The Green Flash

by Winston Graham

  Chalmers pondered a moment more, rubbing his cheek. ‘All right, sir. I get your point. We’ll obtain a search warrant right away. Where can we find you?’

  He had the firm’s address on the card, so I gave him my own address in Knightsbridge.

  ‘And the name of your two employees who collected the evidence?’

  ‘I don’t want to give you that if you can get along without it. They were two young men who just looked on it as their duty.’

  We stared at each other. I hadn’t been so close to a cop for more than ten years, and it still didn’t feel right. It’s not a smell, it’s an aura. Your skin prickles. I wondered if he had any reactions to me. If he had he didn’t show them. ‘You’ve laid the information yourself, sir. We can leave it at that for the time being.’

  ‘I’d like my name kept out of it too.’

  ‘Any particular reason?’

  ‘I think I know some of the men concerned. They’re members of a club I belong to in central London.’

  He raised his eyebrows. ‘Like that, eh? Well, I’ll use my discretion. At this stage it’s hard to promise anything for certain. It greatly depends on what we find, doesn’t it?’

  ‘And what you find depends on how quickly you go to find it.’

  ‘Could you give me the names of these friends of yours?’

  ‘They’re not friends of mine, but I know them.’

  I gave him the names. Fortunately it was my left arm and shoulder that were hurting and stiffening, and I hadn’t had to use either during the interview.

  II

  Shona was back. She looked slim and dark and handsome, and I could have wrung her neck. She wanted to talk to me about an expansion she was planning for the Italian market, but I cut her short by telling her what had been going on.

  ‘But, David, that is wonderful! You have succeeded beyond my best hopes! But you took a risk. You have a bruise on your cheek! What will happen next?’

  ‘The police should be in the place by now.’

  She waited. ‘And then?’

  ‘Then, unless the BF people are witch doctors, they won’t have been able to hide everything.’

  ‘When shall we know?’

  ‘I’ve got Chalmers’ private number to ring him about five.’

  ‘This is wonderful, David! Are you not pleased?’

  ‘I’m glad it’s over.’

  ‘You have not injured yourself in some way?’

  ‘Nothing that won’t heal in time.’

  She came up to me. Her skin was still so clear and fine. ‘I have something in my medicine chest: a little unguent. Not one of our products but excellent to reduce bruising.’

  ‘Leave me alone,’ I said.

  She looked hard at me. ‘ Have I done something wrong?’

  ‘Good God,’ I said ironically. ‘What could you do wrong?’

  ‘In this, nothing, I think. Do you wish to go home to rest?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Does Erica know you have been on this mission? Is all well between you?’

  ‘Blissful,’ I said. ‘Thanks for the recommend.’

  ‘What recommend? … Oh.’ She stared at me again, then went over to her desk. ‘You have to be patient with her, David. This month – once this month is over – it will all be better again. You do realize how obsessed she was with the idea of going to Moscow?’

  ‘That came through to me in time.’

  She sighed. ‘ I am sorry you are not in a good mood after so splendid a success. I have to thank you for all the trouble you have taken.’

  ‘Van Morris needs a rise,’ I said. ‘A substantial rise. Be sure he gets it.’

  I didn’t go home but drove to the big garage near the South Kensington tube and saw the manager. I said I was willing to trade in the Jaguar for the Ferrari if the transaction could be put through in three days. He didn’t hesitate to say yes.

  When I finally returned to the nest my little lovebird was not there so I cooked myself bacon and eggs and made a fair job of one-handed eating. I was chewing the last piece of toast when she came in. The ponytail again today, with a green décolleté blouse and green Pucci pants.

  ‘Where the hell have you been?’ she said. ‘ You’ve been out all night!’

  ‘I didn’t think you’d notice.’

  She put her Fortnum bag on the dresser. ‘ Not from anything you do while you’re here, I agree. But since we cohabit …’

  ‘AWOL,’ I said. ‘I know. I’m just finishing breakfast.’

  ‘It’s after midday! Didn’t she feed you? Or was it a he again?’

  ‘A he,’ I said. ‘ We finished up rolling on the floor and I damned near strangled him. But you won’t want to hear about my orgies.’

  After a minute or so she said: ‘You’ve got a hell of a swelling on your face. Did you walk into a wall?’

  ‘That sort of thing.’

  She took down the foil from where the pair were hanging and flexed it a few times.

  ‘Well, we didn’t get anything.’

  ‘What d’you mean?’

  ‘In Moscow. Eliminated even before the semifinals!’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘Yes.’ She dropped the paper on the table folded at the appropriate page. ‘Perverse and peevish satisfaction.’ A few edgy feints and jabs in my general direction but I took no notice. ‘ Question is whether I would have done any better.’

  ‘You do yourself an injustice.’

  ‘Irony kills me, boy. Careful how you use it: this point is sharp.’

  I got up slowly and began to put the dirty things in the sink. ‘I’m going to turn in for a bit. I’ve a few telephone calls to make at five, so I’ll be on my way.’

  ‘Out again tonight?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘I suppose you’re telling me the truth and it all ended in a terrible quarrel. Poofters fight like cats; I’ve seen ’em.’

  At the door I said: ‘Oh, I’ve bought that car.’

  ‘What, the Ferrari? Going to buy a loud blazer and a cap to match?’

  ‘When it comes I’m going to take off for a bit – rid you of my presence. It’ll be a few days yet, this is just prior notice.’

  She went on with her feints and ripostes.

  ‘Don’t hurry back,’ she said.

  III

  Inspector Chalmers was careful not to sound too pleased, but satisfaction kept breaking through. Shona, de Luxembourg, Chanel, three others. Packages, boxes, empty bottles. In the basement were large vats with hundreds of gallons of fake perfume.

  This was good, but though Chalmers was willing and anxious to sort out the perfumery forgeries, he was more interested in the other stuff. My guesses had been spot on. God knows what had come out of the Far East destined to be sold as genuine, but word processors, brake linings and helicopter parts were among them. He explained patiently that legally he was on much firmer ground with these when it all came up in court. Warrants for the arrest of the six directors of BF Ltd had been issued, and in the morning early they were going to visit Best Friend Dog Foods in Hackney. I wished him luck and told him not to overlook the house next door.

  On the Monday the car came. It wasn’t so quiet or so good-mannered as the Jaguar, nor so well finished as the Aston Martin, but the engine and the handling were matchless, and the throaty exhaust noise stiffened the back hairs on your neck every time you started up. Erica wouldn’t go in it. Not that I pressed her hard. Monday evening Shona rang to see if I was ill, as I’d not been near the firm since Friday. I said I was well enough.

  She said: ‘Take a couple of weeks if you are out of sorts. You did not look well pleased on Friday morning – that seemed strange after your remarkable success … for which not only this firm but many others will thank you. Is there something else wrong?’

  ‘Life’s funny,’ I said, ‘but sometimes the jokes get a bit dirty.’

  ‘You will have to be a little more explicit than that, David.’

  ‘Perhaps I will, before I leav
e.’

  ‘Leave? Is Erica going with you?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘I shall be home every evening.’

  On Wednesday about five as I was turning in towards the flats I met Derek coming away.

  ‘Oh,’ he said, smiling his bookmaker smile. ‘I just called. The little wife seemed to be out, and you still at the sweat shop. I was about to give it all up and slink away.’

  ‘No need. Come in.’

  ‘That yours, that monster by the kerb?’

  ‘Yes. New this week.’

  ‘Wow-ee. What d’you feed it on?’

  ‘Four star. Care for a spin?’

  ‘Well, not actually. I came really to pick your brains on one or two little happenings …’

  ‘Jump in,’ I said.

  We took the M40 and went as far as High Wycombe.

  ‘It’s lovely, darling,’ he said, ‘ but I’d enjoy it more if my stomach could catch up.’

  On the way home we did seventy, the engine coughing now and then in protest; I’d seen a police car three or four cars back in the rear mirror.

  ‘He’s gone,’ said Derek, blowing out a breath as we turned into Hyde Park. ‘I felt sure he was going to waylay us.

  ‘Talking of the fuzz,’ he went on as we got in the lift to go up. ‘Have you been seeing anything of them lately?’

  I unlocked the door. ‘Who? The fuzz? Why should I have?’

  ‘Because they’ve been to see me.’

  My arm was still not right. Better to wait a couple of days more before leaving. Shifting gears seemed to make the muscle stiffen.

  ‘What have you been up to?’

  ‘I?’ he said. ‘ Nothing, darling. Cross my heart and spit. But you know Vince, don’t you?’

  ‘Vince who?’

  ‘Bickmaster. You met him quite recently at the Cellini.’

  ‘Oh, him, yes,’ I agreed quickly. ‘What about him?’

  ‘He’s been arrested and charged.’

  ‘Whatever with?’

  ‘They came to see me because we’ve done a few teensy jobs together and they found my name in his flat. Thank God I’m not in this, whatever it is. But them coming like that! Two great flatfeet! I mean! It put me in rather a whirl!’

  Derek wasn’t looking his best. But I was glad he was in the clear – if he was. He pretended to be too Simon-pure these days. (Never passed a bad cheque indeed! It could only have been for lack of opportunity.) But well and good, if he wasn’t involved. For personal reasons – though not for the sort of personal reasons Erica pretended to think existed – I should have been sorry to shop him.

  ‘That machine,’ he said. ‘Infernal, isn’t it? Positively. But it fair turns you on. What speed were we doing on the way out?’

  I began to tidy up some magazines that Erica had left sprawling.

  ‘What’s Bickmaster been up to anyway?’

  ‘Dunno, mate. He’s charged with some quite horrendous crime – conspiracy to defraud, I think they call it. Remember Gervase Ltd in your golden youth?’

  ‘That lot that turned out the porn magazines?’

  ‘Yes. They were raided too.’

  I picked my way carefully over the rocks. ‘Who else was raided?’

  ‘Oh, some factory in Essex. So the fuzz said, but you never know whether to believe ’em. Have you been to see the Gervase set-up lately?’

  ‘Not since the year I got out of the nick. Why?’

  ‘I was wondering …’

  ‘What are they doing now? Shouldn’t think the girlie magazine trade was quite so brisk.’

  ‘Oh, you’d be surprised. Videos are the in things, of course. They’ve changed their name, by the way.’

  ‘Who have?’

  ‘Gervase. You won’t find them in the book any longer. Forget what the new name is.’

  I yawned. ‘I’ve been out of it all for the last few years. Don’t say you haven’t noticed?’

  ‘Yes, I suppose … I put you on the transfer list soon after you joined La Shona.’

  ‘Have a drink,’ I said.

  ‘Thanks.’

  We chatted about Erica and the Olympics. I could see he wanted to get back to the object of his visit, but I kept heading him off.

  In the end he said: ‘There’re other jolly comrades struggling in the mire, David. There was a piece in the Telegraph. Didn’t you see it, dear?’

  ‘No. When was that?’

  ‘Monday. D’you remember asking me about Maurice Laval?’

  ‘Who? Oh, the de Luxembourg chap. Ex. What about him?’

  ‘You asked me about him more than once. You can’t have forgotten.’

  ‘Did I? Oh, yes.’ It wouldn’t do to be too innocent. ‘Has he got another job?’

  ‘No, he’s been copped too. All the shareholders of Best Friend.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Didn’t I tell you? That’s the new name. It just escaped me –’

  I helped him to a second drink.

  ‘I wondered,’ he said. ‘It seemed to me …’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Well, you remember you asked me all those questions when we met at the Cellini?’

  ‘About? … Oh yes.’

  ‘Well, you said you’d take my advice and leave it all alone. You remember I said it wouldn’t be popular with some of the characters if you pressed on regardless.’

  I stared. ‘I remember. But I gave it up. That’s what you told me to do, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Yes. Oh yes. Glad to know it. Very glad indeed to know it. So … this is nothing at all to do with you?’

  ‘I don’t know what this is. If it’s to do with forgery, the answer’s no.’ Might as well be hung for a big sheep as a small.

  He rubbed his knees, a sure sign he was uncomfortable. ‘I thought maybe if the fuzz had been to see you and grilled you as they grilled me, some incautious words might have slipped out.’

  ‘You can’t let slip what you haven’t got,’ I said. ‘I know no more than you. If your pals have become involved in nefarious doings and are in trouble it’s their worry, not mine.’

  He looked at me curiously, and I wondered if I’d washed my hands too obviously. If I knew nothing about it, wouldn’t I be more keen to hear the details?

  However, at that moment Erica arrived with two young men called Houseman and Crary. As Steve and Tony they ran an interior-decorating establishment in Beauchamp Place, and were of course of Derek’s persuasion. But while I liked Derek, these two got in my hair, and I suspect Erica knew it. Anyway she was in the over-merry mood she seemed to favour these days. It was usually the product of four vodka tonics.

  We had a noisy session for about half an hour before they all left to go out to dinner, Derek included. I was saved the effort of refusing by not being asked. It occurred to me after they left that my efforts to put Derek (and presumably his friends) off the track could very well be wasted, since Erica knew I hadn’t given up the forgery enquiries; it only needed a remark from her and the cat was out.

  It occurred to me that I didn’t care. I went to see Shona.

  IV

  I spoke into the box and the buzzer went. But she was a while opening the door of her flat; I suppose she spent a couple of minutes on a hasty refit; she was in a shortish yellow frock with dark stockings and yellow mules; her hair had been disciplined.

  ‘Ah, David. This is good. Please make yourself at home. Have you eaten?’

  ‘No. But I’m not here for food.’

  ‘A drink?’ I shook my head. ‘You are still not yourself, eh? We have missed you this week, but no matter. Leo has been rallying round. When are you going away?’

  ‘Soon.’

  ‘And where are you going? To Scotland?’

  ‘Maybe. I shall spend a few days there anyhow.’

  ‘Things are not well between you and Erica?’

  ‘Things are not well between myself and mostly everybody.’

  ‘Including me?’

  ‘Including you
.’

  ‘What have I done?’

  ‘What have you done? Nothing, I suppose. Nothing that a fair-minded man could complain of.’

  ‘Well, tell me. You spoke like this over the telephone.’

  ‘First of all, I’m leaving Erica.’

  She drew in a slow breath. ‘I am sorry. It has not worked out? Is it to be permanent?’

  ‘I think so. Second, I’m leaving you.’

  Her mouth tightened. ‘ So? Do you mean the firm?’

  ‘What else?’

  ‘Indeed,’ she said bitterly. ‘What else? … But why? You are on top of your work. We are a financially prosperous and distinguished company. You have just pulled off a noted coup, for which Chanel, I know, and other companies wish to thank you personally. You have never been in a better position, and your salary comes up for review next month. You should be very proud of yourself.’

  ‘I’m very sick,’ I said, ‘of the company I keep.’

  There was a pause. She took out a canary-coloured handkerchief and dabbed her lips.

  ‘Well, thank you, David. Once again I must say that I do not know what has made you feel this. Of course, always, you have tended to despise the profession –’

  ‘D’you remember,’ I said, ‘it was you who first suggested I should marry Erica?’

  ‘Yes, of course. And now you blame me –’

  ‘D’you remember when we were in Scotland you suggested we should marry, you and I, and I said with more truth than tact that you could never give me a son?’

  ‘Of course I remember. I was a stupid woman, forgetting my age. I thought we might have been happy, using your strange inheritance as a place to get away to, from the artificialities of our London world.’ She shrugged. ‘Perhaps a little like Barbados … You were – abrupt. It would have been more comfortable to my conceit to have come to realize your feelings more gradually. But there it was.’