17
Home and Finish
LITTLEJOHN’S journey back to London was an uncomfortable one. Neither he nor Kate Halston was anxious for the other’s company, but courtesy seemed to compel them to sit together. Littlejohn had, in the past, accompanied many prisoners from place to place and their company had for the most part been more jocular than that of his present companion. Conversation was difficult and mainly concerned Switzerland and holidays they had spent in the past. Luckily, the journey lasted only a little more than an hour and the plane touched down promptly at five o’clock.
Bellin was there to meet Miss Halston. He was either determined to brazen out his present difficulties or else he wished to talk to her urgently. His manner was as smooth and aloof to her as to Littlejohn and the Superintendent was relieved when he lost them in the customs shed. He was convinced that they had as eagerly lost him.
Cromwell was waiting for him at the entrance to the main hall. He was still smiling after his recent encounter with Bellin.
‘He’s a cool one. Our man Lester has been on his heels all day and, in spite of Miss Halston’s furtive warning earlier, nothing whatever has happened. Lester got a bit excited when he heard Bellin was making for London airport, but it seems he’s only here to meet Miss Halston. They’ve just got in a car in the park and are presumably going back to London to Sir Ensor.’
Suddenly the loudspeaker broke into the conversation.
‘Will Inspector Cromwell please report at the enquiry desk in the main hall?’
It carried Littlejohn’s mind back to the Cling case which had begun in a similar way.
Cromwell shrugged wearily.
‘Can’t even have a bit of peace when I take an hour off to meet homecoming friends …’
The girl at the enquiry desk was conspiratorial.
‘You’re wanted in the airport police office.’
And there they found Bellin, white and spluttering with rage. The situation had even upset his customary aplomb and he was squaring-up to a very red and embarrassed young detective, who almost sobbed with relief when his two superiors entered the room.
He rushed to them to get in the first word.
‘I thought I’d better ask him to come here with me. You said I’d to use my discretion and detain him if the situation called for it. I hope I did right.’
‘Right! We’ll see whether or not you did right, my fine young chap, when this is reported. I was supposed to be leaving on a special mission for the Minister on the 17.45 plane. I hope it’s being held for me.’
Littlejohn shook his head.
‘It isn’t, sir. I’m afraid our business with you is more important just now than whatever you’re catching a plane about …’
Detective-Constable Lester couldn’t contain himself.
‘He left the lady he was meeting in the car and went off pretending to see to the baggage. Instead, he made for the Dublin plane on which he must have checked in his own luggage …’
As if to confirm this, the loudspeakers gave tongue again somewhat irritably.
‘Will Mr. McHarrie, passenger for Dublin, kindly join the plane at once? This is the final call.’
‘You travelling as Mr. McHarrie?’ asked Cromwell with a chuckle, but Bellin didn’t see the joke.
‘When Sir Ensor hears of this, it will be curtains for you three, to say the least of it.’
The airport police staff stood flabbergasted at the rumpus. Bellin began to shout abuse and Littlejohn was now asking for Sir Ensor over the phone.
‘Will you be quiet, Bellin! I can’t hear myself speak.’
Sir Ensor arrived on the line at last, after a lot of noise over the instrument and a long wait. ‘Yes?’
‘This is Littlejohn, Sir Ensor. I have just arrived in London airport from Geneva …’
‘Couldn’t it have waited until you reached town?’
‘It could not. If it hadn’t been urgent, I’d not have disturbed you, sir. I was just in time to meet your Mr. Bellin on his way to Dublin on a special mission for you …’
‘Dublin! You must be mistaken. He left here an hour ago, to meet Miss Halston and bring her back to the office. Are you sure you’ve met the right man?’
‘Of course I’m sure. And I’m bringing him along to your office without delay. My colleague, Inspector Cromwell, will already have told you that I wish to see you on urgent business.’
‘That is so. But later in the day will suit me better.’
‘I’m sorry, sir, but I prefer to come right away. Mr. Bellin is angry and impatient and will accompany me.’
‘Very well. But I don’t understand all this about Bellin and Dublin. Why Dublin?’
‘I’m sure I don’t know sir. We’ll ask him when we see you.’
Bellin had cooled off and now tried to shrug off the whole escapade.
‘Now look here, Littlejohn. You’re a man of the world. I was merely making a trip to see a lady friend. I’d have been back tomorrow. You understand?’
‘You’re travelling incog., sir? Mr. McHarrie, was it?’
Bellin flushed, but controlled himself.
‘Discretion is the better part of valour, isn’t it, in such circumstances?’
He almost winked, but seemed to think better of it.
‘I ask you as a special favour, Littlejohn, not to push the Dublin matter too hard when we see Sir Ensor. He is a bit prim and proper and, well … it might …’
Littlejohn turned to Lester without replying.
‘Lester, you’ve done very well and I will see that you get commendation for it. Meanwhile, you can call it a day. Go now to the car park and see if Miss Halston’s still waiting where you saw Mr. Bellin desert her. Take her to Sir Ensor Cobb’s office in the same car.’
He raised his voice a little.
‘We will follow with Mr. Bellin in the police car.’
‘I protest! I came here to pick up and escort Miss Halston …’
‘And tried to abscond to Dublin without her. No, sir. This time we’ll escort you to Sir Ensor. We want you to join in a conference there about what happened to Cling. It would be useless without you.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it’s no joking matter. You’ll see what happens when I report your behaviour to Sir Ensor.’
‘Including the desertion of Miss Halston and the rendezvous in Dublin?’
‘You’ll see.’
He sat smoking cigarettes in silence all the way back to Westminster and there they found Sir Ensor in a very unpleasant temper. He was annoyed with Littlejohn for upsetting his schedule and changing the appointment and for appearing with a ruffled Bellin after the escapade at the airport. As a rule, Sir Ensor was surrounded by secretaries who kept trouble at bay. Now there were none there.
‘What were you up to, Roland?’
‘I told Superintendent Littlejohn that I had a meeting in Dublin with an old friend …’
‘Of feminine gender, Sir Ensor.’
‘… and had arranged to stay the night and return tomorrow.’
Sir Ensor angrily whipped off his half-moon glasses.
‘You might have told me. I might have needed you urgently. However, now that you are here, what are you doing under police escort? Littlejohn, you’d better explain this to me.’
‘It will take some time, Sir Ensor. May we all sit down?’
Sir Ensor indicated with a sweep of his hand that there were chairs available here and there and Littlejohn, Cromwell and Bellin collected one apiece and seated themselves in a semi-circle around Cobb’s desk.
‘By the way, where’s Kate? You said she travelled back from Geneva with you?’
‘Yes. One of our men is driving her here from the airport.’
Sir Ensor started fussing with buttons and switches and finally discovered that Miss Halston was taking tea in her own office.
‘Tell her to stand by in case I need her … Now, Littlejohn.’
‘May I first ask, Sir Ensor, whet
her or not Cling proposed to take his annual leave on his return with you from Geneva?’
Cobb flushed a blotchy red and had difficulty in meeting Littlejohn’s straight look.
‘Yes. What of it? It had nothing to do with his death.’
‘On the contrary, sir. It puts a completely different complexion on the case. You should have told us, sir.’
Sir Ensor hemmed and hawed and then sheepishly continued.
‘He’d arranged his leave with his superior officers at Special Branch. He was going to visit friends in America. He was set to take his holiday the day after we got back in London. Instead, as our business ended with the dinner on Thursday and we proposed leaving Geneva on Friday morning, I told Cling he could finish on Thursday and leave for America from Geneva if he wished. He hesitated, but I insisted. I told nobody. It was between Cling and me and I was glad to be relieved of him as soon as possible. But had the Prime Minister known I was abroad without escort, even for a day after his strict insistence on my being protected, he might have been rather annoyed. That’s all there was to it.’
So, Sir Ensor, too had a boss whom he feared!
‘Cling had, we found, booked a ticket from Zürich to Chicago, where he hoped to meet his wife. The man she had run away with years ago was dead. Cling had never divorced her or married again in the constant belief that she would, one day, return to him. He simply could not bring himself to believe that she could prefer someone else. He had obviously, before he died, made up his mind to try again. He seems to have carried on a more or less enthusiastic love affair with one of the staff at Les Plaisances and treated her rather badly. Nurse Durand, whom he met several times when he visited your mother, Sir Ensor.’
‘My mother? I didn’t even know he knew her.’
‘Of course he did. He had accompanied you as escort several times when you visited her. Cling was fond of children and old people. Extremely kind and attentive to them, however offhand and awkward he might have been to those in between. He and your mother became very good friends. That was really the cause of his death.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. She never once mentioned Cling to me.’
‘Perhaps she did and you were too preoccupied to notice what she said. An old lady, living in the past …’
‘Please don’t be impertinent, Littlejohn. I resent the insinuation.’
‘I’m sorry, sir. But that seems to be the fate of many old people these days. We could do with a few more Clings to make them feel interesting and wanted. Your mother confided many things to Cling during his visits. He rarely visited Geneva without calling on her to pay his respects.’
‘I like his damned cheek.’
‘I don’t regard it as cheek. Your mother certainly appreciated it. He formed the habit of looking after her in a mild way, as he did his own aged relations. He might have treated Nurse Durand badly by deceiving her with hopes of marriage when his heart was set on nobody else but his faithless and faded wife, but he certainly did well for Mrs. Cobb.’
‘What is this! A funeral oration on Cling! Please get on with your business, Littlejohn, and let me get on with mine.’
‘The business of finding Cling’s murderer, sir.’
‘Have you got him?’
‘Not yet, sir.’
‘Well, isn’t it time? How far have you got with the case?’
‘I was just beginning to tell you … Cling knew as well as you and your secretaries about the very valuable jewellery your mother had in her possession at Les Plaisances.’
‘It’s no wonder you aren’t progressing with the case, Littlejohn. You seem to have spent most of your time interfering in matters which don’t concern you, personal matters concerning my mother.’
‘The murder arose through the diamonds which your mother had in her room, sir. They cost, I believe, £20,000 thirty years ago. That makes them worth at least £50,000 now. Quite a fair haul for anyone in need of the money. Cling was murdered in protecting them.’
The idea of a crime which he had regarded as a subtle, perhaps international affair, being reduced to a simple burglary was more than Cobb could contemplate. His jaw dropped and his eyes stuck out of their sockets.
‘Are you sure that’s the motive?’
‘Dead sure, sir. That is why the bulk of our investigations have centred round Les Plaisances.’
‘Cling knew about the jewellery, then. It’s more likely, isn’t it, that he himself was trying to rob my mother of them? All this so-called friendship with her and his affair with her nurse. It seems plain …’
‘You know yourself, sir, that once Cling got his hands on the real diamonds, he took good care to put them in a safe place. He took them to your bank, obtained access to your strong-box, under bank supervision, of course, and by what we might call a sleight of hand, changed them for the artificial ones. He suspected there was some game afoot and was determined to put the gems out of harm’s way. You were informed of that by your bank in Geneva, sir.’
‘That’s true. Whom did Cling suspect?’
‘Right from the beginning of their relationship brought about through you, sir, Cling disliked Roland Bellin …’
Bellin who had been lolling in his chair and trying to look bored, suddenly sprang to life and leapt to his feet.
‘I protest! I’m not being brought into this. I admit I never liked Cling and always kept an eye on him, but that doesn’t mean to say I wanted to kill him. Why should I? He was nothing to me, provided he did his job properly and Sir Ensor wasn’t incommoded by him. As far as I was concerned, I couldn’t care less about Cling. A mere policeman. In any event, I’m not having Littlejohn, who seems unable to solve this matter, pinning the blame on me.’
Sir Ensor raised his hand majestically.
‘All right, Roland. Don’t get excited. We’ll hear what Littlejohn has to say with as much patience as we can muster, and then you shall have your turn. Now, Littlejohn?’
‘I was saying, Cling disliked Bellin and the more he learned about him, the more he seemed to hate him. What he learned from your mother and Nurse Durand didn’t make him change his mind. Mr. Bellin was very interested in Mrs. Cobb’s jewellery and both Mrs. Cobb and the nurse said he knew all about where it was kept and when it was worn. He was a frequent visitor at Les Plaisances, Sir Ensor, not always in your company, either.’
‘That’s just nonsense. Of course I was interested in Mrs. Cobb and her comfort at Les Plaisances. And of course I knew about the diamonds. It was part of my duty as Sir Ensor’s man-of-affairs to be so. As for Cling, he must have had quite other motives for his visits. He was hand in glove with Nurse Durand and my investigations showed that they were preparing to make a run for it with the diamonds. I don’t suppose you know, Littlejohn, but Cling and the nurse had a flat in Geneva where they met in secret.’
‘Indeed! Where?’
‘Near Eaux-Vives station.’
‘How did you find out?’
‘I was suspicious about what Cling did in his off hours when he wasn’t with Sir Ensor, so I followed him one day. He ended up at the flat.’
‘Did you know of this, Sir Ensor?’
‘No. It’s news to me.’
‘So it is to everybody else, except the police and Mr. Bellin. He has embellished the place, too. It was a small bedroom in a seedy little hotel …’
‘You know then? Well, I only found out by accident. I expect you got at it much more easily, with all your wonderful organisation.’
Sir Ensor was getting impatient. He slapped his desk petulantly with the flat of his hand.
‘For goodness’ sake, let’s get on. This is leading nowhere. Littlejohn; have you any more to tell me?’
‘Just this, sir. Cling and Nurse Durand used to meet. Perhaps he was fond of her; I don’t know. He seems to have confided a lot in her. In his depressed moods he reviled Scotland Yard, his job, even you. But all the time, he was getting information from her about your mother and her jewellery. He’d goo
d reason for thinking that Mr. Bellin would, before long, make an attempt on it.’
‘Could you excuse me, Sir Ensor? I refuse to stay here and listen to Littlejohn’s theories. A lot of imaginative rot. He dislikes me as much as he says Cling did. And I dislike Littlejohn. He’s trying to cause trouble for me and I’m not going to have it. I hope you’ll end this interview and see that Littlejohn is officially dealt with for the way he’s treated me today …’
‘Sit down, Roland. If you wish Littlejohn’s story to be refuted, you must first listen to the whole of it. Now let him continue.’
‘Cling had made enquiries concerning Mr. Bellin. He found out that he was a confirmed gambler at Delaney’s Club, where he owed around five thousand pounds.’
‘Is this true, Roland?’
‘It was, at one time, but I’ve paid it off. You’ll see …’
‘I will, believe me. Is that true, Littlejohn?’
‘I don’t know, Sir Ensor, but Mr. Bellin told Cutforth at the club that he was expecting a legacy from family sources and that the money would then be repaid. Actually, Mr. Bellin proved, on further enquiries, to have neither family nor resources …’
Sir Ensor assumed a very judicial attitude. He again raised his hand to silence Bellin.
‘Not now, Bellin. Littlejohn can tell us his side. Then you will be given an opportunity to refute it by facts, not by mere denials. Go on …’
‘In Geneva, Cling waited. Nothing happened. Your mother’s jewellery remained undisturbed. Then came the last day. Cling just couldn’t believe his theory wasn’t true. At 2.30 on Thursday afternoon, whilst your mother should, according to custom, have been in bed enjoying her nap, he arrived on what he said was a farewell call, as you were all returning the following morning to England. Instead of being in bed, Mrs. Cobb was in the hands of her hairdresser in the bathroom, which gave Cling an even better opportunity of examining the diamonds to find if they were the real ones and then pocketing them and taking them away to put in the bank in safety. This he did. He changed the articles at the bank, and, your mother informed me, reappeared after tea, when your mother was taking her postponed sleep. He placed the artificial diamonds in the drawer and left without waking her.’
Death of a Shadow (An Inspector Littlejohn Mystery) Page 16
