39

  The docks pulsed with the infinite energy of boundless commerce. No amount of rain could force the docks to become still. Ships braved storms, stevedores faced the driving rain, merchants sheltered their wares with hastily erected awnings, thieves swaddled themselves in long coats, and the women of the night bared their flesh in obstinate defiance of the elements. Everything could be found, bought, sold, and stolen on the docks. No matter what time of day or night, the endless hunger for gold forced creatures out onto the riverfront to find a crust.

  The docks were teeming when Nairo and Ridley arrived. They shouldered and fought their way through the endless waves of dockworkers, buyers, sellers, and stealers. They dodged dock urchins and ducked pushy merchants until they came to the quieter side streets adjacent to the docks. Here the women worked. Sailors came off the boats all day and night with jingling pockets of coins ready to drink and fuck their way to oblivion before stumbling back on to their ship and setting off to the next port. The women and some men did very well on the docks, but it was a harsh life. Sailors, stevedores, merchants, and whatever else crawled off the docks were rarely kind and often drunk. It took a strong back and even stronger desperation to walk the cobbles here.

  Nairo and Ridley split up and began questioning those working on the cobbles. They received many propositions but few answers. The prostitutes were cagey and mistrusted anyone who came looking for anything other than flesh. Most simply walked away the second they started asking questions.

  “Any luck?” Nairo asked Ridley as they joined up on a corner.

  “Naa, but I’ve had some very good offers,” Ridley replied, lighting a smoke. “You wouldn’t believe what that lady would do for half a gold coin.”

  “Lovely,” Nairo said, rolling her eyes. “You can come back in your own time, right now we need to find Cecilia.”

  “Would help if we even knew what she looked like,” Ridley said. “For all we know, we could have walked up to her already asking questions about herself and spooked her.”

  Nairo chewed on her lip and looked around the dingy streets.

  “This could be a massive waste of time,” she said. “We don’t even know if Cecilia is out here.”

  “Or even alive,” Ridley muttered.

  “Stop it. She’s not dead.”

  As they spoke, a young girl trotted past in ludicrously tall heels. She looked hardly older than a teenager. She had fiery red hair tied in a ponytail and beautiful, dark green eyes that flashed in the light of the Glowlamp. She had a bandage wrapped around her forearm and fresh bruises around her lips and arms. Nairo felt her stomach churn as she watched her. She was too young to be out here. Too innocent looking.

  “You paying or just looking?” the girl asked Nairo, snapping her out of her daze.

  “What?”

  “I don’t do girls,” the young girl said.

  Ridley snorted and choked on a mouthful of smoke.

  “No, I’m not paying,” Nairo replied stiffly.

  "Well, looking ain’t free either,” the girl said, turning to stalk away.

  “Hold on,” Ridley said.

  “What?”

  “We’re looking for someone.”

  “That’s kind of the point,” the girl said, smirking at Ridley.

  “Her name’s Cecilia Brown,” Ridley said.

  The girl was still young and hadn’t learnt to smother her expressions the way the other working girls had.

  “You know her.” Nairo said.

  “I dunno. Never heard of her,” the girl said quickly.

  “We don’t mean her any harm,” Ridley said, stepping out from the shadows. “We’re Private Investigators working a case that involved one of her ex-boyfriends. We just wanted to get some more info on the guy from Cecilia.”

  The girl narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

  “How do I know you’re not just making that up?”

  “Don’t we look like PI’s?” Ridley asked, waving a hand at his trench coat.

  “Well… I guess, but that’s not proof.”

  “Here,” Nairo said, offering her one of their cards. “I’m Sally Nairo, and this is Ridley. We operate an agency out of Little Kang.”

  The girl peered down at the card, holding up to the light.

  “What’s your name?” Ridley asked her.

  The girl looked at Ridley.

  “Marney,” she replied.

  “How do you fancy two gold to tell us where Cecilia is?” Ridley asked, jingling the coins in his pocket. “That should be enough for you to call it an early night, no?”

  Nairo saw the greed light up her jade coloured eyes.

  “Make it five.”

  “Piss off,” Ridley snorted.

  “Three,” Nairo said.

  “That’s outrageous!” Ridley said to her. “You know what you could buy around here for three gold coins?”

  “Fine,” Marney said, holding out her hand. “Coins first.”

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  “No,” Ridley said bluntly.

  “Then I’ll go.”

  “Wait,” Nairo said. “We’ll give you two now and one more once we hear your information.”

  “Okay,” Marney said, pouting and waving her fingers at Ridley.

  He grumbled something and then plonked two gold coins in her outstretched hand. Marney looked at the coins and then disappeared them into her bra.

  “Cissy was here but you missed her. She just picked up a john.”

  “She was here!” Nairo said. “Where has she taken him?”

  Marney held out her hand again and Ridley put another coin in it.

  “She uses a little knockup house about half a mile down the road. It’s got a green door, you can’t miss it.” Marney looked at the coin and then looked up at them. She chewed her lip and fussed with a strand of her hair. “Are you going there now?”

  “Yeah, why?” Ridley said.

  “Just…” Marney looked down at her feet. “I didn’t like the look of that john. He was… I dunno. He was kinda scary looking, you know? You just… get this vibe about creeps.”

  “Thank you,” Nairo said. “We’re going there right now.”

  Marney nodded and stepped back from the light.

  “Get yourself off the streets,” Nairo said to her. “It’s not safe out here. Take that gold and do whatever it is you think you need to do, and then find somewhere safe for the night.”

  Marney looked away as they ran down the street towards the knockup house.

  They arrived at the little ramshackle room by the hour joint, panting and red faced. Ridley barged through the green door with Nairo on his heels. There was an exhausted looking Gnome sitting behind the counter. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

  “We got rooms for one hour, one half hour, or fifteen minutes,” he mumbled blearily as they walked in.

  “Where’s the girl that just came in here?” Ridley snapped at him. “She brought a man with her.”

  “Lots of girls, lots of men come in. You pay if you want stay,” the Gnome said, slowly waking up as he sensed something was wrong.

  Ridley lunged across the counter and grabbed the Gnome by his filthy vest, yanking him over the counter.

  “What room is she in?” he growled at the Gnome.

  “Ridley!” Nairo said, pointing to the rack of keys behind the Gnome. “Only one key’s missing. Room six!”

  Ridley dropped the Gnome and they ran up the stairs while the belligerent Gnome cursed at them. They took the stairs two at a time until they came to a dark landing. It stank of damp and sweat. The yellowing wallpaper peeled from the cracked brickwork and the carpet was threadbare and missing in places. Ridley counted the doors until they reached number six. He placed his ear to the door and listened. Nairo waited, feeling like even her heartbeat was too loud. Ridley shook his head. Something felt wrong. Nairo stepped forward and knocked on the door.

  “Cecilia?” she called through the door. “Are you okay?”

  Silence.

  Nairo raised her hand to knock again when they heard the sound of wood scraping and something slamming open. Ridley didn’t hesitate. He stepped back and slammed his foot into the door just by the handle. The desiccated wood of the frame exploded open and the door fell away. The room was in near darkness. There was a figure on the floor gasping and twitching and a tall shadow by the window. The figure glanced over his shoulder and then leapt out of the window.

  “Shit! I’m on him!” Ridley shouted to Nairo.

  He raced across the room and threw himself head first out of the window. Nairo turned and pounded back down the stairs.

  “Call for help!” she screamed at the Gnome as she flew out of the green door.

  The rain was heavier now, and the poorly lit backstreets of the dock disoriented her for a moment. She looked to her left and saw Ridley sprinting down the street. She tore off after him. She could just about make out the tall figure in front of him. They chased the figure to the end of the street, where he dived into an alleyway. He had long legs and was easily outpacing them, but it looked like he was starting to hobble. He must have hurt himself when he leapt out of the window.

  Ridley took the turn into the alley at full pace and slammed his shoulder into the wall. Boncing off, he righted himself and sprinted into the darkness. He never saw the blade. It whistled through the air and should have skewered him through the side. Luckily, Ridley kept a hip flask on both of his hips, buried in the voluminous pockets of his coat. The dagger stabbed into his rum flask, pierced the steel, and only went through by a couple of inches. The tip of the blade gouged into Ridley’s side, slicing him open and spraying blood across the brick walls. Ridley cried out and tried to turn and face his attacker. The blade was stuck in his coat pocket, and the attacker was wrestling to free it. Ridley threw a punch that barely glanced the man’s shoulder. Nairo came around the corner and could only see the outline of the tussling figures. The attacker looked up, saw her, and let go of the blade. He drove a fist into Ridley’s gut before turning and running down the alley. Ridley wheezed and fell to his knees.

  “Ridley! Are you okay?” Nairo said, running to his side.

  “Ge-get him!” Ridley spluttered.

  “You’re bleeding!” Nairo said as she drew her hand away and saw the bright red blood splattered across her hand.

  “Don't worry! Get him!” Ridley groaned, coughed, and then dry heaved.

  “Come on,” Nairo said, throwing his arm over her shoulder and helping him limp out of the alley.

  “He’s getting away!” Ridley gasped.

  “He’s got away,” Nairo said, looking into the dark alley and seeing no sign of their assailant.

  They made it back to the light of the main road and assessed Ridley's wound. He was badly cut but it wasn’t deep.

  “That’s gonna need stitches,” Nairo said.

  “Later,” Ridley said, holding his side. “We need to get back to the girl.

  “Can you walk?”

  "Yeah, but I think he might have broken one of my ribs. He hits like a fucking run away cart.”

  Nairo helped Ridley limp back to the knockup house. The Gnome was standing outside cursing again until he saw that Ridley was covered in blood.

  “You no come in here! You no bring trouble here!” the Gnome shouted at them.

  “Piss off!” Ridley growled.

  They walked back through the green door and up the stairs to room number six. Inside, the woman was still on the floor, panting and moaning weakly.

  “Get a light,” Ridley grunted at Nairo.

  She looked around and saw a lamp on the bedside table. She lit the candle and brought it down. On the floor was a beautiful woman. She had golden hair and soft blue eyes. Her lips were full, and her teeth sparkled in the lamplight. She was too thin though, and her skin was caked in a thick layer of powder to hide her blemishes. She was writhing on the floor, her fingers clawing at nothing. Her eyes swivelled and spun grotesquely as her body twitched and spasmed.

  “Cecilia?” Nairo said, dropping to her knees and tucking her hair behind her ears. “Cecilia, can you hear me? Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

  Cecilia croaked and groaned, her eyes rolling over to look at Nairo, her once beautiful features contorted in agony as she struggled for air.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Ridley said, one hand trying to stem his bleeding wound and the other propping himself up on the floor.

  “I don’t know,” Nairo said as she tried to scan her body for signs of injury.

  “It hurts…” Cecilia moaned, her hands twisting and clawing at the air.

  “What hurts? What did that man do to you?” Nairo said, panic fraying her voice.

  “He… he… killed me…” Cecilia gasped.

  Her chest was rapidly pumping up and down, her breathing becoming shallow as her clawing hands started to slow and freeze up.

  “What did he do?” Ridley said, grimacing with pain. “Why did he do it?”

  “It’s okay…” Cecilia slurred, her eyes dimming. “It’s okay… I’ll see her again… Mummy’s coming…”

  A rattle of air escaped Ceclia’s throat, and she fell still, her hands gnarled, her face twisted in agony, her eyes bulging and staring at nothing. She died with a gentle gasp on the grimy floor of the knockup house.

  Nairo fell back and stared at the dead woman. She looked just like Sarita had in that rain soaked alley. Just like Quinn on the coroner’s table.

  “I’m so sorry,” Nairo whispered, but Cecilia couldn't hear her.

  The rain continued to pound on the window and the street fell silent.