‘Most interesting,’ remarked the Duke, ‘and I have very little doubt, Madame, that your guess about what happened to her is correct. But her disappearance and your finding bloodstains on the clothes of the two men are no proof of murder.’
‘No, my lord. But I make it possible for you to tie all ends up.’
‘How will you do that?’
‘Soon after Vinala disappears, Ukwatte says her bungalow no good; beams rotten, so dangerous for anyone else to make a home in. He has it pulled down. For why? Because he do not want anyone else to live there. For why? Because somewhere near is buried Vinala and he fears that it be discovered. Where is her body? I tell you. The muck I clean from the clothes of Ukwatte and Lalita was pig manure. They bury her in the pigsty. I am certain of it. Go there and you will find I am right.’
‘Now we’re really getting some place,’ Truss exclaimed. ‘If her skeleton is there, with your corroborative evidence we can put Lalita on the skids.’
‘Yes,’ agreed the Duke. ‘Motive, opportunity, and the remains of the body will enable us to bring a charge. But only your evidence about the bloodstains, Madame, will secure a conviction. May we count upon you to give it?’
Mirabelle lit another cigarette from the one she was smoking. ‘Yes, my lord. As showing good faith I will sign a statement and exchange for deed giving me title to Olenevka.’
‘Nothing could be fairer,’ smiled the Duke. ‘But I think it would be advisable for the deed to be drawn up by Mr. Rajapakse. He will not, of course, be told about the … er … possible scandal from which it is part of our understanding that he should be protected; only that you have approached me with this proposal for preventing Lalita from making a great deal of trouble for all of us. If Rajapakse draws up the deed we can be quite certain that no knowledge of it will get back to Lalita; whereas if your lawyer friend acts for you I feel there is some risk that it might. Do you agree?’
‘I think I could trust my friend, but he is also friend of Lalita; so perhaps, my lord, what you propose is best.’
‘Good. Then there remains only one other point. We need directions as to how to find the ruin of the Fernandos’ bungalow, so that someone can be sent to look for the remains of the body.’
Mirabelle gave them. It was not far from the house, and de Richleau was satisfied that anyone who knew the property should have no difficulty in finding it. Having thanked her, he stood up and said:
‘May I congratulate you on your good sense in coming to us, Madame. For the assistance you are rendering us you have well deserved the future security you seek. Once we have found the remains of the body and have your signed statement I pledge you my word that the deal shall go through.’
‘I thank you, my lord.’ Mirabelle came to her feet and bowed. ‘But how long will this take? You must hurry. You have only a few days. Perhaps as soon as this week Lalita springs trap for Mr. Rajapakse, and once he is in prison he perhaps never come out alive.’
‘I appreciate that; so I shall send someone to Olenevka tomorrow. By Tuesday night, or Wednesday at the latest, we should know where we stand.’
After a further exchange of compliments they parted. Truss saw Mirabelle to the side entrance of the hotel grounds, then went in with the Duke to dinner. As soon as the waiter had taken their order, Truss asked:
‘What did you think of her?’
‘I was decidedly impressed,’ de Richleau replied. ‘She is a pleasant creature, honest, I should say, according to her lights, and decidedly attractive.’
‘She certainly is that. From what I’ve heard of old Ukwatte it’s surprising that a woman with her looks should have been willing to tie up with a man like him; or anyhow to remain with him for so long. And as for Lalita!’
The Duke smiled. ‘My dear boy, in such matters women are entirely unpredictable. Physical attractions do not weigh with them nearly as much as they do with our sex. According to Fleur, Madame Mirabelle is lazy by nature, and she evidently liked being the mistress of Olenevka, even if only an unofficial one.
‘What do you think the chances are that she’s telling the truth?’
‘Very high. She may be exaggerating Lalita’s powers to do us harm but the intentions she has attributed to him are plausible. And she is no fool. She must know that she would stand to gain nothing by telling us this story of the murder if it were simply invention.’
‘I take it you’ll send van Goens up there to investigate?’
‘No. That was my first thought; but he used to be a police inspector in that area and, having lived at Olenevka for so long, Lalita is certain still to have friends in the neighbourhood. If one of them tipped him off that an ex-policeman was snooping there, his guilty conscience would alert him to his danger. He would be up there within a matter of hours to destroy any evidence that may remain of the crime. He might even tumble to it that Mirabelle has suspected him all along and is now selling him out. If so he’s quite capable of killing her; and we must not risk that.’
‘Then I’ll go up if you like, sir,’ Truss volunteered.
‘Thank you, Truss. I was about to suggest it; and I have thought of a way to explain your visit to de Zoysa, the manager there. He may not yet know that I have made the property over to Fleur, but I will ring him up tomorrow morning and tell him. I shall add that she wants to sell it and that she has been lucky enough to find a possible buyer almost at once. That will be you. And that both of you are on your way up there so that you can see the present state of the mine and get a better idea of its possible value. Even if that does get back to Lalita, as he already knows that the place belongs to Fleur, the reason for your visit will appear quite natural to him.’
Truss laughed. ‘Grandad, you’re a marvel. That will give me two days on my own with Fleur; and, after the end of this week we won’t be seeing one another for quite a while, so I couldn’t be more grateful.’
‘I don’t know that you deserve them,’ de Richleau remarked dryly, ‘and but for this other business I certainly would not aid you to deceive poor Douglas. But love as well as war has its casualties, and as you are the victor one cannot blame you for wishing to enjoy the spoils.’
An hour later they were upstairs in the Duke’s sitting room with Douglas and Fleur. As de Richleau told them of the latest development regarding his unlucky inheritance, brought about by, as he said, Mirabelle’s approach to him, Fleur contrived to show the same surprise and concern as her husband; but when the Duke disclosed that Mirabelle had demanded Olenevka as the price of her alliance, their reactions were quite different. Fleur at once agreed, but Douglas proved most averse to her giving it up, on the grounds that he thought Mirabelle was probably lying and had been put up to this move by Lalita in the hope that by some new trick or other they could between them get hold of the property.
It then fell to the Duke to put on an act. Had his old companions Simon, Rex and Richard been present they would have seen through it at once, because they knew that while he was always cautious when threatened with danger he had never been known to panic or show fear. But now he gave the impression that he was really scared. He insisted that Mirabelle had given him ample grounds for believing that unless Lalita could be stopped both Douglas and he would become his victims and lose their lives. He then insisted that their only chance of saving themselves lay in agreeing to her terms.
Infected by this display of fear Douglas was persuaded to agree; upon which the Duke said, ‘You will appreciate that this must be done with the utmost secrecy. Should one of the clerks in your office chance to be in Lalita’s pay and report to him that a Deed of Gift to Mirabelle is being drawn up, the fat will be in the fire and he will take steps to render her useless to us; so you had better draw it up yourself at home.’
Douglas promised to do so and the Duke then spoke of his wish to make a speedy return to Europe. Truss made difficulties, as arranged, about going with him; then Fleur stepped into the breach, adding what a treat it would be for her to see her parents and spend Chris
tmas with them if Douglas could spare her for six or seven weeks.
While doing so, although she knew that the object of her deception was in part to save her husband from a most harmful scandal, her conscience was so stricken that she wished she could have dropped through the floor; and she felt even more guilty when he, without the least hesitation, generously agreed.
That settled, de Richleau produced his plan for finding out if Vinala Fernando’s remains were really buried in the pigsty near her bungalow. This was new to Fleur and she at once protested:
‘But, Greyeyes, dearest; if I’m to leave with you for Europe at the end of the week, I must have time to pack and make all sorts of arrangements.’
To that he replied firmly, taking Douglas’s consent that she should go to Olenevka with Truss for granted, ‘My child, this is an emergency. The lives of your husband and myself may depend on verifying the fact that Lalita is a murderer. It would be unwise for you to arrive unexpected by de Zoysa, and I may not be able to get him on the telephone until the siesta hour; so you need not leave until after lunch tomorrow. And you should be back by Tuesday evening. I shall get seats for us on the ‘plane for Friday; so that will give you Wednesday and Thursday. In those two and a half days you must do the best you can.’
There remained little more to discuss. They speculated for a while on Lalita’s machinations and, should Vinala’s skeleton not be found, the possibility of paying Mirabelle generously to warn them about his plans; then the visitors took their departure.
When they had gone de Richleau drew his hand wearily over his forehead, and said to Truss, ‘My God, what a party! It’s the first time in my life I’ve had to pretend to be a coward. But we pulled it off, and instinct tells me that Mirabelle is right about Lalita having it in for Douglas and myself. I can get out, but he can’t; so praise be to the Lord that we persuaded him to agree to our plan. Open a bottle of champagne, dear boy; open a bottle of champagne. I need something to revive me, and we can easily manage a bottle between us.’
Next morning, after three abortive attempts, the Duke got through to de Zoysa. Meanwhile Truss had secured three seats on a ‘plane calling at Athens, from where there was a connection to Corfu, for Friday the 18th and one for himself to Manila, where his father should be on that date. After lunch he picked up Fleur in his self-drive car and they took the road to Ratnapura, arriving at Olenevka at a little before six o’clock.
They were made most welcome by de Zoysa and his wife: a large, smiling lady who was a little flustered at entertaining rich Anglo-American guests, but determined to do the honours of her house to the best of her ability.
After dinner de Zoysa produced toddy, the national drink of Ceylon. He explained that the ordinary brew is made from pressed coconut flowers. It is said to be very good for one but should be drunk within eight hours of being made. This was Ambassador toddy, and much superior to the ordinary type, its fermentation having been stopped by the addition of lime juice. Later he brought out a bottle of Arrack, a distillation of coconut which when new is sheer firewater but after keeping for twenty years can be very good, and resembles the Slivovitz made in the Balkan countries from plums.
On the way up, Truss and Fleur had been hoping that they would be able to sleep together. But the rooms they were given in the rambling old house were so far apart that they reluctantly decided that to do so might result in discovery and precipitate the scandal Fleur was so anxious to avoid; so they resigned themselves to becoming half muzzy on the potent Arrack and retiring to sleep the night through in their separate rooms.
Next morning there was no escape for them from making a tour of the mines with de Zoysa. On reaching the valley in which they lay Fleur’s mind was filled with vivid recollections of the time when, with de Richleau and her parents, she had been trapped there, and she pointed out to Truss the cave in the hillside in which they had taken refuge.
De Zoysa, evidently with the hope that Truss, if he became the new owner, would take him on as manager, or Fleur retain him, spared no effort to impress them with his activities and persuade them that the mine would soon again be a paying concern. That he might make it so if he could increase his labour force certainly seemed possible, as he had made good most of the sabotage that Ukwatte had carried out in the mines before leaving them; but the thoughts of Truss and Fleur were upon whether they would find anything in the Fernandos’ pigsty; so they could only feel sorry for the wasted eagerness of the thin, nervous mine manager.
After the midday meal, when their host, hostess and the servants settled down for the siesta, their impatiently awaited opportunity came. They met by arrangement at the back of the house, Truss found a spade and shovel in a shed and, following Mirabelle’s directions, they set off towards the bungalow, which lay only a quarter of a mile away.
They found it without difficulty and saw that the jungle had encroached on the ruin; several sizable trees sprouted from its interior and creepers covered the greater part of the structure that had not been eaten away by white ants and termites.
The pigsty, too, was half buried in lush greenery; but Truss set to work with a will, cutting at it with the edge of his spade. Under his powerful slashes, with Fleur pulling great armfuls of cut creeper away, after a quarter of an hour’s intensive labour they had the greater part of it cleared.
Truss then remarked that if there had been pigs in the sty at the time the murder took place, the d’Azavedos would have had to bury the body several feet deep or the pigs would have rooted it out to eat the flesh; so by just turning up the earth he would not be likely to come on Vinala’s skeleton.
With the sweat pouring from him under the scorching afternoon sun, he dug down into the hard, baked ground. Pausing only now and then for a minute to get his breath, he stuck doggedly to his task while Fleur shovelled aside the tightly packed earth he turned up. For three-quarters of an hour they laboured and panted with growing depression. By then Truss had dug a pit in the centre of the sty about four feet across and three feet deep without coming on any indication that a body had been buried there.
Had Truss been a frailer man he would have been nearly exhausted and inclined to accept that further exertion would prove futile; but after a short rest, determined not to give up until he was convinced that Mirabelle had been mistaken, he began to attack the corners of the sty. He had dug out only a dozen spadesful from the second corner that he tried when Fleur gave an excited cry and, stooping, seized upon a small bone.
It might well have been part of some dead animal that had been thrown to the pigs, but Truss continued to dig with renewed energy and his efforts were soon rewarded. Two minutes later he turned up a larger bone that looked as though it might have come from a leg; then, with a gasp of triumph, he heaved clear of the hole a human skull.
For a full minute they both stood back, their thin shirts drenched with sweat, striving to recover their breath while they stared with mingled horror and satisfaction at the earth-clogged ball that had been Vinala Fernando’s head. Then Truss rasped out:
‘We’ve got him! This will put paid to Lalita all right. Now to take some pictures for the record.’
Picking up the camera he had brought with him, he took a dozen shots: first close-ups of the skull and leg bone, then others showing the sty in relation to the ruins of the bungalow. When he had done, he rolled the gruesome remains into the deep hole in the middle of the sty and began to shovel earth back to fill it up. As soon as he had levelled the surface and stamped it down Fleur trailed over the sty all the nearby creepers that had not been cut, so that only anyone coming close to it would notice that it had been disturbed.
By the time they got back to the house over two hours had elapsed, but they succeeded in reaching their rooms without being seen by the de Zoysas or any of the servants and, utterly worn out, threw themselves down on their beds to sleep. So exhausted were they from their labours that they both slept until after six o’clock. When they had cleaned themselves up and put on fresh clothes i
t was seven and close on time for dinner; so, although, after finding the skull, they had hoped to return to Colombo that night with news of their success they decided against making the long drive in the dark.
Anxious, nevertheless, to let the Duke know as soon as possible that the object of their mission had been accomplished, Truss went to the telephone but, to his annoyance, found that it was out of order. De Zoysa, with a smiling apology, told him that in such remote places the line was broken every few months by wild animals, and might not be mended for some days; but as they did not use the telephone much they never worried about this minor inconvenience.
Next morning, when they got up they saw that the sky was overcast and at breakfast the de Zoysas urged them to postpone their departure for Colombo until the next day, predicting that a heavy storm was about to break. Truss thanked them but would not hear of it, pleading urgent business in the capital; so, having said good-bye to their friendly hosts, shortly before ten o’clock they set off.
Had they known what a storm could be like in the ‘wet’ zone of Ceylon they might have heeded the de Zoysas’ warning. They had been on the road for only half an hour when flashes of forked lightning began to streak a now black sky and peals of thunder like the explosions from the broadside of a battleship echoed round the jungle-clad hills. Five minutes later the rain came down.
Dangerous Inheritance Page 28
