Chapter 29
They touched hands before parting and Michael left Bevan with a determination to be the one to make their situation better. He went down to the docks and asked discreet questions and came across a mariner’s bar where two salty old sailors with weather-beaten skin and woolly hair mentioned they had heard of a skipper who smuggled people out.
Michael was intrigued but kept the conversation casual, peppering his questions with remarks he hoped would ease their suspicions he was some kind of undercover agent. In the end, he came away from the conversation only with the knowledge that there was a skipper who took illegal passengers. A fact he had known already. He met others along the way, dock workers and the odd deck hand, who hinted about hearing of sympathetic skippers, but most were reluctant to talk, and one prickly old barnacle was openly aggressive.
By mid-afternoon he’d had enough. His feet were aching and his body craved rest. He could only hope that Bevan had had more luck.