Domino Island

by Desmond Bagley

  III

  Leotta stayed at the casino with instructions not to move out of the penthouse and Negrini agreed that if the police came looking for her, he’d keep her safe and out of the way. Hanna looked as though he was being torn in two. The conflict between his loyalties was in danger of breaking him. I watched him tell Negrini to keep Leotta out of police hands and it was positively painful.

  I dosed myself up with painkillers and then Hanna and I went into town, to the shop where I had bought a suit previously, and I picked up another off the peg and paid by credit card. San Martin showed evidence of stress. The tailor’s shop had a broken window. The police and the army were highly visible and the populace subdued. Even the thronging tourists appeared to be sombre, but I reflected that if I’d booked a fortnight in the sun and arrived to find the place in violent uproar, I might feel a bit sombre too.

  We came out of the shop and were crossing the pavement to the car when we were intercepted by a uniformed police officer. ‘Superintendent Hanna?’

  ‘Yes, Inspector?’

  The officer indicated me. ‘Is this Mr Kemp?’

  ‘I’m Kemp,’ I said.

  ‘Commissioner Barstow would like to see you.’

  ‘What about?’

  ‘He didn’t tell me.’

  Hanna said, ‘It’s all right, Inspector. Mr Kemp is in my charge.’

  The inspector said, ‘Commissioner Barstow wants to see Mr Kemp as soon as possible.’

  ‘Yes, you’ve given me the message,’ said Hanna icily.

  ‘The Commissioner said immediately,’ insisted the inspector.

  ‘I heard you the first time,’ said Hanna. ‘Is there anything more?’

  The inspector hesitated. ‘No,’ he said. ‘That’s all.’

  Hanna said softly, ‘Inspector, how have you been trained to address superior officers?’

  ‘That’s all … sir.’

  Hanna nodded and we got into the car, leaving the inspector on the pavement. He seemed to be uncertain about what to do. I said, ‘What now?’

  Hanna put the car into gear and inserted himself in the traffic stream. ‘Two can play at that game. Barstow did it last night and I’m doing it now. To hell with him.’

  ‘We go to El Cerco?’

  ‘We go to El Cerco,’ agreed Hanna. ‘And we go fast.’

  Hanna was laying his career on the chopping block. I couldn’t see him surviving in his job for very long if he went on this way. It was all right bucking a junior officer who probably didn’t know which end was up anyway, but when Barstow caught up with him it could be different. On the other hand, perhaps Hanna knew exactly what he was doing. Perhaps.

  Once out of town, he started to drive really fast. Sometimes there would be a jitney ahead, a beaten-up bus painted gaily and with slogans scrawled across it. The jitneys were the lords of the road and usually drove plumb in the middle, straddling the white line. But a touch of a button set the siren wailing, and the jitney would veer over, usually to bump heavily on the hard shoulder.

  I said, ‘When I talked to Joe Hawke in the Rainbow Rooms, he told me something of Conyers’s methods.’

  Hanna was sardonic. ‘Did you believe him?’

  ‘Not entirely. But he implied that Conyers, as well as controlling the police, sometimes used means of enforcement that were, shall we say, outside the normal legal channels.’

  ‘You’re thinking of the attack on Ogilvie,’ said Hanna, and he sighed. ‘That sergeant last night – I checked back. He and the three other men were all off-duty the night Ogilvie was attacked.’

  ‘Does that mean something?’

  ‘I think they were told to lean on Ogilvie a bit, to scare him. There’s nothing takes the guts out of a man more than a physical hammering. I doubt if they intended to kill him. That was an accident. But if he’d claimed that four cops had beaten the hell out of him, then there’d be trouble. So it had to be done when they were in plain clothes. That way, even if Ogilvie yapped, there’d be no comeback.’

  ‘What about me? They were in uniform when they attacked me.’

  ‘You were different,’ said Hanna patiently. ‘You were caught up in a riot. Somebody took a chance and hoped to get away with it.’

  I said, ‘Who would have given the order for Ogilvie?’

  ‘It’s not a matter of orders,’ said Hanna. ‘Look, someone in Cardew Street mentions to Conyers that Ogilvie’s asking questions, and isn’t that awkward. Conyers expresses the same sentiments to Barstow, and so it goes down the line. Then someone, somehow, does something about it. No direct orders beyond, maybe, a wink.’ His voice hardened. ‘But no one had the guts to wink at me.’

  I thought of the anonymous caller who threatened me and realised how important it had been that I’d made very clear what I would do if my movements were hampered. I had laid it on the line with both Roker and Hosmer and that had saved me. For a while.

  I said, ‘But who shot me?’

  ‘That one has me worried,’ said Hanna. ‘It doesn’t fit.’ He cornered with a squeal of tyres. ‘But we’ll come to it in time.’ He swung the wheel violently the other way. ‘If I’m given the time,’ he added grimly.

  ‘And if no one takes another shot at me,’ I said. ‘They may not miss next time.’

  As we approached El Cerco, I saw that the gates stood open and a uniformed policeman was at the entrance instead of the two estate guards. Hanna stopped and said, ‘Is White here?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘All right.’ He smiled tightly. ‘Don’t announce me.’ I saw that the sleepy look had come back and I felt a bit more cheerful.

  We drove down to the quay and got out of the car. ‘There’s no one to take us over,’ said Hanna and pointed to the launch. ‘But I think I can drive that thing.’

  Hanna was good at driving a car; at piloting a boat he was terrible. When we got to the island he rammed the bows into some stonework with a crunch. I grabbed a mooring ring and held on, and we tethered the painter to it. As we climbed from the launch, John appeared. He seemed perturbed by the fact that someone had come through the gate and reached the island unannounced.

  ‘Superintendent Hanna to see Mrs Salton.’

  ‘I don’t think Mrs Salton is receiving,’ said John.

  Hanna speared him with a gimlet eye. ‘She’d better,’ he said. ‘See to it.’

  John vanished into the house. Hanna said, ‘Loyalty is one thing. Common sense is another.’

  I looked at him sideways, thinking of the spot he’d put himself in. ‘You ought to know,’ I said.

  John came back in jig time. ‘Mrs Salton will see you, sir.’

  ‘Of course she will,’ said Hanna with a trace of triumphalism.

  ‘Come this way.’

  Hanna grunted in his throat. ‘That grandson of yours; you tell him he’s a damned fool. Tell him from me that if he keeps running with Joe Hawke, he’ll be in big trouble.’

  John’s eyes were steady. ‘I’ve already told him, sir. But I’ll pass on your message.’ He turned and led us into the house.

  Jill Salton had been swimming or sun-bathing. She wore a white robe very like the one Leotta had worn when I first saw her. I marvelled again how two women could rival each other in loveliness and yet be so different. Behind her stood Stern. Just as I’d advised. She said, ‘Hello, Bill. Inspector, what can I do for you?’

  ‘Superintendent,’ said Hanna flatly. ‘The time has come for you to answer some questions, Mrs Salton.’

  ‘And if I don’t?’

  ‘Then I’ll have to take you to San Martin and hope you’ll answer them there.’

  ‘Now wait a minute,’ said Stern. ‘You can’t do that.’

  Hanna turned on him. ‘Why not?’ he said, and there was a whipcrack in his voice that made Stern flinch. ‘I’ve questioned others in San Martin. Why not Mrs Salton?’

  Stern said stiffly, ‘I think you should pay due regard to Mrs Salton’s position. And besides …’

  Hanna
cut in fast. ‘I’m not impressed with money,’ he said uncompromisingly. ‘Well, Mrs Salton?’

  ‘This is outrag—’ Stern spluttered.

  ‘Oh, stop it, Abel,’ said Jill. ‘I’ll answer the Superintendent’s questions.’ She looked at me. ‘I said I would.’

  I chipped in. ‘Can I suggest we all sit down?’

  So we sat down while Stern chuntered on. I think he really did regard the ownership of a lot of money as a qualification for special treatment. In general he may have been right, but it wasn’t what was written in Hanna’s book, and Hanna always went by the book. Even if he had to write parts of it himself, as he had been doing recently.

  Hanna said, ‘Let’s get the simpler questions disposed of first. We know about Miss Tomsson. When did you find out about her, Mrs Salton?’

  Stern said, ‘Don’t answer that. Are you accusing Mrs Salton of anything, Superintendent?’

  ‘This is just a preliminary inquiry,’ said Hanna. He looked at Stern thoughtfully. ‘It is entirely up to Mrs Salton whether she answers any questions at all. If she does not do so, I will draw the appropriate conclusions and take the steps that I deem to be necessary. Do I make myself quite clear?’

  Stern looked baffled. What Hanna had said was quite true but it didn’t mean a damned thing. Jill laughed shortly. ‘Abel, you’re a fool. Just keep quiet and let’s get this over with.’

  Stern looked hurt. Jill said, ‘I first learned about Miss Tomsson on the day my husband disappeared. David and I quarrelled about her.’

  ‘How could that happen when you didn’t know about her?’

  ‘I suspected something,’ said Jill. ‘I challenged David with it and he admitted it. So there was a quarrel – as you can imagine. I actually met Miss Tomsson for the first time last night.’

  ‘I’m sorry about that,’ said Hanna regretfully. ‘My files were not as protected as I imagined.’

  ‘Yes, how did that happen?’ asked Stern.

  Hanna seemed even sleepier than usual. Perhaps the riotous night was catching up with him. ‘I suggest you ask Commissioner Barstow.’

  ‘Barstow,’ said Jill. ‘Of course.’

  ‘And after the quarrel, what happened?’

  ‘David went off in a rage and I didn’t see him again. Ever.’

  ‘You assumed he’d flown to the States. But that wasn’t right. Then, when it was discovered that the dinghy was missing, you thought your husband had taken it.’

  ‘He had,’ said Jill. ‘He was found dead in it.’

  ‘Can you give the exact time your husband left you?’

  ‘Yes. It was just after ten o’clock on the morning of the ninth.’

  Hanna’s voice was solemn. ‘I have firm evidence that the dinghy was still in the boathouse at three o’clock on the morning of the tenth.’ Stern shot bolt upright. ‘Can you suggest what your husband was doing during those seventeen hours?’

  ‘But that can’t be,’ said Jill.

  ‘Impossible!’ exploded Stern simultaneously.

  ‘What’s impossible about it?’ asked Hanna testily. ‘Did you examine the boathouse at any time, Mr Stern?’

  ‘No, of course not. I wasn’t here.’

  ‘Then you’ll oblige me by keeping quiet when matters of fact you know nothing about are under consideration. If you have any hard evidence, I’ll be interested to hear it later. Mrs Salton, did you check the boathouse?’

  ‘Only when I thought of it, when Commissioner Barstow was here.’

  ‘And that was on the evening of the thirteenth,’ mused Hanna. ‘The dinghy had gone.’ He stirred, then put his hand to his breast pocket. ‘Do you mind if I smoke, Mrs Salton?’

  ‘Not at all.’

  Hanna took out a cheroot and lit it. He examined the glowing end and said, ‘Do you like sailing at night, Mrs Salton?’

  ‘Sometimes, yes. David and I used to take a boat out at night occasionally. He liked night fishing.’

  ‘Always in a dinghy?’

  ‘Generally. David liked to sail. We have a big fishing cruiser but David rarely used it. He wasn’t much of a man for power boats.’

  ‘What about you, Mrs Salton? Did you ever take the dinghy out by yourself?’

  ‘I have done.’

  ‘At night?’

  ‘No, never at night. I wouldn’t go out alone at night. David was always with me then.’ She frowned. ‘Am I supposed to have taken the dinghy to sea at three in the morning? If Raymond said that he’s mistaken.’

  ‘Possibly. May I use your telephone?’

  ‘Of course. You’ll find one in the hall.’

  Hanna stood up and jerked his head at me, so I followed him into the hall. He said, ‘Mr Kemp, I like you very much but I don’t want you talking to Mrs Salton at this stage of the investigation. You might not give anything away deliberately, but you could let a chance word slip.’

  I grinned and said, ‘There’s the telephone.’

  He picked it up and got through to the shore, speaking in a low voice. Presently he put it down and said, ‘They’re bringing White across.’

  ‘But we’ve got the launch on this side.’

  ‘There are other boats,’ he said without interest, and lapsed into thoughtful silence.

  We waited half an hour in the hall, during which time John came and silently laid a tray of tea on a side table. He was going away when he turned and said to Hanna, ‘I told Jake what you said.’

  ‘Any answer?’

  John looked at me. ‘He said Mr Kemp knows all about it.’ He went away.

  Hanna said, ‘What was that about?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said. What was I supposed to know about?

  Eventually White was brought into the hall, escorted by a uniformed policeman. Hanna looked at him levelly for a long time, then said, ‘Remember what you told me when we met last?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Right. You saw a woman taking out that dinghy at four in the morning.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Who was it?’

  ‘I don’t know, sir.’

  ‘You said you thought it was Mrs Salton.’

  ‘Who else would it be?’ White shuffled his feet embarrassedly.

  ‘How long have you worked here?’

  ‘Ever since Mr David built the place.’

  ‘And you’ve always looked after the boats?’

  ‘Yes, sir. Mr David – he said I looked after them well. That’s when he gave me a raise.’

  ‘Now, listen carefully to this question. Have you ever known Mrs Salton take out a dinghy alone at night?’

  White frowned and his feet jiggled around some more. At last, after evidently painful thought, he said, ‘No, sir. I don’t recollect any time she did that.’

  Hanna permitted himself a snort of exasperation. ‘But this time you thought it was Mrs Salton. Why?’

  ‘Well, who else would take it?’ His brows knitted together. ‘I thought it was all right if Mr David was there.’

  Hanna was momentarily speechless, then he spluttered, ‘Salton was there?’

  ‘I don’t know, sir. I didn’t see him.’

  I thought Hanna was going to explode, so I touched his arm. ‘Hang on a minute.’ To White, I said gently, ‘Let’s get this straight, Raymond. You saw a woman in the dinghy in the moonlight. You couldn’t identify her for sure, but you thought it was Mrs Salton. And because you thought it was Mrs Salton, you assumed that Mr Salton was in the boat as well. Is that what you’re saying?’

  White’s brow cleared. ‘Yes, sir,’ he said eagerly. ‘That’s it exactly.’

  ‘But you didn’t actually see Mr Salton?’

  ‘No, sir.’

  ‘Or any other man?’

  ‘No, sir.’

  I said to Hanna, ‘I think that’s it.’

  Hanna made a sign to the waiting policeman. ‘Take him away,’ he said disgustedly. ‘Keep an eye on him, though.’ To me, he said, ‘Not just loyal, but stupid.’

  ‘What
now?’

  ‘We talk to Mrs Salton again.’

  We went back and found Stern giving Jill the length of his tongue. He was saying, ‘… and if you ignore my advice like this ever again, I shall have to think seriously about representing you.’ He looked up as we came in and shut his mouth like a steel trap.

  Hanna said, ‘Forgive me, Mrs Salton. I am obliged to put this question to you formally. Did you kill your husband?’

  Stern was horrified. ‘Superintendent!’

  ‘Shut up, Abel,’ said Jill, and stood up and faced Hanna. ‘No, I did not kill my husband.’

  ‘Did you take the dinghy from the boathouse on the morning of the tenth?’

  ‘No, I did not.’

  Hanna suddenly broke into a smile. ‘I shall be glad to accept those answers, Mrs Salton. I’m sorry to have put you through a trying time. However, I have to warn you that you may be questioned again.’

  ‘I’ll be ready,’ she said.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Hanna, and made as if to go. Apparently as an afterthought, he turned back and said, ‘By the way, are there any other women here?’

  Jill considered for a moment. ‘There’s the maid and the housekeeper, and Anna, of course.’

  ‘Your cook?’ I said. She nodded.

  ‘Do they live in the house?’ asked Hanna.

  Jill shook her head. ‘No, they all go home when their work is done for the day. Mrs Forsyth used to live here. Until …’

  ‘Salton’s secretary,’ I reminded him. ‘About sixty.’

  ‘What about on the rest of the estate?’ said Hanna.

  ‘No,’ said Jill. ‘Oh yes, there’s Mrs Haslam, the pilot’s wife.’

  Mrs Haslam. Something went off at the back of my mind – something I’d heard recently. I thought about it but nothing came, nothing except a ferocious headache exactly like the one I’d had the previous evening.

  NINE

  I

  We drove back to San Martin. Hanna didn’t want to talk to Mrs Haslam. ‘I don’t know enough yet,’ he said.