Free The Secret Fate of Mary Watson by Judy Johnson Page A

can you be sure? That stupid boy Heccy lurks around corners, ears like little mice with pieces of cheese: nibble, nibble. Perhaps you two are in collusion.’ He twists his ring around so that its showy face is to the front. The action seems to calm him. ‘I speculate about many things. Why would I not discuss customs matters with Knight when it is his gainfulemployment? He has many interesting stories: the crate of eggs not full of yolks and whites, but liquid opium, discovered when the sub-collector decided to have a cooked breakfast one morning. Gold nuggets hidden in ginger jars full of human bones.’
    ‘I’m not interested in your stories of greedy Chinamen.’
    ‘As for Douglas and Müller, I complain about the cost of postage to the first, and with the other I discuss the quality of meat supplied to my restaurant.’ He lifts an ornate brass letter opener off his polished desk and runs his finger along the blunt blade, then tilts it this way and that. A single ray of late-afternoon sunshine throws off a spark of fire as it hits its surface. ‘None of this is your concern.’
    ‘When were you going to approach me?’ I ask.
    The rain has tapered off to the odd pin-drop: a pine tree shedding its needles on the metal roof. The humidity still simmers like rank stew.
    ‘About what, exactement ?’ His face twitches, but minutely.
    ‘Lizard Island. It’s got a hill with a lookout and signal flags. Ships passing north and south have nowhere to hide. How handy it would be for you to have an ally on the island. Perhaps even a business partner. With the reefs so treacherous, and with so many other boats about, it would be almost impossible for smugglers to rendezvous without someone in situ to guide them. Or warn them.’
    Thirty seconds of silence is broken only by the room’s heart beating: Charley’s nautical clock, each tick dragged along by the cocked spring before it.
    ‘Why would I suggest such a thing to you?’ he asks eventually. ‘To you, so upright, so lawful. You would not consider it for a minute.’ His eyes throw out their sticky strings, waiting for me to fly closer.
    ‘Not even for a second,’ I reply.
    He snorts, then does a complete about-face.
    ‘I change my mind about Watson. He is not a good match for you.’
    ‘And why would that be, Charley?’
    ‘He is not to be trusted. Some men …’ He shakes his head. ‘They are no good with women.’
    Nicole’s strident voice comes back to me. Blokes like Watson leave serious bruises .
    ‘You were happy enough to hand me over to him when you thought it might serve your own purposes.’
    ‘He is too old for you, and he has a history.’
    ‘What sort of history?’
    He stares at me for a few beats. ‘It is … delicate. There is sometimes a little rough-house with the girls … and Watson is more keen than most in this. He had an obsession with Laura. She accepted extra money for his … eccentricity … when the other girls would not.’ He leans back in his chair until the leather squeaks.
    That explains the look I saw pass between Bob and Laura in the salon. And as for Charley — I feel unreasonably hurt by his blatant manipulations.
    ‘You wouldn’t have said a thing about this, would you, if I’d agreed to be your accomplice? You would have had me become a beaten wife. But since I’ve said no, you’ve reached the conclusion that a fair-to-middling piano player is better than none at all.’
    He stands abruptly, causing the chair to bounce back, and paces over to the window. The twilight outside is the colour of a three-day-old contusion. I can’t see his face, and he knows it. That alerts me to be suspicious of whatever he comes up with next.
    ‘Watson has stayed away this last year. I think he has calmed himself, perhaps. Maybe he is ready to settle down.’ He turns back around, fiddles with his watch chain. ‘But I think it is better to be safe than sorry, non ?’
    ‘I don’t believe you,’ I say, my mind working rapidly.