In the distance, he heard the rumble of a diesel truck coming closer. It might be a noisy bola truck carrying its trash to a dump somewhere. He hoped it was, and that it was coming this way. The ground trembled as the truck transmitted its impact over potholes. The ear-jarring sound of the diesel engine drew closer. Dawson began to move forward. As the truck reached its crescendo, he pulled his way through, coming out on the other side of the wall with dirt in his face and grit in his mouth. His head popped up over the top of the hole and he looked around. No one was in the yard. He pulled himself the rest of the way out and stayed still for a moment, listening for any sign that Forjoe had heard anything. Dawson heard him yawn languidly and mutter something to himself. The coast was clear.
The sitting room was in darkness. Dawson quickly shone his flashlight beam through the window to confirm no one was inside. The glass portion of the window was open, leaving the screen to let in a breeze while keeping out the mosquitoes. One whined in his ear, and he swiped it away. He took out his pocketknife, cut a small slit in the netting, put his hand in and found the latch, which he pulled back. The window opened with a small squeak that seemed loud enough for the whole world to hear.
Dawson vaulted through the window and stayed motionless for a while. He heard a rhythmic, machine-like buzzing, which after a moment he realized was Richard snoring from a room around the corner. Please be a heavy sleeper. Dawson slowly shut the window behind him, wincing at the squeak.
Pointing his flashlight beam downward, he moved to the dining area next to the kitchen, where he opened the sideboard door and took out the four hefty photo albums that Richard had shown him on the first visit.
Dawson turned the thick pages of the first book, scanning the photographs as quickly as possible with the flashlight. He shook his head. This could take him half the night.
Each photo in the album was highly posed, some with Richard as a boy-similar to the framed photo on the sideboard-and some without. Also featured was the beautiful Bessie with her radiant skin and dark eyes-all before she married Robert, of course.
Dawson got through the first album and paused listen to the snoring, making sure there was no telltale change in the pattern that might indicate Richard was stirring. For a moment it stopped, and Dawson began to plan an escape if it became necessary. But the drone started up again, so he began on the second album. Interesting black-and-white and sepia photographs of various people… but still no sign of what he was looking for.
It was on the second-to-last page, as he was just about to give up, that Dawson found it. The photograph was remarkable for the period in that the two people involved, Richard and his father, Tiberius, were interacting with each other in a way quite unlike the stiff, unsmiling poses of all the other images. Here, Richard, at the age of about seven, was looking up toward Tiberius, who was smartly dressed in a vest and white shirt with long, broad lapels, and a dark tie. Probably around forty at the time, he was in turn looking down and regarding his son with a hint of an affectionate smile. It was far more of a candid shot than anything else Dawson had seen so far-perhaps a moment deliberately captured by a visionary photographer, or quite by accident.
The delight that was so evident on Richard’s face was over an item his father was dangling from his fingers. The glinting object was round, made of silver with a dark center.
“There it is,” Dawson whispered. “The pocket watch.”
Chapter 39
DAWSON HEARD RICHARD GRUNT and then mutter something. Was he having a dream? The mattress creaked as if he were sitting up. Dawson started to move toward the window, but stopped as he heard Richard’s footfall because he realized he would never get there without being discovered.
The refrigerator was somewhat pulled out from the wall. Dawson thought he could fit in the space, but for one panicked moment as he squeezed in, he thought he had made a mistake. He pushed out all the air in his chest to flatten himself further and moved all the way into the corner. The loud background hum of the refrigerator drowned out any rustle of his clothing against the wall.
The kitchen lights came on and Richard opened the refrigerator door and pulled something out. Dawson heard his rhythmic glottal sound as he took a drink-Dawson assumed water. He hardly dared to breathe. The heat from the back of the refrigerator was beginning to make him sweat.
The refrigerator door closed and the light went out again. Dawson heard Richard shuffle back to bed, but he stayed where he was for a while to be safe and then moved out from the tight space, his nose tingling from the dust. It was mind over matter not to sneeze.
It was time to get out. He returned to the sitting room window, opened it carefully, and slid out.
To his left stood the toolshed he had noticed the first time he had been here. He kept low while running to it. Shielding his flashlight beam, he examined the door. A padlock hung carelessly open on the latch. He pulled on the door and opened it slightly. It whined and he swore under his breath. His heart was banging hard and fast in his chest. He went in, pulling the door closed behind him and swung his flashlight from right to left. The beam went past something, and he brought it back. A few meters away, a small tarpaulin draped over a bulky object on a wooden stand. He lifted the tarpaulin and looked underneath. An outboard motor.
Dawson put the tarpaulin on the floor. Made by Suzuki, it was a 25 hp model, adequate for a medium-sized canoe. It was old, but it appeared to be well oiled and in good shape. Dawson was about to put the tarpaulin back when the door behind him squeaked. He jumped and turned around. The light came on. Richard Sarbah was standing in the doorway with a raised revolver.
“What are you doing here?” he asked coldly.
“Is this the outboard motor you used on the canoe to take the Smith-Aidoos out to sea?” Dawson said.
“Kneel on the floor with your hands crossed behind your neck.”
Dawson got down slowly, his heart thumping, blood rushing through his head.
“How did you get in?” Sarbah asked.
“The dug-out hole under your wall.”
“I ought to shoot that worthless Forjoe.”
“You shoot a lot of people, don’t you?” Dawson remarked.
Richard’s lip curled. “You’re stupid if you think you’ll make it out of here alive.”
“Superintendent Hammond knows where I am,” Dawson said with confidence, but his legs were trembling. “You’ll be facing three counts of murder.”
“Three? Where do you get the other two?”
“Count one, Charles Smith-Aidoo. Count two, his wife, Fiona.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“The silver pocket watch with the onyx center that was stuffed in Charles’s mouth and scratched with the message, ‘blood runs deep’ belonged to your father Tiberius. You put it in Charles’s mouth.”
Richard froze then tried to recover. “Lies. Inspector Dawson, you’re a liar looking for a scapegoat.”
“You loved that pocket watch, remember?” Dawson said, raising his eyebrows. “Remember how your father used to dangle it in front of you when you were a boy?”
Richard swallowed hard. “You’re going to die, and Forjoe and I are taking you out to sea tonight. Forjoe will do anything for me because he is a fool. He believed me when I told him that his daughter would get better if we offered Charles’s head to the sea god.” He laughed. “Thank heavens for superstition. He was so petrified that I, the old man, had to do the shooting and the beheading.” He clicked his tongue disapprovingly and shook his head. “These young folks nowadays. Cowards, the whole lot. It was only Forjoe’s annoying weeping that stopped me from removing Charles’s second eye-even though I knew very well that you should never let a dead man see what you are doing to him, or they will bear witness to the gods when they reach the other side.”