Night of Error. Desmond Bagley
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‘And you say they were speaking Spanish,’ said the Inspector.
I nodded wearily. ‘As soon as we went into the flat someone shouted, “Look out!” and then I was in the middle of a fight. A bit later on another man shouted, “Get out of here; don’t shoot – use your knives.” I think it was the man I knocked off the fire escape.’
The Inspector looked at me thoughtfully. ‘But you say he was going to shoot you.’
‘He’d lost his knife by then, and I was going for him.’
‘How good is your Spanish, Mr Trevelyan?’
‘Pretty good,’ I said. ‘I did a lot of work off south-west Europe about four years ago and I was based in Spain. I took the trouble to learn the language – I have a flair for them.’
The doctor tied a neat knot in the bandage round my arm and said, ‘That’ll hold it, but try not to use the arm for a while.’ He packed his bag and went out.
I sat up and looked about the flat – it was like a field dressing station in a blitzed area. I was stripped to the waist with a bandaged arm and Geordie sported a natty bandage on his little finger. He was drinking tea and he held out his finger like a charlady at a garden party.
The flat was a wreck. What hadn’t been broken by the burglars had been smashed during the fight. A chair with no legs lay in the corner and broken glass from the front of my bookcase littered the carpet. A couple of uniformed constables stood stolidly in the corners and a plain clothes man was blowing powder about the place with an insufflator.
The Inspector said, ‘Once again – how many of them were there?
Geordie said, ‘I had two on my hands at one time.’
‘I had a go at two,’ I said. ‘But I think that one of them had a bash at Geordie first. It’s difficult to say – it happened so fast.’
‘This man you heard – did he say “knife” or “knives”?’
I thought about that. ‘He said “knives”.’
The Inspector said, ‘Then there were more than two of them.’
Geordie said unexpectedly, ‘There were four.’
The Inspector looked at him with raised eyebrows.
‘I saw three men in the car that passed us. One driving and two getting in in a hurry. With one dead in the alley – that makes four.’
‘Ah yes,’ said the Inspector. ‘They would have one man in the car. Tell me, how did you come to get shot?’
A smile touched Geordie’s lips. ‘How does anyone get shot? With a gun.’ The Inspector recognized a touch of overexcitement and said dryly, ‘I mean, what were the circumstances?’
‘Well, I chased the little bastard down the stairs and damn nearly caught him in the foyer. He saw he was going to be copped so he turned and let me have it. I hadn’t reached him yet. I was so surprised I sat down – then I saw all the blood.’
‘You say he was little?’
‘That he was. A little squirt of not more than five foot four.’
‘So two men went down the stairs, there was one in the car – and one went over the fire escape,’ the Inspector summarized. He had a blunt, square face with watchful grey eyes which he suddenly turned on me like gimlets. ‘You say this man threw a suitcase into the alley.’
‘That’s right.’
‘We haven’t found it, Mr Trevelyan.’
I said, ‘The others must have picked it up. That’s when they nearly ran us down.’
He said softly, ‘How did they know it was there?’
‘I don’t know. They may have seen it coming over. I guess the car was parked in the alley waiting for the others to come down that way.’
He nodded. ‘What was in the suitcase – do you know?’
I glanced across at Geordie who looked back at me expressionlessly. I said, ‘Some stuff belonging to my brother.’
‘What kind of – er – stuff?’
‘Clothing, books – geological samples.’
The Inspector sighed. ‘Anything important or valuable?’
I shook my head. ‘I doubt it.’
‘What about the samples?’
I said, ‘I only saw the specimens briefly. They appeared to be manganese nodules of the type which is often to be found on the ocean bed. They’re very common, you know.’
‘And valuable?’ he persisted.
‘I don’t think that anyone with knowledge of them would regard them as valuable,’ I said. ‘I suppose they might be if they were generally accessible, but it’s too hard to get at them through two or three miles of water.’
The Inspector seemed at a loss. ‘How do you think your brother will regard the loss of those specimens, and his other things?’
‘He’s dead,’ I said.
The Inspector sharpened his attention. ‘Oh? When did he die?’
‘About four months ago – in the Pacific.’
He looked at me closely and I went on, ‘My brother, Mark, was an oceanographer like myself. He died of appendicitis a few months ago and I’ve just received his effects today. As for the specimens I would say they were souvenirs of the IGY survey in which he was engaged. As a scientist he would naturally be interested in them.’
‘Um,’ said the Inspector. ‘Is there anything else missing, Mr Trevelyan?’
‘Not that I know of.’
Geordie clattered his cup. ‘I think we were too quick for them,’ he said. ‘They thought they were on to a good thing, but we didn’t give them enough time. So one of them grabbed the first thing he saw and tried to make a getaway.’
I carefully didn’t mention that the case had been hidden under my bed.
The Inspector looked at Geordie with something approaching contempt. ‘This isn’t an ordinary burglary,’ he said. ‘Your explanation doesn’t account for the fact that they went to a lot of trouble to retrieve the suitcase, or why they used so many weapons.’ He turned to me. ‘Have you any enemies in Spain?’
I shrugged. ‘I shouldn’t think so.’
He pursed his lips. ‘All right, Mr Trevelyan, let’s go back to the beginning again. Let’s start when you say you first saw the light on in your flat …’
It was after three a.m. before we got rid of the police, and they were back again next morning, to recheck the premises and to hear the whole tale yet again. The Inspector wasn’t satisfied but neither he nor any of his colleagues could pin down what was wrong. Come to that – neither could I! It was a great way to start my leave. His last word to me that morning was, ‘There’s been a fatality here, Mr Trevelyan, and that’s a very serious matter. I shall expect both of you to hold yourselves in readiness for the inquest. You are not under arrest,’ he added in such a way as to make me feel that I was. He strode out of the flat with his myrmidons trailing behind.
‘In other words – don’t leave town,’ I said. ‘There goes a very unhappy policeman.’
Geordie said, ‘He’ll be burning up the wires looking for an expert on manganese nodules. He thinks there’s something fishy there.’
‘By God, so do I! But he won’t find much. He’ll phone the Institute of course, and speak to Jarvis