Good Murder by Robert Gott

Author:Robert Gott [Gott, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC000000, FIC050000
Publisher: Scribe Publications
Published: 2004-08-31T14:00:00+00:00

Book Two

Chapter Seven

freedom and capture

‘WHY AREN’T I DEAD?’ That was the first question I asked the splendidly breasted matron when I woke, yet again, in the Maryborough Base Hospital.

‘By rights, you should be, Mr Power. The man who shot you was expecting you to remain upright. It seems that as soon as you saw his gun you began to faint. You crumpled just as he pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the muscle at the top of your shoulder, above the collarbone. It was meant for your heart. There’s no permanent damage, but that left arm will be out of action for a bit longer.’

Was there a whiff of mockery when she said that I had begun to faint at the sight of the gun? Would she rather I had stood proudly and taken the bullet where Joe Drummond had intended it to go?

‘Where’s Joe Drummond?’ I asked.

‘Who’s Joe Drummond?’

‘The man who shot me.’

‘I’m sorry, Mr Power, you’ll have to ask Sergeant Topaz that. You’re becoming a regular. Usually we only see circus people when there’s been a tumbling accident or someone falling from a horse.’

‘I’m not with the circus,’ I said wearily. ‘Why does everyone in this town think I’m with the circus?’

‘Perhaps they think you look disreputable,’ said Peter Topaz as he came into the ward.

‘Where’s Joe Drummond?’ I asked again.

‘He’s in custody. It might surprise you, but we do actually take a dim view of people pointing guns at other people and pulling the trigger.’

I moved slightly to make myself more comfortable, but a sharp stab of pain forced me to remain still. I felt as if I must have gone white, and experienced a rush of nausea.

‘Are you going to be sick, Mr Power?’ asked the matron with unnecessary sternness.

‘No,’ I said grimly, and by a sheer act of will held the contents of my stomach in check. I thought she’d had enough entertainment at my expense already.

‘I need a statement from you.’ Topaz paused and scratched his chest between the first and second button of his shirt. ‘I also need to know if you intend to press charges.’

This was one of the most extraordinary remarks I had ever heard.

‘I would have thought that attempted murder was a crime, even in Queensland,’ I said.

‘Well, strictly speaking, it is. But perhaps this was more in the nature of an assault, or an accident.’

I was dumbfounded.

‘He shot me,’ I said. ‘If I hadn’t ducked, I’d be a dead man.’

The matron made a noise that sounded unpleasantly like a chortle.

‘If Joe Drummond had wanted to kill you,’ Topaz said, ‘you’d be lying on a slab in the mortuary. He doesn’t miss. He would have summed you up as a fainter as soon as he saw you and made the necessary adjustments.’

‘You’re serious, aren’t you? You really don’t want me to press charges.’

Topaz gave the matron a look that indicated that he wanted her to leave. She took the hint without demur and withdrew.

‘Frankly, Will, I don’t want you to press charges.

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