There was a narrowboat moored ahead of The Lark, so Lulu pulled the throttle back to idle. Even ticking over, the thud of the diesel engine could be heard from half a mile away. She took a quick look at her watch. It was nine o’clock and it had been dark for more than two hours. She had switched on the searchlight on the bow so it was easy enough to see where she was going, but she knew that people hated to have their cabins illuminated when they were trying to get to sleep. The narrowboat bobbed up and down as The Lark passed it. Lulu could imagine the occupants cursing her and she muttered ‘sorry’ under her breath.
Lulu looked over her shoulder, half expecting to see the Blue Moon on her tail, but the canal was empty behind her. She really didn’t enjoy driving in the dark, but she wanted to get as far away from the Blue Moon as she could. She pushed the throttle forward and The Lark picked up speed.
‘Are you okay?’ asked Conrad.
Lulu shrugged. ‘I’ve been better.’
‘You look tense.’
‘We’ve just committed breaking and entering, Conrad.’
‘You didn’t break anything. You picked the lock, you didn’t break it.’
‘Well you can always argue that point with the judge,’ said Lulu. ‘We’re burglars, Conrad. I’ve never been a burglar before.’
‘We didn’t steal anything. We took back what was Jessie’s.’
‘Another point you can argue before the judge.’
‘Seriously, you are worrying about nothing,’ said Conrad. ‘What’s that man going to tell the police? You stole what he’d stolen? And what about the rest of the ill-gotten gains on his boat?’ Conrad shook his head. ‘The police are the last people he’ll talk to.’
‘I suppose so.’ Conrad was right, of course. But if the man didn’t call the police, maybe he’d take matters into his own hands, and that might well be worse.
‘You’re worried that he might come after us,’ said Conrad.
She looked at him in astonishment. ‘Did you just read my mind?’
He chuckled. ‘You keep looking over your shoulder and you’re clearly worried. It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to guess what you’re anxious about.’
‘You are one smart cat.’
‘It has been said. But seriously, you’re worrying about nothing. He had left the boat before you came to get me. Other than the figurines, we left the boat exactly as we found it. And we were gone before he returned. He probably won’t have realized that the figurines have gone, and even if he has, there’s no way he could know that we’ve taken them. He didn’t even see The Lark.’
Lulu forced a smile. Conrad was right. He usually was, about most things. But she would still be a lot happier once they weren’t on their own. Stretford Marina was close by and she would be able to moor there overnight.
The headlight picked up another narrowboat ahead of them and she pulled the throttle back to idle. The lights were on in the saloon and two faces glared out at her as she went by, clearly resentful at their peace being disturbed. ‘I’m sorry,’ she mouthed, though she doubted that they could see her in the dark.
Her left arm was aching from steering and she had a throbbing headache, but finally she saw Stretford Marina ahead of her on the left. It was a private marina and she would have to pay to moor there, but there was safety in numbers. She looked over her shoulder for possibly the thousandth time. Nobody was following her. She smiled ruefully. The reason that nobody was behind her was because everybody else was following the rules. There was enough moonlight to see by, so she switched off her headlight.
Lulu slowed as she approached the marina, and guided The Lark into an empty bay. She killed the engine so as not to continue disturbing her neighbours, and stood looking back at the canal. Conrad jumped onto the roof and joined her, his tail twitching. There were more than a dozen narrowboats moored, and another dozen or so pleasure craft.
‘He’s not there,’ he said. ‘There are no engines running on the canal.’
‘Good to know,’ said Lulu.
‘You can relax now.’
‘I suppose so.’ She opened the doors and went down into the saloon. It was cold outside but the boat’s central heating was on and the saloon was cosily warm. She put the kettle on the hob and lit it, but then had a change of heart and opened the fridge. She’d left the bottle of Chardonnay with Jessie but she had a half-full bottle of Pinot Grigio, so she took this out and poured some into a glass.
Conrad jumped up onto the sofa. ‘We still have the sea bass to eat,’ he said.
‘We do, don’t we? Shall I cook?’
‘I’m happy enough to eat it raw, but I know you prefer your sea bass pan-fried with a little oil and a squeeze of lemon.’
Lulu laughed. ‘You know me so well.’ She poured some water into a bowl and placed it on the sofa next to him before she set about boiling some new potatoes and frying the sea bass in her favourite Le Creuset frying pan. She removed one of the fillets for Conrad before squirting some fresh lemon over hers. She added some rocket and tomato to her plate, then topped up her wine glass and sat next to him on the sofa. She clinked her glass against his bowl. ‘Well, today was definitely an exciting day, wasn’t it?’
‘Life with you is never boring,’ he said. ‘For a moment today I was worried that I might lose one of my nine lives.’
‘How many do you have left?’
Conrad chuckled. ‘That would be telling,’ he said.