Race (14 page)

Harry and Mini were sighing, and Mini was about to burst into tears because  Mr Downes wouldn't stop shouting. Harry offered Mr Downes some berries, ripe, sweet, and straight from the shop.

"Thank you!" Mr Downes said, snatching the berries off him. "Now, you both just fill in the form and I'll sign it!"

Harry's mouth was full of berries. "I'm ... Harry Rodgers," he scoffed.

"Are you Harry Burnham, a music director?" Mr Downes exclaimed. "Oh, I'm such a big fan of you! I'm only alive because I listen to your music, otherwise I would have died! Oh, Harry, mate!"

Mini was beckoning to Harry to try and make Mr Downes shut up. Harry nodded.

"Look, I'm not Harry Burnham, whoever that is." Harry's tone of voice was foul. "I'm Inspector Harry Rodgers, emphasis on the Rodgers!" He leaned closer. "Inspector Harry Rodgers!" he repeated.

"Inspector?" Mr Downes repeated, looking as if he was about to burst into tears. "Did my wife send you here? Oh, sir, I don't fight with her or anything, I'm a really good husband! Sometimes people do get a bad impression of me and my wife takes it wrongly ..."

"I'm here in reference of a case!" Harry interrupted, breaking Mr Downes off his sentence. "And I want to ask you some questions!"

"Okay," Mr Downes replied vaguely.

"Sweetie," Harry beckoned to Mini.  Mini nodded, and handed over a photograph of Alice to Mr Downes.

"Hmm, why has she got sandals on her head?" Mr Downes asked, and then realized that the photograph was upside down. Embarrassed, he turned it back the right way around.

"Do you recognize this lady?" Harry asked him.

"Yes!" Mr Downes exclaimed. "So many days ago, she came here to get married!"

Harry nodded, and then  Mini handed over a photograph of Noah. "Did she come with this man?" Harry asked.

"No, no, no, no!" Mr Downes denied. "She didn't come with him, that man looks pretty decent to me, a good person. However, the person that she did get married to was a very angry man! He hit my photographer, and then smashed his camera on to the floor so that we couldn't take any pictures of him! Very bad! Very bad!"

Harry scratched his chin. "What did the man look like?" he asked.

"Well, he had two feet, two eyes, two hands ..." Mr Downes began. "But he only had one nose. He looked like a man, I'm not lying."

Harry and Mini were about to burst out laughing.

"You're going to have to go with us to Dublin. There, one of our departments artists will make a sketch of your description," Harry sighed.

Mr Downes grinned. "I don't have a problem with going, Sir, but there's no point of making a sketch since I managed to get his photograph! Take a look at the photograph and make a sketch, you know what I mean?"

Mini gasped. "You've got a photo of him?!"

"Yes, yes!" Mr Downes exclaimed. "Whenever someone does some crazy stuff with us, we just go to the CCTV and grab a photo from there!"  He opened up the file and handed it over to them.

Mini looked as if she was about to faint. It was a CCTV photograph of Alice - with Ronan. "Sir, this is Ronan!" she piped up. "But Alice told us that she got married to Noah!"

"Ronan is crazy," Harry murmured. "He's that flower I was talking about at the funeral."

"Oh, that's nothing! My wife made me shrink from six foot to five foot!" Mr Downes laughed.

"Thank you, Mr Downes. Take care of your wife." Harry and Mini got up on their feet and shook hands with Mr Downes.

"You're welcome!" Mr Downes said a little too enthusiastically.

CHAPTER FORTY

UNCOVERING THE TRUTH

Ronan and Alice were riding a little boat across the sea. Alice was wearing a stripy blue bikini and Ronan was wearing some swimming tanks,

"Faster, faster!" Alice giggled, wrapping her arms around Ronan's waist, the light vrum vrumming of the engine calming her. They both had a water fight with some of the water in the sea.  They were both soaked, and both of them were literally laughing their heads off.

Ronan chuckled and they both laughed together playfully, then made their way back to the sand with their arms around each other. Alice was still giggling. She laughed so much that water began spurting out of her nose.

"Good morning!" came a voice. Alice and Ronan spun around and to their utter shock, they saw Harry Rodgers and Mini. Harry was drinking at a table and Mini was smirking. "If you want, you can join us!" Harry called.

"Inspector!" Ronan called uncomfortably, though he tried to put as much enthusiasm into his voice as he could. "What a nice surprise!" He nodded at Mini. "Ma'am." They walked over to Harry, trying to make up an excuse about what was going on. "The thing is, after Noah's death, Alice was feeling a bit low, so ..."

"So with your hands in each others hands you thought you'd do some flirting on the beach, huh?" Harry grinned.

"So cute," Mini commented.

"Yeah, cute!" Harry agreed, only wishing that Mini would love him too. He remembered his huge rejection when he was at the beach.

Harry was lying down on the sunbed, with a white cap on his head, and he was casually drinking more coconut milk. Then, he saw an irresistible lady, wearing a pink polka dot bikini, and was walking down to the beach to join him after swimming in the sea.

Harry gazed at her in awe.

It was Mini. She sat down on to the sunbed next to  Harry, towel drying her hair. Harry was still staring at her, as if his eyes were glued to the spot.

"What is it, Sir?" Mini laughed. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Mini," Harry began, "what do you think of me?"

"Genius, sir," Mini replied.

"Mate, oh, mate, I know that all ready! How many times have I told you not to say the things that I all ready know again and again! It makes me feel embarrassed, mate!" A wide grin stretched across his face, and he sat up straight. "Say something else."

"Sir, could I ask you something?" Mini said suddenly.

"Yes, ask away!" Harry thought that she was about to ask him something about how good looking he was, or how charming he was, or how kind he was, something like that.

"Sir, you know on that marriage certificate, how did you see the difference in the signatures but I didn't?"  Mini looked as if she was about to burst into tears. "Why isn't my mind sharp like yours, Sir?"

"That's because you have a really big problem, Mini!" Harry scolded, folding his arms, bothered.

"You always tell me that I've got a problem, so how about today, you actually tell me what my problem is?!" Mini smiled.

"Do you have a boyfriend, Mini?" Harry asked randomly.

"Sir, how can I have a boyfriend?" Mini replied innocently. "I stay with you for the whole day!"

"That is exactly what your problem is!" Harry snapped. "You've crossed the line of life's silver lining! You don't have a boyfriend, you haven't got married! What are you going to do with yourself, you sexy piece of shit?"

Mini laughed. "Sir, you haven't got married yet, either!" she said pointedly.

"Yes, but I socialize a lot!" Harry began to grin again. "Look," he said, sitting next to her, "boy's aren't just about what they appear to be on the outside. Their bodies also play a role in their personality. They hunger. Their body gets frustrated when they can't get what they want. And they don't concentrate when they're thinking about it."

"I don't understand," Mini frowned.

"Look, there's things that I say that you won't understand in that little brain of yours. It has to be practical." The word practical gave Harry a sudden inspiration. "Come on inside and I'll show you, come on." He smiled widely.

There was a cabin with a bed inside it.

"Think that you're with your boyfriend, right?" Harry began. "He comes closer to you, grabs your hands and throws his hat off." He did exactly what he was saying.

"Sir, left side or right side?" Mini asked.

"Oh, just come to me!" Harry growled, and then he hugged her tight. "How are you feeling?" he whispered.

Mini pulled away from the hug. "It feels good," she admitted.

"Then, he kisses your neck," Harry continued, leaning in to kiss Mini's neck, but she backed away a little.

"Sir," she piped up, "left side or right side?"

"Any side!" Harry was getting impatient now. He kissed her neck. "How are you feeling?"

"It feels very good, Sir!" Mini exclaimed.

"Then, he kisses your lips," Harry grinned, getting really excited, and he leaned in, but Mini backed away again.

"Sir," she said, "there is no left or right here, so I think we should stop now."

Harry looked disappointed. "Why?!" he cried. "Don't you like me?!"

"Sir, it's got nothing to do with that," Mini smiled. "I don't like you in that way. I want you as my God."

Harry sighed long and hard. "Oh, that's a new one!" he muttered.

"And people worship God," Mini continued. "I worship you, Sir. You're great." She began to walk towards the door. "Bye!" she left the room.

"Idiot," Harry mumbled. "This is the first girl I've met who denies being touched by me and then sees me as a God!" He looked as if he was about to burst into tears.

"God is so great, he's put you both together without feeling bad about your brother." Mini continued.

"I just think that both of you should have waited a while," Harry added, eating his fruit salad. "I mean, I know this place is really far from town but you both didn't have to go away that far, at least until you've got that policy money." He paused. "Hungry? Want my fruit salad?" he offered Ronan.

"What are you trying to say?" Ronan asked in a threatening voice.

"See Mini? This is the response I get from an intelligent criminal. He never accepts loss." Harry smiled. "Yesterday, I went to Cape Town," he explained to Ronan and Alice. "I met an estate agent there. The exact same estate agent that Noah and Alice went to meet. Apparently, there, Alice did this act of not feeling well. She wasn't free for those days, and Noah hadn't proposed to her either. Poor Noah actually thought that she wasn't feeling well, so he told her to go back to the hotel and rest. But she wanted a quick marriage, so she went to the Marriage Registrar Office. That's where the younger brother Ronan all ready was, and they both got married."

Noah and Alice were both sitting at the Cape Town Estate Agents office. After a while of talking with the estate agent, Alice let out a small gasp.

"I don't feel very well, Noah," Alice told Noah, putting a hand to her forehead dramatically.

"Really? What's wrong?" Noah asked her.

"I'm feeling a bit sick."

"Oh, I'm so sorry Alice. Will you be all right?"

"No," Alice shook her head.

Noah looked at her sympathetically, and pat her shoulder. "All right then. I'll stay here, and you can go and rest back at the hotel," he reassured.

Alice smiled at him thankfully and departed from the estate agents. However, she had no intention of going back to the hotel. She got in to her car and drove to the Marriage Registar Office, where Ronan was waiting for her. Alice got out of her car and she and Ronan hugged and kissed.