The Main Chance

by Colin Forbes

  `I've changed my mind,' he told them as they mounted the steps. 'We'll let Calouste stew a few hours. Harry is going to Shooter's Lodge to keep an eye on developments.'

  He had just spoken when they heard Harry, who had run ahead of them start up his motorcycle behind the manor. He appeared on his machine, sped down the drive. Glancing back,Tweed saw the gates swinging open again. It did not surprise him when Lavinia opened the door. Her reactions were impressive. She had opened the gates for him before he'd used the speaker-phone. The gates had closed automatically once they were inside. Now she'd immediately reopened them to let Harry out.

  `Harry's off to Gladworth to fetch some things,' he told her.

  `Welcome back,' she greeted him with a smile. 'And the sun has come out again. That's for your benefit.'

  `You got here to open the gates twice,' he remarked. `Where is Snape?'

  `The idiot saw you coming, said he'd got something cooking on his stove and rushed off to the cabin.'

  `Lavinia, excuse me, I've got to attend to something.'

  Tweed tore off out of the hall, down a corridor, followed by a puzzled Paula and Marler. He was rushing through the kitchen when Mrs Grandy glowered at them.

  `If you want a late lunch you'll have to ask me nicely.'

  `Yes, please,' Tweed replied over his shoulder. `Ravenous.'

  He dived through the open back door and hurtled along the path leading to the cabin. Both Paula and Marler had trouble keeping up with him. He slowed his pace, held up a hand to warn his companions. He crept up to the cabin door.

  Paula peered over his shoulder. Snape was standing by the table with his back to them. He had a mobile phone pressed to his ear. They could hear every word.

  `Capricorn reporting. Tweed is alive.

  `Yes, you heard me correctly. I've just seen him `I promise you I have, sir.

  `No, no, sir. It was only a few minutes ago. I thought you said he'd be dead this morning...

  `No, sir, I can't help that. No, he wasn't wounded. He was walking briskly. Even hurrying. Hello? Hello? Are you still there? Damn him, he always does that.'

  Snape slipped his mobile into a side pocket, turned round. His expression of surprise and horror when he saw Tweed was quite a picture.

  `Don't worry. We heard every word. How is Calouste?'

  Who?... Who did you say?' Snape blustered.

  `Handcuff him, Marler,' Tweed snapped. He advanced on Snape as Marler forced the butler's hands behind his back and cuffed his wrists tightly. 'You are under arrest,' Tweed said, his voice grim, 'for obstructing the course of justice in a major murder investigation. Anything you say may be taken—'

  `I took down every word he said,' Paula reported, waving her notebook.

  `Well,' sneered the butler, 'your lady friend who also—'

  Tweed slapped his face hard before he could utter the obscenity. He stared at Snape with detestation.

  `We have three witnesses to your treachery. I doubt whether any barrister will be keen to defend you. I predict the judge will send you down for ten years without the option of parole.' He turned away. 'Paula, could you search his cabin for any more evidence while we're all still here.'

  Marler had been searching Snape. Inside one pocket he found a bunch of keys, handed them to Paula. She examined them carefully. She inserted one of the cheap keys into the lock of the gun cupboard. It opened the door.

  `Not much security for all those weapons,' she observed.

  `And that shotgun,' Marler added, 'is a very ugly brute.'

  Paula moved swiftly round the room, ignoring the flimsy locks. During her training at Medfords she had learned a lot about locks. She stood, staring round the room, then put on latex gloves and felt underneath the table. `Ah,' she said to herself, bending down. There was a secret drawer out of sight, about six inches beyond the table edge. She inserted the Banham key, opened the drawer, brought out a long, wide fat envelope.

  Laying it on the table top, she extracted a large bundle of high-denomination Swiss banknotes. She looked at Snape, who couldn't meet her gaze.

  `The wages of treachery,' Tweed remarked. 'He's going behind bars for a very long time. Paula, when we get back to the manor please call Buchanan, tell him what we have found, ask him to send a two-man police car down quickly to pick up Snape. Marler, I suggest you take him back to the kitchen, tell Mrs Grandy he's a spy and is not to be given anything to eat. As much water as he needs.'

  * * *

  `Next,' Tweed told Paula as they walked back to the manor, 'I want to interrogate Warner Chance intensively. He was short on answers the last time I interviewed him..

  While Paula went into the downstairs library to make her call to Buchanan, Tweed ran up the stairs, heading for the smaller library. At the top of the second flight he met Lavinia.

  Would you mind giving me a hand?' he suggested. `At any time, day — or night,' she replied with a Mona Lisa smile.

  `This box of tricks Bella used to summon people,' Tweed began as they stood by the murdered woman's desk. 'It's far more sophisticated than I'd realized. I came up on my own and fiddled with it. There's a system which records all calls she made and the response of the person she was calling inside the manor. In addition it records the exact time of the conversation' He pressed a small lever.

  Bella's request to Marshal to come and see her at 10 p.m. came over.

  He glanced at Lavinia, who had placed a hand against her throat.

  `I don't often show emotion,' she apologized. `Sorry, my fault, I should have warned you.. He stopped talking as they heard Marshal's agreement to be there by 10 p.m. Tweed pointed to a clock sunk into the desk which showed the timing of both people. 8 p.m. for Marshal answering.

  `Which shows what happened took place between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tweed remarked. Now I'll want to speak to Warner Chance. So which of the numbered buttons is he?'

  `Number two.'

  `Thank you'

  `And now I'll give you privacy to talk to him,' Lavinia said and left, carefully closing the door.

  Tweed hauled two armchairs close together so they faced each other. He was curious to see which door Warner would use to enter the study as he settled in one of them. The secret door slid back and Warner entered, walking behind Bella's chair. He wore a velvet jacket and velvet trousers, looking very smart but not best pleased. He sat in the chair facing Tweed, very erect.

  `What is it now?' he growled. 'And I hear Snape has been arrested. You've caught your murderer?'

  Not yet, but I'm getting close. Snape is just a greedy sneak.'

  `I always thought that about the fellow.'

  `Mrs Bella Main was murdered between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. We know that definitely now. You say you were in your apartment then. Surely someone must have come to say good night, or you had a phone call.'

  `Do you mind if I light a cigar? Thank you'

  He produced a morocco-bound case, took out a cigar, a pair of clippers. He took his time slicing off the end of the cigar, then more time lighting it with a match. Time for him to decide what to say, Tweed thought, but the blank grey eyes in the large head never left Tweed's.

  `No one came to see me. I received no phone calls. So no alibi. But I gather all the main members of both families also have no alibis.'

  A defensive note was creeping into Warner's voice, Tweed noted from his fresh remarks.

  `When Bella died she left a will appointing you and your brother as co-directors of a fabulously rich bank. Should something fatal happen to Marshal the whole business would fall into your lap.'

  `Now listen to me, Tweed.' Another whiff of brandy floated into Tweed's nostrils. He had been drinking and this was increasing the ferocity in his voice. 'You may make a major assumption there — that another will would hand over everything to me. There is Lavinia, an enormously capable lady whom Bella admired — and who is in charge of the assets in her position as Chief Accountant.'

  Now a new manoeuvre, Tweed thought — the casting of suspicion on someone
else.

  `You do have a most desirable motive,' Tweed insisted.

  Warner was puffing furiously on his cigar. He stood up. 'I challenge you to charge me with murder on the basis of no evidence whatsoever. I've had enough of you. Any more of this and I shall complain to Commander Buchanan that you are harassing me. Good night to you, sir.'

  Warner stormed out, this time using the main door into the library. Typical of Warner, Tweed thought, to use the device of threatening him to escape the interrogation. Had he been feeling the heat?

  Walking into the library he met Harry rushing in. His face was damp. He was also breathless and it took him a minute to burst out with the news.

  `He's gone!'

  `Take it easy, Harry. Who has gone?'

  `That swine, Calouste. I've really messed up this one.'

  `I doubt that, Harry. Would you like a beer? Plenty in the drinks cupboard'

  `No thanks. I arrived at Shooter's Lodge, took me a while to hide my motorbike in some brambles. Then I walked a bit further, found a good hiding place from where I could see the lodge. No sign of life at all. No lights on in the place. Then, after a little while, it happened.'

  `What did, Harry?'

  `A bloody great black car with tinted windows comes from the back somewhere. Roars straight out into the road and drives off towards London. Uniformed chauffeur driving, with one passenger in the back. Couldn't see who it was.'

  Calouste has eluded me again, Tweed said to himself. This is the result of Snape's phone call to him. He rested a hand on Harry's shoulder as he sat hunched in a chair.

  `Come and join us for dinner. Tomorrow is another day.'

  When he said that Tweed had no inkling that the following morning everything was going to explode.

  32

  Tweed was settling down to his meal in the breakfast room — as opposed to the dining room — when the mobile buzzed. He listened to Monica calling him from Park Crescent.

  `I have Philip Cardon on the line. Very urgent.'

  `Tell him to give me thirty seconds while I go somewhere quiet.'

  He hurried to the empty dining room. Closing the door he sat in a chair.

  `Philip, Tweed here...'

  `A priority-one crisis — if you wish to eliminate Calouste Doubenkian. I've booked all of you on the last Eurostar this evening to Brussels. He's at his HQ a long way outside the city.'

  `We'll come,' Tweed decided immediately.

  `I need to give you special instructions...'

  Tweed noted down what Philip said, then he was off the line Philip had abruptly broken the call. He made a brief call to Park Crescent, then walked back quietly to finish his breakfast with Paula and Newman. On a sheet from his notepad he had scribbled brief instructions. He handed them to Marler, who read the notes, then left the table immediately.

  `Trouble?' Paula whispered as Mrs Grandy brought in more plates of eggs and bacon.

  `Mrs Grandy,' Tweed said with a smile, 'could you help me by serving those breakfasts in the dining room?'

  `If you say so,' she grumbled. 'Means laying a table with a cloth and the cutlery.'

  `Of a sort,' he whispered to Paula, answering her earlier question. 'I'll explain when the whole team is assembled. In the meantime I suggest we enjoy a leisurely breakfast.'

  After breakfast he strolled with Paula into the dining room. Marler had moved fast. Seated at the dining table, eating the last of their meal were, besides Marler, Newman and Harry.

  Tweed's first move was to close the heavy oak soundproof door and perch a large tilted chair against it. Then he sat at the head of the table with Paula on his right.

  `First,' he began, 'I'll tell you what Philip said when he opened the conversation, then his specific instructions...'

  When he had finished, Harry asked, 'What about Pete Nield now holding the fort at Park Crescent?'

  `I've already informed him and he'll be joining us.' `I like that,' Harry replied. 'He watches my back and I watch his.'

  `I'm putting Chief Inspector Hammer in charge while I'm not here. I've also warned Buchanan to forbid him from arresting Crystal — on the basis there's not enough evidence. Yet.'

  `Is Snape confessing now?' Paula wondered. `Buchanan interrogated him and couldn't get a word out of him. So he's parked in a cell.'

  Well, we've got rid of the spy who was informing Calouste,' Paula mused.

  `One of the spies,' Tweed corrected her. 'I'm convinced there is another one hidden away in this manor. The main spy.'

  `Any idea who that is?'

  `I haven't a clue,' Tweed told her. 'Incidentally, I'll be telling Marshal, Warner and Lavinia that we have a lead in London and have to search different localities. Also that we shan't be back tonight. One more thing, Philip warned it's very cold in Belgium now So wrap up well.'

  They were on the verge of leaving, gathered in the hall, when Leo appeared. He plucked at Tweed's sleeve. `Could we talk together, just the two of us? I've stumbled on something very important.'

  `Tell me when we get back. I'm behind schedule.'

  `I wonder what he was on about?' Paula asked as they walked down the steps.

  `Another of his fantasies, I imagine.'

  `Well, nothing serious can happen here while we're away.'

  It was a remark she was later bitterly to regret making.

  33

  `The last Eurostar tonight leaves at 7.15 p.m.,' Tweed reminded his fully assembled team at his office at Park Crescent. 'So you all arrive in separate taxis at different times. Monica has distributed the return tickets she had brought over by courier. And maybe you should get some sleep. When we get over there I suspect it will turn into a dogfight.'

  `Can't I take my tool-kit bag?' pleaded Harry.

  'No!' Tweed was at his most emphatic. 'I've already explained Philip's warning. Calouste has under his control a certain highly corrupt section of the Belgian police run by an Inspector Balouster Benlier We shoot a policeman, they catch us, and we could be in a Belgian jail for six months. Yes, sleep would be a good idea. You need to be on maximum alert for the whole trip.'

  `You will be taking those deadly hands, old chap,' Pete Nield teased his partner.

  `No nap for me,' Paula remarked. 'I can last out for thirty-six hours.'

  Everyone except Paula left the office to go home. Pete Nield came back immediately.

  `I've checked the reports from overseas agents, sent replies after showing them to Howard, who approved. The tricky one was our main in Marseilles, who said he'd been spotted.'

  `I see you ordered him to board a cruise liner as a waiter, then leave the ship at Gibraltar,' said Tweed.

  `Which he has done. We can't afford to lose Roger. And we must guard his safety. He is one of our best agents.'

  `I congratulate you on your decisiveness.'

  `Maybe we could go up and see Howard with the reports?' Nield suggested.

  `We'll do that now.' He checked his watch. 'Time is flying. We will get something to eat on Eurostar. This expedition is going to be interesting.'

  `Interesting?' Paula queried sceptically.

  `Calouste has been a nuisance. He's diverted time I needed to investigate two murders.'

  `A nuisance?' She sounded indignant. 'He's tried to kill you four times.

  `That's what I meant when I said nuisance.' Tweed stood up. 'I suggest, Paula, you go home and collect some warm clothing. When Philip says "cold" he probably means Siberian. On the way back I suggest you call in at my Bexford Street place and collect some things for me.'

  `What I need is already at Bexford Street, so it will mean one round trip. In case you hadn't noticed, my desk is piled up with reports I must deal with before we leave.'

  `Leave it to you. Pete, I see you have an armful of reports. Time we went up to Howard and reassured him And Monica is going to the deli to bring back hot food for the three of us later. Napoleon said an army marches on its stomach, a most undignified way of going to war, I'd have thought.'

  It
was dark and 7 p.m. exactly when the taxi transporting Tweed and Paula pulled up at the foot of the steps at Waterloo.

  `You go first on your own,' he whispered to Paula as they alighted.

  She ran up the steps which led across the concourse to the Eurostar. Tweed deliberately took several minutes sorting out change to pay the driver and give him a generous tip.

  He knew the rest of his team would have arrived earlier, each by himself and at intervals. More of Philip's exact instructions. They knew the coach to board since the number was on the tickets.

  Tweed was wearing his fur-lined overcoat with an astrakhan collar, which Paula had brought him from Bexford Street. Mounting the steps, he descended the escalator and the gleaming train extended down the platform. Passing through security, Tweed boarded the correct coach. Second class, it was occupied only by his scattered team.

  Paula was seated in the rear aisle seat. Opposite her sat Newman, studying a book on radio technology. Marler was two seats ahead. Nield was halfway down the coach while Harry sat at the front, watching the door.

  `No trouble with security?' Paula asked as Tweed settled in the window seat. 'What's in that bulging briefcase?'

  `I simply said "business" and opened the briefcase. It's stuffed with files of useless papers Monica typed for me, plus pyjamas, shaving kit, a fresh suit. The things a businessman would carry for a trip abroad. How did you get on?'

  `I told the miserable old officer I was going to meet my French boyfriend. Wedding ring on his finger. Probably nagged to death by his wife. Hence his scowling at me.'

  The train was gliding out of the station when Newman got up, gave them a little salute as though being polite to strange passengers.

  `Tweed, I'm sorry I forgot to tell you something. When I was scouting Shooter's Lodge early on I told you about the sophisticated wireless system perched by a chimney. I got up there and clipped two key wires, which would ruin his system.'

  `Not to worry,' Tweed said with a smile as Newman began heading for the loo to cover his action.