The Luminaries

fourth measure. His face had become rather flushed. ‘First, of course, the suspect was a chink. Second, he had ample provocation to wish my brother harm. Third, he had not a word of English to defend himself. There was no doubt in anybody’s minds that the chink was guilty. They’d all heard the shot go off. They’d all seen him running. But then comes MargaretShepard into the witness box. My new wife, don’t forget. We’ve been married less than a month. She sits down, and this is what she says. My husband wasn’t murdered by that Chinaman, she says. My husband was killed by his own hand, and I know it, because I witnessed his suicide myself.’
    Devlin wondered whether Margaret Shepard was listening, from inside.
    ‘There wasn’t a word of truth to it,’ the gaoler said. ‘Complete fabrication. She lied. Under oath. She defiled her late husband’s memory—my brother’s memory—by calling him a suicide … and all to protect that worthless chink from the punishment that he deserved. He would have swung without a doubt. He should have swung. It was his crime, and it went unpunished.’
    ‘How can you be sure that your wife wasn’t telling the truth?’ said Devlin.
    ‘How can I be sure?’ Shepard reached for the bottle again. ‘My brother was not a suicidal type,’ he said. ‘That’s how. You’ll have another?’
    ‘Please,’ Devlin said, holding out his glass. It was rare that he tasted whisky.
    ‘I can see that you’re doubtful, Reverend,’ said Shepard, as he poured, ‘but there’s just no other way to say it. Jeremy was not a suicidal type. No more than I am.’
    ‘But what reason could Mrs. Shepard have had—to lie, under oath?’
    ‘She was fond of him,’ said Shepard, shortly.
    ‘This Chinaman,’ said Devlin.
    ‘Yes,’ said Shepard. ‘The late Mr. Sook. They had a history together. You can be sure I didn’t see
that
coming. By the time I found out, however, she was already my wife.’
    Devlin sipped again at his whisky. They were silent for a long while, looking out at the shadowed forms of the buildings opposite.
    Presently Devlin said, ‘You haven’t mentioned Francis Carver.’
    ‘Oh—Carver,’ said Shepard, swirling his glass. ‘Yes.’
    ‘What is his association with Mr. Sook?’ said Devlin, to prompt him.
    ‘They had a history,’ said Shepard. ‘Some bad blood. A trading dispute.’
    This much Devlin knew already. ‘Yes?’
    ‘I’ve been keeping a watch on Sook since Darling Harbour. I got word this morning that he had bought a pistol from the outfitters on Camp-street, and I applied for a warrant for his arrest at once.’
    ‘You would arrest a man simply for purchasing a pistol?’
    ‘Yes, if I knew what he meant to do with it. Sook had sworn to take Carver’s life. He’d sworn to it. I knew that when he finally caught up with Carver, it would be murder or nothing. As soon as I heard about the pistol I called the alarm. Staked out the Palace Hotel. Sent word ahead to Carver, letting him know. Gave the message to the bellmen, to cry along the road. I was one step behind him—until the very last.’
    ‘And in the last?’ said Devlin, after a moment.
    Shepard fixed him with a cold look. ‘I told you what happened.’
    ‘It was his life or Carver’s,’ Devlin said.
    ‘I acted inside the law,’ Shepard said.
    ‘I’m sure you did,’ Devlin said.
    ‘I had a warrant for his arrest.’
    ‘I do not doubt it.’
    ‘Revenge,’ said Shepard firmly, ‘is an act of jealousy, not of justice . It is a selfish perversion of the law.’
    ‘Revenge is certainly selfish,’ Devlin agreed, ‘but I doubt it has very much to do with the law.’
    He finished his whisky, and Shepard, after a long moment, did the same.
    ‘I’m very sorry about your brother, Mr. Shepard,’ Devlin said, placing his glass on the banister.
    ‘Yes, well,’ said Shepard, as he corked the whisky bottle, ‘that was years ago. What’s done is done.’
    ‘Some things are never done,’ said the chaplain. ‘We do not forget those whom we have loved. We cannot forget them.’
    Shepard glanced at him. ‘You speak as though from experience.’
    Devlin did not answer at once. After a pause he said, ‘If I have learned one thing from experience, it is this: never underestimatehow extraordinarily difficult it is to understand a situation from another person’s point of view.’
    The gaoler only grunted at this. He watched as Devlin descended the steps into the shadows of