“You’ve changed, Saidee. If I thought you were going to double-cross me, I’d sink this boat. Your heart, your mind, your soul is in getting the package. What does it mean to you?�
She bit her lip and granted him a wan smile. “It doesn’t mean so much to me, Chester, as it does to others. You really don’t know what you have done tonight. You don’t know!�
Fay swung at the oars and tried to sight the shore of the canal. He sheered the boat and started rowing vigorously.
Between strokes he said:
“Come out with the truth, Saidee. Remember the old days. What have you been doing since then? How did you happen to get mixed up with the Yard? Don’t you know you can’t trust the police?�
“Your viewpoint will change, Chester.�
“Never!�
“Yes—it will. It will if I ask you to change it.â€�
He was silent at this. He rowed on until the bow of the boat struck a sunken pier close to the shore. He rose, braced his knees against a gunwale and glanced upward. A rotting quay was close at hand. There was a ladder coming down from this quay. He reached, waited, then grasped a rung of the ladder. The boat steadied as he drew it alongside the pier.
“I’ll go up first,� he said. “You hand me the bags and then come up. Push the boat away when you get on the ladder. Push it hard, so it’ll float a long way before the police find it.�