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Chapter 11 The Detective Begins Work

Bruno sat and looked at Arthur Gerard, his father’s private detective, and thought how ugly he was. Gerard had a fat pink face and little eyes, and he wore a dirty suit.

‘I’ll work on this murder for nothing, Charley,’ Gerard said. ‘I liked your father. I also think this is all very interesting.’

‘I don’t care what you think,’ Bruno said.

‘You hated your father, didn’t you?’ Gerard asked.

‘He hated me.’

‘Tell me about Thursday night again,’ Gerard said.

‘I left Mother about 2.45 in the morning, I went to get a hamburger, then I went to a bar, Clarke’s,’ Bruno said.

‘Nobody saw you at Clarke’s,’ Gerard said.

‘It was a different bar, then!’ Bruno said.

‘Okay, I want to know who you spoke to,’ Gerard said. ‘You see, I think it’s strange that your father died on the night of the day you left. I think you spoke to someone, and they knew you were going away.’

‘I said I don’t care what you think,’ Bruno said.

Gerard smiled. ‘All right Charley. You can go now,’ he said.

Bruno left Gerard’s office angrily, but then he thought about Guy. Gerard was too stupid to find out about him.

‘Guy and me,’ Bruno thought, ‘we’re like gods.’

The next day Gerard came to see Bruno and his mother.

Bruno was sitting in the garden. ‘Anything new?’ he asked Gerard.

‘We found these,’ Gerard said, and showed Bruno some small pieces of the purple gloves. He looked across the grass. ‘The murderer ran over there,’ Gerard said, ‘then he got caught in the branches of the trees on the other side of the wall. These pieces were there.’

‘Really?’ Bruno tried to sound interested.

‘He knew where to go, too. The whole thing was planned, the box next to the wall, the broken back door . . .’ Gerard didn’t finish.

‘I’ll see your mother now.’

Bruno watched Gerard’s fat body walk slowly across the grass.

He tried not to think about Gerard, but the man seemed to be everywhere, and a few minutes later he followed Gerard into the house.

‘Do you think Charley knew about the murder?’ Bruno heard his mother ask.

‘Yes, I think so, Elsie,’ Gerard said. ‘Don’t you?’

‘I’ll certainly tell you everything he tells me, Arthur,’ she said.

His own mother! What if she remembered all the stories about Guy from the paper? Suddenly Bruno felt alone. He wanted to sleep more than anything, but he needed more and more whisky for that, and he woke up earlier and earlier in the morning.