At a quarter to midnight the docks were quiet except for the clanking of rigging. The air smelt salty and slightly rotten. In between the warehouses hurricane lamps pooled light onto the quayside, a strip of concrete that ended where the black, glittering water began.
Further inland on higher ground, Lil was crouched behind an old wagon just beyond a disused railway siding. She stifled a yawn and stared out at the sheeting rain from beneath the hood of her yellow mac. ‘Is it nearly time yet?’ Her cold fingers gripped the edge of the wagon as she peered over it.
‘We’ve still got a few minutes.’ Abe winced as he tried to straighten his legs a little without standing up and breaking cover. ‘Any sign of the kid?’
‘Not yet.’ Lil sighed. She tried to stretch the unyielding fabric of her mac further over her knees to keep the rain off her jeans. ‘But he’ll be here. He said he would be. Any time now.’ Margaret gave a doleful whine from her shelter under the wagon.
‘I don’t doubt it.’ Abe cranked out a smile. He wiped the rain out of his eyes with a wet sleeve, pulled off his rubber hand and stuffed it into his mac pocket and then browsed the attachments of his Swiss Army hand and selected a miniature vice. ‘It’s a tough break. He must feel like the whole city wants him –’ Abe’s gaze dropped to his soaked and battered shoes – ‘gone.’
Lil kept her eyes on the water. ‘He can’t help being … not alive.’
‘No argument here. I’d change things for him if I could.’ Abe cleared his throat gruffly and pulled a pair of binoculars out of his other pocket. Lil glanced across to see him tighten the vice round them and fiddle with the focus wheel. ‘Unfortunately,’ he continued, ‘as long as everyone – and by everyone I mean the Herald – is worrying about the Final Ghost –’
Lil interrupted pointing at the binoculars. ‘They’re new.’
Abe stretched the fingers of his left hand protectively over the casing. ‘I thought they might come in handy. For stake-outs,’ he added, training them on a red-and-white striped buoy bobbing in the black water, and then tracked across to pier seven. ‘What I’m saying is, it’s a distraction; while the Final Ghost is making headlines no one is paying attention to all the other stuff that’s happening, like who’s been poisoning the orphanage garden.’
Lil gave him the Squint. ‘How do you know about that?’
Abe shrugged his collar up round his neck and sank his chin into it. ‘Naomi must have mentioned it. She knew that I’d done some work for the old guy so …’ He changed the subject quickly. ‘I mean, the Golden Loop should be bringing in millions in taxes for the city: where is it all going?’
‘Mum’s always saying that too.’
Abe pulled an already damp handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the rain off his face, scattering fluff to the wind. ‘Well, she makes a lot of sense.’
There was a sound like the lid being turned on a fizzy drink, but only Lil heard it.
Abe went back to staring through the binoculars. ‘You know, I’ve never been a popular guy –’ he paused for Lil to contradict him and then when she said nothing frowned a little and continued – ‘but it must be tough knowing that you give people the creeps – ow!’ He adjusted his position. ‘People just don’t understand. To them he’s just another murderous spook. Ow!’ He winced painfully. ‘Like something out of a nightmare. OW! Do you realise that’s my toe you keep standing on?’ He caught Lil’s glare and returned it with a rueful one that said, He’s here, isn’t he? Abe swallowed hard and then cleared his throat. ‘Hey. Good to have you back, kid.’
Nedly shrugged. He looked bone-tired. His eyes were dull, with the sheen of a dirty window, and his skin had a hazy quality.
‘You OK?’ Lil furrowed her brows at him. ‘You don’t look too good.’
‘Thanks!’ He smiled weakly and then looked past her at the water. Lil watched his face in profile, the docks visible through his cheek.
‘Is that the one?’ Nedly pointed and Lil pulled her eyes away.
‘Here she comes!’ Abe cried.
A boat rolled in across the water, a shadow strung with dimmed lamps. It pulled along the quayside, churning water, and then cut its engines and drifted into place in silence. Thick ropes were flung out and a gang of stevedores in plaid jackets and wool caps emerged from the warehouse to catch them and pull the boat into dock against the rubber tyres that lined the quay.
Abe adjusted his focus as the lights reached the prow of the boat. ‘The Amore Mio,’ he breathed.
Nedly leant over between them, sending a shiver down Lil’s spine and making Abe shudder so hard that he hit himself on the nose with the binoculars. His eyes filled with tears.
‘Sorry!’ Nedly pulled away. ‘Will you tell him?’ he asked Lil.
‘Nedly says he’s sorry, if he gave you the creeps just then.’
‘It’s not you, kid.’ Abe squeezed his eyelids dry with a finger and thumb. ‘It’s this infernal wind and rain. You sit tight with us.’ He held the binoculars back to his eyes with a trembling hand.
Lil smiled gratefully and then whispered to Nedly. ‘I’m glad you’re here.’
‘Where else would I be?’ murmured Abe.
They could hear instructions being yelled from the dockside as the arm of the gantry crane arched out over the ship, swinging a heavy chain beneath it.
Lil could only just make out the action below; the stevedores looked no bigger than matchsticks to her naked eye. ‘What’s happening now?’
‘They’re getting ready to unload,’ Abe replied. The chain had disappeared into the hold and after a few moments a winch began raising the cargo. It was a pallet stacked with smaller wooden crates, like tea chests.
A truck pulled onto the loading dock and then reversed in a semicircle towards the ship.
Abe adjusted the focus to read the number plate. ‘That truck is one of the city fleet.’
Lil eyed his binoculars enviously. ‘Stolen?’
Abe shrugged and turned the focus wheel again. ‘Maybe.’
‘Look!’ A couple of darkly dressed matchsticks had entered the scene. ‘Security guards?’ Lil guessed.
Abe set his jaw grimly. ‘Police. Whatever they’re doing it’s official business. City business by the look of it.’
The two police officers stood aside while stevedores started unloading, hauling the crates down from the ship on pulleys and swinging them over to the dockside and onto the base of the truck with no more sound than the rattling of rusty chains.
‘What’s happening now?’
‘Nothing much; they’re still unloading.’
‘Well, then can I borrow the binoculars?’ Lil persisted.
Abe took the binoculars away from his eyes for a moment to give her a wary look. ‘I’m using them.’
Lil pursed her lips at Abe. ‘You said nothing much was happening.’
He carried on looking defiantly into the lenses.
‘I only want to look through for a second.’
‘I’ll tell you if I see anything important.’
‘Just for a second.’
‘It would take too long for me to let go of them.’
‘Fine.’ Lil paused and then added, ‘Now what’s happening?’
Abe gave a bull-like snort and clenched his jaw. He painstakingly unscrewed the small vice that held the binoculars and offered them to Lil. ‘Two minutes, and then I’m taking them back.’ Lil took hold of one side but Abe didn’t let go of the other. ‘And I want to know exactly what you see.’
‘Fine. I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal of it. They’re only binoculars.’
‘My binoculars,’ Abe corrected her.
Lil refocused them and scanned to the left where a smart black Austin Cambridge had pulled up. ‘There’s another car.’
A single man got out, wearing a grey felt homburg with the brim pulled down low and a dark wool overcoat. Lil squinted through the lens. ‘Looks like an official someone. He’s talking to one of the dockers; he’s showing him a clipboard.’ She dipped the binoculars. ‘Maybe he’s the harbourmaster?’
Abe held his hand out. ‘Let me see.’
‘I still have a minute and a half.’
‘Hand them over.’ Abe held out his hand again. Reluctantly Lil handed them over.
Abe spent a minute retightening the vice round the binoculars so that he could lift them and then another minute groaning about how hard it was to get the focus back.
They watched as a man in a chequered wool cap approached the man in the suit. The two men stood and talked beneath one of the white dock lights, where the mist from the river was picked out like a cone of swirling light.
Abe touched the focus wheel again. ‘I’ll bet the chequered cap is the head stevedore. The guy in the suit looks like the buyer come to check on the goods.’
Lil looked at Nedly and nodded to one side. He looked back and shook his head. Lil nodded hers again, more firmly this time. A dangerous gleam came into her eye.
Abe continued, ‘Now the suit is asking the cap a question and the cap is shrugging and the suit is looking at his watch. Now he’s holding out his hand for the paperwork.’
The suit finished reading through the papers on the clipboard and then pointed at one of the crates. The head stevedore disappeared from view and then returned with a menacing-looking crowbar.
‘What the …?’ Abe let the binoculars drop an inch and then he refocused them quickly and breathed out a sigh of relief. The stevedore was levering open the lid of one of the crates. ‘I thought we were going to witness a murder! OK, so he’s levering open one of the crates and the suit is putting on a white glove and then he’s reaching in and pulling out a small cloth bag and tipping the contents into his palm. It looks like … little chips of coal? I don’t know what that is.’ He paused; something yellow flitted across the foreground of his field of vision. Abe caught his breath, let the binoculars drop from his eyes and then quickly picked them up again and scanned across until he picked up Lil, crouch-running down to the warehouse.
He shook his head despairingly, ground his teeth and then muttered, ‘Looks like it’s just me and you now, kid.’ He paused for a deep sigh. ‘Maybe you should go down there and keep an eye on her. If needs be, we can cause a distraction.’ He looked down at an old discarded chocolate wrapper. ‘If you agree, move that wrapper to the left.’ The wrapper remained caught in the grass. ‘If you disagree, move it to the right.’ No movement.
‘He’s gone too, hasn’t he? How do you like that?’ He paused, checked the view through the binoculars again and then took his eyes away to look down at Margaret. The space under the wagon was empty. Abe shook his head wearily and went back to the binoculars. ‘I’m just talking to myself.’
Down on the dockside, Lil peered round the side of the warehouse. The bitumen-stained doors were warped by the salt in the air and instead of lying flat they curved enough to cast a shadow for her to hide in.
Nedly stood opposite her. They were close enough to the Amore Mio to see the frothy yellow scum that carpeted the water round her prow, along with rubbish and an oil spill that reflected a rainbow.
The man in the suit had pulled out what looked like a jeweller’s eyeglass and was peering at the lumps of coal with it. Lil gave Nedly a shrug that meant, What is that stuff? and then rolled her eyes towards it in a way that meant, Can you get a closer look at the label on the bag?
Nedly nodded confidently. ‘I’m on it!’
Lil watched him jog to the front of the warehouse and then step out onto the quayside and walk up to the man in the suit. He was rolling the coal back into the bag and sealing it. Nedly craned, ducked and dived round him trying to read what was written there. The suit got spooked and started darting looks all around. He threw the bag back into the crate and Nedly plunged his head in after. Lil shuddered as the lid was closed on him; it looked like a bad beheading.
The suit shouted at the head stevedore and he sprang into action, hammering the lid back on the crate. Nedly extricated himself from it and queasily staggered back towards the man in the suit who was scribbling things on the clipboard. As Nedly moved in to see what was written there the suit looked up suddenly and shivered. He whipped his head round and then barked at everyone to get a move on, his eyes nervously scanning the darkness beyond the dockside.
The stevedore looked haggard and edgy, like he would rather be anywhere else but there. The man in the suit finished writing, tore off the top sheet and then slapped the clipboard against the stevedore’s stomach by way of passing it to him. Clutching his own copy of the paperwork he strode off towards the warehouse with Nedly running alongside him, head bent to one side, still trying to see what was written there.
Lil pinned herself more closely to the wall. She breathed in and held it. The man in the suit stopped suddenly, and then took another slower step forward. Lil slunk backwards as quickly as she could, but stepped on a twig, which snapped. She froze.
A sharp bark cut through the air. The suit pulled out a torch and shone it across the embankment. He stared out at its beam for a minute and then jerked his thumb impatiently at the waiting truck driver who jumped into the cab. A tarpaulin was rolled out over the back of the truck, the sides were bolted up and the cargo was tied down. The engine sputtered into life.
Lil tried to trickle her breath out nice and slowly. Nedly flew round the side of the warehouse to join her and Margaret scampered down the path towards them from the other side. Lil bent down to give her a grateful rub on the head and straightened quickly again as headlights burst across the darkness and trawled the scrub ahead of them. As the truck backed up Lil made a note of the number plate. They waited until the red tail lights were far enough away, then they all ran after it.