell one of the officers that most of the colliers have gone back to the picket lines.’ Tom buttoned his ill-fitting tweed jacket and turned up his collar.
    â€˜Most, not all,’ Huw qualified. ‘You’re a known blackleg. If a collier recognizes you, you’re likely to get the same treatment the others had last night. We heard this morning that none of them will be fit for work for at least a week.’
    â€˜The colliery company got more than it bargained for when it took them on,’ Gwyn Jenkins, another local constable laughed. ‘Medically unfit blacklegs and expensive hospital bills. I wouldn’t like to be in Shipton’s shoes. Where was he and the other duty officer hiding when the colliers took the blacklegs out of the stables?’
    â€˜He’s explaining that to the Arnold Craggs’ agent and the sergeant now.’ Huw Davies turned to Tom. ‘Why don’t you forget about going to see your uncle for a day or two? If you return to your cell you can have a lie down. I’ll bring you a nice cup of tea.’
    â€˜I’ve had enough of lying down.’
    â€˜Better that than getting beaten up.’
    Tom grinned. ‘I’ve proved I can run fast.’
    Huw Davies refused to be amused. ‘It might not be fast enough next time, boy.’
    â€˜Ten minutes. That’s all it’ll take for me to walk around the corner, talk to my uncle and tell him I’m all right.’
    â€˜Sergeant Martin told him that this morning.’
    â€˜I have a letter to give him. A personal letter.’ Tom clutched the folded paper in his pocket. He’d begged a sheet of paper and a pencil from one of the constables that morning and written a note to Amy. He had no envelope to seal it in, but he trusted his uncle to deliver it unread. ‘You can’t stop me going, can you?’
    â€˜No, I