The Far Side of the Sun Read Free Page A

Harry’s bold laugh now issuing from the open French windows and the low rumble of another man’s voice.

Still hopeful of extracting a cheque, she’d tiptoed forward again, but outside the French windows she hesitated and peered into the room. Inside, Sir Harry and another big man were talking, standing either side of an inlaid table. Between them lay a small ivory and pearl casket open on the table, gleaming in the lamplight. But what the casket contained glowed with a fiery life of its own. It was gold coins.

‘Well, Morrell, can I tempt you?’ Sir Harry was saying.

She saw the man reach out his hand and touch the casket. ‘It’s dangerous.’

‘Life is dangerous,’ Oakes told him.

Morrell didn’t take his gaze from the casket.

‘Sometimes,’ Sir Harry murmured, ‘a man gets one chance in life. This could be yours.’

‘They’ll kill me.’

‘Don’t be a fool. This could buy you a whole new life.’

Ella could sense the man’s reluctance. He withdrew his hand. But Sir Harry was not one to be thwarted. He slotted an arm around his brawny shoulders, a friendly gesture but one that pinned him there, close to the gold. Ella could smell the greed rippling out through the window.

‘Look at it, Morrell. That’s the thing about gold, it’s fantastical.’ Oakes trailed his fingers through the coins. ‘It corrupts the soul. It hypnotises the mind.’ He flashed a coin into the air and caught it on his palm. ‘The coin of the devil. Yet it decorates churches right across the world.’

He tossed the coin to Morrell, who took it and tested it between his teeth. Oakes laughed.

‘I promise you this, Morrell, I won’t make a deal with your bosses, but I’ll make a deal with you.’

Ella decided it was time to withdraw, but she caught her ankle on an unseen lounge chair on the terrace and heard it scrape across the stone. Immediately she had the sense to call out.

‘Good evening, Sir Harry, are you there?’

He came to the open window, while Morrell pulled off his jacket and dropped it over the casket.

‘Mrs Sanford,’ Oakes said, ‘how kind of you to call.’ But his eyes were dark with suspicion.

‘Forgive the intrusion,’ she apologised brightly. ‘I’m just here to empty your pockets again.’ She laughed. ‘But I see you have a guest. I’ll come back another time.’

‘No intrusion, I assure you. Do come in, dear lady.’ He took hold of her arm and drew her in. ‘I’m just finishing a spot of business here with my associate.’ He avoided giving a name.

She’d stayed no more than ten minutes and left with a generous cheque from Sir Harry and a handful of dollar bills from Morrell’s wallet. She refused a drink and was just departing through the French windows when Sir Harry laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. ‘Ella, it’s been a pleasure to see you, but…⁠’ his fingers tightened imperceptibly, ‘sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.’ He drew out the word ‘dangerous’ till it stretched into the future. ‘Sometimes it is better to forget what you think you’ve seen or heard. Safer for everyone.’

Ella slipped her shoulder out of his grasp. ‘Good night, Sir Harry.’

She strode away at a rapid pace into the night without looking back.

Yes, she’d seen enough.

‘The island will miss him,’ she said truthfully to Wallis.

‘Not just the island.’

It was a sad statement. A lonely expression of grief.

‘Did you ever see Sir Harry’s gold coins?’

Wallis smiled softly. ‘Yes, he liked to show them off to me.’

‘Do you think he would ever have given them away?’

‘Hell, no.’ The Southern smile deepened. ‘Not unless he was planning to get them back by some devious means.’ She glanced across at the French ormolu clock on the mantelpiece. ‘I know it’s early, Ella, but the yardarm has shifted for me today. Go pour me a martini and one for yourself.’ She gestured towards a cabinet and lit herself a cigarette.

When Ella had