Chapter 48
‘Thisis Detective Chief Superintendent Mathers,’ she said. ‘Who am I speaking to?’
‘You know who I am,’ the Botanist replied. ‘Is Mr Stahl there?’
‘He’s with a doctor right now. I can get him, though.’
‘There’s no need to bother him if he’s receiving medical attention.’
‘Oh. I thought you wanted to speak to him?’
‘I do, but not over the phone. I’ll be meeting with him face-to-face.’
‘Face-to-face?’ Mathers said.
‘Yes.’
‘Even though we’ll arrest you on sight?’
‘That’s my problem, not yours.’
‘Why would you do this?’
‘Henning Stahl was a good journalist once,’ the Botanist said. ‘Perhaps he could be again.’
‘When?’
‘Tomorrow.’
‘Where?’
‘Aha,’ the Botanist said. ‘You nearly got me with your cunning police tricks there. I’ll let you know “where” a bit nearer to the time.’
‘Is that all?’
‘For now.’
‘No,’ Poe said, loudly.
Mathers stared at him in horror.
Flynn hissed, ‘Poe! What the hell are you doing?’
‘Who is this?’ the Botanist asked.
‘Detective Sergeant Washington Poe.’
‘What do you mean “no”, Sergeant Poe?’
‘Look, I’m not being a prick about this,’ Poe said. ‘This isn’t someweird negotiation tactic. I said no because you don’t want to meet Henning Stahl tomorrow.’
‘I don’t?’
‘No. You picked Stahl for one of two reasons: you either want him to write your story …’
‘Or?’
‘Or you want to kill him.’