Chapter ONE - Weebly

hating him; as long as he insisted on thieftaking in
Boston, she would begrudge every coin he made. But if
he could conclude this inquiry perhaps her desire to see
him dead would diminish.
He decided to begin by speaking with Cyrus Derne.
If Derne had lied to him the first time they spoke, Ethan
wanted to know why.
It was midafternoon, and he knew better than to
think that Derne would be at his home. Instead, he
began the long walk across the city to Derne’s Wharf
and Warehouse on Ship Street in the North End. He
turned up his coat collar and hunched his shoulders
against the rain. He walked at the edge of the road,
keeping the iron posts that lined the thoroughfare
between himself and the carriages and chaises. Rivulets
of rank water ran between the cobblestones, gathering
in the shallow trough in the middle of the lane and
draining at intervals along the way. Carts and horses
splashed him as they passed, chilling him, staining his
clothes.
Derne’s Wharf jutted out into the harbor beside
others belonging to merchants of similar means. Abner