Freedom • Lord Tewksbury

ELEVEN

By the end of the day, Catherine was exhausted and disgusting. She desperately needed a bath, and a very good hand-washing. Her hands were coated in green dust.

"How did Sarah do it? Get into the office?" Enola asked Bessie as they left the factory.

"There was a fire at one of the stations. Foreman got distracted," Bessie answered.

"Was it Mae's station?" Catherine asked, and Bessie turned to her, her eyes lighting up.

"Yes! You both are good detectives," Bessie told them, before walking off. Enola and Catherine smiled briefly, before Catherine's eyes fell on Mae who was walking away.

"I say we follow her," Catherine told Enola.

"I agree."

So with that, the two cousins began to follow their loose string.

***

Mae led them to a theater called The Paragon, and it was quite a lively place. The minute Catherine and Enola walked in, they were hit with the smell of body odor, and the overwhelming noise of hundreds of people all shouting at once. That combined with the small orchestra that was playing was enough to give anyone a headache.

"Hello, dearies. Forgot your tickets? That's tuppence for sweet, cheating faces like yours," a bald man in a top hat told them. They each gave him a few coins and then he walked off, as the two girls moved further into the theater.

"Well this is certainly a wonderful place to hide," Catherine commented as she and Enola moved to the center of the room. The hundreds of people was making it very hard for either of them to focus, let alone find Mae.

"Yes it is," Enola agreed. "Where are you Mae?"

Suddenly a woman on a trapeze bar swings above them, startling the two, as her arms nearly touch them when she extends them. She then swings back onto the stage, and moments later five girls came onto the stage singing a song.

"Enola," Catherine hissed, pointing to Mae who was among the five girls on stage. Enola's eyes widened, and the two nodded. They would have to get backstage.

Enola and Catherine quickly moved through the crowd, and made their way through a door, entering into the backstage area of the theater. They rounded a corner and were met with a tall, bald man, who was not happy.

"You the foozler who took my pan stick?" He asked, towering over the two of them.

"Um, no. I'm looking for a girl called M-" Enola was cut off when the man went walking away, after not getting the answer he wanted.

Enola walked over to a table, and picked up a lipstick, while Catherine stared at a pair of stag antler on the wall. Then it all clicked, Sarah used to work here. Enola and Catherine shared a look and then went to walk further into the room, but they were suddenly pushed against two opposite walls, knives to their necks. Mae was holding Enola, and a random blonde was holding Catherine.

"You've got five seconds to tell me why you're here," Mae told Enola, as the blonde dug the knife into Catherine's neck.

"Did Sarah work here?" Enola asked, breathing heavily. "She did, didn't she? And Bessie doesn't know."

"There's plenty Bessie don't know, and plenty you don't need to tell her about," Mae threatened.

"I know you helped her into that office. She took those pages, why? What's happened to her?" Enola asked, sharing a glance with Catherine, who was rather bored over on her wall. The blonde wasn't asking her anything, only waiting for Mae to take the lead.