The Luminaries

justice. He turned back to Staines. ‘Can you think of a reason, Mr. Staines, why Mr. Wells might have taken
any
quantity of laudanum together with a great quantity of whisky?’
    ‘Perhaps he was in pain.’
    ‘Pain of what kind?’
    ‘I am speculating,’ said Staines. ‘I’m afraid I can only speculate: I did not know the man’s personal habits intimately, and I was not with him that evening. I mean only that laudanum is often taken as a pain relief—or as an aid to sleep.’
    ‘Not on top of a bottle of whisky, it’s not.’
    ‘I certainly would not attempt such a combination myself. But I cannot answer for Mr. Wells.’
    ‘Do you take laudanum, Mr. Staines?’
    ‘Only when prescribed; not as a habit.’
    ‘Do you have a prescription currently?’
    ‘Currently I do,’ said Staines, ‘but it is a very recent prescription.’
    ‘How recent, please?’
    ‘It was first administered to me on the twentieth of March,’ said Staines, ‘as a pain relief, and as a method of weaning me from my addiction.’
    ‘Prior to the twentieth of March, have you ever purchased or otherwise obtained a phial of laudanum from Pritchard’s drug emporium on Collingwood-street?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘A phial of laudanum was discovered in Crosbie Wells’s cottage some days after his death,’ said Broham. ‘Do you know how it got there?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Was Mr. Wells, to your knowledge, dependent upon opiates?’
    ‘He was a drunk,’ said Staines. ‘That’s all I know.’
    Broham studied him. ‘Please tell the Court how you spent the night of the fourteenth of January, in sequence, and in your own words.’
    ‘I met with Anna Wetherell at the Dust and Nugget around seven,’ said Staines. ‘We had a drink together, and after that we went back to my apartment on Revell-street. I fell asleep, and when I woke—around ten-thirty, I suppose—she had gone. I couldn’t think why she might have left so suddenly, and I went out to find her. I went to the Gridiron. There was nobody at the front desk, and nobody on the landing, and the door of her room upstairs was unlocked. I entered, and saw her laid out on the floor, with her pipe and the resin and the lamp arranged around her. Well, I couldn’t rouse her, and while I was waiting for her to come to, I knelt down to take a look at the apparatus. I’d never touched opium before, but I’d always longed to try it. There’s such a mystique about it, you know, and the smoke is so lovely and thick. Her pipe was still warm, and the lamp was still burning, and everything seemed— serendipitous , somehow. I thought I might just taste it. She looked so marvellously happy; she was even smiling.’
    ‘What happened next?’ said Broham, when Staines did not go on.
    ‘I went under, of course,’ said Staines. ‘It was heavenly.’
    Broham looked annoyed. ‘And after that?’
    ‘Well, I had a pretty decent go at her pipe, and then I lay down on her bed, and slept for a bit—or dreamed; it wasn’t sleep exactly. When I came up again, the lamp was cold, and the bowl of the pipe was empty, and Anna was gone. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t even spare her a thought. All I wanted was another taste. It was such a thirst, you see: from the first sip, I was enchanted. I knew I couldn’t rest until I tried the drug again.’
    ‘All this from your very first taste,’ said Broham, sceptically.
    ‘Yes,’ said Staines.
    ‘What did you do?’
    ‘I made for the den in Chinatown at once. It was early—just past dawn. I saw no one on the road at all.’
    ‘How long did you remain in Kaniere Chinatown?’
    ‘I think a fortnight—but it’s hard to recall exactly; each day blurred into the next. Ah Sook was ever so kind to me. He took me in, fed me, made sure I never ate too much. He kept tally of my debts on a little chalkboard.’
    ‘Did you see anyone else, over this period?’
    ‘No,’ said Staines, ‘but really, I can’t remember much at all.’
    ‘What is the next thing you remember?’
    ‘I woke up one day and Ah Sook was not there. I became very upset. He had taken his opium with him—he always did, when he left the den—and I turned the place over, looking for it, becoming more and more desperate. And then I remembered Miss Wetherell’s supply.
    ‘I set off for Hokitika at once—in a frenzy. It was raining very heavily that morning, and there were not many people about, and I made it to Hokitika without seeing anyone I knew. I entered the Gridiron by the rear