Read The Death Ship of Dartmouth: (Knights Templar 21) for Free Online Page A

and we’d live the high life when we got home again. You said the locals down here never saw anyone from the real world and had less sense than a peasant from—’
    ‘Yes, yes! All right!’ Alred said hastily, aware of all the eyes in the place going to him and his friends. Bill’s voice was penetrating. ‘But in the meantime we’re losing money. That road has to be repaved, and I agreed a fixed price for the job. If we’re held up, we won’t make a penny profit.’
    ‘You agreed a price for the job?’ Law burst out. ‘You always taught me that a fixed price was daft, that you’d never know if something was going to go wrong, and that you always need to be flexible in case of problems.’
    ‘Yes, well – this proves I was right, doesn’t it?’ Alred snapped, adding nastily, ‘And it was you supposed to put up the barriers, wasn’t it?’
    ‘I did! You know I did!’
    ‘They weren’t there this morning, were they? How do I know you put them up right? If it was that easy for some thieving scrote to nick them, you can’t have fixed them in place all that well, can you?’ He sank his face in his cup of ale.
    ‘It’s not my fault all this happened, as you well know!’
    Alred grimaced, then: ‘No, it isn’t.’
    Law grinned. ‘Come on, Alred. What are we?’
    ‘Don’t. Just don’t say it.’
    ‘What are we, eh, Bill?’
    ‘We’re paviours, Law. We keep people moving.’
    ‘What are we, Alred?’
    ‘Yes, yes, yes. We’re bleeding paviours. But that isn’t going to help us when …’
    ‘Hey! Is the paver in here?’ It was Stephen, the clerk.
    Alred closed his eyes and screwed up his face. ‘See?’ he hissed. ‘And now I’m going to go and get stuffed for finding a stiff. I hope you’re pleased with your work, lad!
Yes
– I’m here.’
    ‘Come with me. The Port Reeve wants a word with you.’
    Hamo the cooper was at his bench outside when he heard the boat returning to the shore. It scraped along the piles ofempty clam and oyster shells that shingled the beach, and the men inside jumped out, hauling her up the slope to lie out of the water. Hamo watched idly as Jankin took the great stone anchor and thrust the rope from the boat through the hole bored in it, and then Hamo returned to his work, shaving a stave to fit a broken barrel. Much of his work involved mending damaged vessels. He didn’t know what he’d do if sailors were more careful!
    ‘Come on, Henry, let’s be getting you out of there,’ a man called.
    Hamo noticed that Henry Pyket was still seated on the thwart, his face in his hands.
    ‘Come on, Dad, eh?’
    Jankin was a steady fellow, sound and as hard as oak in a fight, and Hamo was oddly affected to see how he went to the older man and placed an arm about his neck comfortingly.
    ‘Hey, Jankin, you want some help there, boy?’ he shouted.
    ‘We’re fine, I think, Master Hamo,’ Jankin responded, but he didn’t sound it.
    ‘Let’s help him out of there, eh?’ Hamo went over and said gently, ‘Henry, have you hurt yourself, man? Hit your head on a beam?’
    ‘We’ve all seen them, haven’t we,’ Henry said dully. ‘You’ve seen your share of dead men, I daresay, Hamo?’
    ‘We all have, aye. There isn’t the year we don’t see enough washed up on the beaches.’
    ‘But have you ever been touched by one?’ Henry gave a shudder of horror. ‘He was in there, he was, poor Danny, anda-wavin’ like he was asking me to join him. It turned my stomach, it did!’
    ‘Danny? What was
he
doing in there?’ Hamo asked, bewildered.
    ‘He’s dead, Hamo. Murdered, like all the others.’
    ‘God’s teeth, you mean that’s the
Saint John
?’
    ‘There’s no one on board, I swear. Only Danny down in the hold, and he’s dead. All the other men have gone,’ Henry said with another shiver. ‘The ship’s cursed, Hamo. It must be. Sweet Jesus! It’s like the devil came up and took ’em all. Took ’em all down into the sea with him.’

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