White Eyes
Page 19
Chapter 21.
“And that brings you, finally, here”
“Yeah, well not quite” Nat sniffed. He found that he was still shaking from earlier.
“This is what I really can’t work out,” he continued. “She was right as well, wasn’t she? Why did he turn up with Terri? God, if he hadn’t turned up with her…”
“What is it that you can’t work out?” Strange interrupted.
Nat took a deep breath. “Why was he so obsessed by the finger? I mean, I just don’t get it… I mean, all this time, that’s all I can work out – Joshua, he was so desperate to get hold of the finger. But why? I mean, I’m thinking, well maybe it was him who killed Terri, but…”
“I think you referred to Miss Jenkins as still being alive?”
Nat shook his head, “I didn’t say she was alive, I just said I wasn’t quite sure…”
“I’m glad you’ve cleared that up.”
Nat sighed. “I don’t know, I just don’t know about Terri. But I do know that Joshua was obsessed with getting that finger, you know. I mean, Jesus, he almost got himself killed for it.”
Strange arched his eyebrows. “Did he, indeed?”
“Yeah – cos it went completely crazy in there. I mean…”
Strange put up a hand. “You explain that to me in a second. For the moment, the clear conclusion we must reach is that Joshua Reeves needed the finger, in some way to pay of the significant debts that he owed. And if we conclude that this mysterious man…”
“Which mysterious man?”
“The man that your lady friend, Miss Angel, referred to…”
“Oh, right yeah, the evil bastard.”
“Yes. That would be him. Shall we refer to him as Mr. Marks?”
“Why Mr. Marks?”
“Indulge me.”
Nat shrugged.
“If we conclude that Mr. Marks was the main subject of Joshua’s concern, then we should also conclude that Joshua was trying to procure the finger for him.”
“Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. But what I don’t get is that, if I killed Terri, then why Joshua was so keen on getting hold of the finger, I mean, why didn’t he just chop it off and take it? I mean, why involve me at all?”
“Yes. That is a puzzle that we still need to unravel” Strange agreed. “Pray, continue with your story.”
“Yeah, well, like I said, it all went completely mad….”