Snake by James McClure Read Free Book Online Page A

see why not.”
    “Uh-huh. Sharks—they publish killer sharks. And?”
    “ Four —suspect’s excited manner. Warrant Gardiner was telling me tonight that once Monty found a junkie dead in his bog and—”
    “Hey!” interrupted Kramer. “What about number five? Now, that really interests me.”
    Marais had no fifth point listed. He looked up, slightly off balance
    “Sir?”
    “When you’re on night duty, man, what time do you get up after a night off? Early? Or late, like after the nights you’ve been on?”
    “You—um—get into a sort of cycle, really. So it’s usually late like the others. If you don’t, by the time … Oh, I get you. Ten seems early for him?”
    “Gives him a fifteen, sixteen-hour working day.”
    “Ja, but—hell, that’s a nasty allegation!”
    “But what?”
    “According to his statement, he always comes in at ten to see the post, fix cabaret bookings, order drink and grub, and let the cleaner in.”
    “How do you make a reservation, then?”
    “That’s done through his home number—his wife sees to that. Let me see.…”
    Marais nipped a statement sheet out of the docket.
    “Here it is. ‘I always go into the club for a couple of hours in the morning, returning home to sleep at around noon. I had no appointments, so this was my intention until a report was made to me by Bantu Male Joseph Ngcobo, in my employ as a part-time—’”
    “Never mind the pieces you wrote,” said Kramer. “Just tell me where you took over.”
    His insight tickled Marais, who put a finger on the third line down. “From ‘until a report’ onwards, sir. Hell, he tried to make it a bloody book and wanted to put in hearsay.”
    “They all do, old son. That was a nice thought while it lasted. You were saying? Four?”
    “ Ach , just that Monty didn’t seem so easily shocked before. Very cool, the warrant said. But four isn’t such a big deal because, I suppose, with a female and a bloody snake like that wrapped around her neck, it must have—”
    “Still there, was it?”
    “Here’s the photos—Kisten did a quick job.”
    Kramer played patience with them for a while.
    “How come if she knocked its brains out on the wall it was still round her neck?”
    “Doc Strydom says they’ve got funny nervous systems; probably locked in a spasm. You know how the wogs say that a snake can’t die till sunset, doesn’t matter what you do to it.”
    “Cut its head off with a spade and it still jumps around hours later, you mean?”
    “Ja. Doc’s going to check with the snake park for more details to put in the thing he’s writing.”
    The photographs were tossed aside. They were irrelevant to the matter in hand, and Kramer was niggled at being thwarted. He had a very clear picture of the manager and an equally clear idea of what he would like.…
    “ Six !” he said. “What is today in Trekkersburg? And don’t give me bloody Monday!”
    “Wash day?” Marais postulated, with pleasing swiftness.
    “Spot on. Think how the bugger was dressed. It all looked new to me. Even if it wasn’t, tell me who doesn’t wear his best casuals at the weekend? On Saturday arvie, or Sunday? Who goes to the trouble to posh himself up for the postman and a bloody coon boy? He didn’t have any appointments. For two hours, hey? Who goes near a nightclub in the daytime? When exactly was Mr. Joseph Ngcobo admitted to the premises? With wine bottles all over the place? Dead bugs in the passage?”
    Marais began to pace about, clicking his thumb against his front teeth. Then he stopped suddenly.
    “What are we saying, sir?” he asked, very solemnly.
    “Just this: that Monty ‘Publicity Stunt’ Stevenson may have reached the club before Ngcobo, checked to see if the girl had pinched anything maybe—and saw certain advantages of a commercial nature in the situation.”
    “Christ! You’d have to be cool to do that!”
    “And what did your pal Gardiner have to say about him?”
    Marais slapped his thigh in