The Far Side of the Sun Read Online Free

name.

She lowered her voice. ‘His body and the room were set on fire.’

That hit him hard. His eyes leapt to hers. ‘Burnt?’ he whispered.

‘I’m sorry, Flynn.’

She glanced in the direction of the lawyer who had his head bent over papers and was pretending not to listen.

‘Burnt?’ Flynn repeated.

Dodie placed her hand silently over his mouth. She was frightened that in his despair he would say too much.

‘There’s more.’

‘Tell me.’

‘Someone slit his pillow and threw its feathers all over him before setting fire to it.’

His eyes widened. ‘Obeah?’

Dodie nodded.

‘Someone is trying to make it look like an obeah ritual killing.’ He uttered a sharp bark of scorn that made the lawyer lift his head. ‘That is just dumb. Everyone knows the Bahamians love him.’

‘That same someone is working hard to confuse the police and cover his tracks.’

Flynn’s face looked pale and exhausted. ‘What now?’

‘They’ve arrested his son-in-law, Count de Marigny.’

Anger sparked in his eyes. ‘An easy target,’ he jeered. ‘Convenient too.’

‘He’s here. In this prison.’

‘Poor bastard. He doesn’t have a chance in hell. Any more than I do. The big boys are throwing us into the lion pit.’

In the corner Parfury cleared his throat. ‘Mr Hudson, I will be doing everything I can for your defence and Count de Marigny is being defended ably by Mr Higgs. You will both receive a fair trial, I assure you of that.’

Flynn laughed, a harsh sound. ‘You’re betting on a fair trial for this Marigny guy, Mr Parfury, even though a more likely suspect was in the next-door room and is supposed to have slept through a murder, a fire and a storm?’ He tipped two fingers in a salute to the lawyer. ‘Hell, Mr Parfury, you’re a braver man than I am.’

Flynn stood up abruptly, walked over to the door and banged his fist on it. With a jolt Dodie realised what he was doing. She leapt to her feet and seized his sleeve.

‘No, Flynn, please.’

He turned and took both her hands in his own. ‘Dodie,’ he said fiercely, ‘I am headed straight for the noose.’

‘No! What about the four coins in your jacket? Where could they have come from? I’ll try —’

‘Forget the coins.’ He released her hands and stepped back. ‘Forget me.’

‘No, Flynn, you are —’

‘Leave now, Dodie.’ His eyes were implacable. ‘I want you to leave.’
     
    Dodie walked hard and fast. Above her the blue sky stretched pure and clean and limitless after the dank confines of the prison and she drew in lungfuls of the crystal-clear air. She realised why Flynn did what he did, of course she did, but it didn’t make it any easier. Didn’t he know it was too late? That she was there in that grimy cell with him, whether he wanted it or not.

Her body ached and she was glad of the ache. It distracted her mind from the real pain. She knew she had to work out a plan of attack. To formulate her strategy, her tactics, her manoeuvres. All military terms. That was how she thought of it now, because make no mistake. This was her war. Not in Europe. Not in Guadalcanal. But right here in Nassau, her own battle for the truth.

First she had to speak to the detective. She needed to find out more about the telephone call to the police and about Morrell’s wallet. She wanted to know what kind of coins the ones found in his jacket were – whether they were Napoleons too.

She set off back towards the Arcadia. But she knew she was going to have to go out to Bradenham House again because her best way to get to Detective Calder was through Ella Sanford. But she was conscious of a change in Ella, a new element in her that was unsettling. Dodie saw it every time the name of Detective Calder passed her lips. A wildness. A glimpse of a storm. Was that what Ella had meant? Was that what she saw in her too, that ‘something’ of herself?

A car door slammed somewhere behind her and she looked around. She was in Silver