Page 20 of The Shifting Tide (William Monk 14)

“I’ll ’ave another pie-termorrer, like. I can do a pie fer me lunch real nice. Come back ’ere at ’igh tide.”

“Thank you. I shall be here.”

Scuff nodded his satisfaction, and a moment later he was gone.

Monk returned to his round of pawnshops, and saw at least three he was certain were receivers of one sort or another, but only of petty goods. He was followed for almost a mile by two youths he believed would have robbed him if they could have caught him alone in one of the narrow alleys, but he took care to see that they did not. He in turn took care to keep well away from the occasional police patrol that he saw. It riled him to do it, but he had no choice.

By four o’clock he was back on the dockside again and found Scuff waiting for him. Wordlessly, the boy led the way along the wide street parallel with the river, up a flight of stone steps, and along an alley so tight Monk instinctively tucked his elbows in. The smells of old cooking, effluent, and soot almost choked him. They were twenty yards in from the river, and yet the damp seemed to be absorbed into the stones and breathed out again in a fog as the dusk settled and the few street lamps made yellow islands in the gloom. There was no sound but the steady dripping from the eaves.

Finally they came to a doorway with a painted sign above it, and Scuff knocked. Monk noticed that his dirty, clenched fist was shaking, and realized with a stab of amazement that Scuff was afraid. Of what? Was he betraying Monk to be robbed? The thought of losing Callandra’s watch was suddenly acutely powerful. It made him so angry he would have lashed out at anyone who attempted such a thing. The gift was immeasurably precious, the token of a friendship that mattered more than any other, except Hester’s. It was also an emblem of success, elegance, the kind of man he wanted to be, who could face Oliver Rathbone as something like an equal. He stood stiffly, ready to fight.

Or was Scuff afraid for himself? Was he doing something dangerous in order to cement his new friendship? Or perhaps as a matter of some obscure kind of honor to repay the man who had given him hot pies? Or even simply to keep his word?

The door opened and a large woman stood just inside, her hands on her hips. Her red dress was brilliant in the light of the street lamp, and there was red paint on her mouth and cheeks.

“I’nt yer a bit young fer this?” she said, eyeing Scuff wearily. “An’ if yer lookin’ ter sell yer sister, bring ’er an’ I’ll take a gander, but I in’t promisin’ nothin’.”

“I in’t got no sister,” Scuff said immediately, but his voice rose into a squeak, and his face pinched with anger at himself. “An’ if I did ’ave. .” he added, “it’d be Miss Lil ’erself as I’d wanna see. I got a gennelman as is lookin’ ter buy summink else.” He gestured to Monk, half obscured in the shadows behind him.

The huge woman stared, screwing up her face in concentration.

Monk stepped forward. He considered smiling at her and decided against it.

“I’m looking for certain merchandise,” he said in a low, level voice, overly polite. He allowed an element of threat to show in his unblinking stare.

She stood still. She was about to speak, then said nothing, waiting for him.

Scuff looked very white, but he did not interrupt.

Monk said nothing more.

“Come in,” the woman said at last.

Without any idea of where he was going, Monk accepted, leaving Scuff in the street behind him. He went through the doorway into a narrow passage and then up a creaking flight of stairs, across a landing hung with pictures, and into a room red-carpeted and with papered walls and a good fire burning in the grate. In one of the soft, red armchairs a tiny woman sat with a piece of richly detailed embroidery spread across her lap, as if she had been stitching it. It was more than three-quarters completed, and the needle threaded with yellow silk was stuck into it. She had a thimble on one finger, and the scissors lay beside her on top of a basket of other silks.

“Miss Lil,” the huge woman said softly. “This one’s fer you.” She stood back to allow her employer to see Monk and make her own decision.

Little Lil was in her forties at least, and she had once been very pretty. Her features were still neat and regular. She had large eyes of a hazel color, but her jawline was blurred now, and the skin on her neck had gone loose, hanging from the shrunken flesh underneath. Her little hands were clawlike with their long fingernails. She regarded Monk with careful interest.

“Come in,” she ordered him. “Tell me what yer got as I might like.”

“Gold watches,” Monk replied, obeying because he had left himself no choice.

She held out her hand, palm upward in a clutching gesture.

He hesitated. Had it been any gold watch it would still have caused him concern, but Callandra’s gift was precious in a different and irreplaceable way. He took it out of his pocket slowly and held it up just beyond the grasp of her hand.

Her big eyes fixed on him. “Don’t trust me, then?” she said with a smile showing sharp, unexpectedly white teeth.

“Don’t trust anyone,” he replied, smiling back at her.

Something in her changed; perhaps it was a flash of appreciation. “Sit down,” she invited.

Feeling uncomfortable, he did as he was told.

She looked at the watch again. “Open it,” she ordered.

He did so, turning it carefully for her to inspect, but keeping a firm hold on it.

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