at five in the morning and was a thing of memory by two in the afternoon-so they were intent upon the assembly of the poles and tables that defined their stalls. Around them in the darkness waited boxes of countless treasures, which were stacked on carts that had been wheeled into position from vans and cars along the nearby streets.
Already, there were people waiting to be the first to browse through everything from hairbrushes to high-button shoes. No one officially held them back, but it was clear from watching the vendors at work that customers would not be welcome until the goods were fully displayed beneath the predawn sky.
As in most London markets, the vendors occupied the same general area every time Bermondsey was open for business. So Lynley and Havers began at the north end and worked their way south, asking for someone who could talk to them about Kimmo Thorne. The fact that they were police did not garner them the quick cooperation they had hoped for under circumstances that involved the death of one of the vendors' own. But this they knew was likely due to Bermondsey's reputation for being a clearing ground for stolen property, a place where the trade part of "in the trade" frequently meant breaking and entering.
They'd spent more than an hour quizzing vendors when a seller of ersatz Victorian dressing-table sets ("This's guaranteed one hunderd p'rcent the genuine article, sir and madam") recognised Kimmo's name, and after declaring both the name and the person in possession of it, "an odd l'tle sod, you ask me," he directed Lynley and Havers to an elderly couple at a silver stall. "You talk to the Grabinskis over there," he said, using his chin to indicate the direction. "They'll be able to tell you what's what with Kimmo. Dead sorry about wha' happened to the l'tle sod. Read about it in the News of the World."
So, evidently, had the Grabinskis, who turned out to be a couple whose only son had died years in the past but at something near the same age as Kimmo Thorne. They'd quite taken to the boy, they explained, not so much because he reminded them physically of their dear Mike but because he had something of Mike's enterprising nature. This quality the Grabinskis both admired in Kimmo and deeply missed in their departed son, so when Kimmo had turned up on occasion with the odd something or other or a bagful of somethings he wanted to sell, they shared their stall with him and he gave them a portion of his profit.
Not that they'd ever asked him for it, Mrs. Grabinski said hastily. Her name was Elaine and she wore sage green Wellingtons with red wool kneesocks gaily turned over their tops. She was polishing an impressive epergne, and the moment Lynley had said Kimmo Thorne's name, she'd said, "Kimmo? Who's come to ask about Kimmo, then? 'Bout time, innit," and she made herself available to help them. As did her husband, who was hanging a display of silver teapots on strings that dangled from one of the horizontal poles of the stall.
The boy had come to them first, hoping they would buy from him, Mr. Grabinksi-"Call me Ray"-informed them. But he asked a price they weren't willing to pay, and when no one else in the market was willing to pay it either, Kimmo had returned to them with another offer: to sell from the stall himself and to give them a portion of the takings.
They'd liked the boy-"He was that cheeky," Elaine confided-so they gave him a quarter of one of the tables along the side of the stall, and there he did his business. He sold silver pieces-some plate, some sterling-with a speciality in photo frames.
"We've been told he got into some trouble with that," Lynley said. "Evidently he sold something that shouldn't have been on sale in the first place."
"Having been lifted off someone else," Havers put in.
Oh, they knew nothing about that, both Grabinskis hastened to say. As far as they were concerned, it was someone wanting to get Kimmo in trouble who told that tale to the local rozzers. Doubtless, in fact, it was their chief competitor in the market: one Reginald Lewis, to whom Kimmo had also gone trying to sell his silver before returning to them. Reg Lewis was that jealous of anyone wanting to set up business round early morning Bermondsey, wasn't he? He'd tried to keep the Grabinskis out twenty-two