The Luminaries

one thing you’ve always got on hand.’
    There was another pause, and then the woman said, ‘He came over on
Godspeed
, in fact.’
    ‘Moody?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘No. He can’t have.’
    ‘Francis! Don’t contradict me. He told me himself, that evening.’
    ‘No,’ the man said. ‘There was no one with the name of Moody. There were only eight of them, and I looked the paper over. I would have remembered that name.’
    ‘Perhaps you overlooked it,’ said the woman. ‘You know I hate to be contradicted. Let’s not disagree.’
    ‘How would I overlook the name Moody? Why, that’s like overlooking Hanover, or—or Plantagenet.’
    The woman laughed. ‘I would hardly compare Adrian Moody to a royal line!’
    Ah Sook heard the squeak of a chair, and the shifting of weight over floorboards. ‘I only mean I’d have recognised it. Would you pass over the name Carver?’
    The woman made a noise in her throat. ‘He most definitely said that he’d come over on
Godspeed
,’ she said. ‘I remember it vividly. We exchanged some words on the subject.’
    ‘Something’s not right,’ the man said.
    ‘Well, have you got the passenger list? Surely you’ve a copy of the
Times
—from when the ship came in. Why don’t you check it?’
    ‘Yes. You’re right. Hang a bit; I’ll go and look in the smoking room. They keep a stack of old broadsheets on the secretary.’
    The door opened and closed.

    The lamp in the next room came on, illuminating one corner of the allotment in a glow of muted yellow. Carver was in the smoking room of the Crown Hotel—and away from Lydia Wells at last. Ah Sook raised himself up slightly. He saw through the window that Carver had his back to the door, and was shuffling through the papers on the secretary. As far as he could see, there was nobody else in the room. In the bedroom, Lydia Wells began to hum a little ditty to herself.
    Ah Sook got to his feet. Holding the Kerr Patent against his thigh, and moving as softly as he was able in his digger’s boots, he crept around the back of the house to the tradesman’s door. He turned into the alley—and froze.
    ‘Drop your arms.’
    Standing on the far side of the alley, his face in shadow, a long-handled pistol in his hand, was the gaol’s governor, George Shepard. Ah Sook did not move. His eyes went to Shepard’s pistol, and then back to Shepard’s face.
    ‘Drop it,’ Shepard said. ‘I will shoot you. Drop the piece now.’
    Still Ah Sook said nothing; still he did not move.
    ‘You will kneel down and place your revolver on the ground,’ Shepard said. ‘You will do that now, or you will die. Kneel.’
    Ah Sook sank to his knees, but he did not release the Kerr Patent. His finger tightened on the hammer.
    ‘I will shoot you dead before you have time to cock and aim,’ Shepard said. ‘Make no mistake about it. Drop your arms.’
    ‘Margaret,’ said Ah Sook.
    ‘Yes,’ Shepard said. ‘She sent me a message.’
    Ah Sook shook his head: he could not believe it.
    ‘She is my wife,’ Shepard said curtly. ‘And she was my brother’s wife before me. You remember my brother, I trust. You ought to.’
    ‘No.’ Again Ah Sook’s finger tightened on the hammer.
    ‘You do not remember him? Or you do not believe that you ought to remember?’
    ‘No,’ said Ah Sook, stubbornly.
    ‘Let me jog your memory,’ Shepard said. ‘He died at the White Horse Saloon at Darling Harbour, shot through the temple at close range. Do you remember him now? Jeremy Shepard was his name.’
    ‘I remember.’
    ‘Good,’ said Shepard. ‘So do I.’
    ‘I did not murder him.’
    ‘Still singing the same old tune, I see.’
    ‘Margaret,’ said Sook Yongsheng again, still kneeling.

    ‘
Francis
!’
    ‘Hush a moment. Hush.’
    ‘… What are you listening for?’
    ‘Hush.’
    ‘I can’t hear anything.’
    ‘Nor can I. That’s good.’
    ‘It was so close.’
    ‘Poor lamb. Did it alarm you?’
    ‘Only a bit. I thought—’
    ‘Never mind. Most likely it was just an accident. Someone cleaning their piece.’
    ‘I couldn’t help but imagine that horrible Chinaman.’
    ‘Nothing’s going to come of him. He’ll head straight to the Palace, and he’ll be rounded up before the morning.’
    ‘You’ve been so afraid of him, Francis.’
    ‘Come here.’
    ‘All right. All right. I’ve recovered now. Let’s see what you’ve found.’
    ‘Here.’ There was a rustling noise. ‘Look. McKitchen, Morely, Parrish. See? Eight in