even with their rough double doors wide open to the street , they were dim , the corners puddled in gloom ; they stank of the only half-tanned and already rotting skins that were stacked on a counter , the putrid aromas of fish gut sauce or cakes of salted anchovies , oozing overripe cheeses or musty air-dried sausages , their skins furred with white mould ; only a timber store smelt sweet with pine resin and the peppery scent of olivewood , and the slatted shadows of the leaning planks seemed to form such good hiding places , but there was no sign of anyone there .