The Devil's Eye Read Online Free PDF Page A

permit?’
    ‘I believe five shillings is what you have to pay the black cook nowadays, sir.’
    ‘Good God. Another good reason to lose the Protector, right? Am I right?’
    ‘Yes, sir,’ said Kenny.
    Cooper had leant across the table and said in a low voice, ‘Have you got yourself a girl? Eh? I believe you have. Can she cook? It’s a small town, Constable.’ He tapped his finger on the side of his nose.
    As Kenny left the barracks he could still hear Cooper trying to sing ‘The Old Rustic Mill by the Bridge’.
    Kenny stopped in again at the hospital on the way out of town. He walked through the front door and found Hope in the dispensary fluttering about like a moth.
    He coughed and Hope jumped. She put a hand over her mouth and held a candle up to his face. Her eyes reflected the flame and her flawless skin glowed.
    ‘I startled you,’ he said. ‘Sorry.’
    She looked around him and took him by the arm out to the verandah. ‘You should ring the bell.’
    ‘It’s a bit late for that, isn’t it?’
    She seemed to recover; she was glad to see him, she said, but she kept looking over her shoulder. ‘Dr Korteum’s doing his rounds.’
    ‘I need to question the Indian again.’
    ‘Oh, the Indian?’
    She looked disappointed he was pleased to see.
    ‘I’m afraid he’s dead to the world,’ she said.
    ‘Just for a few minutes.’
    ‘It’s not a good idea, Jack,’ but he led her to the room.
    Hope put her candle down next to the darkened lamp, and they stood beside the bed listening to the man dreaming, the erratic breathing of someone being chased.
    ‘How is your father?’ she said.
    ‘He wants you to come out and see him.’
    ‘Is he ill again?’
    ‘No. I think he misses your company.’ ‘Oh. Should I come?’
    ‘If you like. Yes,’ said Kenny, afraid now that such a visit might put her off. ‘I get back from patrol in a week.’
    Hope turned towards the man in the bed. ‘Can’t you wake him up?’ asked Kenny. ‘He’s insensible,’ said Hope. ‘Dr Roth prescribed laudanum.’
    ‘Well, light the lamp anyway.’
    ‘But someone’s coming.’
    Even the unconscious man seemed to hold his breath as the footfalls passed the door.
    Kenny had pressed his arm against hers and he felt the heat of her. The hospital odours swam around him and made him short of breath.
    They listened as the steps faded. A man coughed somewhere, far away.
    ‘Why don’t you want Dr Korteum to see me here?’ asked Kenny.
    Hope sighed. ‘He doesn’t want me to speak to you.’
    Kenny was astonished. ‘Why?’
    He felt Hope lean into him a little. ‘He says it’s not what Dr Roth would want, I suppose.’
    ‘Dr Roth?’
    ‘Yes. Dr Roth is a friend of my father’s.’
    Kenny opened and closed his mouth in the dark and then said, ‘Well, what would your father think of me?’
    He felt her eyes on him. ‘Jack, it doesn’t matter what my father thinks. I don’t want to talk about him.’
    Kenny had many questions, but he felt her shudder. She stepped away and lit the lamp and the room appeared again in a thick, yellow light. The man had kicked off the bedclothes and lay prone, perspiring and naked. Hope reached for the basin beside the bed and produced a wet cloth.
    Kenny held a hand up and leant over the man’s body.
    ‘What?’ said Hope.
    Kenny said, ‘Something…’ but didn’t finish the sentence. He pushed the man’s head to one side and put his fingers under the pillow. He straightened, and then bent over the man’s face. ‘Is he really asleep?’
    ‘He’s had enough laudanum to sleep until noon tomorrow.’
    Kenny grabbed the man’s jaw, prised the mouth open and reached in with his fingers.
    Before Hope could protest, he stood back.
    ‘A tooth?’ she asked.
    He held it, pure and white, under the lamp. ‘A pearl.’
    The air became cooler as he rode out of town and a full moon lit the road. He had to slow his horse to a trot. By now, his sister and father would have fought themselves