3
‘Damn them.’
Carr sat down on the rocks and spat on the ground as he looked at Cat Island, floating in the sea before his eyes. Not caring to get his hands dirty, he grabbed some nearby weeds and tore off the leaves.
‘Damn them,’ he repeated angrily.
The leaves he had gathered were carried by the wind and danced out to sea.
They always go their separate ways, except when they’re out to get me, and only then do they work together. That Poe, too, with his pretentious talk….And I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who wanted to take a better look at Orczy’s body and the inside of the room.
Ellery in particular was all ready to investigate. Leroux, too. Van as well. We allowed Poe to do it all. Don’t they realise how dangerous that might be?
Even the tumult of the waves below started to get on his nerves. He spat on the ground once more, pursed his lips and hit his knee with his fist.
It’s all Orczy’s fault. I was turned down? I was just bored and had a little chat with her. Hmph. She thought I was serious and got all high-and-mighty… Stupid woman. Who did she think she was? Hmph. As if I would kill someone because of that….
Carr stared at the scenery in front of him, his whole being filled with anger and humiliation.
✦ ✦ ✦
‘There’s not a boat to be found here. And we don’t have the tools to cut down trees and make a raft. Even if we could improvise one, I doubt we could make it all the way to the mainland—want a smoke, Van?’
In search of a way to communicate with the mainland, the others—except for Carr—had decided to split up into two teams and explore the island. Poe, Van and Agatha formed one team of three. They were exploring the area between the southern coast and the eastern coast.
Poe gave Van a cigarette, took one himself and then crossed his arms in silence.
‘The only thing we can do is to start a fire and hope they find us.’
‘Will they really notice something like that? Also….’
Van gazed up at the sky as he lit a cigarette.
‘The clouds don’t look so good. It might rain tonight.’
‘That’s bad. Why didn’t we think of a method of contact just in case?’
‘It’s too late now. Who would have thought something like this would happen?’
Van’s shoulders sagged.
‘And my fever had just dropped. Can’t believe this is happening….’
‘I haven’t seen a single fishing boat this whole time,’ said Agatha, plainly distressed.
The heavily overcast sky threw a dark shadow across the sea.
‘But a boat might come eventually. We’d better have someone on watch here. Teams of two, in three shifts.’
‘Poe, no!’ Agatha cried hysterically. ‘I don’t want to be left alone with someone who might be the murderer.’
‘Teams of three, then.’
‘Might as well come all together then, Van. The only time a boat will pass by here is probably when it leaves or returns to the harbour, so around dusk or dawn.’
‘But there’s a chance they might pass by at other times.’
‘I think that the chance of a boat finding us is very small, though. The old boatman told us that when we came here. The fishing grounds in this area are further south, so boats hardly come this way at all.’
‘But there’s not much else we can do. Do we have something we can use as firewood?’
‘That might be a problem.’
Poe looked back at the forest.
‘Just pine trees. They don’t burn well when fresh. We could gather dry, fallen pine leaves and burn them, but there aren’t that many, so they wouldn’t be able to see the fire from the mainland. The only thing we can do is wait for a boat to pass by.’
‘What will happen to us?’
Agatha looked at the two with fear in her eyes. She had become a shadow of her former radiant self.
‘We’ll be all right. Somehow.’
Poe placed his hand on Agatha’s shoulder and smiled awkwardly through his beard. But Agatha still remained frightened.
‘You may well say that, but for all I know you, or perhaps Van, might be the one who killed Orczy.’
Poe took out a new cigarette in silence.
‘Or Carr, or Leroux or Ellery….’
Agatha was deathly white and she was visibly trembling.
‘One of you killed Orczy. Killed her and then removed her hand.’
‘But you’re one of the suspects too, Agatha,’ Van said with a solemn look unusual for him.
‘It wasn’t me.’
Agatha turned back towards the forest and buried her head in her hands.
‘Aah, I can’t believe it. Is this real? Van, Poe? Is Orczy really dead? Is there really a murderer amongst us?’