“She’s not in the office.”
The tekkie thug enjoyed telling me. He seemed to like me less with every visit.
“Out with the Board?” I wouldn’t mind seeing Milo again.
“Out.”
He wanted me to think he knew and wouldn’t tell. I was unconvinced. But that didn’t help me. I shrugged indifference and walked away. Irritated. It was uncharacteristic of Daisy to drop out of contact in working hours. It was also inconvenient: it left me to my own thoughts and I wasn’t comfortable with them.
It always came back to Midway. This address. The address which Luna had copied with such painful accuracy which was only the last in a line of markers which began with Jon’s body and last night had nearly ended with my own. Daisy would have to be told.
I’d wondered if she already knew. I’m not a fool. She knew the Port better than anyone and her access was complete. She could have been seen on the ladder down to the Pig last night and even I wouldn’t have thought her out of place…
No. She wasn’t involved. When friendship and gut instinct were balanced against reason, reason didn’t stand a chance. Besides, nothing I’d come across so far had suggested any motive for Daisy. Loyalty and her own integrity meant that she would not harm the Port. Hadn’t I already told Byron that?
I thought about the general mail, the old post system that hardly anyone used. It wouldn’t go to her without being seen by someone else. But she was the only one I could trust to tell me who handled the mail.
I looked around for Morgan and his entourage but saw no sign of them. I had no wish to ask Gus, who would only have enjoyed telling me I wasn’t cleared for confidential information. In the end I had no choice but to return to the Pig.
She looked alone and faintly embarrassed. The neat white geometry of the marina around her was too tidy. If I wasn’t careful, she’d open her own sea-cocks and sink with shame. I took pleasure in tracking as much dirt as possible on to the marina’s pristine pseudoplanks.
When I looked back I hadn’t left a mark.
I remembered Em’s celebrations when I saw the reminder. She’d told my phone to flash me. She knew me too well. Now I couldn’t claim I’d forgotten and I’d used the broken phone excuse with her before. Phones didn’t break down. I glared at it but it shrugged that off too.
Going out was better than staying here on my own deciding who had tried to kill me.