The bailiff stared at me down his long, hooked nose. It wasn’t particularly difficult to stare down at me, because he was sitting high up on the bench behind the massive judge’s table, whereas I – well, I was sitting in the dock. ‘Why is he staring at me like that?’ I whispered to my […]

‘For the last time, Sir: when are we going?’ ‘For the last time, Mr Linton – when the time is right.’ ‘And when will that be, Sir?’ ‘Soon.’ ‘How soon?’ ‘Quite soon.’ Across the miniscule carriage we were squashed into, I glared at my employer – to absolutely no effect. The perfect, chiselled face of […]

My eyes roamed across the deck, searching. I spotted my victim about a dozen yards away, leaning against the railing. He was smoking a pipe, relaxed, quite unaware of what I had in store for him. ‘Captain!’ My water-soaked boots squeaked with the kind of wrath possessed only by a girl who has just escaped […]