Motive? Not all brothers love each other. Families are complex and dynamic, often riven by jealousy, ambition, perceived betrayals, a sense of unfairness. Just because Dever and Lew were twin brothers did not mean they were incapable of murdering one another.

And there was the matter of the missing money. How could that be explained? There was a chance that it was not the immediate motive for murder. Perhaps Lew, sensing his life was in danger, converted his wealth into cash that morning, concealed it somewhere he thought would be safe, then met his nemesis later that day.

Another possibility: Dever, his identical twin brother, posed as Lew. He made false use of identity papers, faked his brother’s signature, converted the wealth into cash, hid it temporarily, then went to his brother’s house and murdered him. After that he locked up the house, returned to pick up the money from where he had stashed it, stuffed it into the large shoulder bag he had taken from his brother, then caught the next inter-island flight to wherever he lived on Salay Sekonda.

It was late. I went to bed.

Half Answers

14

Half Answers

Spoder phoned. It was still early, a peaceful time of quietude and warm air, before the sun rose high enough to bake the land. The road was virtually free of traffic. The cicadas stilled long before the sun rose. I had woken early and was on my recliner on the decking, the remains of an early breakfast around me. I was holding a mug of coffee.

‘Sir, I have found out almost everything you need to know about Antterland’s murder,’ Spoder said. The cable of the landline was stretched from the connector on the wall of my study, through the open windows. He went on: ‘I have access to the file, photos of the body, plans and more photos of the crime scene.’

‘Is this the murder on Salay Hames?’ I said. ‘Lew Antterland?’

‘No – he was the suicide. I’m talking about his brother Dever.’

‘I think Lew was also murdered.’

‘No, sir. Lew killed himself. I have a copy of the inquest report.’

‘OK, Spoder. Tell me about Dever.’

In the past I had learned that Spoder did not like discovering I was already ahead of his researches, seeing himself, justifiably, as my professional consultant. The internet had made access to documentary information so widely available that sometimes he and I followed parallel routes to similar pieces of information. Whenever that happened and we duplicated the effort, or as in this case I had gone more deeply into the story than him and worked out what had probably happened, I chose to stay silent, as now.