Chapter 24: Who Chases Whom

I took him to the harbor at six, while the pilot boats were still going out.

The sky over the water was pale pink.

The old Corrigan boathouse stood at the end of the quay with its doors shut.

Nobody but Finbar had opened them in three years.

Finbar had set the room up at dawn and handed me the key at the quay, and it was still warm from his pocket.

"It's mine and Finbar's," I said. "Mom left it to both of us."

"Marguerite never had a claim on it."

"I'd heard," Padraig said.

"Come and see."

He followed me down the quay, and I did not count his steps, and he did not stop at six.

I turned the key.

The doors stuck, and he put his shoulder to one without being asked, and they gave.

Light fell across a long wooden floor, two sailing dinghies hung on their cradles, and a staircase up to a room under the roof.

Dust moved in the air.

It smelled of rope and old varnish.

I went up the stairs, and he came behind me.

The room had a bed frame, a table and a window onto the whole of the harbor.

Finbar had been up here before us.

On the table stood a kettle, two mugs, and a box tied with string.

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