by James Green
‘Oh, somebody yesterday on the plane. He kept on giving me dirty looks. I’ve no idea why. Maybe he thought I pushed in front when we boarded, or maybe he just hates Americans. How did the call go? It didn’t take long.’
‘Daddy’s delighted. He wanted to talk but I told him I had to pack, we can talk all we want when I get to St Anthony’s.’
Crazy bloody family, thought Charlie. Fancy naming your house after some saint, it made the place sound like a monastery. Although maybe it was, in some ways. With the exception of Elspeth, they were all religious nuts. They’d all got the Catholic thing bred into their gene pool.
‘I’m pleased Hugh’s pleased. It’s been too long since the old bastard saw you. You should have gone back before this.’
‘Well I’m going now, so let’s forget it. I’ll start packing. Can you arrange the flight?’
‘Sure.’ He went and put his arms round her waist and pulled her close to him. ‘And I really am glad the old bugger’s delighted. I know it’s not really his fault. If your family’s been Catholic in England for over five hundred years you’re entitled to have an oddball or two in it.’ He kissed her and then put his hands on her shoulders as if he were telling her off. ‘Now listen. This is an order. You two have a good visit together and forget all this for a couple of weeks, and when you come back it will all be over.’
‘Are you sure, Charlie?’
He let his arms fall and tried to look as relaxed as possible.
‘Sure I’m sure. When the FBI get here, it will all be over bar the shouting.’
She stood in the doorway smiling at him. He could see she had convinced herself. She wanted to believe him, so she believed him. Tomorrow she would be gone, he’d have got rid of her like Clarke-Phillips said, and at five he’d be told what the Brits were going to do. Then he could just sit back and enjoy the show.
‘Charlie, I’m so glad. It’s all been like an awful dream, a nightmare. But after it’s over we can forget all about it, can’t we? Like when you wake up and forget your bad dreams.’
She was trying very hard, so Charlie helped. He put his arm round her again and kissed her gently.
‘Of course we can. We can forget about it and get on with our lives like it never happened.’
It wasn’t really a lie, it was the truth, but in someone else’s suit. When she got back it would indeed be over. Costello would be dead and things could get back to normal. He would get back to being just another agent from the East who had defected, who had been bought and paid for by a Western government for betraying his country and was now hidden away in their affluent woodwork. A normal guy just like all the other normal guys. All that it needed was Costello to be dead. And that was all arranged.
The doorbell rang.
‘I’ll get it. Whoever it is I’ll get rid of them. It’s probably Lars seeing if we need anything.’
Charlie went to the door. It was the Comedian.
‘Yes?’
‘I need to have a word, Mr Bronski. Can we go inside?’
‘No.’
The Comedian switched on his false smile.
‘Thank you.’ He walked past Charlie and made his way into the living room. ‘Hello, Mrs Bronski, I’ve come to have a few words with your husband.’
Charlie had followed him into the room. He could see there was no point in trying to get rid of him. Best to let him ask his questions and then he would go.
‘I’ll deal with it, Elspeth, you go and pack.’ She started to move.
‘No, I would rather you stayed, Mrs Bronski, it would save me having to see you later. Shall we all sit down?’ He sat down and Charlie took Elspeth’s hand and they sat opposite him on the settee. He smiled at them. ‘Does anyone want anything to drink, tea, coffee, something stronger?’ Elspeth shook her head and Charlie ignored the question. ‘No, then we might as well begin. Yesterday you left Denmark rather suddenly, Mr Bronski. You went to Hamburg. Why was that?’
Charlie had to make up his mind very quickly. Opposing him would mean trouble. He didn’t mind trouble but it wouldn’t be good for Elspeth to see it, not now, not after all his hard work. He could feel by the pressure of her hand that she was already slipping. Cooperating meant telling him enough so he would accept it. On balance it probably wouldn’t do any harm, there was no way he could find anything out.
‘I went to see an old friend who was passing through Hamburg. We had dinner together at the Louis C Jacob hotel then she left to catch a flight to London. I stayed for the night and flew back today. My wife was here already. She left hospital this morning.’
The false smile became a false beam. Charlie thought he was overdoing it.
‘Wonderful. So complete and yet so concise. You can confirm Mr Bronski’s arrival here today, Mrs Bronski?’ Elspeth nodded. ‘Wonderful.’ He got up. ‘Then I’ll go. There, that wasn’t too bad was it? Don’t bother to come to the door, I’ll see myself out.’ But he stopped at the doorway and turned back. ‘Have you seen the papers or TV since the explosion, Mrs Bronski?’ Elspeth shook her head. ‘And your husband hasn’t told you?’
‘Told me what?’
‘We thought it best to put the explosion down to a leak from a bottled gas cylinder. We don’t want people thinking car bombs have arrived in Denmark, do we? No need to upset people. I do hope you’ll both cooperate if you’re asked any questions by the media or anyone else.’ But he didn’t wait for any response. ‘But of course you will. You’re both cooperating so beautifully, the question doesn’t need asking. Goodbye, and thank you once again.’
And this time he left.
Charlie and Elspeth sat on the settee for a moment. ‘What was that all about, Charlie? Who was that?’
‘He’s a policeman, he was the one who interviewed me.’
‘He didn’t behave like a policeman.’
‘No, he doesn’t. He has his own way of doing things.’
‘He behaved as if it was his house and we were visiting him. And his manner was, well, odd. I didn’t like it. He seemed to think it’s all a joke or something. As if it isn’t real. But it is real, Charlie, isn’t it?’
Charlie could see she was worried again. The Comedian had upset her. He had been right not to make waves.
‘It’s nothing, dear, he just wanted to check where I’d been, that’s understandable. The hotel will back up what I said. I met someone, we had dinner, I went to bed. Next morning I left. There’s no way he can find anything out. He seemed satisfied and now he’s gone. It’s over.’
Elspeth didn’t say anything. Charlie could see she was thinking. The Comedian had really upset her with his bloody act. Damn the bastard and his clever ways. He knew how to do the most damage in the shortest time.
‘Charlie, I think I’ve changed my mind about dinner. Do you mind if we stay in?’
‘No, we’ll do whatever you want.’
‘I’ll go and get on with the packing. Book a flight, will you, I’d like to know when I’ll be going.’
She slipped her hand out of his, stood up and left.
Shit, thought Charlie, that bastard has just put me back to when I came home.
He went to his desk and switched on his computer. He’d get her on the first available flight, even if it meant flying out tonight. The way things had gone, the sooner she was on her way the better. Damn that fucking Comedian. But I’ll beat the bastard, and Costello, and I’ll come out of this smelling of roses. Yes I will.
After a short while he had the flight booked. He went into the bedroom.
‘It’s at one a.m. I’m afraid, but I can cancel if you don’t want to use it. I took it because it’s a scheduled flight and it gets into Heathrow. After that one there were budget flights but nothing scheduled to Heathrow until much later. I don’t want you hassled around on some cut-price ticket. I want you to have an easy journey and be looked after. I booked business class. But just say if it’s too early.’
It was all a lie, but a safe one, she wouldn’t check.
&
nbsp; ‘No, Charlie, if I’m going I want be on my way. Will you come to the airport with me?’
‘Of course.’
‘Suddenly I’m very tired. I think I’ll go to bed when I’m finished packing. Can you call me when it’s time to go?’
‘That’s exactly what I was going to suggest.’
He went across and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
‘A visit to Hugh for a couple of weeks, some rest in that big old house and plenty of country walks will sort you out. Then when you get back here everything will be just as it used to be.’
‘Everything just like it used to be?’
‘I promise. Now finish packing and get some sleep.’
He left the room. Elspeth watched him go. She thought about the funny policeman as she packed the last few things. He didn’t seem like a policeman but Charlie said he was. She was frightened. Charlie had said everything would be like it was, he had promised, so she had to try and believe him. But the funny policeman had made it harder somehow, much harder. But she would try, she really would try. What else could she do?
TWELVE
When the doorbell rang Udo remained in his chair and Jimmy went to see who it was. It was a new rule. When Jimmy was in, he always answered the door.
‘You never know who it will be,’ Udo had told him, ‘some down-and-out who wants a cup of coffee and a sandwich, someone suicidal, someone asking the times of Mass, a baptism, a funeral or the postman. You just never know. Always be ready for anything.’
The ‘anything’ Jimmy found at the door was a man who said he was a police officer although he wore no uniform and showed no police identification.
‘Is Fr Mundt in?’ Jimmy was about to answer but he never got the chance. ‘Good. Is this the way?’ The man was past him before the question was finished. Jimmy suppressed his natural instinct to grab him and throw him out. He followed him to the living room. If he’d made a mistake, Udo could tell him afterwards. Besides, the man had all the earmarks of officialdom. If he was a loony, he was a very official-looking one. Udo looked up at the visitor from his chair. ‘Good morning, Fr Mundt.’ The loony didn’t wait to be asked, he sat down then made a slight gesture towards a chair. ‘Please sit down, Mr Costello.’ Jimmy looked at Udo, who said nothing, so he sat down. ‘I won’t have anything to drink, thank you, Father.’ Udo hadn’t asked him, but that didn’t seem to matter, he was making himself right at home. ‘If one drank something on every visit one makes, well, you understand, Father, I’m sure. One doesn’t want to drown in a sea of coffee and good manners, does one?’
Jimmy and Udo exchanged glances. Who the hell was this and what was he up to? It was Udo who asked the question.
‘Who are you and what do you want?’
‘I am a police officer and I want information.’
‘May I see some identification?’
‘But of course.’
The man produced a warrant card and passed it to Udo who looked at it and passed it back.’
‘You both visited Mrs Bronski in hospital two days ago?’
Udo nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘I understand it was your second visit?’
‘That is correct. We visited her on the day she was admitted.’
‘What was the reason for your second visit?’
‘I was asked to take her a message from her husband. He had had to go away unexpectedly and asked me to let his wife know.’
‘I see. Why do you think he didn’t he tell her himself?’
‘It was a trip to Germany, a business trip, but he’d wanted to surprise her and make a break of it for them both. She was in hospital so that was not possible. He wanted me to tell her that he had gone and would be back the following day. He felt that if he went himself he might not get away, she might not want him to go. He told me to tell her not to worry.’
‘And was she worried when you told her?’
Udo thought about it. ‘Yes, now you mention it, I think she was. At the time I put it down to something left over from the accident but, now I think about it, it could have been telling her that her husband had gone away suddenly that worried her.’
‘Was that your impression as well, Mr Costello?’
Jimmy had been studying the floor, trying to be invisible.
He surfaced.
‘Yes. She took it badly but tried to hide it. Considering what she’d been through she didn’t do too badly. But it definitely shook her.’
Udo turned to him. ‘You didn’t say anything at the time.’
‘What was there to say? Her husband had suddenly gone to Germany without telling her. He sent a message, didn’t come himself even though she was in hospital and it was the day after their car got blown up. It’s not exactly normal behaviour, is it?’
‘But he explained that.’
‘He told you an obvious lie. He wanted his wife to know he had gone to Germany but he wouldn’t go and tell her himself.’ Jimmy turned his attention back to their visitor. ‘When he left us it was just after eleven, about quarter past or half past, but wherever he was going he said he would be back the next day so he wasn’t going far.’
The policeman smiled and nodded as if congratulating Jimmy on his contribution.
‘Good. Tell me, when he visited did he have any luggage, a bag of any sort?’
Udo answered. ‘No, no bag.’
‘The Bronskis live in Nyborg, so if he had gone home to get things he wouldn’t have been able to set out for wherever he was going for over three hours, if he was leaving from Copenhagen that is. I wonder why he didn’t take anything with him.’ He paused but neither Udo nor Jimmy offered any suggestion, so he went on, ‘And if he was going to Germany, as he said he was, then I think he must have left from Copenhagen, the station or the airport, don’t you?’
Udo was studying the floor now so Jimmy responded. ‘If you say so.’
‘And did neither of you think it odd, travelling with no luggage?’
Udo looked up and shrugged. ‘I just didn’t notice.’
‘And you, Mr Costello. Did you not notice?’
‘It was none of my business one way or the other.’
‘But if it had been your business, Mr Costello, what then?’ Jimmy didn’t want to get into it, whatever it was. But this man was trouble. No ordinary copper would behave as he had done. He was making some sort of point by his behaviour and his questions. What point? Jimmy decided he would need to go very carefully. The visitor gave him a big smile as if to encourage him. ‘In your own time, Mr Costello, I’m not in any hurry and I do want to hear what you make of it all.’
Why not, thought Jimmy. Bronski’s up to something so why not give the police any bit of help he could. If this guy was the police.
‘My guess is that he wanted to get going as soon as he’d left us. He asked the day before about Mass times, that meant he planned to come to Copenhagen at a time when he knew he could talk to Fr Mundt and me. I think he set up some other contact or meeting before Mass which he knew would result in him having to travel to Germany at short notice. I think he intended to leave for wherever he was headed as soon as he’d finished here and got Fr Mundt to deliver his message to his wife.’
‘And why do you think all that, Mr Costello?’
‘Because he came into the church late. He knew the time of Mass but he got there only a few minutes before it was all over. If you’ve planned to come to Mass, why be so late unless you’d had other things to see to first?’
‘Yes, I see. Did he make a point of asking to see you both?’
Udo nodded.
‘And why did he say he wanted to see you both?’
Udo didn’t answer so Jimmy filled in. ‘He told us he needed advice about how he should deal with the police.’
‘A very silly story.’
‘A weak lie just like his other story – could Fr Mundt tell his wife he’d gone to Germany to see a publisher because he had to meet a deadline? Who leaves a wife in hospital after they both nearly g
et killed to see a publisher, deadline or no deadline?’
‘Who indeed?’
‘He probably went to the station as soon as he left here.’
The policeman sat back, smiled and raised his hands. Jimmy thought for a second he was going to clap.
‘Very good, very good indeed.’ The hands went back down and he put a serious look on his face. ‘But tell me, you seem very sure of what you are saying. Would that be because you have more information about Mr Bronski or his visit?’
‘I have no information about him or his visit. I have my own opinion on what happened. If I seem sure, it’s because I used to be a police detective in London and I got to hear lots of stories that were lies, although you wouldn’t have to be a detective to see through the ones Bronski told.’
‘Fr Mundt believed it.’
‘If you say so.’
‘But do you say so, Mr Costello? That’s the point.’
Jimmy looked at Udo who said nothing. It wasn’t his conversation.
‘Fr Mundt gets told lots of stories. He doesn’t have to believe them. Bronski asked him to tell his wife something, so he went and told her. Why not? He’s a priest, he tries to help people and it wasn’t much to ask, even if part of it was a lie.’
The visitor switched from Jimmy to Udo. ‘Did you believe the story, Fr Mundt?’
‘I suppose not, but, whatever I believed, he was going away and his wife needed telling. She had been in a bad way when I saw her the previous evening. Her husband suddenly going away wasn’t going help her condition. I thought it best that I was the one who told her, not the hospital, so I went.’
‘Do you agree with Mr Costello that he probably caught the train after his visit here?’
‘I’ve no idea. I didn’t give it any thought.’
The visitor switched back to Jimmy. ‘But you, Mr Costello, you think he went to the station?’
Jimmy nodded. ‘If he had a meeting in Germany he would have needed to get going whether he went by train or air.’
‘Let us say, for the sake of argument, he did indeed go to the station as you think. Where would you say Mr Bronski might have been headed?’
‘If he went by train I’d say Hamburg. There’s a direct connection that leaves around the right time. If he went to the airport he could have been going to quite a few places that are close enough to get to, have a meeting and get back, Berlin for instance. But I think it was the train.’