by John Creasey
Mr. Mort—Julius Mort—was ample of flesh and economic in surname syllables. Mr. Augustus Mannopoli was the reverse. He was abnormally thin; too thin; and somehow unpleasantly thin. Perhaps his eyes, aslant, small and always narrowed, created the atmosphere of unpleasantness. He was dressed in dark brown; his knuckles were sticking out like knots on his bare fingers; his clean-shaven face was hollow at the cheeks and yellowish skin stretched across a square jaw so tightly that it looked painful. Mr. Mort was an Englishman; Mr. Mannopoli, as his name suggested, had connections not far removed from Greece; and others, if his eyes were any criterion, with China; the yellowish tinge of his skin bore out the latter suggestion.
There was another difference between Mr. Mort and Mr. Mannopoli. Mort talked a great deal, and his voice was deep and unctuous—a true board-meeting boom. Mannopoli talked rarely, and then in a harsh, dry voice and clipped sentences which suggested that he wished he’d been born dumb.
There remained Mr. Mulling.
Mr. Frederick Mulling was the happy medium. He was neither fat nor thin, but well covered. He looked prepared neither to be oozing benevolence nor creating unpleasantness. He seemed normal. His hair was mousy, his face nothing special and not even redeemed by his eyes, which were indeterminate blue-grey. He was comfortably dressed in a herring-bone tweed suit of plus fours, and looked as though he lived in it. He talked enough but not too much; sometimes he talked as though he was a little nervous of expressing himself, but he felt it his duty.
Thus Mr. Mort and Mr. Mannopoli and Mr. Mulling.
As it happened, Mort lived in London, Mannopoli in Bournemouth, and Mr. Mulling in Michford. He was the owner of the ‘George’ and had turned a white elephant—as he was fond of saying—into a flourishing country hotel, and no one could deny that was a remarkable accomplishment, especially for a so indeterminate-looking man.
Mr. Mort was talking—unctuously, as could be expected.
“It’s like this, my dear fellows,” he boomed, “we must bring Fallow in with us. We must, I’m convinced. Confound it, Polly, it’ll make all the difference between success and this annoying, humdrum, neither-one-way-nor-the-other situation which is—I’m not joking, I assure you—getting very worrying.” Mr. Mort smiled tremulously, as though he was less confident than he sounded. “We must enlist Fallow.”
“You’re talking,” said Mr. Mannopoli, “out of the back of your neck.”
Just that and no more; he took no notice of the flush that mantled Mort’s podgy cheeks, or the frown that crossed Mulling’s face. He said what he had to say and nothing else.
Mort frowned.
“Of course, if that’s your attitude——”
“Now look here, Mort,” said Mr. Mulling, “don’t start that damned board-meeting attitude again; we can’t stand it. I agree with you that we need Fallow, and I’d like Mannopoli to tell us why he’s so much against it. Well, Polly?”
“Fallow’s got too many friends,” said Mannopoli brusquely; “besides”—he smiled, stretching his skin still more, until it seemed that it must give way somewhere—“he’s honest. Ever think of that, Mort?”
“Don’t be absurd,” said Mr. Mort. “We can offer him a quarter profits in a million pounds, and——”
“Money and Fallow don’t mix. Man’s honest, I tell you.”
“Oh, nonsense! No one could resist money like that; easy money. Why, he’d be infernally grateful to us for giving him the opportunity. I’m convinced of it. As for his having friends—well, look at me!”
Mr. Mannopoli obliged, and charitably kept his thoughts to himself; he disliked Mr. Mort.
“Look at me,” continued the fat gentleman. “I’ve hosts of friends. My house is never empty of them. I——”
“Hangers-on — sycophants — borrowers — gigolos — business men who’ve got to be pleasant. You haven’t a friend in the world, Mort, and you know it.”
Mr. Julius Mort’s flabby body went rigid; for a moment there was hatred in his glance, a hatred engendered through past brushes with Augustus Mannopoli and a knowledge that the other man spoke the truth. Mr. Mort was rich, which explained the first three and the last of his ‘friends’ according to Mannopoli; Mr. Mort’s wife was pretty, tinsel-pretty, and neglected by her husband, which accounted for the gigolos. But of friends for friendship’s sake there was none.
“Now look here,” said Mulling agitatedly, “you two must stop arguing. Hang it, all our time goes in arguments. What do you mean by saying Fallow has too many friends, Polly?”
“What I say.”
“But what friends in particular?”
“Among others, a man named Craigie.”
“Who’s Craigie?”
“A Government official.”
“What department?”
“Mystery.”
“Damn it all!” exclaimed Mr. Mulling, his patience at an end, “be explicit, man. We haven’t time to go on like this; there’s business to attend to.”
Mr. Mannopoli grinned; and the result was not pleasant.
“All right. Craigie—Gordon Craigie—is known as the Chief of Department Z—British Intelligence. He works a lot with Sir William Fellowes, the Commissioner of Police at Scotland Yard, and with Superintendent Miller. Miller once got on your tail, Mort, and you managed to get rid of him more by luck than judgment. Now, Fallow is a good friend of Craigie’s. Craigie doesn’t have friends of men who’ll touch our stuff. Take my advice and think of someone other than Fallow.”
Mr. Julius Mort had listened to this, one of the longest consecutive utterances Mannopoli had ever made, with increasing perturbation. Mannopoli saw the fat man’s right index-finger was playing about his right cheek, a habit of Mort’s when he was worried. He didn’t say what his worry was, but as soon as the thin man finished he burst out:
“It’s nonsense! Fallow can have all the friends he likes—money’ll talk louder. Look here, I’m putting it to the meeting. I want Fallow invited. Mulling does all the staff work—keeps all the records. I look after the finances. You, Mannopoli, make a splendid job of the—er——”
“Dirty work, but I don’t mind. Go on.”
“And we need—we must have—a chemist. Just to help us with the dyes and the inks and the metals. Since Marshall died last year the quality of the stuff has been going down and down, and we’ll be in trouble if we don’t replace him. Fallow’s here, living near headquarters, unsuspected—he’s just the man. Now, Mulling, you know the poor results we’ve had lately. Am I right?”
“Ye-es,” Mulling seemed doubtful.
“Of course I’m right. Now—I say, get Fallow. Mannopoli is against it. You’ve the deciding vote. What is it?”
There was silence in the room for sixty seconds.
Mort was eying Mulling tensely; Mannopoli was eying him sardonically. Mulling wanted Fallow, and yet trusted Mannopoli’s judgment where men were concerned. On the other hand, the syndicate badly needed the expert, as Mort had pointed out. In fact, if a man wasn’t forthcoming soon there’d be trouble. Mr. Mulling drew a deep breath and spoke at last.
“I think we ought to try Fallow,” he said. “Mort knows him well, and he looks in here at least once a week. If he’s approached carefully, I don’t think we need fear that he’ll say anything to anyone who’s dangerous, even if he doesn’t accept the suggestion. Eh, Mannopoli? That’s reasonable, isn’t it?”
“It’s reasonable,” said Mr. Mannopoli, and seemed to lose interest in the subject. “Fallow’s approached. All right.”
Mulling breathed more freely, for he had been afraid of more obstinate opposition. Mort breathed with relief, and touched his vest pocket. Earlier in the day he had proposed showing the others a copy of a letter which he had sent to John Fallow, who lived at The Maples, Tarrington. Now he decided it would be wiser for them to think Fallow had been approached after the meeting, not before.
Nothing more to worry about, anyhow, although he’d remember the way Mannopoli talked. Mannopoli would go
too far one of these days. But for the moment—business. Crooked business, to be sure, but as it happened not quite so crooked as Mr. Mort and Mr. Mulling thought.
For Mr. Mannopoli was a man of many parts.
For the next hour he appeared to give full attention to the many points that were raised and, after a little discussion, settled. The activities of the syndicate, whose operations were not honest, spread a long way from England and naturally took a great deal of preparation. But they were finished at last, and although it was barely six o’clock they went into Mulling’s dining-room—he was a bachelor—and dined. The ‘George’s’ chef was a good one, and the monthly meeting of the syndicate always ended in that fashion. Mulling believed and hoped it helped them all to be friendly.
But conversation lagged that night.
Mort was still worried; from time to time he would shoot a venomous glance towards Mannopoli that might have been simply hatred and just as likely mixed with fear. Mannopoli, never talkative, was dumb. Mulling did his best to revive the dying spirits, but he failed. He told himself he would be glad when this was over.
It ended soon after seven. Mort and Mannopoli were travelling together as far as Salisbury, and Mulling wondered what kind of a journey it would be. He shook hands, watched them disappear together in Mort’s Daimler, and frowned. But there was work to do for the pub as well as for the syndicate, and he couldn’t waste time thinking of the happiness of his two partners. Mort was an unctuous old fool, but at times Mannopoli’s manner was enough to break down the patience of a job.
Mr. Mulling was thinking on those lines when Mannopoli, sitting in the rear of the car with Mort—the Daimler, of course, was chauffeur-driven—broke a strained silence that had lasted for five minutes. Mort was smoking a cigar, and puffing at it with every evidence of nervous tension; Mannopoli guessed why, and acted on it.
“When did you write to Fallow, Julius?”
Mort stopped the movement of the cigar from his fingers to his lips. He looked like a punctured balloon.
“I—I—look here, Mannopoli——”
“You were born a fool,” said Mr. Mannopoli dispassionately, “and you’ll never be anything else. You’ve written to him, haven’t you?”
His words were softly spoken, with just sufficient emphasis to worry Mort and make him talk. The fat man sighed, and avoided his colleague’s eyes.
“Well—well, yes. To tell you the truth, Polly old man, I was so sure you’d both be behind me that I did post the letter last night, instead of waiting until to-day. But it doesn’t matter, does it? We’d have written in any case.”
“Let’s see the copy,” said Mr. Mannopoli.
It was on the tip of Mort’s tongue to protest against the other’s attitude, when he remembered that he had broken a rule of the syndicate. There were few rules, but those which had been established were rigidly upheld, and one of them was that no single member should take any action without consulting the others unless an emergency arose to make it imperative.
Mort licked his lips.
“I—er—you’re a deuced smart fellow, Polly; I’d never have guessed anything about it. Here’s the note—just a brief one, you see, nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.”
Mr. Mannopoli took the note and read it; his yellow face was expressionless, and his bony hands did not tremble.
My dear Fallow,
I have an idea that you could help me in a little matter I have in hand. Plenty of money in it, you’ll be glad to know! As a matter of fact I and some friends need the specialized assistance that you would be able to give us, and we’d all be happy if you could join us.
May I say this is a matter of considerable importance and that we are keeping it very ‘dark.’ Not a word, in short, to anyone. But if you’d care to join us, slip down one night and have a chat with Mulling—ah, that’s a surprise !—at the ‘George’, in Michford. Mulling knows a little—not all—about it.
All good wishes, my dear fellow. I’ll look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours ever,
Julius Mort.
Mr. Augustus Mannopoli finished reading, and then, holding the letter in his right hand, regarded Mr. Mort contemplatively. His lips were curling, and his narrowed eyes were somehow more frightening than usual. Mort felt his lips were very dry.
“You see, Polly, nothing that——”
“You ruddy fool!” snapped Mr. Mannopoli. “You must be insane. To send a letter like this—like this!”
“But—it says nothing, it says nothing!”
“It says that you and Mulling are connected, and if Craigie or any of the others at Whitehall learn that I wouldn’t like to be in your shoes. Listen, Mort——”
There was such concentrated venom in his voice that Mr. Mort could not have done otherwise. He stared, his lips parted a little, his plump hands trembling.
“Don’t ever—ever, do you understand?—send letters or talk to anyone at all without telling me first. If you do you’ll get a lot worse than this.”
Mr. Mannopoli, every word at the same low level, suddenly stopped talking and on the ‘this’ brought his open palm across Mort’s face. The fat man half screamed, and then seemed to shrink into his corner, stung by the blow but terrified by the expression in Mannopoli’s eyes.
“I—I——”
“Shut up,” snapped Mannopoli, and glanced out of the window. He knew the district well, and he knew that a village—by name Granning—was some mile and a half ahead. “I’m leaving you at Granning. Get straight back to London, and take your wife out. That,” added Mr. Mannopoli unpleasantly, “will shock her nearly as much as I’ve shocked you. And—keep quiet.”
Mr. Mort could do many things, but keeping quiet wasn’t one of them.
“Listen—Mannopoli! I can’t understand you. Where—where are you going?”
“I’m going to try and get the letter back.”
“The letter back!” Mort had forgotten the blow, forgotten everything but those last words. “Why—he’ll have read it, I tell you, he’ll have read it!”
“Maybe he has. I hope not. In any case we’ve got to get it back. Now stop yapping, will you?”
Mr. Mort tried but failed.
“Supposing—supposing you can’t get it?” he muttered. “Is it—is it important? What will you do?”
But Mr. Augustus Mannopoli didn’t answer; he still hadn’t answered when they reached the village of Granning. Mr. Mort saw Mannopoli get out, and he shivered, for there had been something worse than he had ever seen before in Mannopoli’s eyes and his expression. He dreaded Mannopoli; and he dreaded still more the results of what Mannopoli might do.
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John Creasey
Master crime fiction writer John Creasey’s 562 titles (or so) have sold more than 80 million copies in over 25 languages. After enduring 743 rejection slips, the young Creasey’s career was kickstarted by winning a newspaper writing competition. He went on to collect multiple honours from The Mystery Writers of America including the Edgar Award for best novel in 1962 and the coveted title of Grand Master in 1969. Creasey’s prolific output included 11 different series including Roger West, the Toff, the Baron, Patrick Dawlish, Gideon, Dr Palfrey, and Department Z, published bot
h under his own name and 10 other pseudonyms.
Creasey was born in Surrey in 1908 and, when not travelling extensively, lived between Bournemouth and Salisbury for most of his life. He died in England in 1973.
ALSO IN THIS SERIES
The Death Miser
Redhead
First Came a Murder
Death Round the Corner
The Mark of the Crescent
Thunder in Europe
The Terror Trap
Carriers of Death
Days of Danger
Death Stands By
Menace
Murder Must Wait
Panic!
Death by Night
The Island of Peril
Sabotage
Go Away Death
The Day of Disaster
Prepare for Action
No Darker Crime
Dark Peril
The Peril Ahead
The League of Dark Men
The Department of Death
The Enemy Within
Dead or Alive
A Kind of Prisoner
The Black Spiders
This edition published in 2016 by Ipso Books
Ipso Books is a division of Peters Fraser + Dunlop Ltd
Drury House, 34-43 Russell Street, London WC2B 5HA
Copyright © John Creasey, 1937
All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage
Contents
1 Work for the Arrans
2 Penelope has a shock
3 Search for Marcus Benson
