The Alembic Valise by John Luxton Read Free Book Online Page A

nothing, nobody can accuse us of not pursuing the necessary due diligence. But for now let’s wind things up. I need some lunch. Thanks for your time Mr. Barlow. I’ll call you if we need anything else.”
    “Glad I could be of help,” said Joel as they rose.
    “This should do wonders for your royalties,” said the Detective as he left him in the corridor.
    “Not so good if I get offed by a psychotic gamer before I get the chance to spend them,” Joel said to himself as he waited for the lift to arrive. He left his pass on reception and once outside turned down a side street, to get away from the noise of the traffic.

Chapter 11
    Deacon was sat on a bench in the embankment gardens, it had started to snow but he scarcely noticed. For the past fortnight he had come here every day. In that time he had seen Joel pass by numerous times, usually head down frowning, but once with Mai, laughing together. He had seen Detective Z watching the boat that Joel lived on from the sunken garden. He had seen Dave go aboard the same boat. He had even seen Darren Shah watching the very same boat. Of course he did not know any of these people passing him on his bench but the one person he was hoping to see had not appeared; his estranged twin brother.
    Two weeks ago when walking through Hammersmith he had thought he saw Jim striding along ahead of him. Surprised to see his brother in this part of town, he thought that maybe Jim was searching for him and so set of in pursuit. Lost him in the crowd then saw him in the distance taking the underpass towards the river. But when Deacon emerged into the small park there was no sign of him. So every day since then, after the day-centre closed, he came and sat on the same bench in the gardens, where he could see in all directions, along the embankment and across the park.
    Of course he knew that he could simply telephone his brother if he wanted to speak to him and had many times thought of doing just this. But in his mind it was hard to reel back the years. They had argued bitterly about what seemed now like a trivial matter. But now he had the belief that if he were actually to see Jim there would be reconciliation. He just could not put it into the words required for a phone call. The snow flurries continued and he was about to give up, when he saw a familiar figure enter the park. Tomorrow the story would appear in The Gazette. This would inevitably put Joel and his houseboat in the public spotlight, and not in a good way. So Joel had spoken to Dave and they had agreed that he would temporarily and covertly move into the room above Dave’s boathouse. This was just around the bend in the river from the Gate.
    At dusk Joel was to take his skiff and navigate a trouble free passage to his “new crib”. Described thus by DC Sharma when she returned his email and gave her blessing to his voyage. The boathouse would have to be his route to dry land. He could not help feeling he had less options than a hypnotised chicken. Mai had laughed when he said that to her. She was in Brighton but would be returning tomorrow, and not seeming to be fazed by the current wonkiness of his trajectory at all.
    He began to put on Marino wool underwear, then a layer of micro-fleece, lastly a jacket, all in dark colours, no Day-Glo or reflective panels. The two bags he had packed earlier were on the table one held his laptop and notebooks the other a few clothes and his travel kit. Theoretically he would be able to slip back to his boat at night as and when required. Joel checked around the cabin one more time. Then putting on his black cap he moved towards the door.
    There were tiny flakes of snow dancing in the arcs of the onshore lights as he cast off and began to row away from the boat. He had told himself that his relocation was only temporary; nevertheless her felt a lonely pang as he edged out further into the darkness.
    Dave had acquired the boathouse several years ago. The school rowing club that originally