The Melting Man rc-4 Page 21

  'Temporary posting. Najib has a lot on his hands. Also, remember I now work for Mr O'Dowda so have to be on the spot.'

  'You don't mean he actually took you on?'

  'Why not? He doesn't trust me, but he likes to know where I am. Also, if he gets false information from me about affairs in my country, he probably guesses it is false and can make something from it. Wrong information can be as revealing as correct information. Mr O'Dowda is prepared to pay for both. Needless to say, my loyalty, is to my country. I am inordinately proud of that. One of the things, I feel, which prevent you from becoming a success is that you have no loyalty to anyone but yourself. That can only lead to limited profits. What is your asking price for the parcel?' He held up a hand and went on quickly, 'Naturally the girl will be returned as well, but I realize that you will want something for yourself. But not as much, of course, as though we didn't have the girl.'

  I said, 'No money passes. And no parcel passes. I want the girl.'

  'I think,' said Jimbo, 'we had better discuss this situation a little more fully.'

  'Let us do that,' I said, and sat down on a soft-sprung chair.

  Jimbo reached for a cigarette box. As he opened the lid it began to play a tune. He grinned at me.

  'Au clair de la lune. The toilet container in this place plays Sur le pont d'Avignon. This is really Panda's flat. You like her?'

  'She's a great girl. Good swimmer, too. I'd like to know how she and Najib knew I was at Ansermoz's chalet, by the way.'

  'It was very simple. They lost you so they made a phone call to the house. You answered the phone. Remember — you said to the woman caller that Max was in Cannes. So they knew you were there. After that they kept an eye on you from a safe distance.' He smiled. 'A man travelling fast, dreaming of profit, should look behind him occasionally.'

  I said, 'You ought to print that on one of your cards.'

  'Maybe.'

  I stood up. 'All right, let's have a look round. You go ahead and don't make any sudden movements.'

  He showed me round the flat. It was furnished throughout in Panda taste and it wasn't difficult to guess that she used the place for her professional entertaining. The whole place was probably wired for sound and film. One thing it didn't have, however, was any sign of Julia.

  I took Jimbo back into the sitting room and he sat down and helped himself to another musical cigarette and waved his hand at the drinks for me to help myself.

  Bottle in hand, I said, 'All right — she's not here. Where is she?'

  He polished his ebony chin with the tips of his fingers and said, 'If I knew I wouldn't tell you, but the sad fact is that I don't know.'

  'Why sad?'

  'Because it shows that Najib, in a most unbrotherly way, doesn't altogether trust me. I have no means either of communicating with him. He phones me when he needs me. So please don't bother to exert yourself with any physical measures to make me talk. I have nothing to say. That is the most honest statement I have made for some weeks.'

  I wondered. Then I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. He realized it and gave me a sympathetic nod of his head.

  'I should say, however, Mr Carver, that I am authorized to discuss details for a satisfactory exchange. What price were you thinking of?'

  'I wasn't. I don't intend to do any deal.'

  'Unchivalrous. She is a very beautiful girl, and — a little bird says — has some tenderness for you. Just think — for a parcel which is of no importance to you intrinsically you can earn yourself, say, a thousand guineas and her release. She will be delighted and, no doubt, eventually show her gratitude in the one way which constantly occupies men's minds. I am assuming, of course, that you still have the parcel and that it is in a safe place?'

  I said, 'You can assume that. But you're not getting the parcel. Nobody's getting it.'

  He shook his head. 'Not us, not Mr O'Dowda, or Interpol?' He gave me a big beaming smile of disbelief. 'You are, as they say, on the horns of a dilemma. A most unusual one, too, because this beast has three horns. I am sad for you. It is a predicament I should not like to be in myself. As I say, she is a very beautiful young woman. What you call, I think, the Celtic type… No, no, perhaps Romany would be the word.'

  He was right, of course. Not only about her physical type, but about my dilemma. At that moment I did not know which way to turn, what to do or where to go. Just for a moment I did reconsider using force on him in the hope that he might know more than he professed, but it was only for a moment. I could have taken him, but I didn't think he would speak before he passed out. Jimbo was a resolute type, inordinately proud of his loyalty.

  I finished my drink and made for the door.

  'Just sit there,' I said.

  He nodded.

  I went down the hallway and out. As I closed the door of the flat the solution to one question, at least, came to me. I realized that the tune the doorbell had played was 'Happy Birthday to You'.

  A few minutes later, as I was about to get into the Facel Vega parked in the cul-de-sac outside the flat, Tich Kermode dubbed me over the back of the head and O'Dowda grabbed me like a sack of potatoes before I could hit the pavement. I passed out without protest.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  'No human being, however great, or powerful,

  Was ever so free as a fish.'

  (John Ruskin)

  It was a Rolls-Royce. Kermode was driving and I sat in the back with O'Dowda. I felt in my pocket for the gun that I had borrowed from Durnford. It was gone. When O'Dowda saw that I had surfaced he handed me a flask without a word. I drank, then shivered, and blinked my eyes at the road unwinding before the headlights. We were climbing steeply through pine woods. Probably, I thought, the road back to the château.

  Kermode had his chauffeur's cap pitched at a jaunty angle and was whistling gently to himself, happy at the thought of a good time ahead. O'Dowda was wearing a knickerbocker suit of hairy Harris tweed. There was a big bruise on his right temple.

  Nobody spoke for a long time. Then, staring straight ahead of him, O'Dowda said, 'You're a bastard.'

  It wasn't a good conversational opener, so I ignored it.

  He said, 'You're a bastard. So is Durnford, but he's a drunken bastard. If it's any interest to you, I've sacked him.'

  'After twisting his arm to say where I was?'

  'Both arms,' said Kermode over his shoulder.

  The two of them had a merry chuckle over that.

  I didn't relish the thought of the next few hours. O'Dowda wanted the parcel and he wasn't, I was sure, contemplating any kind of a deal — even if I'd been in a position to offer one.

  He said, 'I hate time-wasting. Someone always has to pay for that, boyo.'

  I yawned, closed my eyes, and leaned back against the genuine pigskin.

  O'Dowda said, 'What makes you think you can sleep?'

  I said, 'Try and stop me.' I slumped lower down and gave a drowsy grunt.

  Kermode said, 'He should be fun, sir.'

  O'Dowda said, 'Yes. Worth waiting for.'

  From the corner of a half-opened eye I saw him pull out a cigar and light up. Despite the throb in my head, I went to sleep.

  I woke as we turned into the driveway of the château.

  O'Dowda said, 'Feel better?'

  'Thanks.'

  'Good. I want you in fighting trim. And this time I'm not taking bets.'

  We went up the mile-long drive but we didn't go to the château. We turned off, down a side road, and climbed for about half a mile and then pulled up. Kermode dowsed the lights. Outside I got a glimpse of an expanse of water stretching away, steely blue under the moonlight. It looked like a lake and that brought unpleasant memories.

  Standing at the side of the lake was a small cottage with a boathouse attached to it. They took me across to it and into the large main room.

  'My workroom,' said Kermode.

  There was a long bench down one side of the room, an open fireplace at the far end and on a little pli
nth in the middle stood an unclothed life-size wax figure without a head.

  'When it's finished,' said O'Dowda, 'it's going to be you. We'll use the suit you're wearing now, so just take it off.' He looked at Kermode. 'Turn up the heating, Kermode, so that he doesn't get cold.'

  Kermode moved around the room, turning on three or four electric heaters. O'Dowda lit another cigar and went to a cabinet and poured himself a brandy.

  'There's one for you,' he said, 'when you've got the suit off.'

  I stripped my suit off. What else could I do? If I had refused they would have enjoyed doing it for me.

  O'Dowda — going to get me a brandy — said to Kermode, 'Do we want his shoes?'

  Kermode shook his head. 'Too scruffy.'

  O'Dowda handed me my brandy.

  He said, 'Don't be too long drinking it. We want to tie your hands behind your back.'

  I said, 'Have you figured out a place for me in the rogues' gallery?'

  'Not yet,' said O'Dowda.

  'Do me a favour and keep me well away from the policeman. I'm allergic to them.'

  'So you should be. I suppose Interpol have been telling you that you have to hand the parcel over to them, or else?'

  'Something like that.'

  'Powerful things, governments,' said O'Dowda. 'I should know, I practically own a couple. I also have two Interpol men on my payroll. By the way, as of this date, you are no longer on my payroll. What is more, I don't intend to pay you a penny of what I owe you for your work so far unless you hand over the parcel to me.'

  'Why not? You employed me to trace the car for you. I did just that.'

  'You did far more than just that. You walked off with my property.'

  While we were talking Kermode was busying himself at a large cupboard. So far as I could make out he was sorting out a collection of fishing rods.

  I said, 'Have you had any communication from Najib lately?'

  He nodded, blinked his small blue eyes at me through his cigar smoke, and said, 'A phone call. To save unnecessary beating about the bush, boyo, let me say I am well aware of the whole position. Najib wants the parcel in return for Julia. Interpol want it from you — or else. And I mean to have it. Tricky. For you. You have my sympathy but nothing else. Oh, and there is the other thing, too. This nonsense about my late wife. That's pure poppycock. Just the kind of thing Julia would dream up and that a crazy fool like Durnford would jump at. Mind you, I knew he was having an affair with my wife just before her unfortunate accident, but it didn't worry me. I was going to divorce her anyway. I'd already instructed my solicitors to prepare a petition. One of life's little accidents saved me the cost of their fees. Tie his hands, Kermode.'

  Kermode came over, politely waited for me to finish the last of the brandy, and then tied my hands behind me at the wrists tightly with thin cord.

  Thinking it might interest me, he said, 'It's a piece of Corolene Dacron braided spinning line.'

  'It cuts like hell,' I said.

  'It's meant to.'

  I looked at O'Dowda who was helping himself to another brandy.

  'If I hand the parcel over to you — you know what will happen to Julia?'

  'As the night follows the day. General Gonwalla can be a very mean-minded man.'

  'And you don't care a damn?'

  'She's not my true daughter, and anyway she has now formally severed all relationship with me. I have no responsibility for her. That's not to say that she isn't a nice-looking girl and it will be a sad thing. I wouldn't be surprised if you hadn't a soft spot for her. All this puts you in an awkward situation, but it is of no interest to me. Just hand the parcel to me, however, and I'll try and make Gonwalla see sense — though I can't guarantee anything.'

  'If I do, then Interpol will rub me out.'

  'Yes, I think they would do that. That's why I'm sure that I shall have to use some method to make you tell me where the parcel is. I couldn't expect you to do so willingly.'

  Kermode looked towards O'Dowda. 'What do you think, sir. Let it get a bit lighter?'

  O'Dowda nodded. 'I think so. Won't be as much fun then as a big sea-trout in the dark, but we mustn't expect too much. What rod do you think?'

  'Salmon?'

  'We'll try the A. H. E. Wood.' He turned to me. 'Of course you could save yourself all this by just telling me where the parcel is.'

  'I destroyed it.'

  He grinned. 'Not you, boyo. If you gave me an affidavit signed by St Peter I wouldn't believe that one.'

  'What about St Patrick?'

  'Less so. Think I don't know the Irish? No, you've got it somewhere safe and I'm having it. Come to think of it, I'd rather force it from you. You need some of the spunk taken out of you. I wouldn't say that your manner towards a man of my standing is deferential enough. And even if I did, there's a well-developed sadistic streak in me that says go ahead and have fun. God, it's hot in here.'

  He stripped off his Harris tweed jacket. Over by the cupboard Kermode was fixing up the salmon rod with a reel. I had a fair idea of what they might be going to do, but I couldn't believe it. I tried to remember what I could about the breaking strain of lines, and then I recalled reading somewhere that a good rod and line had stopped a really strong swimmer dead after he'd done about thirty yards. I stopped thinking about it. O'Dowda was right. It was hot in the room. The lake would make an unpleasant contrast in temperature.

  Then I thought about the parcel. What the hell was I to do? The whole thing had me properly confused. Give it to O'Dowda and lose Julia? Give it to Najib and save Julia — but put myself in the soup? Give it to Interpol and save myself and lose Julia, and then have Najib and O'Dowda gunning for me out of sheer political and economic spite? If there'd been time of course I could have written to some lonely hearts column and got advice. 'In the circumstances I think this is a problem where you must squarely face your own conscience…' Trouble was there was no sign of my conscience being around at this moment. It was that kind of conscience, never there when you really wanted it.

  I sat and sweated. O'Dowda had a little snooze. Kermode — he was the type — kept busy, tinkering away at some metalwork job at a bench down the far end of the room. Now and again he went to the window and looked out to see how the light was coming along.

  After a couple of hours he came over to me and strapped a leather dog-collar affair around my neck. There was a steel ring fitted into it just under my chin and attached to the ring was a three-yard length of line.

  'It's a wire gimp,' he said. 'So you can't bite through. Some big pike have been known to — but you've got to have real teeth for a job like that.' Then he looked at O'Dowda and, believe it or not, there was a touch of gentleness on his craggy, monkey face. 'Pity to wake him. He needs his sleep, does the boss. Drives himself hard. Always on the go. Don't pay any attention to that sadistic talk. Heart of a lamb he's got really. If you just coughed up now, he'd call it a day. Probably hand you a bonus on your pay. What do you say?'

  I said, 'He looks far too much overweight. The exercise will do him good — or give him a stroke. Want me to tell you which I'm cheering for?'

  He went and woke O'Dowda, shaking him gently by the shoulder, and then holding his jacket for him.

  And that was the beginning of the entertainment. They led me through a side door, Kermode carrying their equipment, into the boathouse.

  We got into a rowing boat and Kermode took the oars and we pulled out on to the lake. It was a beautiful morning; no sun yet, but the hint of it, and the sky pearly grey with a rosy flush in the East. Not a cloud in the sky and a few late stars still flickering in protest against the coming day. Some duck got up from the weed beds near the boathouse.

  'Pochards and a few garganey,' said O'Dowda. 'We tried to keep goldeneye here, but they wouldn't stay.' As he spoke he leaned forward making the end of the real line fast to the loose end of the wire gimp.

  'Make sure the knot's good,' I said.

  'Don't worry, boyo,' he said warmly, 'I've had my
tackle broken but I've never lost a fish yet through a sloppy knot. All you have to do when you've had enough is just to shout. Don't leave it too long so that you're too weak to shout.'

  I drove upwards with my right knee, trying to get him in the face before he could fix the knot, but he was too quick for me. One of his big hands grabbed my leg and held it. From behind me Kermode leaned forward and hauled me back, and O'Dowda straddled my legs and finished tying the knot.

  From that position they didn't take any more chances with me. They took off my shoes and I was lifted and flung overboard.

  I went under, and I thought I would go out with the sudden shock of the cold; and while I was still under I felt the strain come firmly on the collar round my neck. When I came up the boat was twenty yards away. O'Dowda was standing up, two-handing the salmon rod, and taking the strain nicely on me. Kermode was at the oars, not rowing, just holding the boat evenly.

  I trod water and felt my shirt and shorts ballooning around me. The cold began to cut into me. O'Dowda increased the pressure through the line and my head name forward until my face was underwater. I was forced to kick out with my legs and swim towards the boat to get my face up into the air. I heard the reel take up the slack, and the pressure came on again as I stopped swimming. Again my face was dragged under. This time, I turned in the water, and kicked away strongly from the direction of the boat, knowing that the pull of the line would at least keep my head back and my face clear of the water. It did, and damned nearly choked me. I swam against it for as long as I could, and then the line pressure stopped me, rolled me over and I went down about two feet. If I'd been a salmon I would have come up in a great silver, curving leap, hoping to catch O'Dowda unawares and break line or rod tip. I came up like a sack of wet horse-hair, gasping and choking for breath, to hear O'Dowda shout, 'Come on, boyo, put some life into it. I've known a two-pound tench do better.'

  I tried again. Not to please him, but in the hope of reaching the bank about fifty yards away. I swam towards the boat but at an oblique angle, hoping to gain a little ground towards shallow water. If I could once get my feet down and stand, I might have enough strength in my shoulder and neck muscles to hold them until I could turn round a couple of times, winding the line around my body and getting a grasp of it with my free fingers.