Only the Thunder Knows_East End Girls Read Online Free PDF Page B

opinion.” It was clear neither
man still had any idea what she was talking about, so she dropped the subject.
    “What were
your names, again?”
    She was
looking at Hare, obviously asking him but Burke decided to jump into the
conversation, anything to get her to pay some attention to him. He couldn’t let
William get all the bragging rights in the pub later.
    “I’m William
Burke, at your service ma’am, and this big lump is my mate, William Hare. Our
friends call me Billy, just to keep it simple. You can do the same.”
    A seductive
smile flashed across Da Vine’s face. “William Hare and Billy Burke…two fine
strong Irish names. I like that! Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”
    With those
promising words, she winked and walked off into the front doors of the Ripley.
    Both men
watched her until she disappeared into the theatre, neither managing to breathe
until she was gone from view. Facing each other, they had a good laugh.
    “It isn’t
everyday you meet a woman like that, my friend,” Burke said, puffing out his
barrel chest. “Think she fancied me?”
    “How could she
not, Billy?” Hare smiled.
    He slapped his
friend on the back and shoved him in the direction of the bottom of the hill.
They’d wasted enough time here. Miss Da Vine was certainly a delicious
distraction but a fine woman like that would never have anything to do with a
couple of common blokes like them. Foolish to imagine any different; not that
it stopped either one of them from doing a little wishful thinking as they
walked on.
    And who could
blame them?
    The smile
stayed on Hare’s face until he remembered the bird. The Snowy Owl , he
corrected himself. Glancing back up at the roof of the theatre, the owl was now
gone, silently slipped away into the approaching night almost as if it had
never been there at all.
    Maybe it’s some
kind of ghost ,
he thought. Nonsense of course, but the notion stuck in his mind.
    “Come on,
Billy. Let’s go.”

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter
    4
     
     
     
    With the theatre
behind them, Burke and Hare walked down the rest of Canal Road, turning onto
Ferry Street at the bottom of the hill just as the echo of the bells at St.
Giles’ Cathedral reached them, chiming eight times across the city, indicating
the hour. They were going to be a few minutes late but neither acknowledged the
fact or hurried their pace. They walked in silence, both men increasingly wary
of their surroundings, instinctively on guard even though there was no obvious
sign of danger. In this area of urban decay and degradation, caution wasn’t
recommended; it was demanded. 
    The
fog was thicker here, rolling in from the frigid sea, an eerie moving carpet of
darkness that covered the filthy street, blotting out the sight of their feet
as they moved forward. They didn’t need to see where they were heading to find
the docks – all they had to do was follow the putrid stench of rendered whale
blubber, salt water, and rotting fish guts. Within minutes, they were there.
    “Where’s
your new pal, then?” Billy asked. “Tells us to be on time, but he’ll get here
whenever he damn well pleases, I suppose.”
    “No
idea, but I’m sure he’s here somewhere. Let’s go back toward Canal Road and see
if we can—”
    When
William stopped and turned, Ambrosious Black was standing right behind them,
touching distance away, monstrously large in a black overcoat and top hat. He
was leaning on a wooden walking stick, glancing casually at an expensive silver
pocket watch.
    “Christ
almighty!” Hare said, shocked such a large man could sneak up on them so
stealthily. “Nearly stopped my heart, ya did! Where did you come from?”
    “You’re
late, William,” was all Black said, a smoldering anger in the tone of his voice.
“You wouldn’t have me thinking you were unreliable now, would you?”
    “Course
not. We were held up outside the Ridley, sir. Some artsy group is opening the
theatre again. Won’t happen again, gov, on my