Tight-Lipped

He had been told to come to the left bank of the canal de l’Ourcq between the bassin de la Villette and the park of the same name. Like the canal Saint-Martin further south, the waterway was being colonised by hipster bars and restaurants, although the process was slower up here in the nineteenth arrondissement and the neighbourhood’s industrial heritage remained more apparent. Despite the fact that the warehouses lining the canal were falling prey to redevelopment it remained a neighbourhood with a rough edge. At this time of night it was left to brisk dog walkers, muttering drifters, and the odd suspicious-looking individual.