The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures - Mike Ashley [98]
“I inspected a number of tea plants, about which, over the course of my botanical investigations, I have come to know a little. At length I repaired to Trevor’s side, interested in the involved conversation he was conducting with the worker. They were discussing the state and composition of the soil. At one point I interrupted. ‘Might this account for the state of the plants in this area?’ I enquired.”
“ ‘I didn’t know you were a botanist too, Holmes,’ said Trevor.”
“I’ve gleaned a passing knowledge of the science in my reading over the years,” said I. “And these plants seem, if I am not mistaken, to be suffering from Elsinoe thaea – or mottle scab.”
“The manager nodded. ‘And not only in this area, Mr Holmes. Fully half the estate is blighted.’ ”
Trevor swung his arm to indicate a broad swathe of land on the periphery of the plantation. ‘The entire eastern sector will not produce this season,’ said he. “I closed down the whole area when I took charge in February, locked the outbuildings where the tea was stored for drying, and ensured that no-one approached these terraces, for fear of spreading the scab.’ ”
“ ‘Do you think that the Atkinsons were aware of the disease before they vanished?’ I asked.”
“Trevor considered the question before replying. ‘It is possible, Holmes; indeed probable.’ He was silent awhile. ‘Why?’ he asked at length. “Do you think that this might have some bearing on the case?’ ”
“It is too early to say,” I opined. “But certainly it is a factor to be taken into consideration.”
“We had been joined, there upon the hillside, by a knot of curious native workers. They spoke rapidly in their own tongue, Sinhalese, upon which Trevor seemed to lose his temper and snap at them in their language. They fell immediately silent and appeared shame-faced.”
“What were they saying?” I asked.
“Yet more superstitious claptrap,” Trevor said. “They claim that six months ago, just after Bruce and William vanished, they heard the waiting of their spirits in this benighted sector. Complete rubbish, of course.”
“In due course we took our leave and drove east, towards the town of Trincomalee. ‘The estate spreads over some five square miles,’ Trevor informed me. ‘The easternmost area, bordering the town, is where the locals have their abodes. The Atkinson’s housekeeper is interned in the hospital bungalow.’ ”
“Presently we came upon the hospital, but to grace the rude timber construct with such a title was optimistic in the extreme. It was little more than a shed occupied by four beds, only one of them taken. The doctor, an Indian in his eighties, showed us across to the girl, one Anya Amala. ‘Two minutes only, sirs,’ he said. ‘The girl is most seriously weakened.’ ”
“She was a small thing barely out of her teens, with a sheen of perspiration laid across her dusky brow. She eyed our approach with something like apprehension, and as I took a seat beside the bed I was at pains to put her at ease.”
‘I wish only to ask a few simple questions,’ I began. ‘I will not detain you for long.’ ”
“She glanced like a frightened animal from the doctor, to Trevor, and finally back to myself. She nodded, licking her lips nervously.”
“ ‘How long have you worked for the brothers?’ I enquired.
“In a whisper so soft it was almost inaudible, she said, ‘I have worked for William and Bruce almost two years, sir. They have been good and kind employers. I am most very upset when they disappear.’ ”
“ ‘Workers on the estate are of the opinion that the brothers are dead, Anya. What do you think on this matter?’ ”
“She shook her head, and the movement dislodged tears which fell from her massive eyes and rolled down her brown cheeks.