Fangtooth

Chapter 15

Jack was bored. He was also hungry again. A quick inspection of the fridge revealed milk, a tub of margarine, a couple of eggs, and a half empty can of beans.

He took a swallow from the milk to sate his appetite, then replaced it on the shelf and closed the fridge.

His dad had left ten pounds on the kitchen table, so he picked the money up, and with Shazam in tow, he left the house and headed back to the village.

Hopefully, Rocky would have gone by now, and if he was really lucky, Jen might still be around.

On the coast road, he stared out to sea. The great expanse of water stretched before him, and he wondered whether there really was a man-eating shark prowling beneath the waves. If there was, then he could see a scene straight out of ‘Jaws’ might ensue, and a flotilla of boats would set out to destroy it. Not that he would support that. The shark was only doing what came naturally to it. How the hell was it supposed to know that mankind was not on the menu?

When he reached the harbour, he noticed Trent Zander’s boat had set sail. A couple of seagulls sat preening themselves on the harbour wall. Shazam barked at them and the birds cocked their heads and looked across at her before squawking loudly. They flapped their wings, then settled down.

The aroma of brine was heavy in the air. It stuck to the back of Jack’s throat, making him feel a little sick.

Across the road at the cafe, Bites, there were still a couple of tables and chairs outside, but no one sat in them. Jack wandered across. A faded blue canopy shaded the front of the shop.

A chalkboard nailed to the wall listed the food available.

“I’ll have to leave you out here,” Jack said to Shazam, who stared up at him with her tongue lolling from the side of her jaw. “It’s no good giving me your sad face. You see that sign, it says no dogs allowed.” Although she was generally well behaved, he attached Shazam to her lead and tied her to a drain pipe. Then he quickly scratched her behind the ear and entered the shop.

After the smell of brine, the aroma of freshly baked food was wonderful. Jack breathed deeply to fill his lungs with the fragrance, and his stomach rumbled in response.

Inside the shop, a glass-fronted cabinet held a few cakes. Jack salivated at the sight of the chocolate éclairs. A big black potato oven sat behind the counter, along with a cash register, a microwave, and a rack of bread.

There was no one in the shop, so Jack knocked on the counter and a moment later, a stout, ruddy faced girl appeared from the back room. A small white cap covered her hair, and she wiped her hands on her blue apron. Jack guessed she was about twenty.

“Hello. What can I get you?” she asked, smiling to reveal large teeth. Jack settled on a cheese and pickle sandwich and soup.

While the girl prepared the order, Jack peered out of the window at the harbour, hoping to spot Jen.

“You on holiday?” the girl asked.

“No, just moved here.”

“Oh yes, where to?”

“A house on Millhouse Lane.”

The girl stopped in the middle of ladling soup into a bowl.

“You okay?” Jack asked.

“Is that the Johnson place?” Her previously ruddy complexion seemed to have blanched.

“That’s the one. And yeah, I already heard the previous family was supposed to have disappeared.”

The girl resumed ladling and a dollop of tomato soup splashed the counter like blood.

“They seemed like such a nice family. Hadn’t been here that long either. Just plain disappeared. Some people say the house had something to do with it, others say the father was in debt and that the collectors found him, others say they ran away in the night.”

“And what do you think?”

The girl turned and stared at him. She shrugged. “Don’t really know what I think. Just that it was a shame, that’s all.”

When Jack had his food, he took it outside and sat at one of the two tables. Shazam looked up longingly. “Sorry, girl, but this is all mine.” The dog whined softly, and Jack relented, broke some of the bread off, and tossed it to her.

A few white clouds gathered on the horizon. Jack stared at them as he ate. A boat came into view. He watched it make its way towards the harbour; saw Zander step on deck and moor the boat up.

Jack heard a car door open, and turned to see a short squat man exiting from a black BMW. The man lit a cigarette, hunched his shoulders and walked towards the harbour. Zander stood on the deck of his boat and nodded in acknowledgment as the man approached.

Zander looked around quickly, then threw down a white package, which the man deftly caught. Without saying a word, the man reached into his pocket, withdrew a small packet of his own, and tossed it up to Zander. Then the man turned and started walking away.

Now that he was walking back to the car, Jack had his first proper look at the man. Short and squat, he had a round face, short hair and deep-set eyes overshadowed by thick brows. He smoked his cigarette from the corner of his mouth, lips curled around it to exhale. For a brief instant, the man’s gaze met Jack’s and they stared at one another. Jack looked away first. He didn’t know why, but the man scared him.

When he looked back at the boat, he saw Zander clambering down onto the quay with a battered duffel bag thrown over his shoulder. The sudden sound of the BMW’s engine disturbed the relative silence. Jack kept his eyes averted as it drove by, but he thought he could feel the driver’s eyes burrowing into him. He looked back up in time to see Zander disappearing inside a small wooden outbuilding on the edge of the harbour.

He had seen enough in the city to know there was something fishy going on that probably didn’t actually involve fish.

Jack wolfed the remainder of his food, untied Shazam and then hurried across the road to the harbour. The building Zander had entered was a faded red painted structure that bore testament to the harsh weather with its buckling walls. Shazam sniffed around the bottom of the door, her ears cocked. Thinking she might alert Zander to their presence, Jack pulled her away. Around the side of the building, he tiptoed towards a small window. Caked with years of dirt, the glass was an impenetrable screen. Using the tips of his fingers, Jack carefully scraped away a small viewing area, and then he cupped his hands around his eyes and peered inside.

He could just make out a figure crouched on the ground prizing up a floorboard.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doin’?”

Startled, Jack spun around to see Rocky standing not twenty feet away. His pulse went up.

Great. This was all he needed.

“If it isn’t my girl you’re sniffing around, it’s other people’s business,” Rocky said.

Shazam stood with her hackles raised. “I’m just getting acquainted with the area.”

“Acquainted. Mr. Lardy Da Big Shot from the city is getting acquainted. What say I acquaint you with my fists?”

“Try that and my dog will take a chunk out of your leg.”

“You think I’m scared of a dog.”

Shazam growled softly.

Rocky coughed and took a step back. “You’d better not let that mutt anywhere near me, otherwise—”

“Otherwise what?” Jack asked, enjoying seeing Rocky backpedal.

“Otherwise I’ll make both of you pay.”

“Whatever. Come on Shazam, let’s go.”

“Shazam. What a fucking stupid name,” Rocky said as he guffawed into his hand.

“That from someone called Rocky. You’re priceless, you know that.” He knew he was treading dangerously, but he couldn’t back down. Not now. He had to make a stand from the start, otherwise Rocky and his sort would think they could do what they wanted with him. Although he practiced Judo, it meant ‘the gentle way’, as the translation of the name implied, and was more self-defence than kick-ass.

Heart pumping fast, Jack walked towards Rocky. For a moment, it didn’t look as though he was going to move, but then Shazam took the lead and he begrudgingly stepped aside.

Back out on the main road, Jack breathed a sigh of relief. Without looking back, he walked along the side of the harbour, intending to head home.

What happened next took him completely by surprise. He didn’t even have time to react. One moment he was walking along, the next someone pushed him from behind. He instinctively let go of Shazam’s lead and flailed his arms to maintain his balance, but it was no good. Pushed too far, gravity took over. Where a moment ago there had been solid ground beneath his feet, now there was only empty air. With his heart in his throat, Jack fell over the edge of the harbour, and down towards the cold water below.

He closed his eyes and landed with a loud splash. Although the water yielded, searing pain shot up his back. The water was as cold as it looked and he descended into its depths. He kicked out and his left leg struck something submerged beneath the surface. This pain was more acute, more centralized – it felt like someone had poured acid onto his skin. Bubbles spurted from his mouth as he gagged. When he opened his eyes, the saltwater stung; everything was blurred. Disorientated, he kicked and clawed out, striving to escape the fluid embrace. When he surfaced, he sucked in a deep lungful of air and trod water for a moment to compose himself. Up on the quay, Shazam barked loudly, her head visible as she looked down at him.

The pain from his leg was becoming unbearable. He lifted it in the water to caress the afflicted area and flinched at the resultant sting. His jeans were ripped where he had cut himself on something. Blood trailed away from his leg like a ribbon, wafted on the ebb and flow. Then he remembered the supposed shark attack, and with it came the thought that sharks were attracted to blood, could sniff it out from miles away. And here he was, sending out a personal invitation.

Panicked, he looked around the harbour walls for a way out, but he couldn’t see anything, no ladder, no launching ramp, nothing. A line of green plankton and barnacles on the harbour wall indicated where the usual high tide mark was; he was about three foot lower in the water. The bricks looked too slimy to climb. Then he remembered Zander’s boat. He turned and looked at it, the only apparent way he could see to haul himself out of the water. He swam towards the vessel, leaving a murky red trail in his wake. His clothes billowed around him, making progress difficult.

While swimming, he kept glancing around, terrified of seeing a fin break the surface. His heart beat like a drum in his chest, furthering his panic as he wondered if the sound was amplified in the water, another distress beacon to attract a hungry predator.

He swept his right hand into the water and something clammy brushed against his fingers. The panic he felt before was magnified a hundredfold.

Shark!

Terrified of losing his hand, Jack lifted it out of the water – to find there was something attached to it. In a fit of panic, he flung it away, but it was only a piece of seaweed. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard someone laughing.

Desperate to get out of the water, he continued towards the boat and hauled himself up using the tyres that hung from the sides of the boat. The weight of his soaked clothes made it difficult, but eventually he clambered over the side and lay on the deck, breathing hard.

The deck smelled slightly of fish. He didn’t know how anyone could stomach working with such a stench all day and he quickly stood up. The thought of all those helpless fish slopping around underfoot made him angry.

A quick glance at the harbour revealed no sign of Rocky. Shazam stood at the edge of the quay, looking back with her tail wagging and her tongue lolling.

It must have been Rocky that pushed him, but Jack was surprised he hadn’t hung around to gloat. He berated himself for not hearing him come up behind him. Even Shazam had apparently not heard anything, otherwise she would have alerted him with one of her ear-piercing barks.

The wet clothes made him feel uncomfortable, and he shook himself to try to shake some of the water off. As he passed the wheelhouse, he glanced inside and caught sight of a small package on a table, similar to the one Zander had thrown down to the man on the dock, but far smaller.

He stared quickly at the outbuilding Zander had entered. Satisfied no one was around to see, Jack tested the door. It was unlocked. With his pulse pounding in his ears, he opened the door and slipped inside the room. He had never broken in anywhere before, and he felt both guilty and exhilarated. Shazam barked loudly, and he silently urged her to be quiet in case she alerted Zander to his presence.

All manner of electrical devices filled the wheelhouse. Jack recognised sonar screens and a transmitter, but nothing else. With glass windows all around, he felt vulnerable, and not wanting to waste any time, he picked the small package up and immediately smelt the familiar aroma of cannabis. He opened a corner and pressed his finger into the brown substance beneath the wrapper. It felt soft, which meant it was fresh cannabis resin. He didn’t know how, but Zander was smuggling drugs.

Although it was tough to break, he managed to tear a chunk off before wrapping the package back up.

With the cannabis safely in his pocket, Jack scurried out of the wheelhouse, ran across the boat, and scrambled up onto the quay. Shazam bounded across to meet him and licked his hand.

Satisfied no one had seen, Jack turned, intending to find somewhere quiet to roll a joint, only to find Lillian Brown standing before him. Before he could react, the old woman grabbed his arm and squeezed until he squealed.