Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)

Raisins and Almonds 1 1
putting the formula in one book and getting his reward from
another. So I took the place of the carter and delivered the box
to the bookshop. Then, when Miss Lee was busy, I put the razor
blade into the book and sprinkled on the poison which is crystals
in office paste. Simple. Yossi dead from unknown causes and all
I have to do is buy the book.’
‘Except that it didn’t work out like that, did it?’ asked Phryne,
sympathetically.
Chaim scowled. ‘Who would have thought that it would
be Shimeon who put his finger in the wrong place?’ he asked
rhetorically. ‘Then the bookshop is closed and I cannot get to
it; but I think, soon the woman will be hanged and the goods
sold, and I will get it then. So I just wait.’
‘You just wait?’ asked Phryne. ‘You don’t go burgling houses?’
‘Me, do I have the figure for burglary?’ asked Chaim. ‘Stay
still,’ he warned Simon, who had shifted on his knees. He must,
Phryne thought, be in considerable pain. The cold lump was
getting colder. She was running out of things to say.
Robinson rescued her. ‘We’ve got men covering all the exits,’
he informed Abrahams. ‘You won’t get away with this. Let the
boy go. He hasn’t done you any harm.’
‘No harm?’ screamed Chaim suddenly. ‘No harm he’s done
me? If he hadn’t been born, I would be the sole heir of my
brother. All his life, he’s been in my way.’
‘Come on, Mr. Abrahams, you can see you can’t get away,’
said Jack Robinson, almost kindly. ‘You’re not going to inherit
now, are you? Let him go.’
‘Never!’
Silence fell again. Time passed. Simon shifted from knee to
knee, grimacing at the stinging of the blade in the little wound.
The air grew almost solid with rotten fruit and static electricity.
Phryne heard the crack of thunder overhead.
Jack Robinson was taking Chaim through his actions again,
and sympathizing with his troubles. Delay was all. Time was on
their side. Chaim must get weary. The hand holding the knife
must eventually cramp.