Dangerous Inheritance

by Dennis Wheatley

  It struck the car like a cataract, a solid sheet of water reduced visibility to a few yards and Truss was compelled to pull up at the side of the road. For three-quarters of an hour the rain sheeted down and now and then, between the crashes of thunder, they caught the sharp crack of trees felled by lightning. When the storm eased a little they went on but now with caution as, every half mile or so, big branches partly blocked the road.

  Twenty minutes later there came another cloudburst but this time, luckily, they were just entering a small town, and a white man, already drenched to the skin, who had been shopping there, very decently ran out of a store to tell them that there was a rest house only a few hundred yards’ distant.

  Nosing the car slowly through the veil of descending water, they managed to reach it then, soaked through in a moment, ran inside. As it was now after midday they decided to have an early lunch, then for another hour or more they sat impatiently watching the downpour.

  By half past two it had ceased, and with extraordinary swiftness the black clouds rolled away to be replaced by blue skies and brilliant sunshine. But the heat of the sun on the sodden jungle soon caused steam to rise almost with the density of fog. Added to which, for several hundred yards in some of the valleys the road lay under a sheet of water, in places a foot deep; while now and then rushing streams eddied and gurgled from one side of the road to the other. In consequence a journey that they should have done in three hours took them over eight, and it was half past five before they reached Colombo.

  On arriving at the Galle Face, still damp and tired from their frustrating drive, but brimming over with excitement at the goods news they brought, they went straight up to de Richleau’s sitting room.

  With him he had Nicholas van Goens, and the Duke said at once, ‘You may speak freely in front of our friend here, because I have taken him into our confidence. But I have bad news for you.’

  His face was so grave that for a moment they feared to ask for it, then he added, ‘Lalita has struck sooner than we expected. Douglas was arrested yesterday afternoon.’

  ‘Oh no!’ exclaimed Fleur.

  ‘Yes, my child. This is a wretched business. But, of course, his father is doing everything possible to get him released.’

  Truss nodded. ‘Yes, that’s bad. But not so bad as it might be now we’ve got the goods on Lalita. Mirabelle was right about Vinala Fernando having been buried in the pigsty. We found her skull and I photographed it. We’re all set now to have Lalita charged with murder.’

  De Richleau shook his head. ‘No, Truss; we’ve lost the game there, too. I don’t doubt that he and his father murdered her, but there’s not one scrap of evidence to prove they did, except that Mirabelle de Mendoza could have given about the bloodstains on their clothes. She——’

  ‘Could have!’ Fleur interjected sharply.

  ‘Yes. Van Goens has just been telling me that her dead body was found in the lake this morning.’

  20

  Well Planned, but…

  Fleur and Truss stared aghast at de Richleau. After a moment he said:

  ‘It’s a tragic business. That poor woman: such a pleasant creature both to talk to and to look at. Only yesterday, full of life and with high hopes that she was about to win for herself a happy future. Then last night stabbed in the back and thrown in the city lake to become food for the fishes.’

  ‘How awful,’ Fleur murmured. ‘And with her has gone our one chance to get the better of Lalita.’

  ‘Surely there’s still a case against him?’ Truss argued. ‘We can produce the photographs I took, and it’s obvious that Vinala was murdered. The motive stands out a mile. If the d’Azavedos hadn’t done her in she might have endorsed her husband’s confession that the will was a forgery. And living so near her they had ample opportunity.’

  It was van Goens who answered, ‘That’s not enough, sir. We wouldn’t have a hope of getting a verdict.’

  ‘But Douglas,’ said Fleur quickly. ‘Tell me about him.’

  ‘He was arrested in his office soon after lunch yesterday,’ the Duke replied. ‘Then they went to your house, turned it upside down and took away all his papers. We can’t be certain, of course, but it seems highly probable that it was that which led to Mirabelle’s death. You will recall my fears that one of Douglas’s clerks might be in Lalita’s pay, and my asking him to draw up the deed of gift himself at home. All the odds are that Lalita found it among Douglas’s papers. A glance at it would have been enough to tell him that Mirabelle was double-crossing him. Being the villainous devil he is that would have been quite sufficient to make him decide to pay some thug to put her out of the way.’

  ‘And now … and now,’ Fleur choked with tears in her eyes. ‘Now he has Douglas in prison he will have gloated over him about …’ She had been going to say ‘Truss and me’, but, realising that van Goens was present, hastily checked herself.

  ‘I doubt if he will have had time to interrogate your husband yet, Madame,’ van Goens said. ‘He will have been too occupied with a bigger fish and a number of other people that the Government are out to get.’

  ‘D’you mean that Lalita’s excuse for roping him in is that he has taken part in a conspiracy?’ Truss asked.

  ‘Well, not exactly. This concerns smuggling. Some time ago two ships of the Royal Ceylon Navy were sent out on a cruise to the Far East, to show the flag, so to speak. Since their return there have been rumours that they brought back a large quantity of dutiable goods and have been gradually bringing them ashore. The senior officer on the cruise was Rear-Admiral Royce de Mel. He is reputed to be an efficient man, and it’s very probable that any smuggling that did occur was done without his knowledge. But as he is a Roman Catholic the Bandaranaike crowd have got it in for him. He and six of his officers were interdicted this morning and since then, I gather, Lalita and his Security boys have been hard at it searching the two ships from bridge to keel for any contraband that may still be in them.’

  Truss frowned. ‘But what could Mr. Rajapakse have had to do with a racket of this kind?’

  ‘I don’t suppose he had anything at all to do with it, sir. But he is accused of receiving some of the smuggled goods. I expect d’Azavedo bribed one of the servants to plant them in the house. He has used this affair only as a means of pulling in Mr. Rajapakse.’

  ‘Well, anyway, it’s not a very serious charge.’

  ‘But that’s not the point!’ Fleur burst out. ‘You know what Mirabelle said Lalita meant to do to him once he got him in prison.’

  De Richleau nodded and said to van Goens, ‘We have reason to fear that d’Azavedo may use his powers to induce some of the hardened criminals among the prisoners to set on Mr. Rajapakse and do him a serious injury. What do you think the chances are of that happening?’

  ‘It could happen, Your Grace. Of course, until he has been brought to trial and convicted he will be kept in a separate cell and, short of an organised riot, as long as he is in it he should be safe. But the prisoners are taken out for exercise every day and in the yard there are sometimes nasty scrimmages. I wouldn’t put it past d’Azavedo to arrange one and have him got at that way.’

  ‘Oh, this is too terrible!’ Fleur cried, dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief. ‘We must get him out! Somehow we must get him out. Why hasn’t his father done anything?’

  ‘He has done all he can,’ de Richleau said. ‘I went to see him this morning and asked him what hopes there were of securing Douglas’s release. But it seems that the Security Police have special powers to veto the release on bail of anyone they have arrested until they have completed their investigations.’

  Looking miserably at him Fleur declared, ‘I can’t go home with you on Friday now. I can’t! To desert Douglas at a time like this would be an awful thing to do. I’ve simply got to remain here as long as he is in prison.’

  ‘Of course, my child. And while you are in this trouble nothing would induce me to leave you.’

  ‘But, Greyeyes; you
ought to go. You are threatened, too. Truss joining his father in Manila, or somewhere, must give way to your safety, and he can see you back to Europe.’

  ‘Have a heart!’ Truss protested. ‘As though either of us would run out on you at a time like this.’

  ‘But it’s Greyeyes’ safety that matters. He must go.’

  The Duke smiled at her and laid a hand on her arm. ‘Thank you, my dear, for your concern for me. But in my long life I have been threatened many times without coming to grief. And I don’t think that my ability to look after myself is likely to fail me now. What we have to worry about is how we can get Douglas out of prison; and very quickly, before harm comes to him.’

  Turning to van Goens, he went on, ‘As an ex-Inspector of Police you must be well informed about conditions in the prisons of Ceylon. How frequently are escapes made from them?’

  ‘Fairly often, Your Grace,’ van Goens replied. ‘The prison system here is nowhere near as efficient as it is in Europe. The warders are a poor lot, ill-trained and lacking discipline. Many of the prisoners are desperate men and hold their lives cheap, so some of the warders will turn their backs rather than risk their own lives when a cut-throat makes up his mind to break out. And, of course, as is the case in all Asiatic countries, many of the officials are open to bribery.’

  ‘That is what I had in mind. But I am in no position to handle such an affair. You know the ropes; and money is no object, either for bribes or for any reward you care to ask, if you could enable Mr. Rajapakse to escape.’

  Van Goens hesitated for a moment. ‘It might be done, Your Grace; and it would be a pleasure to help you, because the Bandaranaike Government most unfairly put an end to what was for me a promising career. But I have to think of my future. My present prospects are not very bright, but at least they are better than if I were caught aiding a prisoner to escape. You must allow me to think it over.’

  ‘But time is so important,’ Fleur said quickly. ‘If you could, now that I can still dispose of the Olenevka property, I’d willingly make it over to you.’

  Raising his eyebrows van Goens exclaimed, ‘But, Madame, I understand it to be worth two hundred thousand rupees. That is an enormous sum to an ex-Inspector of Police. Too much; much too much for any service I can render.’

  De Richleau laughed and said, ‘Only a few years ago it was said to be worth over five hundred thousand rupees, and it may become so again. But I am heartily sick of this damnable property I inherited, and Mrs. Rajapakse has the right to dispose of it as she wishes.’

  ‘Whatever its worth, you’re welcome to it,’ Fleur declared, ‘if only you can arrange my husband’s escape. Once he is free I … we, that is, will probably go to live in another country; so I’ll not be able to get any money from it. But you might, and I’d wish you luck.’

  ‘Madame,’ van Goens said gravely, ‘you are now under the stress of great emotion. So I would not hold you to this. I ask only the assurance of His Grace and yourself that should I get into serious trouble through attempting to aid Mr. Rajapakse you will see to it that my wife is adequately provided for, and when the trouble is past take steps that will give me a good chance to earn a decent living.’

  ‘Nothing could be fairer,’ said the Duke, ‘and you have my word on that.’

  So far, since the arrival of Fleur and Truss, all of them except de Richleau had remained standing. Now the others sat down while Truss provided them with drinks, then they set about discussing possible ways in which Douglas might be aided to escape.

  Having been stationed in Colombo for some years before he had been transferred to Ratnapura, van Goens knew the prison well and the methods by which the most daring prisoners had succeeded in getting out. But even if instructions could be smuggled in to Douglas, which van Goens thought would not be very difficult, they did not feel that he was the type of man to take big risks readily. It was, moreover, probable that as de Richleau had told him of Lalita’s evil intentions towards him, he would suspect such a message to be a trap designed to lead him to expose himself, so that he might be shot while trying to escape.

  In consequence, they came to the conclusion that their best hope lay in the classic method of sending someone in to see him, with whom he could exchange clothes then walk out.

  Van Goens said that Douglas, not yet having been convicted, would be allowed to receive a limited number of visitors in his cell and that, in the case of high-class prisoners, it was not unusual for their visitors to bring a servant with them, carrying a big basket containing food and clean clothes. The plan that emerged was, therefore, that someone known to Douglas should visit him, and be accompanied by a man, acting as a servant, who would be willing to remain behind.

  Truss immediately volunteered to be the visitor.

  At that Fleur took alarm and cried, ‘No, no! You owe nothing to Douglas, and if you were caught you would be imprisoned too. I’m his wife. That will be my job.’

  He smiled at her. ‘If anyone is going to be imprisoned I’d rather it were me than you. And you’re wrong about my owing nothing to Douglas. I’ve never forgotten that time in Corfu when we all went for a midnight swim. It wasn’t my fault he didn’t drown. I’ve had that on my conscience for a long time and I’d like the chance to even things up. No arguing now. If you’re a good girl I’ll let you row in to the extent of waiting in a car outside ready to aid our getaway.’

  De Richleau nodded. ‘Yes, my child. That would be much the best way. Asiatics have no great opinion of women as their companions in dangerous situations, and a man who would otherwise be willing to act as a substitute for Douglas might well refuse to go into the prison with you.’ Turning to van Goens he asked, ‘What do you think the chances are of your being able to secure such a man during the next twenty-four hours?’

  ‘He will have to face a prison sentence for abetting an escape,’ van Goens replied, ‘but if he were tied up and gagged before Mr. Rajapakse left his cell it should not be a very long one, and he might even get off. There are plenty of ne’er-do-wells in Colombo who would be willing to do that for, say, two thousand rupees. The difficulty will be to find one who resembles Mr. Rajapakse in height and build. But my knowledge of the criminal classes here is fairly extensive and I have two men in mind either of whom, if he is still about, might serve our purpose. I will go round the dock area tonight and see if I can run one or other of them to earth.’

  ‘Good. The next thing is, how are we to proceed should the escape prove successful?’

  ‘The attempt should be made as late as possible in the evening. That, I think, could be arranged by a bribe to one of the senior warders. You will appreciate that whoever gives it to him is liable afterwards to be connected with the escape. Naturally, I wish to avoid that if possible, but Mr. Van Ryn would be suspected in any case because he is to introduce the substitute, so I suggest——’

  ‘O.K.’ Truss put in. ‘If you get me his name and he is fixable, I’ll fix him.’

  ‘Then, if you can make a clean get-away in Mrs. Rajapakse’s car, you should have all night before the substitution is discovered and the police are warned everywhere to keep a lookout for you and Mr. Rajapakse. That should enable you to get to some sparsely populated jungle area. At some suitable place you would be wise to abandon the car. As you have plenty of money you should be able to find some lonely dwelling where for a good payment the peasant owner would take you in and keep you there in hiding for some weeks until the hunt for you has died down.’

  ‘No,’ said the Duke. ‘That will not do. Given suitable clothes, Mr. Rajapakse could pass himself off as a peasant; but not Mrs. Rajapakse nor Mr. Van Ryn, even if they stained their faces and hands. After a while it is certain that it would get about in the neighbourhood that two white people were in hiding there, and a little later it would reach the ears of the police. Again, they could not walk very far after abandoning the car, and if it were found and identified that would lead to a search of the whole area. No. Somehow they must leave the country.�
��

  ‘That would be next to impossible, Your Grace. All the ports will be watched.’

  ‘We could go to the far north,’ Fleur suggested, ‘and get away across Adam’s Bridge.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Truss enquired.

  ‘It almost connects Ceylon with India. Long narrow capes run out from both into the Palk Strait. The twenty miles between them is impassable by all but ships of shallow draught, and they are dotted with rocks and little islands. If we could buy a small boat up there we ought to be able to make the crossing.’

  ‘You might, Madame,’ van Goens agreed. ‘But even at night you would be taking a big risk. It is the age-old road of invasion from India, both in war and peace; and the Government here does its utmost to prevent illegal immigration; more so than ever now that they are so strongly averse to letting Tamils into the country. A score of guard-boats are always on watch there and as it is illegal to leave Ceylon without a permit one of them might very well pick you up and require to see your papers.’

  ‘To go out by air is the only thing then,’ the Duke said with a frown. ‘I did not wish to involve Truss’s father and your Uncle Simon in this, in case you all got caught. But we shall have to. We will cable them urgently to return at once. If the escape fails they will have had their flight back for nothing; but that cannot be helped. If it succeeds we will arrange a rendezvous in some desolate place where the ‘plane can land and pick you up.’

  Truss nodded. ‘That’s by far the best idea yet, sir. And I’m sure my old … my father would come hustling back here the moment he hears we’re in trouble. I’ll get a code cable off to him this evening through our agent here.’

  ‘Good. We must now decide on a suitable place for the rendezvous. There is a map of Ceylon in the bookcase, Truss. Be good enough to get it for us.’