Sleeper by David Fennell

Author:David Fennell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

The Office at Puddle Dock

Starling stands on the deck watching the sun rise over east London as Eoin steers The Outcast along the Thames and towards a wharf called Puddle Dock. A group of fishermen are selling their haul to market traders, restaurateurs and whoever else has the money to buy their catches.

‘We keep an office here,’ says Anna. ‘It allows us to keep an eye on who is coming and going.’

Two warehouses are separated by a narrow street. The warehouse on the left has been ripped in half, its charred remains open and exposed like the toothless mouth of a corpse. The building on the right is untouched; there are four floors of tall, wide leaded windows where people are going about their jobs.

Starling stares down the narrow street and sees something silver and gleaming parked at the top of it. He smiles and feels his mood lifting. It is Eoin’s Embiricos.

The Irishman moors The Outcast and they step onto the jetty. Glancing up at the surviving warehouse, Starling sees a slim, suited man looking down at them from the top floor window. He thinks he knows him. He follows Eoin and Anna across the jetty, threading through the fishermen and their lively banter, with his head down.

He hears a voice that sounds familiar.

‘…and I says to him, you listen right ’ere, I says. The Lazy Turtle is my boat. No one else’s and you ain’t got no business showing your old face round here. Now clear off…’

There is a grumbling response from the men.

Starling stops, his eyes focusing in on the face belonging to the voice that had grabbed his attention. The man must be in his forties, with thinning grey hair, a pot belly and blotchy skin on a pinched face with an expression carrying an air of smugness about it.

One of the fishermen speaks. ‘Well, I never. What did he say to that, Ned?’

Ned! Of course. The same ‘treacherous’ Ned that stole Skipper’s haul the morning after he saved my life.

‘What is it, Will?’ asks Anna.

Eoin is already at the top of the jetty and hasn’t noticed that Anna and Starling are lagging behind. Starling scans the moored boats and sees The Lazy Turtle. It is a shiny, brand-new fishing boat that barely looks as if it has one day’s fishing behind it.

‘Anna, that man holding court. I need you to distract him for a few minutes.’

Anna looks at him questioningly.

‘Trust me.’

She shrugs and walks towards the men, the hem of her coat flaring dramatically as she turns. When she gets close, she strikes up a bubbly patter, praising the men for their bravery in taking to the dangerous waters during these troubled times. Ned and his fellows seem captivated by her.

Who wouldn’t be?

Starling hurries towards The Lazy Turtle, glancing back to check that Ned isn’t watching. Moments later he is walking back towards Anna and the men.

‘Gentlemen?’ he calls. The fishermen turn.

‘Which one of you owns The Lazy Turtle?’

‘That’ll be me. She’s mine,’ says Ned, gruffly.

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