"I build boats from keel to mast, or convert older vessels." Mr James Gall was a time-served craftsman in his late thirties, with arms like hawsers and a lugubrious expression on his face. "I don"t hire out boats, Sergeant Watters."
"It"s a one-off," Watters said. "I won"t be gone for more than a day."
Gall grunted and smoothed his hand over the keel of an upturned dinghy. "The thing is, Sergeant, I don"t know you. If this were official police business, you would requisition it through the proper channels; you"re not doing that."
"It"s legal." Watters felt his anger rising. "You"ll be paid in cash, up front." He hoped that his pay could cover the cost.
"So what"s the occasion?" Gall sat on the upturned boat and cast a critical eye over his workforce who were busily hammering and planin
