The Main Chance

by Colin Forbes

  `Only a hamlet. Looks as though the builder who created it about thirty years ago favoured Tudor.'

  There were nine houses, each well spaced from the next. All had two triangular roofs over dormer windows with wooden beams attached to the white plaster walls, and all had neatly tended large front gardens. No one seemed to be about. Tweed had the impression they'd been abandoned when a plague came. At the far end, on the crest of the hill, was a larger house facing down the road.

  "They've all got numbers, no names. So which one is Baron's Walk?' Tweed complained.

  `I saw a woman sneaking a look at us from behind a curtain,' Paula told him. 'The house on the left you're almost past. Let's ask her...'

  The front door of the house had a brightly polished handle, which Tweed had to rap on several times before it was opened. A scrawny woman with an unpleasant expression appeared.

  `Yes?' she said sharply, arms crossed.

  `We're looking for Baron's Walk, a Mrs Carlyle,' Tweed said.

  `Are you now?' the woman sneered. 'So why is the girl with you?'

  `Sorry, I don't understand.

  `Well, the elegant Mrs Mandy Carlyle normally receives only single male visitors. She never talks to any of us, but then we'd never talk to her.' She stared at Paula. 'Maybe she's taken to having a voyeur watch the show.' She was shutting the door when she looked out again, speaking venomously. 'That big house at the top of the road. You're disgusting.' With this final verbal shot she slammed her door shut.

  Tweed shrugged. 'Sorry about that,' he said as they got back into the car.

  `Don't be. She's probably the biggest voyeur in Kent herself.'

  Reaching the larger house they found the only way in was to drive up a wide area of concrete which led them inside a garage. Paula heard the automatic door closing behind them and grasped the butt of her Walther.

  A side door opened, lights came on. A tall woman in her late forties stood in the doorway. Her long hair was bottle blonde, her tight low-cut jumper revealed a good figure. Her face was attractive but showing signs of becoming gaunt.

  `Who the hell are you?' she greeted them.

  Tweed and Paula had climbed out of the car and showed her their identity folders. The woman's earlier challenging confidence changed.

  `Well..' She cleared her throat.

  `We are investigating the murder of Mrs Bella Main,' Tweed said grimly. 'I believe you've had some friendship with one of that family.'

  `I suppose we'd better go into the sitting room.' She led the way up a staircase with an expensive carpet, yellow with purple stripes. Expensive but tasteless. They went into a large living room at the front of the house. Heavy net curtains were half-closed. The main furniture was two long and wide sofas, piled with cushions, also purple.

  `Do sit down,' she suggested. 'I'm going to have a brandy, my favourite tipple. How about you two?'

  They both refused, sat down in armchairs close to each other while she poured a large amount of brandy into a glass. She was about to recline on one of the sofas when Tweed pointed to an armchair close to them.

  `This is an interrogation. Please be good enough to sit there. Thank you. Now, your relationship with Marshal Main. I have been told you became pregnant and conceived a child. Is this true?'

  `So Marshal has blown the bleedin' gaff. Much good it will do him '

  `So it is true? We are talking about a murder case.'

  `Yes, it is true. I'll tell you how it happened. Then I'll phone Lavinia, bring her over here, blow the whole story.'

  `You do a cruel thing like that and I'll see you're charged with blackmail. Judges hate that crime, sentence heavily. Marshal has been paying you twenty thousand pounds a month. That's getting on for a quarter of a million a year. Tax free. So it amounts to Heaven knows how much over the years.'

  Tweed knew he was walking a tightrope. He hoped to heaven Crystal had told the truth, had seen the monthly withdrawals in Marshal's secret chequebooks.

  Mrs Carlyle had, up to now, been sitting upright in her armchair. She suddenly sagged back, her face crumpled, she spilt brandy from the glass she had been sipping, hastily perched it on a table with a trembling hand Tweed felt relieved. He had summed her up as a hard case on first seeing her.

  `I'll tell you,' Mrs Carlyle said in a broken voice, 'if you'll promise to forget about blackmail charges.'

  `I promise nothing,' Tweed said remorselessly. 'Just tell your story. The whole truth.'

  `At that time, years ago, the doctor told Marshal's late wife she could no longer have the baby she desperately wanted. They didn't want to adopt. Mrs Main worried about what they might get. When he told her about his affair with me, that I was pregnant, she agreed to take it over secretly as her baby. I didn't want the damned thing. We had separate rooms at a crooked clinic. Doesn't exist any more. When the baby was born it was brought to Mrs Main. She loved it. Cost Marshal a fortune, but he's got loads. The birth certificate was faked somehow. Mrs Main arrived back at Hengistbury and everyone was happy. When Lavinia was four her mother was killed in a car crash. I felt relieved.'

  `I'd already sensed what a sympathetic person you are,' said Tweed. 'Why were you relieved?'

  `Obvious, I'd have thought. I worried that when Lavinia was older she might blow the gaff to her. And how did you find out about me?'

  `There's been a murder, in case you'd forgotten. The manor is being searched from top to bottom. I found a hidden drawer with Marshal's secret chequebooks and a diary with your address,' Tweed fibbed.

  `Are you telling Marshal?' she said nervously.

  `No, it would be pointless. But there is a condition.' `Which is?' she asked.

  `You sit down and write a letter to Marshal. You tell him he is to send you no more gifts — ever. You've met a man who is wealthy. You promise never to reveal what happened years ago. I shall know if you've sent that letter. I examine all mail before handing it to the addressee.'

  `I'll do that as soon as you've gone,' she said hastily.

  `And don't forget the penalty for blackmail,' Tweed said grimly as he stood up. 'One wrong move and I'll be harder than you are, if that's possible …'

  `Sneaky is peering from behind her curtain,' Paula remarked as they passed the house where they'd asked the woman the way to Baron's Walk.

  She was relieved to leave Dodd's End and soon they were driving well away from the hamlet with open country on both sides. She had her window open and revelled in the fresh air.

  `One thing puzzles me about poor Bella's murder,' she mused. 'How was anyone able to get behind her chair to drop that hideous murder weapon over her head and neck? It's close to a corner of a panelled wall.'

  `Been puzzling that myself.'

  `And,' she went on as they approached the manor, the dark sinister canopy of black fir branches pressing down on them, 'you keep asking suspects where they were on the fatal night between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. But we know Bella called down to Marshal at 8 p.m. to come and see her at 10 p.m. That is, if she did.'

  `She did. I went up on my own to her study and played with that communications box. It's very sophisticated. You can play back what she said and his reply. More than that, it records the exact time. She made the call at 8 p.m. I add on one hour, saying 7 p.m. to find out where people were earlier in the evening.'

  `Don't miss a trick, do you?'

  `I'm sure that so far I've missed several tricks. Here we are, and the gates are opening.'

  Some time earlier, as Tweed and Paula were approaching Dodd's End, Calouste and Jacques were driving west. Ahead they could see the Dorset heights. Jacques was looking forward to a view of the sea. The mobile buzzed. Calouste grabbed it.

  `Yes?'

  `Orion here. The line is clearer now.'

  `Get on with why you called me.'

  `Tweed and Paula in the Mercedes were going to Seacove.'

  `Are you sure?You mean today? Now?'

  `If you will just let me finish. They were going with Marshal Main—'


  `Marshal was in the Mercedes with them?'

  `I'll have to hang up in a moment, so shut up! Marshal was in his Rolls. Tweed appeared to change his mind. So he is going to London. I'm sure he'll be back at Hengistbury this evening. Maybe earlier.'

  The line had gone dead. Calouste hated the way his informer suddenly ended a call. It had been the same distorted voice. Man or woman? Calouste had no bloody idea.

  Coming to a roundabout Calouste drove round it and went back the way they had come. Jacques looked at him, kept his mouth shut. He was still shaken by the extraordinary behaviour of Calouste dancing like a devil in the field of rape.

  `Tweed will be back at Hengistbury tonight,' Calouste said viciously. 'You have your rifle in the boot?'

  `Yes, I have.'

  `He won't expect another attempt on his life so soon. You will shoot him dead. I have a lodge close to that manor. That will be our base. You are the best marksman in all Europe.'

  `Not quite,' Jacques admitted, 'the star turn is a member of Tweed's team. Man called Mader.'

  19

  Tweed had driven through the open gates when a motorcycle followed them in. It flashed at speed past the Mercedes, throwing up pebbles. Paula learned forward.

  `Young idiot. Just a sec — that's Leo'

  `Complete with brand-new windcheater and woolly cap.'

  `Could he have been following us? I heard a motorbike as we first saw Dodd's End. And I'm sure I heard the same sound twice on our way back.'

  `World is full of the things,' Tweed replied.

  Leo slowed near the terrace, turned to wave at them, then disappeared on his machine round the back of the manor. The first person they met on entering the hall was Lavinia, dressed in a smart tunic and jodhpurs tucked inside gleaming riding boots.

  `You opened the gates for us,' Paula said. 'Thank you.

  `My pleasure. Had lunch? I thought not. I told Mrs Grandy to keep a hot meal. I guessed you might be back soon. That Merc moves — especially on motorways.'

  `Luckily,' said Tweed, 'the chap we went to meet lives on the verge of London, so we escaped the traffic.'

  `Something I forgot to tell you and should have let you know earlier. I'm talking about Bella's study. There's a secret entrance. After lunch I'll show you.'

  `The meal will be delayed half an hour,' the grating voice of Mrs Grandy, who had appeared suddenly, called out. 'If you think heated food can hang about you know as little about kitchens as I think you do.'

  `We could go up to the study now,' Lavinia suggested in a quiet voice. She raised her voice as Snape appeared. 'You might take their clothes and hang them up, please.'

  She led the way up the staircase and along a narrow corridor with panelled walls, passing the entrance to the library. The rest of the corridor appeared to lead nowhere. It was blocked off by solid panelling. The name of the bank was in raised metal letters: the Main Chance Bank.

  "The letters are a code. Care to try your luck?' she asked Paula.

  `She had a course in code-breaking,' Tweed said, `when she worked at Medfords Security before coming to me.

  `It will be simple,' said Paula.

  She pressed the 'M' of Main, then the 'a' of the same word. She paused, then pressed the 'n' and the `e' of

  Chance. Nothing happened.

  `Good try,' Lavinia said, 'now watch me.'

  Lavinia pressed the `M' of Main. She switched to the second word, pressed the 'a' and then the 'n' and the last `e'. She had spelt out 'MANE' but in a different sequence. The solid panel slid aside and they were looking into the end of the study and the space behind Bella's tall chair.

  `You did have the right codeword, MANE,' Lavinia said with a smile at Paula.

  `So that's how it was done,' Tweed said under his breath as he walked in and stood behind the chair. Paula and Lavinia followed him then walked further into the study.

  `Place gives me the creeps after what happened,' Lavinia remarked.

  `Me too,' Paula agreed.

  Tweed stood stock-still, trying to reconstruct the murder in the place where it had happened. He heard the panel door closing, turned to look at it. The same lettering was attached as on the far side.

  `Same code opens it from this side,' Lavinia called out. 'When Bella summoned someone for a discreet discussion whoever she was calling knew they should use that door.'

  Tweed moved from behind the chair, walked to the other end of the study, sat down in a chair close to Lavinia.

  `Who else knows the code to open the secret door?'

  `There's Marshal.' She counted them off on her slim fingers. 'Then Warner, of course. Plus Crystal — and I'm sure Leo knows it. Once, in a hurry, I didn't check the other end of the corridor before I tapped out the code. I glanced back afterwards and Leo was peeking round the corner. He does have exceptional eyesight. And Snape, of course.'

  `Quite a roll call of suspects.'

  `Do you mind if we go into the library?' Lavinia suggested, standing up. 'Don't like this room any more...'

  The three of them settled in armchairs arranged so they faced each other. Lavinia sat opposite Tweed, studying him — her large blue pool-like eyes he found disconcerting.

  `You always wanted to work here as an accountant?' he asked her.

  `No, I didn't.' She laughed, a pleasant appealing sound. 'Once I'd passed my exams and knew I could stay here if I wanted to I decided I'd explore the real world. Now don't laugh,' she said with a ravishing smile, 'I became an actress, playing in small theatres on the northern circuit. The accommodation was frightful, pokey little rooms, and the food was awful.'

  `What parts did you play?'

  `Shakespeare. I was in King Lear and played all three of his daughters in succession. I really did,' she said with a chuckle.

  `Which was your favourite? Goneril or Regan, one of the two evil daughters?'

  `Absolutely not, although I coped with the parts. No, my favourite was Cordelia, the sister they so cruelly exploited. Then, I can't imagine why, the company toured Europe. In Denmark the audience hissed me when I played Goneril or Regan, but they applauded Cordelia.'

  `Then you came here?' suggested Tweed.

  `Not yet. I joined Medfords Security.' She looked at Paula. 'You went there, didn't you. I was taught how to open complex locks, how to shadow suspects without being seen, changing clothes at intervals, the way I walked.'

  `I did that too,' Paula chimed in. 'I found that the most difficult part of the course.

  `Me too,' Lavinia agreed. 'I don't think I was very good at it.'

  `So play-acting didn't suit you?' Tweed asked Lavinia.

  `The travel abroad was interesting. So many different countries. But I didn't like some of my fellow actors. Let's just say they were peculiar.' She leaned close to Tweed. 'And it was after my time at Medfords I came back here. It is so peaceful after the hell of London traffic and the pedestrians jabbering away on their mobiles and walking into you.' She put a hand on Tweed's knee. 'So now you have the biography of Lavinia.'

  `Thank you,' he said with a smile. find it fascinating.'

  `Fascinating? Me or the biography?' she asked with an endearing smile as she removed her hand from his knee.

  `Both, of course,' he replied gallantly.

  Lavinia checked her watch, stood up, her figure erect.

  `If we go down now for lunch we should just beat Mrs Grandy using her hooter.'

  `Hooter?' queried Paula as they left the library and reached the top of the great flight of the main stairs.

  `That's what I call her way of bellowing when a meal is ready.'

  As they entered the main library Mrs Grandy appeared with a grim expression. Marshal came bustling in after them, followed by Marler and Newman. Mrs Grandy stood in the doorway, arms crossed.

  `Nice when some people are on time. Just. As for the male lot, they're late. And I don't appreciate being told late to prepare for two extras.

  She aimed her stubby index finger at both Marler and Newman. Marshal turned o
n her.

  `Instead of bellowing like a baboon, which I'm reminded of, looking at you, do the job you're paid too much for and serve the meal which, I do hope, is edible.'

  Marler sat at the laid table between Paula and Lavinia. As Lavinia began talking to Marler, Newman leaned over and whispered to Paula.

  `We've discovered something. Later...'

  20

  `I'm going for a walk on the front lawn while the sun shines,' Tweed announced, glancing over his shoulder at the end of the meal. He had announced his intention at the beginning of the meal and was repeating the same words. The lunch had lasted a long time with nearly everyone chattering and joking, a hysterical reaction to Bella's recent death. Tweed had noticed Marler was getting on well with Lavinia, with brief laughter from that direction.

  The only exception was Paula, who had been studying Warner. His rock-like head had concentrated on eating and he hadn't said a word. He reminded her of something, then she knew what it was.

  During a summer holiday while at Medfords she had flown to America. From New York she had continued on to Rapid City in South Dakota. She'd had a spectacular view of the monument, the famous view of the distant giant cliffs where the heads of four Presidents had been carved out of the rock on a massive scale. George Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and the other one she couldn't remember. It was these grim rock faces which Warner reminded her of. He had something on his mind — or was waiting for something.

  `Excuse me, everyone,' Tweed said standing up, 'I'm going for my walk.'

  He had entered the hall when he was aware of someone behind him. Marler, with his golf bag unzipped.

  `Coming with you,' Marler drawled. 'No argument.'

  They descended the steps with Tweed a few paces ahead of his escort. The sun was blazing again; now it was behind the mansion, shining directly on The Forest beyond the closed gates. Tweed was revelling in being outside, feeling the lawn under his feet. He paused to take in the peace of it all.

  Behind the brambles on the other side of the road Jacques aimed the scope of his rifle. He had waited hours hoping his target would appear. Now he had Tweed in his cross-hairs. The one thing which bothered him was the sun glaring straight at him. Tweed was standing motionless, hands in the pockets of his country- style jacket. Jacques took a deep breath, prior to squeezing the trigger.