William Monk 11 - Slaves of Obsession

each other. Jus’ back an’ for’ard, back an’ for’ard with them damn great crates. Must ’a bin lead in ’em, by the way they staggered around.” He shook his head gloomily.
    “Any idea what time that was?” Lanyon pressed.
    “Nah … ’ceptin’ it were black dark, so this time o’ the year, reckon it were between midnight an’ about four.”
    Lanyon glanced at Monk to make sure he was listening.
    “W’y?” the coal backer asked, running a filthy hand across his cheek and sniffing. “Was they stolen?”
    “Probably,” Lanyon conceded.
    “Well, they’re long gorn nah,” the man said flatly. “Be t’other side o’ the river past the Isle o’ Dogs, be now. Yer’ve no chance o’ getting ’em back. Wot was they? Damn ’eavy, wotever they was.”
    “Did the barge go up the river or down?” Lanyon asked.
    The man looked at him as if he were half-witted. “Down, o’ course! Ter the Pool, mos’ like, or could ’a bin farver. Ter Souf’end fer all I knows.”
    Barges were passing them all the time on the water. Men called to each other. The cry of gulls mixed with the rattle of chains and creak of winches.
    “How many men did you see?” Lanyon persisted.
    “Dunno. Two, I reckon. Look, I were tryin’ ter get a spot o’ kip … a little peace. I din’t look at ’em. If folks wanna shift stuff around ’alf the night in’t none o’ my business—”
    “Did you hear them say anything at all?” Monk interrupted.
    “Like wot?” The coal backer looked at him with surprise. “I said they didn’t talk. Said nuffin’.”
    “Nothing at all?” Monk insisted.
    The man’s face tightened and Monk knew he would now stick to his story, true or not.
    “Did you notice what height they were?” he asked instead.
    The man thought for a moment or two, making Monk and Lanyon wait.
    “Yeah … one of ’em were shortish, the other were taller, an’ thin. Very straight ’e stood, like ’e ’ad a crick in ’is back, but worked real ’ard … the bit I saw,” he amended. “Made enough noise, clankin’ around.”
    Lanyon thanked him and turned to walk back towards the road along the river edge. Monk kept level with him.
    “Are you sure it was the wagon from the warehouse?” he asked.
    “Yes,” Lanyon said without hesitation. “Not many people about in the middle of the night, but a few. And I sent men in other directions as well. Searched around in other yards, just in case they moved them only a short way. Not likely, but don’t want to overlook anything.” He stepped off the curb to avoid a pile of ropes. They passed Horsleydown New Stairs, and ahead of them, close together, were four more wharfs before they had to bear almost a quarter of a mile inland to go around St. Saviour’s Dock, then back to the river’s edge and Bermondsey Wall, and more wharfs.
    The Tower of London was sharp gray-white on the far bank, a little behind them. The sun was bright in patches on the water, thin films of mist and smoke clouding here and there. Ahead of them lay the Pool of London, thick with forests of masts. Strings of barges moved slowly with the tide, so heavy laden the water seemed to lap at their gunwales.
    Behind them were the dark, disease-infested, crumbling buildings of Jacob’s Island, a misnamed slum which had suffered two major outbreaks of cholera in the last decade, in which thousands had died. The smell of sewage and rotting wood filled the air.
    “What do you know about Breeland?” Lanyon asked, increasing his stride a little as if he could escape the oppression of the place, even though they were following the curve of the river into Rotherhithe and what lay ahead was no better.
    “Very little,” Monk answered. “I saw him twice, both times at Alberton’s house. He seemed to be obsessed withthe Union cause, but I hadn’t thought of him as a man to resort to this kind of violence.”
    “Did he mention anyone else, any friends or allies?”
    “No, no one at all.” Monk had been trying to remember that himself. “I thought he was here alone, simply to arrange purchase—as was the man from the Confederacy, Philo Trace.”
    “But Alberton had already promised the guns to Trace?”
    “Yes. And Trace had paid a half deposit. That was why Alberton said he couldn’t go back on the deal.”
    “But Breeland kept trying?”
    “Yes. He didn’t seem to be able to accept the idea that for Alberton it was also a matter of honor. He was something of a