The Key to Rebecca

by Ken Follett

  The situation was under control--for the moment.

  Wolff left a few milliemes on the table and went out.

  The city had come to life. The streets were already jammed with traffic, the pavements crowded with vendors and beggars, the air full of good and bad smells. Wolff made his way to the central post office to use a telephone. He called GHQ and asked for Major Smith.

  "We have seventeen of them," the operator told him. "Have you got a first name?"

  "Sandy."

  "That will be Major Alexander Smith. He's not here at the moment. May I take a message?"

  Wolff had known the major would not be at GHQ--it was too early. "The message is: Twelve noon today at Zamalek. Would you sign it: S. Have you got that?"

  "Yes, but if I may have your full--"

  Wolff hung up. He left the post office and headed for Zamalek.

  Since Sonja had seduced Smith, the major had sent her a dozen roses, a box of chocolates, a love letter and two hand-delivered messages asking for another date. Wolff had forbidden her to reply. By now Smith was wondering whether he would ever see her again. Wolff was quite sure that Sonja was the first beautiful woman Smith had ever slept with. After a couple of days of suspense Smith would be desperate to see her again, and would jump at any chance.

  On the way home Wolff bought a newspaper, but it was full of the usual rubbish. When he got to the houseboat Sonja was still asleep. He threw the rolled-up newspaper at her to wake her. She groaned and turned over.

  Wolff left her and went through the curtains back into the living room. At the far end, in the prow of the boat, was a tiny open kitchen. It had one quite large cupboard for brooms and cleaning materials. Wolff opened the cupboard door. He could just about get inside if he bent his knees and ducked his head. The catch of the door could be worked only from the outside. He searched through the kitchen drawers and found a knife with a pliable blade. He thought he could probably work the catch from inside the cupboard by sticking the knife through the crack of the door and easing it against the spring-loaded bolt. He got into the cupboard, closed the door and tried it. It worked.

  However, he could not see through the doorjamb.

  He took a nail and a flatiron and banged the nail through the thin wood of the door at eye level. He used a kitchen fork to enlarge the hole. He got inside the cupboard again and closed the door. He put his eye to the hole.

  He saw the curtains part, and Sonja came into the living room. She looked around, surprised that he was not there. She shrugged, then lifted her nightdress and scratched her belly. Wolff suppressed a laugh. She came across to the kitchen, picked up the kettle and turned on the tap.

  Wolff slipped the knife into the crack of the door and worked the catch. He opened the door, stepped out and said: "Good morning."

  Sonja screamed.

  Wolff laughed.

  She threw the kettle at him, and he dodged. He said: "It's a good hiding place, isn't it?"

  "You terrified me, you bastard," she said.

  He picked up the kettle and handed it to her. "Make the coffee," he told her. He put the knife in the cupboard, closed the door and went to sit down.

  Sonja said: "What do you need a hiding place for?"

  "To watch you and Major Smith. It's very funny--he looks like a passionate turtle."

  "When is he coming?"

  "Twelve noon today."

  "Oh, no. Why so early in the morning?"

  "Listen. If he's got anything worthwhile in that briefcase, then he certainly isn't allowed to go wandering around the city with it in his hand. He should take it straight to his office and lock it in the safe. We mustn't give him time to do that--the whole thing is useless unless he brings his case here. What we want is for him to come rushing here straight from GHQ. In fact, if he gets here late and without his briefcase, we're going to lock up and pretend you're out--then next time he'll know he has to get here fast."

  "You've got it all worked out, haven't you?"

  Wolff laughed. "You'd better start getting ready. I want you to look irresistible."

  "I'm always irresistible." She went through to the bedroom.

  He called after her: "Wash your hair." There was no reply.

  He looked at his watch. Time was running out. He went around the houseboat hiding traces of his own occupation, putting away his shoes, his razor, his toothbrush and his fez. Sonja went up on deck in a robe to dry her hair in the sun. Wolff made the coffee and took her a cup. He drank his own, then washed his cup and put it away. He took out a bottle of champagne, put it in a bucket of ice and placed it beside the bed with two glasses. He thought of changing the sheets, then decided to do it after Smith's visit, not before. Sonja came down from the deck. She dabbed perfume on her thighs and between her breasts. Wolff took a last look around. All was ready. He sat on a divan by a porthole to watch the towpath.

  It was a few minutes after noon when Major Smith appeared. He was hurrying, as if afraid to be late. He wore his uniform shirt, khaki shorts, socks and sandals, but he had taken off his officer's cap. He was sweating in the midday sun.

  He was carrying his briefcase.

  Wolff grinned with satisfaction.

  "Here he comes," Wolff called. "Are you ready?"

  "No."

  She was trying to rattle him. She would be ready. He got into the cupboard, closed the door, and put his eye to the peephole.

  He heard Smith's footsteps on the gangplank and then on the deck. The major called: "Hello?"

  Sonja did not reply.

  Looking through the peephole, Wolff saw Smith come down the stairs into the interior of the boat.

  "Is anybody there?"

  Smith looked at the curtains which divided off the bedroom. His voice was full of the expectation of disappointment. "Sonja?"

  The curtains parted. Sonja stood there, her arms lifted to hold the curtains apart. She had put her hair up in a complex pyramid as she did for her act. She wore the baggy trousers of filmy gauze, but at this distance her body was visible through the material. From the waist up she was naked except for a jeweled collar around her neck. Her brown breasts were full and round. She had put lipstick on her nipples.

  Wolff thought: Good girl!

  Major Smith stared at her. He was quite bowled over. He said: "Oh, dear. Oh, good Lord. Oh, my soul."

  Wolff tried not to laugh.

  Smith dropped his briefcase and went to her. As he embraced her, she stepped back and closed the curtains behind his back.

  Wolff opened the cupboard door and stepped out.

  The briefcase lay on the floor just this side of the curtains. Wolff knelt down, hitching up his galabiya, and turned the case over. He tried the catches. The case was locked.

  Wolff whispered: "Lieber Gott."

  He looked around. He needed a pin, a paper clip, a sewing needle, something with which to pick the locks. Moving quietly, he went to the kitchen area and carefully pulled open a drawer. Meat skewer, too thick; bristle from a wire brush, too thin; vegetable knife, too broad ... In a little dish beside the sink he found one of Sonja's hair clips.

  He went back to the case and poked the end of the clip into the keyhole of one of the locks. He twisted and turned it experimentally, encountered a kind of springy resistance, and pressed harder.

  The clip broke.

  Again Wolff cursed under his breath.

  He glanced reflexively at his wristwatch. Last time Smith had screwed Sonja in about five minutes. I should have told her to make it last, Wolff thought.

  He picked up the flexible knife he had been using to open the cupboard door from the inside. Gently, he slid it into one of the catches on the briefcase. When he pressed, the knife bent.

  He could have broken the locks in a few seconds, but he did not want to, for then Smith would know that his case had been opened. Wolff was not afraid of Smith, but he wanted the major to remain oblivious to the real reason for the seduction: if there was valuable material in the case, Wolff wanted to open
it regularly.

  But if he could not open the case, Smith would always be useless.

  What would happen if he broke the locks? Smith would finish with Sonja, put on his pants, pick up his case and realize it had been opened. He would accuse Sonja. The houseboat would be blown unless Wolff killed Smith. What would be the consequences of killing Smith? Another British soldier murdered, this time in Cairo. There would be a terrific manhunt. Would they be able to connect the killing with Wolff? Had Smith told anyone about Sonja? Who had seen them together in the Cha-Cha Club? Would inquiries lead the British to the houseboat?

  It would be risky--but the worst of it would be that Wolff would be without a source of information, back at square one.

  Meanwhile his people were fighting a war out there in the desert, and they needed information.

  Wolff stood silent in the middle of the living room, racking his brains. He had thought of something, back there, which gave him his answer, and now it had slipped his mind. On the other side of the curtain, Smith was muttering and groaning. Wolff wondered if he had his pants off yet--

  His pants off, that was it.

  He would have the key to his briefcase in his pocket.

  Wolff peeped between the curtains. Smith and Sonja lay on the bed. She was on her back, eyes closed. He lay beside her, propped up on one elbow, touching her. She was arching her back as if she were enjoying it. As Wolff watched, Smith rolled over, half lying on her, and put his face to her breasts.

  Smith still had his shorts on.

  Wolff put his head through the curtains and waved an arm, trying to attract Sonja's attention. He thought: Look at me, woman! Smith moved his head from one breast to the other. Sonja opened her eyes, glanced at the top of Smith's head, stroked his brilliantined hair, and caught Wolff's eye.

  He mouthed: Take off his pants.

  She frowned, not understanding.

  Wolff stepped through the curtains and mimed removing pants.

  Sonja's face cleared as enlightenment dawned.

  Wolff stepped back through the curtains and closed them silently, leaving only a tiny gap to look through.

  He saw Sonja's hands go to Smith's shorts and begin to struggle with the buttons of the fly. Smith groaned. Sonja rolled her eyes upward, contemptuous of his credulous passion. Wolff thought: I hope she has the sense to throw the shorts this way.

  After a minute Smith grew impatient with her fumbling, rolled over, sat up and took them off himself. He dropped them over the end of the bed and turned back to Sonja.

  The end of the bed was about five feet away from the curtain.

  Wolff got down on the floor and lay flat on his belly. He parted the, curtains with his hands and inched his way through, Indian fashion.

  He heard Smith say: "Oh, God, you're so beautiful."

  Wolff reached the shorts. With one hand he carefully turned the material over until he saw a pocket. He put his hand in the pocket and felt for a key.

  The pocket was empty.

  There was the sound of movement from the bed. Smith grunted. Sonja said: "No, lie still."

  Wolff thought: Good girl.

  He turned the shorts over until he found the other pocket. He felt in it. That, too, was empty.

  There might be more pockets. Wolff grew reckless. He felt the garment, searching for hard lumps that might be metal. There were none. He picked up the shorts--

  A bunch of keys lay beneath them.

  Wolff breathed a silent sigh of relief.

  The keys must have slipped out of the pocket when Smith dropped the shorts on the floor.

  Wolff picked up the keys and the shorts and began to inch backward through the curtains.

  Then he heard footsteps on deck.

  Smith said: "Good God, what's that!" in a high-pitched voice.

  "Hush!" Sonja said. "Only the postman. Tell me if you like this ..."

  "Oh, yes."

  Wolff made it through the curtains and looked up. The postman was placing a letter on the top step of the stairs, by the hatch. To Wolff's horror the postman saw him and called out: "Sabah el-kheir--good morning!"

  Wolff put a finger to his lips for silence, then lay his cheek against his hand to mime sleep, then pointed to the bedroom.

  "Your pardon!" the postman whispered.

  Wolff waved him away.

  There was no sound from the bedroom.

  Had the postman's greeting made Smith suspicious? Probably not, Wolff decided: a postman might well call good morning even if he could see no one, for the fact that the hatch was open indicated that someone was at home.

  The lovemaking noises in the next room resumed, and Wolff breathed more easily.

  He sorted through the keys, found the smallest, and tried it in the locks of the case.

  It worked.

  He opened the other catch and lifted the lid. Inside was a sheaf of papers in a stiff cardboard folder. Wolff thought: No more menus, please. He opened the folder and looked at the top sheet.

  He read:

  OPERATION ABERDEEN

  1. Allied forces will mount a major counterattack at dawn on 5 June.

  2. The attack will be two-pronged ...

  Wolff looked up from the papers. "My God," he whispered. "This is it!"

  He listened. The noises from the bedroom were louder now. He could hear the springs of the bed, and he thought the boat itself was beginning to rock slightly. There was not much time.

  The report in Smith's possession was detailed. Wolff was not sure exactly how the British chain of command worked, but presumably the battles were planned in detail by General Ritchie at desert headquarters then sent to GHQ in Cairo for approval by Auchinleck. Plans for more important battles would be discussed at the morning conferences, which Smith obviously attended in some capacity. Wolff wondered again which department it was that was housed in the unmarked building in the Shari Suleiman Pasha to which Smith returned each afternoon; then he pushed the thought aside. He needed to make notes.

  He hunted around for pencil and paper, thinking: I should have done this beforehand. He found a writing pad and a red pencil in a drawer. He sat down by the briefcase and read on.

  The main Allied forces were besieged in an area they called the Cauldron. The June 5 counterattack was intended to be a breakout. It would begin at 0520 with the bombardment, by four regiments of artillery, of the Aslagh Ridge, on Rommel's eastern flank. The artillery was to soften up the opposition in readiness for the spearhead attack by the infantry of the 10th Indian Brigade. When the Italians had breached the line at Aslagh Ridge, the tanks of the 22nd Armored Brigade would rush through the gap and capture Sidi Muftah while the 9th Indian Brigade followed through and consolidated.

  Meanwhile the 32nd Army Tank Brigade, with infantry support, would attack Rommel's northern flank at Sidra Ridge.

  When he came to the end of the report Wolff realized he had been so absorbed that he had heard, but had not taken notice of, the sound of Major Smith reaching his climax. Now the bed creaked and a pair of feet hit the floor.

  Wolff tensed.

  Sonja said: "Darling, pour some champagne."

  "Just a minute--"

  "I want it now."

  "I feel a bit silly with me pants off, m'dear."

  Wolff thought: Christ, he wants his pants.

  Sonja said: "I like you undressed. Drink a glass with me before you put your clothes on."

  "Your wish is my command."

  Wolff relaxed. She may bitch about it, he thought, but she does what I want!

  He looked quickly through the rest of the papers, determined that he would not be caught now: Smith was a wonderful find, and it would be a tragedy to kill the goose the first time it laid a golden egg. He noted that the attack would employ four hundred tanks, three hundred and thirty of them with the eastern prong and only seventy with the northern; that Generals Messervy and Briggs were to establish a combined headquarters; and that Auchinleck was demanding--a little peevishly, it seemed--thorough r
econnaissance and close cooperation between infantry and tanks.

  A cork popped loudly as he was writing. He licked his lips, thinking: I could use some of that. He wondered how quickly Smith could drink a glass of champagne. He decided to take no chances.

  He put the papers back in the folder and the folder back in the case. He closed the lid and keyed the locks. He put the bunch of keys in a pocket of the shorts. He stood up and peeped through the curtain.

  Smith was sitting up in bed in his army-issue underwear with a glass in one hand and a cigarette in the other, looking pleased with himself. The cigarettes must have been in his shirt pocket: it would have been awkward if they had been in his shorts.

  At the moment Wolff was within Smith's field of view. He took his face away from the tiny gap between the curtains, and waited. He heard Sonja say: "Pour me some more, please." He looked through again. Smith took her glass and turned away to the bottle. His back was now to Wolff. Wolff pushed the shorts through the curtains and put them on the floor. Sonja saw him and raised her eyebrows in alarm. Wolff withdrew his arm. Smith handed Sonja the glass.

  Wolff got into the cupboard, closed the door and eased himself to the floor. He wondered how long he would have to wait before Smith left. He did not care: he was jubilant. He had struck gold.

  It was half an hour before he saw, through the peephole, Smith come into the living room, wearing his clothes again. By this time Wolff was feeling very cramped. Sonja followed Smith, saying: "Must you go so soon?"

  "I'm afraid so," he said. "It's a very awkward time for me, you see." He hesitated. "To be perfectly frank, I'm not actually supposed to carry this briefcase around with me. I had the very devil of a job to come here at noon. You see, I have to go from GHQ straight to my office. Well, I didn't do that today--I was desperately afraid I might miss you if I came late. I told my office I was lunching at GHQ, and told the chaps at GHQ I was lunching at my office. However, next time I'll go to my office, dump the briefcase, and come on here--if that's all right with you, my little poppet."

  Wolff thought: For God's sake, Sonja, say something!

  She said: "Oh, but, Sandy, my housekeeper comes every afternoon to clean--we wouldn't be alone."

  Smith frowned. "Damn. Well, we'll just have to meet in the evenings."

  "But I have to work--and after my act, I have to stay in the club and talk to the customers. And I couldn't sit at your table every night: people would gossip."