The two gentlemen who had witnessed the battle also presented their hydger information to one of the police officers. After waving away Daniel’s gratitude, they boarded their carriage and went on their way.
The medical examiner was done with what he could do out in the street. Together with one of the officers he packed the body in a large sheet and hoisted that into one of the police carriages.
The number of people who had stopped their carriages and were observing the proceedings had grown to such an amount that a proper traffic jam was starting on the road. Once once of the policemen had left with the medical examiner and the corpse, the other officer start directing the people to move on, while Daniel worked on removing the branch from the wheel of his carriage.
“Will you be alright sir?” the policeman asked.
“I think I’ll be fine, thank you.” Daniel got into his carriage.
“Sir,” the policeman said, leaning inside, “I do recommend that you do not take matters into your own hands. Someone has committed a serious crime against you. We do not want to come after you, the victim, for making the same mistake. I wish you a good day, sir.” The policeman touched his hat and stepped back as Daniel told the carriage to take him home. And this time for real.
43. Blood shed
At home, Daniel showered and put on different clothes. The fight and the encounter with the knife had left more marks than he had originally thought. He frowned at the sleeve of the jacket. That probably was damaged beyond repair, but he would take it to a tailor anyway. These people here were amazing with repairs.
Then he tried to decide what his next step would be. He was trying to locate a missing woman that hated him, who was the daughter of a man who hated him, and apparently now there also was a contract out on him, put out by someone who seemed to hate him with a vengeance. But that could not be Huajo. The man had been ever so friendly to Daniel when he visited Huajo in his house.
“And you’re the idiot who falls for friendly again,” Daniel commented to himself. “Don’t, stupid.” It was as if everyone on this planet who was even slightly important was working with hidden agendas. There was no honour in that, according to Daniel.
After going out to the tailor’s with his torn sleeve (“this is no problem, sir, it will be brand new”), Daniel tried to talk to Stroro and Darigyn. Darigyn answered, Stroro was nowhere to be found.
Darigyn was quite surprised about the call. “Daniel, how are you?”
Daniel told him what had happened during the carriage ride. His sailor friend was appalled about what he heard.
“And what are you going to do? Do you need some bone and muscle to make an impression on Dogom ko Tzuy?”
“I’m not sure. Not yet anyway. I have this wild idea though…” Daniel explained what he wanted to do.
“Oh. Yeah. I like that. I can get to Stroro, he near never has the hydger with him, but I probably know where he is.”
The men arranged when and where they’d meet. Daniel lay down on his bed after that, while Darigyn went out to locate Stroro.
Daniel was hardly recognisable. He wore original sailor’s clothes and a wool hat was pulled over his ears. With his hands in his pockets he walked towards the entrance of the harbour, slightly bent over to mask his height. Darigyn and Stroro were already there, leaning against the wall next to the gate and looking around at the business that was never ending.
“Hey, guys, I really appreciate you coming here on such short notice,” Daniel greeted them.
“That’s okay, Daniel. The new ship is not ready so there is not much for us to do,” Stroro grinned. “Having a little job like this on the side is always a nice change. Keeps us out of trouble.”
“Out of other trouble,” Daniel said with a wink.
“Ah, don’t worry. If we get caught we pretend to be drunk and lost,” Stroro said, with stars shining in his eyes and a hip flask showing from his pocket for a moment. “A swig of this each and we can fool anyone.” The three men laughed.
“Come, let’s go and see what we can find. If there’s anything to find,” Daniel said. Just to be on the safe side, he wanted to search some of Huajo’s ships. Maybe Rayko was on one of them.
“There is always something,” Stroro predicted as they walked through the small entrance gate and proceeded down the long part of the quay where the smaller boats were moored.
Daniel asked himself how much he wanted to tell the men. He knew he could trust them quite far, even with his life in circumstances, but the things he was facing now… that probably was not something to share. No. What they knew now was enough for this moment.
The three walked along the gigantic warehouses, watching out for the heavy carts with goods that could be rolling out of there. Then they went through a small alley to reach their destination: the area where some of the ships of Huajo Dogom ko Tzuy were. There were two of them in port at that moment, both relatively small four- masters.
The time they had picked was perfect. There was no one around. The large warehouses were silent and dark.
“Where do you want to start?” Stroro asked, eyeing the ships one after the other.
Daniel looked at them also. The ships looked entirely deserted. They picked one. Stroro and Darigyn strolled up to the gangway and made their way to the deck.
Daniel saw how they inspected the deck shortly, and looked out over the quay. The sailors waved shortly and started sauntering over the deck the way the guards would do, while Daniel quickly made his way on board. He knew they were breaking at least a handful of laws with this.
“Go do your search, Daniel. We’ll make noise if something happens up here.”
Daniel nodded and headed for the stairs to the below-deck cabins. It was open and deserted. He searched all the cabins quickly as far as they were unlocked. He knocked on the door of the few that were locked, asking if someone was in there. No sound had to mean nobody in; he was making enough sound in the corridor. As it was a small ship, there were only relatively few cabins he had to search, so he was on deck again quickly. “Nothing,” he said.
“The cargo bays are down there,” Darigyn pointed at a hatch. “Maybe she’s in there somewhere.”
“Great, thank you,” Daniel said. He opened the hatch and stumbled down the ladder that was there. It was dark down in the cargo bay. “Hello?” he said, not letting go of the ladder. He was certain he’d be lost after a few steps into the blackness. “Hello, is someone here? Make some noise if you can hear me.”
Daniel waited, holding his breath to catch even the weakest sound. There was nothing but the sound of the small waves lapping at the hull of the ship. This was not getting him anywhere, he knew, so he went up to the deck again.
Darigyn and Stroro looked at him as he reappeared. Their faces were hopeful, but that changed as they saw Daniel shake his head. “Damn. That sucks.”
The three left the ship and moved on to the other one where the search and watch routine was repeated. It was an exact copy of the previous one: also on this ship there was literally nobody. Rayko was not on board of either of the ships. Daniel, Stroro and Darigyn went onto the quay again, at least there they were not trespassing. They stared at the warehouses.
“Do you think…” Daniel asked.
Stroro looked around. “I think,” he confirmed. It took some walking around, but in the end he found a small window that broke easily and allowed them access to the building. But also the large building did not give any clues about Rayko. It looked like a lost cause.
“I get the feeling that Dogom ko Tzuy has nothing to do with this,” Daniel said as they sat on a few sacks after their extensive search. “That this all is just a confusing mix-up of events, and that the policeman was right.”
Stroro had handed his flask around. “Yeah, could be. Let’s get out of here then…”
