arm aching, he glared murderously at her, seeing she was holding a large chunk of rock in her hands.
'Stay where you are unless you want your skull cracked,' she said.
Her stillness and her cold eyes warned him she wasn't bluffing.
'You bitch!' he snarled. 'I'll fix you for this!'
'You don't frighten me, you fat animal,' she said scornfully. 'From now on, you leave me alone. If you ever try to touch me again, I'll break your arm. If you weren't so important to this operation, I would have done it just now. Remember that! Now have a swim and cool off, you revolting ape.' She tossed the rock into the water just in front of him, and by the time he had cleared his eyes, she had gone.
Kahlenberg was signing a batch of letters when his office door opened silently and Kemosa came in. He waited patiently in the doorway until Kahlenberg had finished and when Kahlenberg looked up inquiringly he shuffled forward. He put a small glass bottle on the blotter.
'There it is, master.'
Kahlenberg regarded the bottle.
'What is it?'
'The poison you ordered, master.'
'I know that . . . what is the poison?'
Kemosa looked blank.
'That I don't know, master.'
Kahlenberg made an impatient movement.
'Did you tell the witch doctor exactly what I wanted?'
'Yes, master.'
'A poison that would kill a man in twelve hours?'
'Yes, master.'
'Is he to be trusted?'
'Yes, master.'
'What did you pay him?'
'Twenty goats.'
'Did you tell him if the poison doesn't work, he will lose all his goats and I will burn his but and turn him off my estate?'
'I told him that if the poison doesn't work, two men would come in the night and throw him in the crocodile pool.'
'Does he believe that?'
'Yes, master.'
Kahlenberg nodded, satisfied.
'Go to the medical chest, Kemosa, and bring me a syringe and a pair of rubber gloves.'
When Kemosa had left, Kahlenberg sat back, looking at the small bottle. His mind went back four hundred years. Caesar Borgia might also have contemplated a similar phial of poison, planning the end of an enemy, feeling the same pleasure that Kahlenberg was experiencing.
He was still sitting motionless when Kemosa returned with the syringe and gloves.
'Thank you,' and Kahlenberg waved him away.
When the door had closed, he opened a drawer and took out the glass box containing the ring. He took out the ring and put it on the fourth finger of his right hand. He studied the flashing diamonds thoughtfully, then he turned the ring so the diamonds were worn inside. The plain silver band now showing looked very innocent. He took off the ring and laid it on the blotter. Then he put on the surgical gloves. Screwing the watchmaker's glass into his eye, he slid open the trap in the ring. Then laying the ring down again, he uncorked the bottle and drew some of the colourless liquid into the syringe. Very carefully he inserted the needle of the syringe into the reservoir of the ring and equally carefully pressed the plunger. When, through the watchmaker's glass, he saw the liquid was level with the top of the reservoir, he withdrew the needle and slid the diamond trap into place. Laying down the syringe, he wiped the ring on his handkerchief, taking time over the operation. Still without removing his gloves, he began shaking the ring sharply over the blotter, looking for any signs of a leak in the reservoir. Finally satisfied, he put the ring in a drawer, put his handkerchief in an envelope and sent for Kemosa again. When the old man came in, he told him to destroy the syringe, the poison, the gloves and the handkerchief.
