The Trouble With Tortoises by Evelyn James

Author:Evelyn James [James, Evelyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Raven Publications
Published: 2020-03-17T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

“Do you believe him?” Clara asked as she stood with Chang outside the police station.

Chang was donning a pair of handsome leather gloves to protect his hands against the cold.

“I never believe anyone who wants to get into my good books,” Chang said lightly. “Why? Don’t you believe him?”

“When I saw Jao a few days before she was killed. She told me she had dealt with her attacker. Her implication was that he was dead.”

“Hm,” Chang said thoughtfully. “That need not be true. If someone attacked me, I would make it clear that I had dealt with them, even if that was not the case.”

“But people would know if Graham was alive and well, that she lied.”

“She did not tell you the name of her assailant,” Chang pointed out. “And only a very stupid man would go about bragging that he had stabbed someone like Jao while she was still very much alive. He could never know who might be looking to get into Jao’s good graces, who might owe her a favour, or be looking to have her ignore one of their misdeeds. Graham would make himself an easy target for every criminal looking to keep on Jao’s good side if he said what he had done.”

Clara nodded at this logic.

“On the other hand, if she had been slain as he planned, he would have been quick to declare his actions.”

“Exactly,” Chang said, having now finished with his gloves, which he had fussed over with surprising pedantry, he adjusted his scarf. “That isn’t to say I believe what Bobby has told me. He might be correct, or he might have thrown me a bone.”

“Well, as Mr Wood was not among the men arrested, or among the corpses, he was either one of the lucky ones who escaped the raid or he did leave the gang before it, possibly because he stabbed Jao,” Clara observed.

“Or he left for another reason,” Chang shrugged. “Bobby either knows Graham attacked Jao and got away with his life, or he is making a wild guess to distract me and earn himself some favour.”

“It is a bit far-fetched, isn’t it, to suppose Graham was lurking about ready to try and assassinate Jao when the opportunity presented itself?”

They had started to walk down the road. Chang had suggested they warm up over a cup of tea and discuss matters further. Clara had been reluctant, but it was better to have him talking and thinking about Graham Wood than it was to have him thinking about revenge on Inspector Park-Coombs.

“I would do it,” Chang answered her question. “I would see it as my only option after the failure of my first attack. Jao would seek revenge on her assailant, on his family and anyone connected to him. His life was in peril as long as she lived. He would be trapped living in hiding, fearing anyone seeing him and reporting where he was. He could not work or gain any help from anyone. Had Graham not already betrayed me, he might have sought me out, offered to work for me to gain protection.

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