Tears of the Moon - Di Morrissey [147]
She watched him work on the lock with several pieces of wire and then thin, shaped steel. He cursed frequently, and, at one stage, stopped work and searched the office for a drink, eventually finding the half-empty bottle in a drawer of Tyndall’s desk. He sat it beside him and resumed work, sweating and cursing with the strain of concentration and frustration. Amy sat in silence, barely able to breathe so great was the tension.
After two hours, during which Gunther had finished the bottle and startled Amy by kicking the safe several times, he eventually sighed loudly and rolled back on the floor, stretching himself out in a gesture of immense relief. ‘Got it,’ he whispered exultantly. ‘Got it.’
Amy leaped from the chair and crouched beside him, unable to contain her excitement. ‘Open it. Open it.’
He sat up, reached confidently for the handle, paused for a second then turned the handle and pulled. The door swung open. Amy clapped her hands in delight, then reached into the safe to feel for the soft bags containing the pearls.
In the moonlight the pearls looked fabulously lustrous and large.
‘Is that enough capital for you? Am I in?’ she demanded with a smile. By way of reply, he lunged at her, pushing her to the floor, pinning her beneath him and as she gasped he put a hand over her mouth. Then she realised his other hand was fumbling beneath her skirt and she could see the gleam of his gap-toothed smile. Giggling, she pulled at his leather belt and coarse cotton trousers.
They rolled on the floor in a frenzy of sexual passion, Amy clutching the bags of pearls with one hand and with the other the tangle of Gunther’s oily hair. Oblivious to anything but each other’s body they didn’t hear the voices and activity down on the wharf until a shout and running footsteps alerted them. Naked, Gunther and Amy peered through the window and Gunther swore.
‘That’s Ahmed, why is he back?’ exclaimed Amy.
‘They’re carrying someone off, must have been an accident. Get dressed. Let’s hope they don’t come up here. Does Ahmed have a key?’
‘I have no idea.’
They dressed in silence and quickly learned from the shouts below as a carriage pulled up, that it was Captain Tyndall who was the patient.
‘My God, where will they take him? “What will we do about the pearls?’
‘Shut the safe door and lock it again. They won’t be getting into the safe while Tyndall is sick. Better let me keep them.’
‘No, I will.’
Gunther’s eyes were hard. ‘We’re partners. Don’t you trust me?’
‘No.’ She was equally tough. ‘These are my ticket out of here. I’ll hand them over when you get us out.’ He grinned. They understood each other, they were two of a kind.
‘Let’s get out of here while all that confusion is going on. We can possibly work this to our advantage. Tyndall mightn’t pull through and all your worries will be over. You’ll get the lot.’
‘Let’s wait and see. Nothing has changed.’
Ahmed arrived at the house early the following morning to break the news to a sleepy-eyed Amy that Tyndall was very ill after being shipwrecked. ‘He is at his house. Doctor says very bad from the sea and the sun and cuts from the coral. Stay in bed long time.’
‘I must go to him. Care for him. Oh my.’ She wrung her hands and looked distraught, but Ahmed’s expression didn’t change.
‘Mem, Doctor send nurse and Rosminah look after him good.’
Amy’s feigned distress dissolved and she spoke briskly. ‘Nonsense, Ahmed. I am his wife. I will look after him. Please wait while I dress and take me to him immediately.’
‘Yes, mem,’ said Ahmed, sitting on a chair on the verandah.
The minute Amy was out of sight, Yusef appeared at the side of the verandah steps and signalled quickly to Ahmed. The two slipped around the house and Yusef told Ahmed of Amy’s clandestine meetings with Gunther.
Amy set herself up in the spare room of Tyndall’s house, announcing she was moving in to care for her dear husband. She sent Rosminah back to the house to pack clothes and personal things, for she wouldn’t be leaving his side ‘until my beloved