‘Are you staying here tonight?’ Dr Cole asked Peggy, but Maura answered for her. ‘She’s a bit overwhelmed, doctor. There are women now, down at her house, giving it a good clean and getting it ready for the baby. She was a bit of a surprise, that baby, so we’re having to beg, borrow and steal around the streets for a crib and clothes and nappies, but another hour and Peggy will be tucked up in her own bed, won’t you, Peg?’
There was no reply. Peggy was laid back on a pillow Alice had tucked in behind her on the day bed, her eyes closed. She was wearing Kathleen’s clean clothes and Maura and Alice had given her a bed bath, during which Peggy had not spoken a word. Dr Cole fastened the clasps on his bag. ‘I’ll be off, then,’ he said. ‘I saw some… er, activity, as I came up the street so I left the car at the bottom and walked up the entry. I didn’t want to disturb anything.’ He winked at Maura as he spoke.
‘Well, don’t be surprised to find a nice bottle of rum at the surgery tomorrow,’ said Maura and she winked back.
‘What I don’t understand,’ he said as he placed his hat on his head, ‘is why a good Irishman who sails the seven seas like Conor, can’t bring in a nice haul of Irish whiskey, in the name of God, why does it have to be rum?’ They both laughed as he walked through the door and back out into the entry. ‘Goodnight, Mrs Doherty, I’m relieved you are back on the four streets, it’s a better place for you being here.’
Maura watched him retreat until he was swallowed by the darkness. She looked up to the sky before she closed the door. So much had happened since she had arrived home, it was already beginning to feel as though she had never left.
*
It was Conor who saw the torchlight, who let out the short burst whistle, followed by the long, low return and everyone stopped dead. Blinks crept up the gangway to the hold door.
‘What is it?’ he whispered.
Conor was standing in the dark shadow at the side of the deck. ‘There’s torchlight in the administration building, I just saw it sweep across the back. Something’s up. It could be an ambush, it’s not safe, so it’s not.’
Blinks looked out along the dock and towards the long, low hut. ‘Fecking hell. That’s all we need. Conor, we can’t be caught on our first night home, you’ll have a mutiny on your hands. This lot will string you up. They think you risk too much for this lot as it is; you know this cargo should have been dumped.’ Blinks had tipped his head first towards the crew, who were in the hold, and the men on the four streets who were in the dock.
Conor held up his hand. ‘Our men needn’t worry. We can hide on the ship and on the first bore we can sail out – they can’t. Every one of them would be in a cell tonight and up before the magistrate tomorrow if there is someone out there.’
Callum appeared at the top of the gangway. ‘What’s going on? Why have we stopped?’
Blinks sounded rattled. ‘Because Conor saw a torchlight in the administration building. It seems our plan of getting rid of Frank the Skank hasn’t worked.’
‘What shall we do then?’ said Callum, who was more afraid of being sent back to prison than he was willing to see the load make it to the top of the steps. He would never be able to win Mary over if that happened. He wanted to get away from the dockside as fast as he could. ‘Shall I go and fetch Jerry? Maura told me she had a message for him when we were pushing Peggy back up. She said they had a visit at the house from Frank the Skank and Heartfelt. They didn’t see her, but she wanted me to tell him.’
‘Good lad, Callum,’ Conor said. ‘There’s something going on down here and I don’t like it. The coast is supposed to be clear and it isn’t. I’m half-expecting to see a fleet of Black Marias coming along the docks. Run as fast as you can, lad.’
Callum grinned. ‘That’s what I do best, Conor.’
*
Tommy and Jerry ran down the steps together, giving instructions to each man as they passed him. ‘Don’t light up your ciggie until we tell you. Don’t move or talk, just wait.’
Jerry gave Conor the whistle once they reached the bottom of the steps. Both men crouched down onto their haunches and made their way like crabs until they were on a level with the administration building. They both stared until their eyes watered, but they saw nothing.
‘Conor is seeing things,’ whispered Tommy, ‘there’s no one there.’
Jerry agreed. ‘I think you’re right but let’s just give it one more minute.’
Just as they were about to leave, their legs aching from crouching in one place, they both saw the dim sweep of torchlight.
‘Feck, right,’ Jerry said, ‘let’s get on our bellies and crawl under the window to where that light came from and see if we can take a gander and find out what is going on.’
In seconds, they were crossing the moonlit slab of concrete that exposed them, aware that all eyes up on the top and all eyes on the ship were watching them. They stopped and, with stealthy moves, shifted into place and then rested their backs against the wall. The two men froze as they heard voices coming from inside. The two men winked at each other in the moonlight as they silently turned and pressed their ears against the wall of the wooden hut.
‘How much is it?’
