Excerpt
Harry the Hat was a notorious pickpocket. His room was constantly being raided by the RIC, but they could never find his stash.
One day Marcus discovered Harry sprawled on the ground in the back yard of the hostel. He said he’d slipped on a patch of wet grass. He’d sprained his wrist and cracked some ribs, but he was reluctant to let Marcus help him. Marcus suspected Harry had fallen off the wall that surrounded the yard. So he waited until Harry hobbled away towards Walsh’s pub over in Rock Street where he usually spent the afternoon, and he climbed up on the wall to see what was so interesting.
The wall was directly under Harry’s room. The window was locked down by old paint and rotting wood and the cracked glass was caked in grime. But when Marcus shuffled towards it he spotted Harry’s secret hiding place straight away. From inside the room the RIC wouldn’t have noticed the windowsill outside was loose.
Marcus prised it off and reached inside. And he pulled out a canvas satchel.
He couldn’t believe Harry was living in a slum hostel when he had all this money stashed away. Why? But more importantly, how could Marcus relieve Harry of some of it without him noticing? He put it back and bided his time.
And tonight was his time. Marcus took it all. He just grabbed the satchel and ran. Initially he was going to share it with Amanda but that didn’t work out as planned.
He took his time walking back along the lane. There was still a few hours to kill before he caught the train to Waterford. He found his bicycle and headed back to town.
He didn’t see what hit him. The bicycle buckled under him and his face slammed into the road. A bright flash of pain and the stab of the handlebars hitting his shoulder. He rolled over and tried to untangle himself from the wreckage but something heavy was pressing down on him.
He managed to turn his head just enough to glimpse something coming towards him in a shiny blur. The blow caught him between the eyes and everything went black.