Tears of the Moon - Di Morrissey [155]
Tyndall drank and sighed in satisfaction. ‘Damn good medicine.’
‘And not as dangerous as some,’ quipped O’Leary. ‘You still got no idea what happened?’
Tyndall grimaced. ‘No, it’s still a mystery to me. I do have some vague images of Amy giving me medicine, but she did that regularly. And I have images of me reaching out in the night for a drink. But I was going through a bad spot there just before she did a bunk. Fevers, hallucinations, the lot. Ahmed is convinced she gave me an overdose. I don’t know … it’s hard to accept. I can’t believe she hated me that much.’
O’Leary took his notebook from his shirt pocket, opened it, then took an indelible pencil from its holder and examined the tip carefully before writing the date. ‘But there is the business of the pearls.’ He made it more of a question than a statement.
‘Ah, now that has the mark of Amy and Gunther about it,’ remarked Tyndall. Two days after Amy had fled Tyndall had given Ahmed the keys to the safe so that the latest collection of pearls from Toby Metta could be safely deposited. At this point, the robbery had been discovered.
‘Of course it is only circumstantial, but who else is suspect?’ Tyndall asked.
‘Good question. Ahmed?’
‘Nonsense.’
‘I agree. Either Amy found your keys or Gunther has skills we didn’t know of. I’ll note the details, but there’s really not much I can do about it.’
‘Know that, mate. But all things considered I don’t feel too bad about it. Thanks to Yusef I now have grounds for divorcing Amy. Adultery.’
O’Leary leaned back in his chair and grinned. ‘You don’t give up, John, do you?’
‘No. Not on this one. Olivia means the world to me, Sean. I’ve now got a chance for freedom and a chance to win her back.’
‘Bit complicated getting a divorce when you can’t find the wife,’ observed O’Leary sympathetically.
‘There has to be a way,’ responded Tyndall with some passion. ‘There just has to be a way.’
‘Then let’s drink to it,’ said O’Leary, pouring a generous measure into both glasses.
It was Toby Metta who came and broke the news to Tyndall. He arrived at the foreshore camp where Tyndall was getting ready to go back to sea with his fleet.
Tyndall watched from the upper balcony of the shed as Toby puffed his way along the track and up the stairs, his round face aglow with perspiration and some agitation. He waved a copy of the West Australian newspaper and collapsed in a chair.
‘Read the bottom of the page there,’ he instructed.
‘Toby, what’s got you in such a state?’
‘Read. I’ve marked it.’
Tyndall looked at the circled story and read it quickly.
SINGAPORE, Friday
British colonial authorities have yet to confirm the identities of two white people found murdered on the schooner SYLPH in the Straits of Malacca but they are believed to be from Australia. The man and woman had both been shot several times. The ransacked vessel was found yesterday and taken in tow by the Royal Navy patrol boat CURLEW in international waters west of the port of Malacca, an area notorious for pirates operating out of islands near Sumatra. The boat’s papers indicate that it had been based in Broome in Western Australia before spending time in minor ports in the Sulu Sea. The body of a Japanese crew member was also found on board. The fate of the other crew members is unknown.
‘Sounds unmistakably like Gunther. Desperate business by the sound of it. Sorry to bring the news like this, John.’
Tyndall was stunned at the coldly reported facts. ‘I wanted her out of my life. But not like this. Bloody horrible business.’
‘What are you going to do? Cable Singapore?’
Tyndall looked thoughtful and spoke slowly. ‘Yes, I will. To get more details. Then … ’ he looked up resolutely. ‘Then I’m going up there to check on the whole story. I’m her husband, I need to do that.’
‘She’ll have been buried, case closed by the time you get there. Not much point is there, John?’
‘I thought she was dead once before. This time I want to be sure.’ He glanced at Toby’s slightly shocked expression. ‘I have to be sure, Toby. I