Inspector Singh Investigates (21 page)
Read Inspector Singh Investigates Online
Authors: Shamini Flint
Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #Police Procedural, #International Mystery & Crime
Singh said hesitantly, 'But why did Jasper kill his brothers?'
'We're back to saving the rainforests, I'm afraid.'
Singh scratched his beard thoughtfully. 'I would never have put Jasper down as the type to commit multiple murders ... '
Mohammad stood up and stuck a hand out. 'Thank you for your assistance in this matter, Inspector Singh. We look forward to greater cooperation between the Malaysian and Singapore police in the future as well. I won't fail to mention your contribution at my press conference.'
Singh's eyes twinkled as he remembered their numerous run–ins. 'Just don't get into the details,' he chortled. He shook the other man's hand and said, 'I have a plane to catch.'
Rupert Winfield could barely understand what had happened.
Jasper had carefully shot Kian Min at close range in the neck, aiming for the point of entry of the blowpipe needle. They had been heading for the lift to get away from the scene when they saw the elevator doors slide open. Only Jasper's quick thinking saved them. He, Rupert, was rooted to the spot. Jasper grabbed his arm, turned the corner sharply and dragged him down the corridor, their footsteps muffled in the thick, pile carpet. They were cornered and desperate until Jasper saw the fire escape door. He hurried them towards it. Flung it open. Shoved Rupert through. Jasper had taken a step forward to follow him but then hesitated. He looked back down the corridor and at Rupert. He said, 'Go back to Borneo. Honour her memory. I will handle things here.'
Rupert had started to protest but Jasper had put a hand up to stop him, put a finger to his lips to demand silence and closed the door firmly on his dumbstruck friend. Rupert stood there on the wrong side of the door for a few long moments. He made up his mind. Rupert ran down eighteen flights of stairs, walked out into the open and hailed a taxi.
And now he was on his way back to Borneo and the Penan people. He would work to save them –do everything in his power to preserve a disappearing people. In memory of his wife, his unborn child and the friend who had given him a second chance.
Epilogue
Inspector Mohammad was in a cell with Jasper, recording his confession to the murder of his two brothers. At last they were done and the two men sat looking at each other.
Mohammad said, 'That's your story and you're sticking to it?'
Jasper smiled. 'This time I am, yes.'
The policeman nodded thoughtfully. He seemed to be making up his mind about something but at last he asked, 'How do you explain this then?' He slid an envelope, its seal broken and a letter sticking out of it, towards Jasper.
Jasper stared at it, puzzled. He had a horrid feeling of
deja vu.
He was not going to be fooled into retracting his confession this time though. Besides, he had produced the murder weapon.
He picked up the letter and read it slowly. At last he looked up and said in an even voice, 'Where did you get this?'
'Your apartment.'
Jasper nodded in acknowledgement. 'I'd completely forgotten about Rupert's letter. Otherwise I would have destroyed it, of course.'
'Why?'
'Kian Min deserved to die.'
'But you didn't kill him.'
Jasper shrugged. 'I killed Alan.'
'Why would you take the blame for what this Rupert Winfield did?'
Jasper picked up the letter between two fingers. He said, 'You've read it. He gave it to me just before he went to see Kian Min. I didn't know what he was planning ... but he obviously wanted someone to understand why he was going to do ... what he was going to do.'
'They killed his wife?'
Jasper nodded. 'Yes. She was pregnant. Kian Min was boasting about it just before he died.'
Both men fell silent. Rupert's letter to Jasper lay on the table between them. The plea of a brokenhearted man for some understanding.
'It explains why the body was cold even though I heard the gunshot just a few minutes before and why Kian Min was full of poison,' remarked Mohammad. 'In fact, if you shot him after he was dead – that explains the lack of blood as well.'
Jasper asked, 'What are you going to do?'
Mohammad looked at him. 'You're sure you know what you're doing?'
'They can only hang me once.'
Mohammad fished in a pocket and brought out a clear plastic cigarette lighter. He had found it under his desk – a remnant from the visit of the inspector from Singapore. He ran his thumb over it and a blue and yellow flame flared. Inspector Mohammad picked up Rupert Winfield's letter and held the flame to a corner. He dropped the burning sheet of paper onto the concrete floor and the two men watched it burn, curling and dissolving into ashes.
Jasper said, 'Thank you.'
Mohammad nodded and put the lighter back in his pocket. He suspected that Inspector Singh would have been proud of the use to which it had just been put.