The Far Side of the Sun Read Online Free PDF Page B

wood containing lemons and limes. The air was fragrant with the warm scent of them and the tang of citrus caught at the back of Ella’s throat, but here they could be private. A balmy Bahamian breeze rustled up from the water’s edge and slipped into the warehouse, chasing cobwebs into the corners.

‘Colonel Erskine Lindop, our Commissioner of Police, has been removed from his position and is to be posted to Trinidad.’

Ella rocked back on her heels.

‘It’s true,’ Dan assured her. ‘Not only that, the prison doctor, Dr Oberwarth, who examined de Marigny for singed hairs on the day of the arrest – and didn’t find any – has been relieved of his duties at the prison. And the two American detectives the Duke brought in from Miami are either incompetent or deliberately destructive because they are sabotaging the scene of the crime, washing away evidence such as the bloody handprints on Sir Harry’s bedroom wall and…⁠’

His voice trailed away when he saw her face.

‘Are you sure of this?’ she asked aghast.

‘Yes.’

‘Do others know?’

‘Of course. Including,’ he hesitated over the word, ‘your husband.’

It was inconceivable.

‘What’s going on, Dan?’

‘You tell me.’

A chill passed over Ella’s skin and she shivered. She reached out and laid her fingertips on his shirtfront.

‘The question is,’ she said intently, ‘is the Duke covering for himself or for someone else?’

‘Or for the island?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘As Governor of the Bahamas he doesn’t want the island’s name dragged through the mud, all its secrets raked over, all its bank accounts sifted through. It’s well known that Oakes and his son-in-law didn’t get on, so Marigny’s arrest provides a quick and easy answer to the problem.’

‘Dan, we’re talking about a man’s life here. If Marigny is innocent, the Duke —’

‘It will be up to a jury, Ella, not the Duke.’

‘I know.’ She shook her head. ‘I know.’ She twitched a hand through her hair, as if she could tear out the thoughts inside. ‘Tell me what happened. To Sir Harry.’

He cupped his hand behind her neck and drew her closer.

‘It’s not pleasant, I warn you. Harold Christie discovered Oakes’ body at seven o’clock in the morning, though we believe the murder took place around midnight. The bed had been doused with an inflammable mosquito spray that was in the room and set alight. It was a terrible sight. The bedding, mosquito net and Oakes’ pyjamas were incinerated and his body badly burned and blackened, his eyes gone. Feathers from the pillow were strewn over him, though God only knows why. It appears that whoever did it intended to torch the whole house to destroy evidence, but the storm came at the wrong time. Oakes had left his window open, so the wind and rain put out the flames.’

‘And Christie slept through this in a nearby bedroom?’

‘So he claims. But…⁠’

‘What?’

‘He was seen in a car in town. At one o’clock in the morning. He denies it, of course.’

‘Oh God, Dan, it just gets worse.’

With no warning he released her and strode out of the warehouse into the brilliant sunshine outside, drawing in great lungfuls of the sparkling air. Ella didn’t follow. She let him have his moment alone. To flush out the images of the crime scene from his head and the squalid taste of corruption from his mouth. A warehouseman in uniform approached him to move him on, but backtracked rapidly when the police badge was flashed. Dan had told her he loved his work, but how do you deal with something like this? How do you stop it eating into you?

She waited in the stillness of the warehouse with the lemons and eventually Dan turned, a tall and imposing figure silhouetted against the blue waters of the harbour. She couldn’t see a difference in his walk as he came towards her or in the line of his shoulders, but she had a sense of a decision being made.

‘Ella, I want you to go home and