The Noose's Shadow (Master Mercurius Mysteries Book 4) by Graham Brack

Author:Graham Brack [Brack, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2020-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

‘Two families left to interview, Boudewijn,’ I said as we opened the gate to the house of Wim Pienaar.

‘Yes, Master,’ he agreed. ‘Master, may I ask you a question?’

‘Of course, Boudewijn.’

‘Are we getting anywhere?’

What I should have said to him was that he might ask me any question he liked except that one. ‘I need to sit quietly and think about that, Boudewijn. But I think it must be a bad idea to theorize before I have collected all the evidence.’

‘Why, Master?’

‘Well, suppose you have a big decision to make in your life, Boudewijn. Let me pose you a hypothetical question.’

‘A what?’

‘A hypothetical question. Let’s play at pretending,’ I explained.

‘Pretending what?’

‘Suppose I tell you that I will pay your passage to go to the East Indies. I’ll give you the money you need to set up a household and employ some servants. You can become very rich in Batavia, Boudewijn. Would you want to go?’

‘I don’t know, Master. I hear it is very hot there.’

‘Yes, but you’ll have a grand house, and servants to fan you.’

‘It sounds very nice.’

‘So, on the evidence you have so far, you would be likely to give it favourable consideration?’

‘Who wouldn’t?’ said Boudewijn, his eyes glazing over as if he had forgotten that I had said it was a hypothetical question.

‘Ah, but now I tell you that over half the Europeans who go to live there die young from horrible tropical diseases.’

‘Do they?’

‘I don’t know, Boudewijn. This is all hypothetical, remember? But let’s pretend it is true; would you want to go now?’

‘Of course not, Master. I don’t want to die young.’

‘There you are, you see. If you had made the decision without all the evidence, you might have made a bad one. That’s why I need to ensure that I have it all before I try to find the murderer.’

‘But you don’t think it’s Jaco Zwart?’

‘I wish I could say so, but I need to ask him another question. I want to know why he didn’t come running when Joost was shouting for help. If he was innocent, wouldn’t he be the first one there? He was the nearest, after all. But if he was the killer, he might well ignore Joost. He would not want to return to the scene of his crime, especially if Wolf might still be alive.’

‘Still be alive? I thought the surgeon said he died at once?’

‘Yes, within a minute or two. But that was still long enough to say something. I just wonder if he told Joost who did it, but Joost isn’t telling us because he wants to take his revenge himself?’

Boudewijn rubbed his chin in thought. ‘But that only makes sense if the killer is Jaco, because he could have attacked anybody else over the last few days. The one person he can’t attack is the one who is safely in custody.’

‘Maybe Jaco is better off locked up, then.’

‘He would be, if he wasn’t waiting to be hanged, Master. I expect he doesn’t feel quite so lucky to be in jail if he thinks about that.

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