The Far Side of the Sun by Kate Furnivall Read Free Book Online Page B

Harry.’

‘Really? I would be careful, Ella. That could be a dangerous thing to say.’

‘What can you tell me about the place? What’s so special?’

‘Nothing much, to be honest. It’s just a bay like any other but bigger – the usual sand, sea and a small forest of pine trees. Very pretty actually.’

Ella sighed. ‘Another brick wall, it seems. Yet there is definitely a connection somewhere and I intend to find it.’ Abruptly she stubbed out her cigarette and stood up. ‘I think I’ll drive out there and take a look myself.’

Hector rose to his feet and smiled fondly. ‘That sounds like a good idea. But look at you, my dear Ella. You look as if you’d blow away in the first wind. I can’t have you dashing around to strange places on your own. Let me drive you.’

‘Hector, you are an angel.’

Dodie entered the cell half a step behind his lawyer, Parfury, and brought a lightness with her. It changed the way the air hung, drab and sour, between the four stark walls. She was wearing her little black Arcadia dress, the one he loved on her with the white cuffs at the elbows, and her hair tied back demurely with a white ribbon. She strode towards him in the cell with a smile that said there was no place on earth she would rather be.

‘Hello, Flynn.’

He didn’t respond, but neither did he stop looking at her.

‘Good morning, Mr Hudson,’ the lawyer said.

‘Morning, Parfury.’

‘Miss Wyatt requested a visit.’

‘I told you I didn’t want any more visits from Miss Wyatt.’

‘She said it was urgent.’

‘Do lawyers in Nassau take no note of their clients’ wishes?’

‘Of course, but…⁠’ The lawyer laughed self-consciously. ‘That young lady is hard to say no to, when she sets her mind to something.’

Flynn had not taken his eyes from Dodie’s face. ‘What is it, Dodie? What’s wrong?’

She sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the spot beside her, inviting him to join her. He almost didn’t. He tried not to. But his legs took him over to her and his body elbowed out the air next to her and claimed the space as its own.

‘What’s happened?’ he asked quickly.

‘I’ve spoken to Ella Sanford.’ She glanced at Parfury, who was still standing by the door, regarding her with professional interest, clearly intending to listen to her every word. She swivelled round on the bed so that her back was turned to the lawyer, blocking him out. ‘She told me things.’

‘What things?’

‘The investigation into Sir Harry’s murder,’ she spoke softly, ‘is being deliberately sabotaged, evidence destroyed, and this could only come from the top.’

‘That’s one hell of an accusation.’ He checked whether Parfury had heard. Hard to tell. Flynn was eager to ask for details but thought better of it, and hid his frustration with a shrug. ‘And the fall-guys are me and Marigny.’

‘I had a few minutes with Christie. He looks terrible. Going to pieces. Threatening me with lawyers.’

‘Better lawyers than goons.’

She smiled. He wanted to take hold of her shoulders and shake her till she recognised the danger she was in, till she was a nervous young woman again, the way she had been when he first watched her patrolling the shallows of her beach before…

Before this. Before him.

She saw something of his thoughts, because her eyes grew fierce and she leaned her face towards him, daring him. But she continued speaking as if nothing else was going on.

‘We don’t know whether they’re protecting themselves or protecting the island. And no one is mentioning anything about gold.’

‘I bet they’re not. They are all wondering which one has it.’

‘I’ve been thinking about those gold coins found in your jacket.’ She glanced over her shoulder at Parfury, unaware that her tied-back hair flew so close to Flynn’s mouth as she did so, that he could have caught it between his teeth. He smelled the scent of the sea on it. ‘Mr Parfury,’ she said