‘The brakes could have failed,’ Arnold said. ‘But didn’t it strike you as too much of a coincidence that a gang of soccer hooligans should set on me when I was minding my own business at the other end of the station from them?’
‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ Richard said soothingly – too soothingly. He was humouring Arnold.
‘And somebody deliberately tried to push me under that bus,’ Arnold wound up his case. ‘I felt that shove. No way could it have been an accident. Somebody’s out to get me!’
‘Why?’ Richard asked simply. It was an excellent question. One we had not been able to answer.
‘Not only that –’ I leaped in, avoiding the question. ‘We’d like to know more about John Blake’s death. In view of what’s been happening to Arnold, it strikes us as highly suspicious!’
‘That’s insane!’ Richard shook his head dazedly. ‘I mean –’ He remembered his manners – and that he was our guest for the night and perhaps several nights to come. ‘I mean, there was never any question about that. It was an accident. The Coroner’s Inquest said so.’
‘It’s true!’ All I had needed to convince me of that truth was a bit of opposition. ‘Arnold is in desperate danger of his life. They killed John Blake – now they’re trying to kill Arnold, too! You’ve got to help us. You know Blake’s background. There must be something in it somewhere that will explain all this.’
‘Er, yes, certainly.’ Richard looked profoundly uncomfortable. ‘I’ll, er, do all I can ... er, to help.’ Now he was humouring both of us.
‘I know it sounds incredible –’ Arnold had caught Richard’s longing look towards his own half of the house; he was quite obviously having second thoughts about spending the night with a pair of lunatics. ‘We’ve sprung it on you too quickly. We should have led up to it gradually –’
‘No, no,’ Richard murmured, edging away. ‘Quite all right. Er, as you say, it’s a bit sudden. I dare say I’ll get used to the idea.’
‘Just think about it,’ I urged. ‘I didn’t believe it at first, either.’
‘But it doesn’t make sense,’ Richard protested mildly, still cautious about upsetting us. ‘There’s no reason in the world why anyone should have wanted to kill ... John Blake.’ I noticed he wasn’t so certain about Arnold.
‘How well did you know Blake – really know him?’ I was growing desperate. Here we had somebody who might have the key to the mystery hidden away in some recess of his brain, in his knowledge of background and events before we had appeared on the scene – and he was balking. He wasn’t taking it seriously.
‘Please, please,’ I begged. ‘Think! There must be something, somewhere. Maybe just some tiny thing that didn’t ring true at the time ... something you noticed but forgot again ... something you don’t even know you know ...
‘Please –’ I was close to tears. I felt like the beleaguered heroine in some old film, pleading for her lover’s life while the mood music swelled in the background. ‘You must believe us. Arnold’s life is at stake!’
There was deep silence from Richard, while the orchestra soared in a crescendo ...
Wait a minute – there was an orchestra playing in the background!
‘God damn it!’ I exploded. ‘Those brats have sneaked down to the study and are watching television again!’
Richard flinched. For a moment, I’d almost had him convinced. Now he was back to thinking we were crazy again.
‘Shhh!’ I held up my hand. ‘We’ll catch them in the act –’ I tiptoed over to the study door and eased it open silently.
It was a black and white movie, with all the moody shades of grey that established foreboding and dread. The music throbbed softly.
In the middle of the screen, a man lifted bandaged hands to his bandaged head and slowly began unwinding the bandages – upon emptiness.
‘See –’ Donald nudged his sister. ‘I told you. She had a date with the Invisible Man!’
‘Okay, you kids –’ I snapped on the light abruptly, but my anger had disappeared, driven out by a new thought. ‘Suppose you explain.’
‘We only wanted to watch for a few minutes – just this part.’ Donald was frightened by my expression.
‘Just this one movie –’ Donna began to sniffle. ‘We won’t do it again.’
‘Never mind that –’ I snapped the television off. ‘I want to know what you meant about the Invisible Man – it’s not the first time you’ve made that crack. Was that what you saw in Boulogne?’ I waved towards the darkened screen. ‘Hazel, meeting a man in bandages?’
‘Well ...’ Donald said carefully, not understanding what this was about, but grateful that I had been deflected from the major issue of their deliberate disobedience. ‘Well, his hands weren’t bandaged.’
‘But his head was?’
‘His face,’ Donna corrected. ‘It wasn’t an all-around bandage, like that. I guess they’d never have let him out of the hospital these days, if it was. But there were bandages all over his face – and he had dark glasses over his eyes.’
‘Okay!’ I threw discipline to the winds. ‘You can go back to watching the movie. It’s a good one. Very illuminating.’ I withdrew back into the living-room and closed the door behind me.
‘What is it, Babe?’ Arnold studied my face anxiously. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘I was just thinking,’ I said slowly. ‘Maybe we’ve been approaching this from the wrong angle. Maybe we shouldn’t have been worrying about John Blake’s past at all. Maybe he was just an innocent bystander ... like Arnold.’
‘What do you mean?’ Richard was caught by my tone.
‘Think about it –’ My mind was travelling like lightning in a dozen different directions – all converging on the same point. ‘John Blake died after he’d spent a couple of hours with Hazel. Then, the first attack on Arnold occurred after he’d been alone with Hazel for a couple of hours. The next attack was after he’d been snuggling up to her in public, right under her porch light –’
‘I wasn’t snuggling up,’ Arnold protested. ‘It was just a friendly hug –’
‘And the third attack was after that day trip to Boulogne, when Arnold boarded the bus with Hazel, looking very chummy.’
‘You told me not to wait while you parked –’
‘And now we find out that Hazel met a strange man in Boulogne – after she’d told us she was going to a dressmaker for fittings. A man in bandages.
‘I don’t know how it seems to you –’ I looked from Arnold to Richard – ‘but it strikes me that any man who spends much time around Hazel has a pretty rough time. She ought to carry a Government warning: she’s more hazardous to health than high-tar cigarettes!’
Twenty One
‘Hello -?’ The voice at the other end of the phone was wary. It was late at night and any woman had a right to feel uneasy about a sudden unexpected call. I wondered if Hazel had special reason to fear. A wildly jealous husband, perhaps?
‘Hazel,’ I said quickly, ‘it’s Nancy Harper. I’m sorry to be ringing so late, but I wanted to catch you before you made too many plans for the children –’
‘Plans?’ She sounded surprised. ‘For the twins?’
‘No, not my children,’ I said. ‘Yours. The school holidays have started. You’ll have them home again. I wanted to –’
‘Oh, no,’ she said. ‘No, I won’t! They – they’ve gone to their grandparents ... in Wales. It seemed better – I mean, they love it there and I’m still getting the house in order here. Their rooms aren’t finished. There’ll be less upheaval for them –’
That was what I had thought. I listened for a moment as she tied herself into verbal knots trying to justify how much nicer and more convenient it would be for the children to spend their holidays in Wales and go back to school directly from there. She’d get down to see them, of course ...
‘Listen, Hazel –’ I interrupted her. ‘I think it’s time we had a little talk.’
‘A talk? But we ar
e talking –’ There was the sharp peal of a bell in the distance and a trace of genuine fear crept into her voice. ‘Will you hold the line a minute, please? There’s someone at the door –’
‘Don’t be frightened, Hazel,’ I said. ‘It’s only Richard. Richard Sandgate. He volunteered to collect you and bring you over here.’
‘At this hour?’
Please come, Hazel. It really is a matter of life and death.’
‘Is everything all right?’ Lania was at the door as I hung up the phone. ‘I saw Richard drive off. Has he -? Is he ... coming back?’
‘You’d better come in.’ I swung the door wide resignedly. ‘He’ll be back — and it’s high time we all found out what’s been going on.’
‘Going on?’ Lania followed me into the living-room. I saw her swift relieved glance at Richard’s suitcase.
“This is nonsense, of course.’ She took possession of the suitcase and began repacking it. ‘Piers has left now and Richard is coming home with me. I’m sorry you’ve been troubled.’
‘I think we’d better fold the sofa back into shape before they get here,’ Arnold said. ‘Can you help me, honey?’
‘Before who get here?’ Lania snapped the suitcase shut.
‘Richard’s picking up Hazel.’ I helped Arnold get the sofa in order. ‘We decided it’s time for a showdown.’
‘Hazel?’ Lania was still caught up in her own problems. ‘What has she to do with all this?’
‘Everything,’ I said grimly.
We’d briefed Lania by the time Richard and Hazel arrived. She had been initially uncertain, but more than willing to admit that something strange might have been going on.
‘John was always such a careful driver,’ she remembered. ‘I must admit, I did think it ironic that such a thing should have happened to him – of all people. In fact, I sometimes wondered –’
The doorbell rang and I left – her in full flow of hindsight while I went to admit Hazel and Richard. They preceded me into the living-room. Richard seemed displeased, but not surprised, to find Lania there; Hazel just seemed numbed. I knew then that I was right.
‘Sit down –’ I gestured her to a seat. She perched unhappily on the edge of a chair, looked around fearfully, and seemed relieved to find no strangers in the room.
‘You could use a drink,’ Arnold diagnosed, bringing her a large measure of the duty-free brandy we had picked up in Boulogne.
‘Thank you.’ She took it humbly and sat waiting for the blow to fall.
‘I guess ...’ She smiled faintly. ‘I guess perhaps I have.’ Guilt shadowed her eyes. ‘How did you find out?’
‘It got to be obvious that something was wrong –’ I looked at her steadily – ‘when somebody kept trying to murder Arnold.’
‘Murder Arnold?’ She paled. ‘You can’t mean it!’
‘First, John Blake.’ I underlined. ‘Then, Arnold. And the only thing they had in common was that they’d both been putting in overtime being nice to you.’
‘No!’ I thought she was going to faint. ‘No – that can’t be true!’
‘Can’t it?’
‘Then –’ She looked around wildly. ‘Then – they’ve found me!’
‘Who’s found you?’ Richard was shaken by the intensity of her emotion.
‘Her husband and his friends,’ I said. ‘Remember that hostile character at the cocktail party?’ I turned back to Hazel. ‘Since you’ve got a husband jealous to the point of homicidal mania, didn’t it ever occur to you that the least you could do was discourage the attentions of other men?’
‘Oh, God!’ she choked. ‘If it were only that!’ And burst into tears.
I stepped back, my bolt shot, and looked at her blankly. Arnold rushed forward and topped up her glass, although she’d scarcely taken a sip from it. Richard groped for a handkerchief and thrust it into her hand.
‘Look, Hazel —’ She didn’t look; she just kept sobbing into the handkerchief. I began to feel as though I were bullying a kitten, but I had to go on – for Arnold’s sake. ‘Hazel –’
‘Actually –’ she raised her head – ‘it’s Mavis. My name is Mavis. It took me a long time to get used to Hazel, but now I can forget it again, can’t I?’
‘Mavis? ... Hazel?’ She’d lost me – or almost lost me. I looked at Richard. ‘Then she isn’t deaf, after all.’ When she was off guard, she simply failed to respond to a name that was not really her own.
‘I suppose there are children? Somewhere ...?’
‘Somewhere safe!’ She glared at me defiantly. ‘They changed schools – and I’ll never tell you where they are. They’ve got to be kept out of this!’
‘I wasn’t planning to drag them in,’ I assured her. ‘I was just curious.’
‘I’ve had enough of curiosity.’ Her voice was flat. She dabbed at her eyes, but she had stopped crying. ‘You don’t know what it’s like. Everyone staring ... whispering ... all the speculation. People thought I must have been involved, too. They wouldn’t believe that I knew nothing about it. And then ... the threats began ...’
‘So you got the children away to safety.’ Bits of it were beginning to come clear.
‘The police did.’ Another piece clicked into place. ‘They were ... very good. Of course,’ she smiled wanly, ‘they’ve got it down to a fine art now. Terry wasn’t the first ... he won’t be the last.’
‘Terry, I take it, is your husband? And he’s not a wildly jealous homicidal maniac?’
‘Nothing of the sort! He’s sweet and gentle – he’d never hurt anyone.’
‘I take it he’s not a Sales Director, either? He’s not behind the Iron Curtain on an Export Drive? He’s just behind the Iron Curtain.’
‘He’s not!’ She was furious at the insinuation. ‘He’s only in prison. In this country. He was never a spy – he was only a ... a Supergrass.’
‘So that’s it!’ Richard whistled softly. ‘Which trial was it? One of the IRA ones, or —’ He broke off. ‘Forgive me. I don’t mean to pry.’
‘Well, I do!’ I wasn’t going to be stopped by Richard’s jolly old English reticence – which wasn’t so evident when he decided he wanted a fight with his wife. ‘I think we have a right to know. Damn it – somebody keeps trying to murder Arnold!’
‘I’m afraid so,’ she said. ‘I’m terribly sorry about that.’
‘You’re sorry!’ Arnold’s sang-froid slipped.
‘It was a ... criminal case.’ She found it easier to answer Richard. ‘Terry got involved without realizing it at first. He was so pleased to get a job as Chief Accountant. But it was a dummy company, set up to ... launder money from rackets and robberies. Even when he found out, it didn’t seem too bad to go on working for them. He never knew the worst of the things they were doing – not until ... the police arrested him.
‘He wasn’t wicked – even the police admitted that.’ It was terribly important to her that we believe her. ‘He was just weak. When the Fraud Squad swooped – they’d been investigating, gathering evidence, for a long time – he was horrified. He agreed to help them. He’s a good, kind man, really – he just wanted to be able to buy nice things for me and the children – he’d never have hurt a fly.’
‘So how come John Blake died?’ I was sorry for her, but even sorrier for the innocent bystanders who had somehow got in the way of that great guy of hers.
‘That wasn’t Terry’s fault! Not the way you mean it. After ... after Terry testified, he knew the Directors would never forgive him. He helped the police trace a lot of the money, too. He ... made it a condition that the police got his family away to safety. And they did. Rather, we thought they did –’
‘His bosses put out a contract on Terry.’ Richard supplied the only logical answer. ‘Or am I wrong?’
‘No ...’ She shook her head sadly. ‘You’re not wrong.’
‘You seem to know a lot about it,’ Arnold said to Richard, rather tactlessly.
‘There have been so many cases reported over
the past few years.’ Richard shrugged. ‘Inevitably, one has learned about such things.’
‘Not nearly as much as I’ve learned.’ Hazel was grim. ‘The big men want revenge at any price. Even though they’re behind bars, they manage to get word out. A contract on the Supergrass, open to anyone – and there are no end of takers. The money is good. The cheapest contract is five thousand pounds – it can go up to fifty thousand.’
Richard and Arnold both whistled. ‘How much -?’ Arnold began, but even he realized that was too tactless.
‘How much for Terry? It would be towards the upper end of the bracket. They hated him so much. The police expected the contract, they got me and the children away before the trial began. They gave me a new identity, sent the children to boarding school at the other end of the country, found this place for us to buy a house –’ Her voice broke. ‘I’ve liked it here, I really have. I thought we could settle down and be happy here after Terry finished his sentence and joined me. We could have brought the children home then ... once it seemed safe ...’
‘But it wasn't as safe as you thought,’ I said. ‘Someone had taken up the contract, found you and staked you out – waiting for your husband to turn up. Is that why John Blake was killed? Because he was mistaken for your husband?’
‘I’m afraid so,’ she said. ‘Not that I realized it until now. I’d thought it was a genuine accident, although I still felt guilty because it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t been over that evening helping me.’
‘Wait a minute –’ Arnold said. ‘I thought your husband was still in prison. Why were they watching you? Why didn’t one of the other prisoners kill him quietly and collect the money when he got out?’
‘Oh, well ...’ She looked embarrassed. ‘You see, Terry had been in protective custody for so long before the trial that it counted towards his sentence. Then there were all the usual remissions –’
‘Quite often –’ Richard said coldly; the enormity of John’s death was just coming home to him – ‘too often, these people are allowed out to visit their families. The law can be very grateful to a useful supergrass.’
Paws for Alarm Page 15
