The Tightrope Men / The Enemy

by Desmond Bagley

  ‘Don’t you think it’s a good idea?’ I watched her hunt for words. ‘But don’t say, “This is so sudden!”’

  ‘But it is so damned sudden,’ she said, and waved her hand at the room. ‘Here, of all places.’

  ‘It seems a good pub to me,’ I said. ‘Does the place matter?’

  ‘I don’t suppose it does,’ she said quietly. ‘But the time—and the timing—does.’

  ‘I suppose I could have picked a better time,’ I agreed. ‘But it just popped out. I’m not the only one who thinks it’s a good idea. Your father does, too; he wanted me to ask you last night.’

  ‘So you two have been discussing me behind my back. I don’t know that I like that.’

  ‘Be reasonable. It’s traditional—and courteous, too—for a man to inform his prospective father-in-law of his intentions.’ I refrained from saying that it had been Ashton who had brought up the subject.

  ‘What would you have done if he had been against it?’

  ‘I’d have asked you just the same,’ I said equably. ‘I’m marrying you, not your father.’

  ‘You’re not marrying anyone—yet.’ I was thankful for the saving grace of that final monosyllable. She laid her hand on mine. ‘You idiot—I thought you’d never ask.’

  ‘I had it all laid on, but circumstances got in the way.’

  ‘I know.’ There was melancholy in her voice. ‘Oh, Malcolm; I don’t know what to say. I’ve been so unhappy today, thinking about Gillian, and seeing her in such pain. And then there was that awful task you laid on me tonight of questioning her. I saw it had to be done, so I did it—but I don’t like one bit of it. And then there’s Daddy—he doesn’t say much but I think he’s going through hell, and I’m worried about him. And now you come and give me more problems.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Penny; I truly am. Let’s put the question back in the deep freeze for a while. Consider yourself unasked.’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘You can’t unask a question. In a way that’s what my work is all about.’ She was silent for a while. I didn’t know what she meant by that but I had sense enough to keep my mouth shut. At last she said, ‘I will marry you, Malcolm—I’d marry you tomorrow. I’m not one for non-essentials, and I don’t want a white wedding with all the trimmings or anything like that. I want to marry you but it can’t be now, and I can’t tell you when it will be. We’ve got to get this matter of Gillian sorted out first.’

  I took her hand. ‘That’s good enough for me.’

  She gave me a crooked smile. ‘It won’t be the usual kind of engagement, I’m afraid, I’m in no mood for romantic frivolities. Later, perhaps; but not now.’ She squeezed my hand. ‘Do you remember when I asked you to come here and meet Daddy? It was the night we had the Chinese dinner in your flat.’

  ‘I remember.’

  ‘It was a diversion. I had to stop myself from doing something.’

  ‘Doing what, for God’s sake?’

  ‘Marching into your bedroom and getting into your bed.’ She disengaged her hand and finished her drink. ‘And now you’d better take me home before I change my mind and we start behaving badly.’

  As I escorted her to the car my heart was like a singing bird and all the other guff poets used to write about. They don’t any more; they leave it to the writers of pop songs, which is a pity. I drove her home and stopped the car before the gates, and we had five minutes’ worth of love before she got out. She had no key and had to press the button for someone to come.

  I said, ‘We won’t announce the engagement, but I think your father ought to know. It seems to be on his mind.’

  ‘I’ll tell him now.’

  ‘Are you going to London tomorrow?’

  She shook her head. ‘Lumsden has given me a few days off. He’s very understanding.’

  ‘I’ll pop out to see you.’

  ‘But what about your job?’

  I grinned. ‘I have an understanding boss, too.’

  There was a rattle at the gate and it swung open, pushed by Wills, the dour and unfriendly type who had let me in that afternoon. Penny kissed me and then slipped inside and the gate clanged shut. I stepped up to it, and said to Willis, ‘Escort Miss Ashton up to the house, see her safe inside, and make sure the house door is locked.’

  He looked at me for a moment in silence, then smiled, and it was like an ice floe breaking up. ‘I’ll do that, sir.’

  NINE

  I was in the office early next morning and first I had an extended chat with Nellie. I had just moved to the typewriter when Larry came in with a pile of newspapers which he dumped on his desk. ‘Thought you were out on a job.’

  ‘I am,’ I said. ‘I’m not here. I’m a figment of your imagination.’

  I finished my list and took it in to Ogilvie, and wasted no time in getting down to the bones of it. I said, ‘I don’t mind fighting with one hand tied behind my back but I object to having both hands tied. I’ll need a list of Ashton’s present overt activities and affiliations.’

  Ogilvie smiled and pushed a file across the desk. ‘I anticipated you.’

  In return he got my sheet of paper. ‘That’s more of what I need.’

  He scanned it. ‘Six men, six cars, telephone ta…’ He broke off. ‘Who do you think we are—the CIA?’

  I looked studiously at the back of my hands. ‘Have you ever been in the field, sir?’

  ‘Of course I’ve…’ I looked up and found him smiling sheepishly. The smile disappeared as he said irritably, ‘I know; you people think we desk-bound types have lost touch. You could be right.’ He tapped the paper. ‘Justify this.’

  ‘I have to do a twenty-four hour secret surveillance of three—perhaps four—people. It’ll be…’

  He caught me up on that. ‘Which three or four?’

  ‘First Ashton and Penny Ashton. Then Gillian Ashton. Just because she’s been attacked once doesn’t give her a lifelong exemption. I might be able to arrange with Honnister to have one of his chaps at the hospital if I ask him nicely enough. That’ll take some of the load off us.’

  ‘And the fourth?’

  ‘Benson. I pushed the lot of them through the computer until I lost them in Code Purple.’

  ‘Benson, too?’ Ogilvie thought about it. ‘You know, the computer might be going by the address only. Anyone living there might be classed with Ashton.’

  ‘I thought of that and it won’t wash. Mary Cope, the maid, lives in and I put her through as a control. Nellie has never heard of her. If Ashton is so damned important then he’s six-man-important.’

  ‘I agree—but you can’t keep an eye on four people with six men. I’ll let you have eight.’ He smiled slightly. ‘I must be going soft-headed. If Harrison was handling this he’d cut you down to four.’

  I was taken aback but rallied enough to discuss who we were going to use on the operation. I said, ‘I’d like to take Laurence Godwin.’

  ‘You think he’s ready?’

  ‘Yes. If we don’t use him soon he’ll go sour on us. I’ve been keeping an eye on him lately; he’s been right more times than he’s been wrong, which is not bad going in this trade.’

  ‘Very well.’ Ogilvie returned to my list. ‘I agree that Ashton’s telephones should be tapped. If he’s being threatened we want to know about it. I’ll have to get authorization from upstairs, though; but I’ll be as quick as I can. As for the postal surveillance, that’s trickier but I’ll see what I can do.’ He put his finger down. ‘This last item worries me. You’ll have to have a damned good reason for wanting a pistol.’

  ‘Benson’s carrying a gun in his oxter, and Ashton is carrying another. If they are expecting that sort of action I think we should be prepared.’

  ‘You’re sure of this?’

  ‘Dead certain. I’d like to know if they have gun permits.’

  Ogilvie considered it. ‘Under the circumstances Ashton might. I don’t know about Benson. I’ll check.’ I’d have given a lot to know what those circumstances were bu
t I didn’t ask because I knew he wouldn’t tell me.

  We settled a few more minor details, then Ogilvie said, ‘Right, that’s it. Round up your boys and brief them. I want a recording made of the briefing, the tape to be given to me personally before you leave. Get on with it, Malcolm.’ As I was leaving he added, ‘I’ll authorize two pistols.’

  I went back, and gave Larry a list of names. ‘Get on the blower. I want those men in my office ten minutes ago.’ I paused. ‘And put yourself on the bottom of the list.’

  His expression was a study in pure delight. ‘You mean…’

  I grinned. ‘I mean. Now get busy.’ I sat at my desk and opened the file on Ashton. It was very thin. The names and addresses of his firms were given, but his other associations were few, mostly professional men—lawyers, accountants and the like. He was a member of no club, whether social, sporting or intellectual. A millionaire hermit.

  The team assembled and I switched on the tape-recorder. The brieling didn’t take long. I outlined the problem and then told how we were going to handle it, then allocated jobs and shifts. One pistol would be carried by the man over-seeing Ashton, whoever he happened to be at the time; the other I reserved for myself.

  I said, ‘Now we have radios so we use them. Stay on net and report often so everyone is clued up all the time. Those off-shift to be findable and near a telephone. You might be needed in a hurry.’

  Simpson asked, ‘Do off-shift men go home?’ He’d just got back from his honeymoon.

  ‘No. Everyone books into hotels in or near Marlow.’ There was an audible groan. ‘As soon as you’ve done it report which hotel together with its phone number so we can find you. I’m at the Compleat Angler.’

  Brent said, ‘Living it up on the expense account.’

  I grinned, then said soberly, ‘I don’t think we’ll have much time for that on this exercise. I might add that this is an important one. You can judge its importance by the fact that Ogilvie raised the team from six to eight on his own initiative and without me having to needle him. In the light of our staff position that says a lot. So don’t lose any of these people—and keep your own heads down. Right; that’s all.’ I switched off the recorder and rewound the tape.

  Larry said, ‘You haven’t given me a job.’

  ‘You stick with me. I’ll be back in a minute—I’m going to see Ogilvie.’

  As I walked into his outer office his secretary said, ‘I was about to ring you, Mr Jaggard. Mr Ogilvie wants to see you.’

  ‘Thanks.’ I went on in, and said, ‘Here’s the tape of the briefing.’

  He was frowning and said directly, ‘Did you cancel a request given to Inspector Honnister for copies of his reports on the Ashton case?’

  I put the cassette on his desk. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I thought it was a lot of bull,’ I said bluntly. ‘It was getting in the way of good relations. What Harrison did was bad enough.’

  ‘Harrison! What did Joe do?’

  I related Harrison’s flat-footed approach and Honnister’s reaction to it, and then his views on providing extra copies of his reports. I added, ‘If we’re going to ask Honnister to provide a guard at the hospital we need to keep in his good books.’

  ‘Very good thinking,’ said Ogilvie heavily. ‘But for one thing. This department did not request those copies. It came from elsewhere, and someone has just been chewing my ear off by telephone.’

  ‘Oh,’ I said, rather inadequately, and then, ‘Who?’

  ‘Need you ask?’ said Ogilvie acidly. ‘The gentleman you met yesterday is sticking his oar in—which, I might add, he is perfectly entitled to do.’ He rubbed his jaw and amended the statement. ‘As long as he restricts himself to requests for information and does not initiate any action.’

  He pondered for a moment, then said, ‘All right, Malcolm, you can go. But don’t take any precipitate action without referring back to me.’

  ‘Yes. I’m sorry, sir.’

  He waved me away.

  TEN

  There was nearly an hour of bureaucracy to get through before Larry and I could drive to Marlow. On the way I gave him the score up to that point, and his reaction was emphatic. ‘This is downright stupid! You mean Ogilvie won’t tell you what’s behind all this?’

  ‘I think his hands are tied,’ I said. ‘This is real top-level stuff. He has a character from Whitehall like a monkey on his back.’

  ‘You mean Cregar?’

  I glanced sideways at Larry. ‘Who?’

  ‘Lord Cregar. Short, chubby little chap.’

  ‘Could be. How did you get on to him? Did you bug Ogilvie’s office?’

  He grinned. ‘I went to the loo yesterday and saw him coming out of Ogilvie’s room while you were in there.’

  I said musingly, ‘Ogilvie did refer to him as “his lordship” but I thought he was joking. How did you know he was Cregar?’

  ‘He got divorced last week,’ said Larry. ‘His photograph was splashed on the middle inside page of the Telegraph.’

  I nodded. The Daily Telegraph takes a keen interest in the marital ups-and-downs of the upper crust. ‘Do you know anything more about him, other than that he’s wifeless?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Larry. ‘He’s not womanless—that came out very strongly in the court case. But beyond that, nothing.’

  We crossed the Thames at Marlow, and I said, ‘We’ll check the hospital first, then go to the police station and I’ll introduce you to a good copper. How good are you at grovelling? I might need a few lessons.’

  The hospital car park was full so I put the car illicitly into a doctor’s slot. I saw Jack Brent, who was trailing Penny, so that meant she was in the hospital; he was talking to someone over his radio. I was about to go over to him when someone hailed me, and I turned to find Honnister at my elbow.

  He seemed quite cheerful as I introduced Larry. I said, ‘I got some wires crossed yesterday. My people didn’t ask for reports; the request came from elsewhere.’

  He smiled. ‘I thought the Super was a bit narky this morning. Not to worry, Mr Jaggard. A man can’t do more than his best.’

  ‘Any progress?’

  ‘I think we have the make of car. A witness saw a Hillman Sceptre close to Ashton’s place on Saturday afternoon. The driver fits the description of the suspect. A dark blue car and spring-loaded bonnet, so it fits.’ He rubbed his hands. ‘I’m beginning to think we stand a chance on this one. I want to get this man before Miss Ashton for a firm identification.’

  I shook my head. ‘You won’t get it. She’s blind.’

  Honnister looked stricken. ‘Christ!’ he said savagely. ‘Wait till I lay hands on this whoreson!’

  ‘Stand in line. There’s a queue.’

  ‘I’m just going up to see her. The doctor says she’s fit to talk.’

  ‘Don’t tell her she’s blind—she doesn’t know yet. And don’t tell her sister.’ I pondered for a moment. ‘We have reason to believe another attack may be made on her. Can you put a man in the hospital?’

  ‘That’s asking something,’ said Honnister. He paused, then asked, ‘Do you know what’s wrong with the bloody force? Too many chiefs and not enough Indians. If there’s a multiple smash on the M4 we’d be hard put to it to find four uniformed men for crowd control. But go into the nick in Slough and you can’t toss a pebble in any direction without it ricocheting off three coppers of the rank of chief inspector or higher.’ He seemed bitter. ‘But I’ll see what I can do.’

  I said, ‘Failing that, give the hospital staff a good briefing. No stranger to get near Gillian Ashton without authority from you, me or the Ashton family. Pitch it to them strong.’

  Brent left his car and joined us and I introduced him to Honnister. ‘Everything okay?’

  ‘She’s inside now; that’s her car over there. But this town is hell on wheels. She went shopping before she came here and led me a devil of a dance. There’s nowhere to park—I got two tickets in half an hour.
’

  ‘Hell, we can’t have that.’ I could imagine Penny being abducted while my man argued the toss with a traffic warden. I said to Larry, ‘I want CD plates put on all our cars fast.’

  ‘Oh, very tricky!’ said Honnister admiringly.

  Larry grinned. ‘The Foreign Office won’t like it.’

  ‘Nothing to do with the Foreign Office,’ observed Honnister. ‘It’s just a convention with no legal significance. A copper once stopped a car with CD plates and found a Cockney driver, so he asked him what CD stood for. The bloke said, “Cake Deliverer”. And he was, too.’ He shrugged. There was nothing he could do about it.’ He nudged me. ‘Coming in?’

  ‘I’ll join you inside.’

  Jack Brent waited until Honnister was well out of earshot before saying, ‘I thought it best not to talk in front of him, but Ashton and Benson haven’t been found.’

  ‘Ashton isn’t at his office?’

  ‘No, and he isn’t at home, either.’

  I thought about it. In the course of his business Ashton might be anywhere in the Home Counties; he might even have gone to London. And there was nothing to say that Benson was a prisoner in the house; he had to go out some time. All the same, I didn’t like it.

  I said, ‘I’m going to the house. Come on, Larry.’ I turned to Brent. ‘And you stick close to Penny Ashton. For Christ’s sake, don’t lose her.’

  I drove a little faster than I should on the way to Ashton’s place, and when I got there I leaned on the bell-push until Willis arrived wearing an annoyed expression. ‘There’s no one in,’ he said abruptly.

  ‘I want to make sure of that. Let me in.’ He hesitated and then opened the gate reluctantly and I drove up to the house.

  Larry said, ‘He’s a surly devil.’

  ‘But reliable, I’d say.’ I stopped before the front door, got out, and rang the bell. It was a fair time before the door opened and I was confronted by the maid who looked surprised to see me. ‘Oh, Mr Jaggard, Miss Penny’s not here. She’s at the hospital.’