Dockingboys

Chapter Nine

Much to Declan's disappointment, it was Akuma who opened the door. When she caught sight of them, her eyes narrowed and she immediately tried to close the door. But just at that moment, her older brother appeared at the door and kept it open. Akuma stuck out her tongue and leaned against the doorframe.

"What do you want, Dec?" Billy asked in his normal voice. And attitude, of course. "And who the hell are they?"

Toland waved at Akuma, and she rolled her eyes.

"Let's get inside first, 'kay? That's Toland and Rusty. My buddies from the docks. I gotta talk to you."

Billy reluctantly opened the door to his apartment and the four boys walked inside, with Akuma trailing behind in a scowl.

"Aki, go to your room," Billy gestured at a tiny corridor with doors lining each side. The main living room wasn't large, with a simple couch and a small radio collection sitting on a shelf. The kitchen was to the left of the living room, and small shelves lined with cans of food sat on the wall.

"Aw...I don't want to go to my room!" Akuma whined, plopping down on the couch and opening a comic book. "No!"

Billy rolled his eyes, then sat down next to her and crossed his arms. What do you want?"

Declan quickly gave him a sped-up explanation of what happened the night before, the thing with the envelope, and the container. He finished off with, "Do you know anything about this?"

Billy narrowed his eyes at the chart. "What's in the container? This chart doesn't show."

"Well, we went to Declan's sister Irene's house, who told us that one of her friends bragged about there being money in the container, but she also thinks that there might be more than that in the container," Rusty explained.

Billy sat in silence for a few minutes, then he read the chart and the note once more. "What did Xavier look like?"

"Well, he was wearing sunglasses, but I think he was Asian," Rusty said thoughtfully.

"No, he wasn't. He's Spanish. I heard him cursing. I've also seen his face. He's definitely Spanish or at least South American," Declan replied, thinking back to the encounter the night before.

Billy nodded understandably. "Anything else?"

Declan raised an eyebrow. "I think I saw a nasty scar along his neck. Why?"

"I've seen him before," Billy said casually.

The three dockingboys looked at one another. "When?" Declan asked.

"He was here the day you came, after you left, at around six."

"You mean, in your house?" Toland asked, confused.

"No, of course not. But I did see him at the North Docks the other day. I was over there fixing the lighthouse, 'cause that one always breaks a few days after someone fixes it. Anyway, he was onboard the ship Saint Morales, and he looked kinda worried about something. And that container? It was there too."

"You're sure? Why was he worried?" Toland asked, scratching his short tuft of brown hair.

"God knows." Billy shrugged. "Honestly, I thought it was just another little problem. Like, maybe the container was missing some things or what. But Declan, did that little date last night really happen?"

"Yeah. Why would I lie about that? Anyways, now Xavier knows that I know something's weird or wrong with the container." Declan sighed. "At least he doesn't know exactly which dockingboy was there."

"Nice."

"I know, right?" Declan rolled his eyes.

They all laughed, then Akuma spoke up suddenly. "Why don't you just report it to your adult supervisor at the West Docks? It's not like he might be working for Xavier or something. And even if he was, it's not like Xavier is a bad guy."

The four older boys turned to the girl, surprised. "I can't," Declan replied simply, "He'd ask way too many questions, and chances are, I might get in trouble for snooping around in the middle of the night."

Akuma tilted her head. "But do you really think this Xavier dude is a bad guy?"

"I don't know. But he tried to kill me with a revolver. Even if I was trespassing, it still counts as murder. And to add on to that, I'm a dockingboy, so I actually have full right to be on that ship."

"Well..." Rusty shook his head. "Crap."