Mortimer

Chapter 10

She saw his expression change as her request registered. “To church you say?” Mortimer fumbled with his satchel, his eyes darting around them in the darkness.

“Indeed, down on Highmarket Street.”

“Isn’t church on Sunday mornings?” Mortimer scratched his head in confusion.

“The Church is open every day of the week.” She held her breath as he considered.

Finally, he acquiesced and nodded once, “it is on my way home anyhow.”

With that, he turned and started to walk away. Lilly Lou’s jaw dropped in surprise at his resistance to her charm. All the young men typically fawned at her feet and the challenge gave her a thrill low in her abdomen. Holding her hat atop her head, Lilly Lou scurried quickly after him.

***

1918

His feet were silent and he moved with skill in hot pursuit.

The furious shrieks had transferred into hysterical sobs as they traversed the short distance from Highmarket Street to their destination at the harbor.

“Take me with you!”

Her companion paid no mind to her pleas and huffed laboriously as they arrived at the portion of the dock that was assigned to the Ascariot’s ships.

“It was part of the plan all along; I was supposed to come!”

“You will be taken care of here.”

willhere“And be like your wife? To rot in a mansion all alone?”

wife“You will never be like my wife,” he shot back.

neverWith renewed wrath she lunged at him, her nails drawing blood. Howling in pain, he pushed her away and she fell to the ground. He moved quickly and as she scrambled indignantly; he boarded the larger of the pair ships that were tied to the dock.

His deft hands quickly went to work untying the ropes.

“You’ll pay for this! I’ll kill you, you lying bastard!”

As she pushed up from the ground, he pushed off from the dock.

In victory, he stood on the edge of his ship, grinning as the distance between him and the frantic woman grew.

“You’ll pay for this!” She screamed with impotence. Her voice echoed into the harbor. “You’ll pay for leaving me here!”

But he did not reply. Like white billowing clouds the sails went up and caught in the evening breeze.

The ships moved farther out into the black sea.

She stood at the edge sobbing, a white handkerchief in hand.

The man in black stood in resignation. Prepared to turn away, prepared to leave. There were no rules against a man boarding his own ship.

But then, there was a flash of light and a thunderclap of explosion.

“s**t!” He whirled around just in time to see the ship in the distance burst into a thousand pieces. “s**t!”

How had she done it?

How had she done it?He leapt over the bush that stood between him and the dock and plummeted toward the woman.

Her sobs had quieted and she stood speechless, staring at the blood red flames as the obsidian sea engulfed them.

He moved like a bullet through the night and upon seeing movement in her peripheral vision, she turned and screamed in surprise at his sudden presence. Before she could strike him, he grabbed her wrist.

“Police!”

“No!” She jerked away violently. “No! Gerard!”

“You are under arrest!” He slammed a handcuff to each of her wrists as she writhed. “For the murder of Gerard Ascariot.”

***

The walk to Highmarket Street took only about fifteen minutes. There was no conversation and that was how Mortimer liked it. He had too many things to think about.

First and foremost was the issue of location. He had been unable to see the rudder from his vantage point that day. He was determined his drawing would be an exact replica of the Esquirer. If not, his project would be ruined. He must see the rudder in more detail. There were only two solutions to this problem: move closer to the ship and/or get a set of binoculars. Upon deliberating the pros and cons Mortimer decided upon binoculars. He was not sure he was prepared to come so close to the greatness of such a ship. A ship like that deserved space, a wide diameter to be cast from itself and the rest of the world. With no one coming too close, interrogating it, asking too many questions or making demands…

locationexact must

Mortimer grunted to himself, causing Lilly Lou to look up. He paid her no mind, his thoughts wandered. There was, of course, another advantage to maintaining his post: it was in a far less populated area. The city folk wandered up and down the road that bucked the port, gazing at the water and pointing out fish, generally making noise and being intrusive. The park offered him more peace and quiet to contemplate and render.

Of course, that did not necessarily leave him uninterrupted, for Lilly Lou had “happened” upon him at least three times that week already. Maybe he was going to have to find another place to draw after all.

“Here it is.” Lilly Lou’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

Mortimer stopped with confusion. “It’s a dark alley.”

“Yes.” Lilly Lou shot him a flirtatious glance before turning to trace her hands along the darkened brick wall of the building.

“What on earth are you doing?” Mortimer took several steps away from her. “Stroking a wall hardly seems the thing to do at such an hour. Haven’t you got to go to church?”

“I have to find the doorbell.” Her small frame moved away from him as she searched in the darkness. Mortimer watched, ill at ease. This was a most uncommon way to find a church. Churches were supposed to be easy to find, as to attract people to them. Lilly Lou jammed her finger between a set of bricks and stepped back, a smile on her face.

easyto