Dead Wrong | страница 46
I concentrated on my notepad. He removed his glasses and wiped at them with a large white handkerchief. When he began to speak again he continued to face the paintings. ‘I must have been over it a hundred times,’ his voice was husky, ‘but still…I had to identify him, my son.’ His voice shrank to a whisper, he pressed the handkerchief to his mouth.
I swallowed hard.
‘The police asked me lots of questions but I have little recollection of them now. They did ask me about Luke Wallace, and I wondered whether he had been hurt too, but they never answered me.’ He turned towards me then, his eyes damp, wide with pain. ‘And then I had to come home and tell my wife,’ he said bitterly, ‘our only son.’ He paused. ‘He was going to study law, you know. Ironic, isn’t it?’
I kept quiet.
‘He wanted justice. Well, now I want justice.’
‘You wouldn’t want the wrong person convicted though?’
He looked at me quizzically.
‘Luke Wallace asked me to tell you that he didn’t hurt Ahktar. He’s devastated by his death.’
‘The court will decide.’
‘But you seem to have made up your mind already.’
‘People saw him do it. The police have statements. There was an argument. What am I supposed to think?’ He raised his voice, anger flashing in his eyes.
‘Luke had no reason-’ I began.
‘Ahktar’s death is senseless!’ he shouted. ‘There can be no reason, it is beyond reason.’ Silence stretched in the wake of his outburst. ‘We may never discover why Ahktar was killed,’ he said, ‘but I will learn how. The facts become terribly important, I’ve noticed this in my own practice, with accidental death, with suicides. The details, the time, the place, the sequence; it helps to know. Please, Miss Kilkenny, I have nothing else to say.’
I put down my mug and got to my feet. ‘You said something about an argument?’
He sighed. Pinched at the bridge of his nose. ‘Zeb, Rangzeb, Ahktar’s cousin was there that night. He saw them arguing. It came out at the committal hearing.’
‘What was it about?’
‘I’ve no idea. Speak to Zeb.’
Chapter Twelve
There are many reasons why people agree to talk to private investigators. A lot of them simply like the attention; they like to be listened to, to have a new audience for their account. It may be that there aren’t very many people they can tell, or those they have told don’t want to hear it again. Someone like me comes along who is passionately interested in what they have to say, and they feel validated, important, responsible again.