would take this warning to include the disposal of the contents of the safe, this risk being even greater than the purchase of stolen merchandise should Hannah be foolish enough to try to act as a fence. Ikey was conscious that Hannah cared about her children more than anything else and the prospect of being transported and losing them was the one great fear he had to exploit in her.
Ikey also knew that if he should give Hannah the combination to the safe she might be tempted to abscond with only the money, the value of the gold chains and the proceeds obtained from the sale of their two London properties. The rest of the hugely valuable haul she might wait to dispose of at another time in some foreign country of her choice.
He had therefore determined on a ploy which, over a series of letters, would let her know that he was negotiating the sale of the pearl necklace to an American of great wealth. When he came close to the limit of his credit with her he would reveal this personage to be the redoubtable John Astor, said to be the richest man in America, 'American Royalty' as the saying went. The pearls were worth one hundred thousand pounds and Ikey was confident that Hannah's greed would persuade her to come to America with the contents of the safe.
Of the two of them, Ikey was the more vulnerable. Hannah would continue to exist whatever might happen, for Hannah hated not herself, only everyone else, and Ikey was simply the incarnation of everything she despised. Ikey, despite the fact that he might yet make a new and separate wealth in America, saw Hannah's determination to rob him of his fortune as an action more hellish in its nature than if she had plotted to murder him. If she were to succeed in stealing his fortune she would have won, not just his wealth, but his very existence. Her victory, and the hate contained within it, would destroy him completely. Victory over Hannah and therefore over himself lay in his retaining the contents of the safe. Hannah was playing a game with her husband for his money and because he was the perfect focus for her extraordinary resentment against the world. Ikey was playing a game with his wife for his very life.
Alas, the best laid plans…! Ikey was not to know that his luck was on its way to Van Diemen's Land and, at the moment of Hannah's receiving his letter in London, it was dangling freely on its gold chain about the scrawny neck of Tiberias Potbottom.
Chapter Twenty-one
The London police records of the time show that a large consignment of watches, said to be more than one hundred, were stolen from the premises of a wholesale merchant in Cheapside. This coincidence was to completely change the lives and luck of Hannah and Ikey Solomon.
A theft of such proportion would soon be known in the Whitechapel markets and in Rosemary and Petticoat Lanes and around the Haymarket, where there would be much discussion as to who might have brought it about and who might be capable of fencing such a 'delicate' haul.
It might at first be supposed that it would be simple enough to bring a consignment of new watches back onto the market, but such was not the case. The numbers and markings of the watches were all furnished to the police, being available from the manufacturer, and so each watch would need to be carefully 'christened', that is, the number altered and the name upon the face carefully removed or the face itself replaced. This was a task which took some skill and, moreover, time and was not often worthy of completion on a fob watch that was not of gold or silver. The watches taken were of a varying assortment, but mostly at the cheaper end of the quality market. This meant that such merchandise, while cheaply procured by a fence, was difficult to place into circulation -a trickle placed here and there in market towns and country fairs and all of this over a lengthy period of time, so that the risk of discovering the source of the trickle was greatly decreased.
Hannah, hearing of the theft, was quick to realise that it matched almost precisely the consignment Ikey had commanded her to obtain. Accordingly, and contrary to Ikey's instructions that '… none but 'righteous' watches be sent and not to touch even one what has been gained 'on the cross'', Hannah sent for Bob Marley.
It was late afternoon when Marley knocked on the door of Hannah's Whitechapel home. He was dressed as a regular toff, ready for an evening of jollifications in Drury Lane and the Haymarket, and did not even bother to remove his top hat as he entered the house. This was an intended insult, designed to go along with his failure to greet Hannah as he brushed past her into the familiar parlour. Here he appropriated a glass of the good brandy Hannah had got in and took a bagel from the plate. He commenced to chew with his mouth open; his two gold eye teeth showed clearly as he stared blankly at Hannah, who had followed him silently into the parlour.
'Long time no see, eh, Bob?'
Marley took a gulp of brandy then pushed what remained of the bagel into his mouth. He did not acknowledge her greeting, sucking the crumbs from his fingers as he continued to stare at Hannah.
Hannah smiled ingratiatingly. 'Now, don't be like that, Bob, it were only business.'
'Humph!' Marley grunted.
'Ya done me one in the eye when they made the raid on Bell Alley, ya took me money under false pretences!' Hannah shrugged. 'So I got me revenge.' She grinned. 'That's all, it were tit f' tat!'
Marley swallowed, his Adam's apple bouncing. 'Ya made me look like a copper's nark! That's not the same thing! Me, a man o' me word, I gave Ikey me word, I took his contract!' He paused and took a slug of the brandy. 'Ya done in me fuckin' reputation!'
Hannah laughed uneasily, but then brightened. 'Well Ikey escaped anyway, no 'arm done, in the end ya done 'im a big favour, know what I mean?'
Marley jumped suddenly from the chair and grabbed Hannah by the throat with one large hand. 'Fuck Ikey! It were me reputation ya destroyed! Me a copper's nark, a fuckin' informer!' He shook Hannah, almost lifting her feet from the ground. 'Ain't nobody what trusts me no more!' His fingers tightened about her neck and Hannah's face grew purple, her eyes almost popping from their sockets. 'Don't never try that again, ya 'ear? You'll be dead meat!' Bob Marley released Hannah, who sank to her knees clutching her neck with both hands, forcing herself not to sob. Bob Marley held an open razor in his right hand.
Marley flicked the razor closed and placed it in the pocket of his coat, then threw back his head and swallowed the rest of his brandy. He thumped the glass down upon the table and started towards the door.
'I trusts ya, Bob,' Hannah said in a hoarse voice, rising slowly to her feet. 'Please wait.'
Bob Marley turned at the door and gave a short laugh. 'Ya trusts me! Well ain't that a fuckin' caution!'
Hannah moved up to him and touched him on the sleeve. 'Please?' she smiled again, her throat aching. 'G'warn, 'ave another brandy, a nice bagel, do ya good. I can explain everyfink, honest.'
Marley, eyeing the bottle of excellent brandy, hesitated. 'Explain what?' He crossed back to the bottle. 'Ain't nuffink to explain, ya fucked me reputation, that's all!'
'It ain't true, Bob. You is the best. Ya always was, ya still is. The best there be. Ikey always says, ' 'E's the best, 'e is, always use the best, Hannah'. I says so too, the best o' the best!'
Bob Marley looked up at Hannah, his expression slightly mollified. 'What's ya want?'
'Watches!' Hannah removed Ikey's letter from within her bodice and waved it. 'Ikey wants watches in America.'
Despite himself Bob Marley was impressed. 'Jesus! 'E made it, eh? Cunnin' bastard!' He poured more brandy into his glass and glanced up at Hannah. 'Fencin' then is 'e?'
Hannah was reluctant to explain. 'Yeah, sorta.' She replaced the letter. 'Them watches what's been lifted from Cheapside, know anyfink?'
Marley shook his head. 'Too 'ot, 'Annah, they's got to cool down first, ain't nobody goin' to handle them yet. They's numbered and all, mostly cheap shit, not worth christenin'.'
'Could ya find 'em?' Hannah asked. 'Make a good buy? I'll take the lot if the askin' price be right.'
Marley shook his head. 'Too dangerous. I told ya, watches be too 'ot to touch!'
'I'll pay fifty per cent o' the shop price,' Hannah said quickly, knowing this to be a generous offer, also knowing that she would charge Ikey the full retail price for the watches.
'Sixty! Sixty per cent o' the retail, take it or leave it. And I'll need twenty sovs down payment,' Marley said emphatically. 'There's expenses, ya understand?'
Hannah nodded but inwardly she was concerned that Marley was losing his grip, that perhaps he had lost his reputation and therefore his old, greedy confidence. His sudden attack on her had left her frightened, but in the
