William Monk 16 - Execution Dock

and crying overhead; the clank of chains; the grind of winches; men shouting in the distance.
    “About four years ago, sir,” Orme replied. “Or maybe five.”
    “What happened? How was it different from what you'd seen before?”
    Orme shifted his balance. He was very clearly uncomfortable.
    Monk waited him out.
    “One minute it was just Mr. Durban asking questions, the next minute the whole air of it changed an’ they were shouting at each other,” Orme replied. “Then before you could do anything about it, Phillips had a knife out—great long thing it was, with a curved blade. He was swinging it wide …” He gestured with his own arm. “Like he meant to kill Mr. Durban. But Mr. Durban saw it coming an’ moved aside.” He swerved with his body, mimicking the action. There was both strength and grace in it. What he was describing became more real.
    “Go on,” Monk urged.
    Orme was unhappy.
    “Go on!” Monk ordered. “Obviously he didn't kill Durban. What happened? Why did he want to? Was Durban accusing him of something? Another boy killed? Who stopped Phillips? You?”
    “No, sir. Mr. Durban stopped him himself.”
    “Right. How? How did Durban stop a man like Phillips coming at him with a knife? Did he apologize? Back off?”
    “No!” Orme was offended at the thought.
    “Did he fight back?”
    “Yes.”
    “With a knife?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “He was carrying a knife, and he was good enough with it to holdoff a man like Jericho Phillips?” Monk's surprise showed in his voice. He could not have done that himself At least he thought he could not have. Possibly in the closed-up past, further back than his memory, he had learned such things. “Orme!”
    “Yes, sir! Yes, he was. Phillips was good, but Mr. Durban was better. He fought him right back to the edge of the water, sir, then he drove him into it. Half drowned, Phillips was, and in a rage fit to kill us all, if he could have.”
    Monk remembered what Hester had told him about Phillips and the water, and about being cold. Had Durban known that? Had Orme? He looked across at Orme's face and tried to read it. He was startled to see not only reluctance, but also a certain kind of stubbornness he knew he could not break, and he realized he did not want to. Something innate in the man would be damaged. He also saw a kind of pity, and knew without any doubt that he was not only protecting Durban's memory, he was protecting Monk as well. He knew Monk's vulnerability, his need to believe in Durban. Orme was trying to keep a truth from him because he would be hurt by it.
    They stood facing each other in the sun and the wind, the smell of the tide and the swirl and slap of the water.
    “Why did that make you think they knew each other?” Monk asked. It was only part of the question, allowing Orme to avoid the answer if he wanted to.
    Orme cleared his throat. He relaxed so very slightly it was almost invisible. “What they said, sir. Don't remember the words exactly. Something about what they knew, and remembered, that sort of thing.”
    Monk thought about asking if they had known each other long, since youth, maybe, and then he decided against it. Orme would only say that he did not hear anything like that. Monk understood. The water was the answer, the cold, and Phillips's hatred. Hester's prostitute was not lying.
    “Thank you, Mr. Orme,” he said quietly. “I appreciate your honesty.”
    “Yes, sir.” Orme totally relaxed at last.
    Together they turned and walked back towards Wapping.

    For the next two days Monk called into the station only to keep track of the regular work of the police. Reluctantly he took Scuff with him. Scuff himself was delighted. He was quite aware that some of the earlier errands had been to keep him safe rather than because they needed doing. Monk had imagined himself tactful, and was somewhat taken aback to find that Scuff had read him so easily. He certainly could not apologize, at least not openly, but he would be less clumsy in the future, at least in part because Scuff was so determined to prove his value, and his ability to take care not only of himself but of Monk also.
    Their paths crossed Durban's several times. He had learned the names of almost a dozen boys of various ages who had ended up in Phillips's care. Surely among them there must have been at least two or three willing to testify against him.
    They followed one trail after another, up and down both banks of the river, questioning people,