The Dark Palace

‘I am so sorry.’

‘You are not responsible. But your friend, Herr Hartma

There was a stirring in the darkness. The sound of something being sloughed off. A sudden merciless glint curved up from the boy’s hand.

‘He saw what no child should ever have to see. He saw his family gu

‘I will speak to Oskar. He will—’

‘He ca

‘He will help you finish your film. The world will know about this. I know Oskar. He is a good man. He would not have wanted this. He would not have allowed it, if he had known. He will help you.’

‘I am not a fool. People here are not interested in my film. They are not interested in the deaths of three thousand miners seven years ago in a far-off land. The film will not make them interested. War is coming. They will need nitrate for their bombs. They do not care about the men who toil under the baking sun to dig it out of the ground. They do not care that the men were paid in tokens, not money. That they can only use those tokens to buy expensive commodities from the company shops. That the companies refuse to pay for half the nitrate they dig up because they say it is substandard, but they still use it because all they have to do is refine it a little. People do not care about any of this. They will not watch my film. They will not take notice.’

‘We must find a way to make them take notice,’ urged Eloise.

‘Oh, we have found a way, my dear. Inti has found a way. It is good that you have been able to see my film. We did not get a chance to show it to Dolores. She did not understand why we must do this. Why we must make the men responsible know what he has lost.’

Something snapped in the darkness, then snapped again. Eloise realized these were the sounds of gunshot.

She felt a hand clamped over her mouth, felt herself dragged from her seat and pulled towards something hard and hot. Felt the prick of something sharp and unrelenting touch the skin of her neck.

FIFTY-FIVE

‘Let her go!’ Qui

But he could see the viciously crooked knife at her throat. He had to do something.

‘It’s over. There’s nowhere for you to go. Killing her won’t save you. It will only make things worse.’

‘She must die.’ The boy’s voice cracked with emotion. There was an almost pleading tone to his words, as if he was not sure that what he said was true and needed confirmation. He looked to his uncle, imploring him with his eyes. Qui

‘No.’ Qui

Inti again looked to his uncle.

It was Diaz who answered for him. ‘She must die because of the massacre of the Escuela Santa Maria de Iquique. In 1907, thousands of striking nitrate miners and their families were slaughtered by soldiers of the Chilean state. Why was this done? It was done for men like Hartma

Qui

Inti looked again towards his uncle. Qui

Qui

The boy let her fall. Almost threw her away from him, as if he could not bear to hold on to her any more. And now there was nothing to shield him from Qui

‘No, sir,’ whispered Macadam’s voice gently. ‘That’s enough.’ Qui

FIFTY-SIX

She was propped up in bed, her throat bandaged. The starched hospital sheets gleamed in the expansive spring light.

She seemed surprised to see him. The daisies he held out to her were evidently completely baffling to her. She took them from him with a frown, did not pause to inhale their passing scent.

‘I have come to apologize. I once said some things about your … about what you do. I did not mean it. I don’t know why I said it.’

She waved an insouciant hand. ‘I don’t remember.’

He let it go. ‘I trust you are well looked after?’

‘Oh, it is just a scratch. The poor boy did not know how to handle that horrible knife.’

‘I am not so sure. We believe he has killed before. Dolores Novak. A hooked knife was used in her murder. He has not confessed as yet. But we are confident that he will.’ Qui

‘I do not know why they felt it necessary.’

‘You are very brave.’

He risked a glance in her direction, in time to see her look away. The hint of a blush was on her cheeks. ‘I have just lied to you, Inspector. I do remember what you said. Your words hurt me at the time, and for a long time after.’

‘I am sorry.’

‘I am not hurt now,’ she said bluntly. ‘Now, I do not care what you think.’

It was as if suddenly his internal organs had turned to stone.

She glared fiercely at him. ‘You did not need to kill Diaz. You should not have killed him.’

‘He … he was going to tell the boy to kill you.’

‘You do not know that. You ca

‘The boy would do whatever his uncle told him.’

‘And so, you think that you saved my life?’

‘You do not?’

‘Perhaps he would have told him to put the knife down. After your little speech …’

‘It wasn’t true, what I said about Hartma

‘He looks after his investment.’

‘I think it is more than that.’

Eloise nodded. ‘He has asked me to marry him.’

‘Congratulations.’

‘Is that all you have to say?’

It seemed it was. On the subject of matrimony, at least. He remembered her spectacular rage against Waechter. ‘I thought you might be interested to know, we have detained Konrad Waechter. He is not being charged in relation to the incident in Cecil Court. However, we are awaiting the arrival of a police officer from Vie