Tedrick Gritswell of Borobo Reef by Jeremy Tyrrell

Author:Jeremy Tyrrell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: murder, mystery, detective, octopus, private investigator, abyss, underwater, reluctant, cuttlefish, cephalopod
Publisher: Jeremy Tyrrell

My Shadow

The question was what to do about the situation? Naturally, I had to warn the authorities.

I mean, great, yay for me, I'd found out what Sassam was up to. Kind of. Killing spuds to train his eels. If there wasn't a law against the second bit, I'm pretty sure murder was still frowned upon.

Except it wasn't like I had any proof. The eels had eaten it all.

How could I go to the police with, well, nothing?

The next guy who came to mind was Tommy. He wasn't concerned with the whole burden of proof thing, no sir. If I told him what Sassam was up to, he'd put a stop to it straight away. At the very least, he might have been able to offer me protection from reprisals.

How's that for you? An octopus running to cuttles for protection! Ah, my father would be turning in that shark's stomach if he knew.

In my haste to leave the grounds, I bundled straight into that dopey Yammal. I was too busy looking behind me, convinced that I had seen a shadow, and I jetted straight into his mantle.

We squabbled for a bit. I acted like I was a drunk punter who just woke up, he acted like he couldn't give a damn.

“Get lost, pal!” he growled. “This place is off limits outta hours, you know! Go find a pub if you wanna stay drunk.”

“Sure, sure,” I said, stealing one last look behind me. “I'm gone!”

I swam briskly from that place, putting as much distance between myself and the racetrack as possible before my jet gave out. After a short breather, I pushed off again, calmer now.

I was going fairly smoothly, swimming casually past some bubbling night-life, doing my best not to look like the frazzled Puss that I was.

The thought of those eels chomping and chewing those body parts, the cacophonic laughter of those goons, it was all too much for me. I felt sick. And exhausted. And angry.

It was just too much, you know?

There was quite a crowd on the main that night. The sound of congalongs competed across the channel. There was singing, most of it bad and out of tune, and raucous laughter and sleazy banter. Just one of those nights on the Reef.

Naturally, I was jumpy. I avoided the crowds and stuck to the back-ways, dizzy with the events of the night. A drunkard bumped into me. I thrust him away and jetted off down another lane.

I needed time to think, to just figure stuff out and to check if all of my suckers were still attached.

There was something else.

That's what I like about my stomach. Sure, it let me down before, but I wasn't playing by the rules then, either. Now it was nagging at me again, grumbling that there was something distinctly wrong, and while my mind was occupied with being frazzled, my stomach had done its duty and kept me safe.

I realised that the real reason I was down in the back alleys was because I was being followed.

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