The Snake by John Godey

Author:John Godey [Godey, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7953-3385-9
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Published: 2013-11-08T05:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Converse said, “The name of the snake is black mamba.”

A reporter in the front row said, “Mamba? That’s a dance, isn’t it?”

“Mamba,” Converse said, “from the Kaffir word m’namba. The black mamba is the largest poisonous snake in Africa and the deadliest.”

It was 8:30, and Jeff had been dead for almost two hours. Converse was sitting behind a scarred oak desk in the shooting range of the Central Park Precinct, flanked by Captain Eastman at his right and Deputy Inspector Scott at his left. The press was facing him, sitting in chairs that had been hastily collected from various offices in the precinct. The desk was cluttered with radio and television microphones. TV cameramen roamed the long room with handheld cameras. There were no special lights; the DI had refused to allow them to be brought in. A trace of cordite lingered in the air.

Everyone smelled of coffee except the DI, who smelled of anger and frustration.

They had driven from East Side Hospital to the precinct in the DI’s car. The DI had spoken only once: “Haven’t you got anything else to wear but that stupid shirt?”

“Sorry,” Converse said, “my tails are at the cleaners.”

Eastman gave him a warning look. The DI curled his upper lip in an expressive sneer. Later, while they were waiting for the press to assemble, the DI, in a voice resonant with passion, had declared that he despised newsmen, that they were “parasites living off the carrion of tragedy.” The unexpectedly dramatic turn of phrase made Converse aware, for the first time, that the DI, with his hollow, attenuated face and the dark, brooding intensity of his eyes, presented the classic image, bordering on travesty, of an old-fashioned Shakespearian actor.

The DI had opened the press conference with a flat announcement to the effect that the perpetrator had been identified, and that Whatsisname would provide background information and answer questions.

Holly Markham was sitting halfway back in the row of chairs. She looked up from her notebook and smiled. Converse frowned and said, “The black mamba is not actually black at all, but dark olive on top and whitish underneath. But in bright sunlight it has the appearance of being black, hence the name.”

He was surprised to see how many reporters had shown up; after all, there were only three daily papers in the city. But, besides the radio and TV people, there was representation from the wire services, New Jersey, Connecticut, and suburban New York papers, and a few stringers from metropolitan newspapers as far away as California.

Someone asked, “What part of Africa does this mamba come from?”

“It’s distributed throughout most of Africa, coast to coast, except for the northernmost parts. Incidentally, it’s misleading to call it just ‘mamba.’ There are three different kinds of mambas—the black; green, which is found in savannah country and riverine forests and is exclusively arboreal; and Jameson’s, which is a rain forest snake. All three are slender, with a small, coffin-sided head and a prehensile tail.”

“From the picture, how big do you judge our snake to be?”

“At least ten feet, maybe as much as eleven.

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