The Luminaries

anyone.’
    ‘Did you open the safe regularly, to check upon the contents?’
    ‘Not regularly, no.’
    ‘When did you first discover that the fortune was missing?’
    ‘When Crosbie returned the following year.’
    ‘Can you describe what happened when you made this discovery ?’
    ‘Mr. Wells came back from the fields, and we sat down to take stock of our finances together. He opened the safe, and saw that it was empty. You can be sure that he was absolutely furious—as was I.’
    ‘What month was this?’
    ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Mrs. Carver, suddenly flustered. ‘April, maybe. Or May.’
    ‘April or May—of 1865. Last year.’
    ‘Yes,’ she said.
    ‘Thank you, Mrs. Carver,’ said Moody, and then, to the justice, ‘Thank you, sir.’
    He felt, as he sat down, that the atmosphere in the courtroom was quickening. Harrington and Fellowes had ceased their whispering , and the justice was no longer taking notes. Every pair of eyes in the room watched Mrs. Carver as she descended the steps from the witness box and sat down.
    ‘The Court calls Mr. Francis Carver.’
    Carver was handsome in a dark green jacket and a pinned cravat. He gave his oath with his usual terse accent, and then turned, his expression sober, to face the barristers’ bench.
    Broham looked up from his notes. ‘Mr. Carver,’ he said. ‘Please describe for the Court how you first came to be acquainted with Mr. Staines.’
    ‘I met him in Dunedin,’ said Carver, ‘around about this time last year. He was fresh off the boat from Sydney, and looking to set himself up as a prospector. I offered to be his sponsor, and he accepted.’
    ‘What did this sponsorship require of each of you?’
    ‘I’d loan him enough money to set him up on the diggings, and in return, he’d be obliged to give me half-shares in his first venture, with dividends in perpetuity.’
    ‘What was the exact monetary value of your sponsorship?’
    ‘I bought his swag and a store of provisions. I paid for his ticket over to the Coast. He was facing down a gambling debt in Dunedin; I paid that, too.’
    ‘Can you guess at a total value, please?’
    ‘I suppose I stood him eight pounds. Something in the neighbourhood of eight pounds. He got the short-term leg-up, and I got the long-term payoff. That was the idea.’
    ‘What was Mr. Staines’s first venture?’
    ‘He bought a two-acre plot of land within a mile of Kaniere,’ said Carver, ‘known as the Aurora. He wrote to me from Hokitika once he’d made his purchase, and forwarded on all the papers from the bank.’
    ‘How were the Aurora dividends paid out to you?’
    ‘By money order, care of the Reserve Bank.’
    ‘And in what frequency did these payments occur?’
    ‘Every quarter.’
    ‘What was the exact value of the dividend payment you received in October 1865?’
    ‘Eight pounds and change.’
    ‘And what was the exact value of the dividend payment you received in January 1866?’
    ‘Six pounds even.’
    ‘Over the last two quarters of last year, then, you received a total of approximately fourteen pounds in dividends.’
    ‘That is correct.’
    ‘In that case, Aurora’s total net profit must have been recorded as approximately twenty-eight pounds, over a six-month period.’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Did Mr. Staines make any mention to you of the bonanza discovered upon the Aurora by the Chinaman John Quee?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Were you aware, at the time of falsification, that Mr. Staines had falsified the Aurora’s quarterly report?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘When did you first become aware that the bonanza discovered in the cottage of the late Mr. Wells had originated from the Aurora mine?’
    ‘The same time everyone else did,’ said Carver. ‘When the bank published their records in the paper, saying that the ore had been found smelted, not pure, and that the smelting bore a signature.’
    Broham nodded, then, coughing slightly, changed the subject. ‘Mr. Staines has testified that he holds you in poor esteem, Mr. Carver.’
    ‘Maybe he does,’ said Carver, ‘but he never spoke a word to me about it.’
    ‘Did you, as Mr. Staines alleges, assault Miss Wetherell on the eleventh of October?’
    ‘I slapped her face,’ said Carver. ‘That’s all.’
    From the gallery, Moody heard a low growl of disapproval.
    ‘What provoked you to slap her face?’ said Broham.
    ‘She was insolent,’ said Carver.
    ‘Can you elaborate on that?’
    ‘I asked her for a direction, and she had a