Chapter Thirty-Four

“CAN’T YOU TELL me his name?” Felix asked.

Ms Stock clamped her eyes shut as tightly as she could. “It’ll come to me; bear with me now; it’ll come to me. It was a bird, I’m sure of it. Starling, his name was. Or Swift? Could it have been Sparrow? Sparrow sounds right.”

“I don’t remember any of those names from the list the C.T.C. gave us.” Felix racked his brains trying to think if he’d heard them before.

“Pah, the greencoats can’t be trusted with that sort of thing.” Ms Stock’s voice had risen an octave. “They lie all the time. They told me if I worked ‘ard on their ships, I’d see the world. Well you don’t see much when you spend your days scrubbing decks and fetching gunpowder, I can tell you. Now, Mr Sparrow, ‘e was a greencoat, for a little while. Until ‘e got shot in the belly. ‘E told me all about ‘ow ‘e’d been forced to retire. ‘E was only in the shelter for about a week, if even. The greencoats probably didn’t want to mention ‘im because it looks bad for them, you see? If they provide a shelter that’s not safe?”

“Why isn’t it safe?” Felix asked.

“Mr Sparrow, well, ‘e ‘ad a blazing row with Boon, one of them greencoat admirals you see swanning about the harbour. All medals and shoulders but never done an ‘ard day’s work in ‘er life. And it doesn’t look good for them, does it? Their admiral ‘aving a row with a sailor, threatening all sorts?”

Felix leaned in. “I’m sorry, you’re saying Admiral Boon threatened this Mr Sparrow?”

“Oh yes,” Ms Stock said, waving her drink around. A drop slipped out and ran down her cracked fingers. “Well, I think so. She was very red-faced, I can tell you. I couldn’t ‘ear too well. They were all muffled because I was outside at the time—watching but not watching—you know ‘ow it is. And my ears aren’t what they used to be. I got too close to too many cannons. They ring all the time now, from day to bleddy night, I can ‘ardly get a wink of sleep. But they nearly came to blows, Boon and Mr Sparrow. I’m sure of it.”

The sun had risen and Felix turned off a striker-lantern on a nearby table and the one on the wall above Ms Stock’s head. As he went to turn off the one in the nearest bay window, he spotted the lamplighter in his white greatcoat at the bend in the road.

The lamplighter extended his nobbled lighting pole and inserted it into the lamp head. The candle within flickered then faded to nothing. The lamplighter caught Felix’s eye as he twisted the end of the pole. The top half screwed itself down into its sheath until the whole pole was no more than the length of a scabbard. A scabbard with ridged, apple-sized lumps running the whole length of it. Each one set barely a few inches apart. Just like the marks on Tenner’s arm.

Felix’s face dropped. He suddenly remembered where he’d heard the name Sparrow before. In a flash, the lamplighter was at the Star’s window. Felix staggered back.

The door opened and the lamplighter, Mr Sparrow, stepped inside and removed his cap. He smiled at Felix, a cold smile, all artifice. “Mr Diamond,” he said. “Might I have a quiet word?”

He waited for Felix to walk to the bar before moving away from the door.

Ms Stock waved to the lamplighter. “Oh, there ‘e is! It’s so funny I was just talking about you!”

“Were you, indeed? How strange. Are you still at the shelter?”

“Oh yes, no luck in convincing my ingrate nieces and nephews to let me stay with them.” She took a drink of her gin. “I don’t know what’s become of the youth of today.”

Mr Sparrow nodded politely and joined Felix at the far end of the bar, away from Mr Tassiter, with their backs turned and voices kept low.

“What’s this about?” Felix asked.

“I can see in your face you know who I am,” Mr Sparrow said. “So let’s not pretend. You have the bracelet. I would like it returned to me.”

“It isn’t yours,” Felix said. “It belonged to my parents.”

Mr Sparrow’s mouth opened, just a touch. He smiled again but more genuinely this time. “Is that so? They are the ones who stole it? Who had their names engraved upon it? Hah. What a small world we live in. Just think of it, Mr Diamond, all those years ago your parents put us both on a course that led us here, today, to this place. We were destined to meet. Hah. Nevertheless, I would like it back.”

“Where is Uncle Gregory?” Felix asked. “You did something to him, didn’t you?”

Mr Sparrow said nothing for a moment. “You can have him back,” he said. “When you give me my bracelet.”

“He’s still alive?” Felix’s heart thumped faster and faster.

“Of course,” Mr Sparrow said. “I’m not a monster. Bring the bracelet to Chancewater. Let’s say in one hour? Time enough for me to finish my rounds.” He laughed then, his eyes wide, and white teeth bared. His thin eyebrows never lifted, not even once. “You give me the bracelet, and I give you your uncle. And let’s leave your friends in the Watch out of this, yes? And your family, while we’re at it. At present, your uncle is restrained and hidden. If I think the Watch is coming, he will remain that way until he starves. I’ll see you soon, Mr Diamond.” He took his cap, nodded to Ms Stock, and left the Star.

Felix’s heart didn’t stop pounding. He wanted to tell Iron, tell Vince, tell anyone. He gave a moment’s thought to telling Aunt Alma. She’d know what to do, but would she help? Or would she just make things worse? He ran upstairs to wake Dahlia.

Bleary-eyed, she wrapped a banyan around herself and followed him out of the room. “You’re not actually going to meet him?”

Felix knelt on the floor of his own bedroom and prised the loose floorboard up with his fingertips. “I don’t have any choice. This is our only chance to get Uncle Gregory back.” He pulled out the little wooden box carved with flowers.

Dahlia tugged it from his grip. “Wait, wait.” She held it out of his grasping reach. “Stop and think for a moment. You said yourself that Vince doesn’t believe Gregory is still alive and he’d know—he’s probably kidnapped more people than either of us has ever met. This is just a way to get the bracelet and probably kill you too.”

“He doesn’t have any reason to want me dead.” Felix tried to grab the box, but Dahlia deftly kept it just out of reach, just as she used to do with his shoe when they were children.

“He doesn’t need a reason,” she said. “And, listen, this will sound cruel, but isn’t the bracelet worth more than Gregory?”

Felix stopped trying to retrieve the box. He felt as though he’d been slapped in the face. “What an awful thing to say.”

“Do you think Gregory would hesitate to sell you in the same manner?”

He finally succeeded in grabbing the box from her hands. He took his overcoat and cap and hurried to the stairs.

“You’ve been away too long!” Dahlia called after him. “It’s made you soft!”

VINCE’S HEART THUMPED as he sped along the Entry towards Ms Hornby’s house. He all but battered the front door down until she opened it.

“Did you forget your—? Oh, it’s you.”

“Sparrow about?”

“Mr Sparrow? No,” Ms Hornby said. “He was here, but he left. Where are you going? Commander? Commander!”

Vince pushed his way inside, frantically darting around the kitchen and parlour. “Sparrow’s bedroom?”

Ms Hornby pointed upstairs, and Vince took the steps three at a time. Mr Sparrow’s room was a tawdry yellow in colour. His single bed was unmade. The floor tidy. A wardrobe door hung open. Vince peered inside then slammed it shut. He pulled open every drawer in the chest by the window. “Empty,” he said. “Sparrow goes about nude, does he?”

“Oh, how odd,” Ms Hornby said. “He didn’t have much with him when he moved in, but he must have packed everything up. Come to think of it, I did see him with his kit bag.”

“When?”

“Just a few minutes ago,” Ms Hornby said. “You only just missed him.”

Vince’s belly filled with ice. “Felix,” he said.