There was a loud crack at the rear of the entomopter as the ignition cartridge in the Coffman starter fired. Signor Bruno was impressed that Herr Meissner did not jump with surprise. The radial engine turned over and quickly caught, barely spluttering at all before producing a powerful throaty roar. Signor Bruno smiled and patted his cockpit edge as he would a favoured dog or horse. Good girl. A quick check of the oil pressure, and he told Herr Meissner they were ready to go. His student nodded, and laid hands on his controls. With more confidence than was usual at this stage, Signor Bruno slid forward the lever that deactivated his own controls and enabled the co-pilot’s.
The man had the touch of a surgeon or a virtuoso. He gently engaged the drive shaft, until the entomopter’s wings started moving in sluggish horizontal figures of eight, carving infinities into the air. He opened the throttle steadily without jerking, and then simultaneously increased the collective to angle the whirling wings, making them bite. The suspension springs in the landing struts creaked, audible even above the engine, as the aircraft started to lift. A few seconds later, they were airborne, holding their altitude at about ten metres in a hover.
Signor Bruno was delighted. Such a fine student! Bravo! Meraviglioso! But he did not remove his hand from the control shift, because even prodigies make mistakes. From there, Herr Meissner brought her down to a gentle landing. Then up again, with translation into forward flight, to a halt, to another landing. Signor Bruno was full of happiness, although, regretfully, he knew that Herr Meissner would not be requiring very many lessons before he would qualify for his solo license.
They flew up and down the field, Herr Meissner bringing the Symphony to gentle hovers and briefly experimenting with backwards, and even, to Signor Bruno’s mild alarm and a tightening of his hand on the control shift, sideways flight.
After an hour, the lesson was over, and Herr Meissner landed the entomopter with great precision from where he had first lifted off. They unstrapped and climbed out, Signor Bruno extolling his student’s natural ability to the heavens. Herr Meissner said it was nothing, nothing but a good understanding of the principles at play and a calculated degree of handling with the controls, neither tremulous nor violent. Signor Bruno said such a balance was a rare thing in itself. Herr Meissner replied that it was the secret to how he lived his life.
They parted then, Herr Meissner bidding Signor Bruno a polite farewell and the promise of another lesson the following day, if Signor Bruno was available. Signor Bruno mentally reviewed his empty appointments book and replied that he was sure he would be able to squeeze another lesson in somehow. He watched Herr Meissner walk away towards the administrative block with pleasure and a distinct sense of financial relief. Things were definitely looking up. He set off for the field exit, intent on having something nice for lunch.
A quarter of an hour later, Herr Meissner returned from the administrative block, where he had occupied his time by locking himself into a toilet cubicle and reviewing what he had learned. He wandered around Signor Bruno’s hangar, as if looking for him, until he was sure he was alone. Then, pausing only to put on the same flying suit and helmet that he had so recently doffed, and to take a handful of cordite cartridges for the Coffman starter, he walked out to where the Symphony trainer sat patiently.
Then he stole it.
CHAPTER 16
in which much is explained and derring is done
“So now you’re an ace entomopter pilot?” remarked Count Marechal with mannered incredulity. He lit his fourth cigarette in a row and puffed smoke up into the thickening air of the salon.
“I wouldn’t presume to such a thing,” said Cabal. “Not least because I’m not sure what constitutes an ‘ace.’ I can take off, fly, manoeuvre a little, and land. I doubt that marks me out as a daring aeronaut, but if you say so.”
“And you managed a landing on a moving aeroship on your first attempt, did you?”
“In truth, I almost didn’t,” Cabal admitted. “I was very short of fuel on the final approach, and I doubt that I would have been able to make a second attempt. The lines across the roof — ”
“The arrestor cables on the flight deck,” Marechal corrected him with the testiness of the jargon martinet.
“Quite so. The lines on the roof were a nice innovation, but I think one really needs some sort of a hook on one’s entomopter to make the best use of them. The trainer I borrowed was not thus equipped. Or, if it was, I didn’t know which lever to pull to extend it. Not to worry. I set down fairly lightly, and the distinct possibility of falling off the front was happily curtailed by another entomopter that was parked up there. That would be yours, I assume?” Marechal paused in mid-drag, his cigarette quivering in his lips, which gave Cabal all the answer he needed. “I’d have them take a look at it before you use it again. I gave it a rather stiff wallop when I drove into it.”
“Oh, I’ve had enough of you, Cabal,” said Marechal, less languidly than he’d planned. He reached for his revolver.
“Don’t do that,” said Cabal in light reproof. “I haven’t got up to the point of all this, including why I came back.”
“We already know that. To play the hero,” said Marechal, although his hand paused, the fleshy base of his thumb resting on the revolver’s butt.
“I doubt that,” said Miss Barrow, and then looked uncomfortable when everybody stared at her.
“Miss Barrow is correct. Unflattering, but correct,” said Cabal, once again becoming the centre of attention. “I do almost everything for reasons that might be characterised as selfish. I regard my life as a vital thread in the ongoing march of humanity from protoplasm to — I don’t know, to be honest. Something slightly better than protoplasm would be a start. Therefore, anything that threatens my life now or later has to be dealt with. Paradoxically, that often means risking my life to secure my safety. The difference is that I risk it on my own terms.”
Marechal looked at him as if he’d delivered his little speech via a sock puppet called Mr. Mimsy. “Dear God, Cabal. Just how mad are you?”
“It really isn’t in your interests to kill me, Count, for reasons that will become apparent. That is, if I may be allowed to continue?” He took his pocket watch out and checked the time. Marechal interpreted the gesture to be a melodramatic expression of impatience, and waved him on to finish his story with an air of disgust.
“Thank you,” said Cabal. “Now, let me explain my understanding of the events that have occurred during this voyage. To be brief — ”
“That would be delightful,” muttered the count.
“To be brief … any crime is definable by the classic trio of motive, method, and opportunity. The recent occurrences are no different, but — to my chagrin — I concentrated on the most mechanistic of the three: the method. I thought if I could penetrate the mystery of how M. DeGarre was murdered in a locked room, then the other details would become apparent and the murderer unmasked. Well, I worked out how it was done, and it didn’t unmask anybody at all. The corollaries that it presented were suggestive, but I still could not focus on the members of the conspiracy.”
“A cabal, in fact,” said the count, much to his own amusement.
Cabal ignored him. “Opportunity is a difficult thing to make much of. With a police force to gather detailed statements and a timeline, perhaps something could be shaken out, but I doubt it. A large vessel with very few passengers, rattling around like peas in a coffee can. The periods that people are out of sight of one another are too great; any attempt to cross-reference alibis would be frustrated by the great blank areas.
“This leaves us with motive, and motive is critical here. Once I started to understand a few of the peculiarities of this journey, the reasons behind them weren’t far away.” He started pacing up and down: four steps one way, four steps back. “I had all manner of strange theories. The ship had Senzan agents aboard. No, it had Mirkarvian agents. Perhaps it had Katamenian agents. No, it had Senzan and Mirkarvian agents involved in some sort
of shadowed battle aboard this ship. It became more and more ludicrous, and eventually I discarded these ideas. That was a mistake, because I was just one variant away from the truth.
“I shied away from such ideas because they continued to snowball in scale, and there comes a point where reasonable suspicion tends to paranoia. That was where I drew my figurative line in the sand, beyond which I would not go. What is paranoia to the rest of the world, however, is business as usual in this grubby little pressure cooker of penny-ante countries with overarching dreams.”
Colonel Konstantin sat upright, breathing heavily through his nose, but he said nothing.
“It was the silliest thing that made me realise it,” said Cabal. “A marionette show on a street in Parila. It was a little play that wouldn’t appeal to you, as it made light of the Mirkarvian fetish for matters military. It made me think of something I saw almost the first minute I set foot upon this vessel, and that made all else plain. Specifically, why DeGarre had to die.”
Miss Ambersleigh, who had read any number of novels involving the solving of nefarious crimes by sundry Walloons and landed gentry, was on the edge of her seat in bright-eyed excitement. “Because he was a Senzan spy?” she blurted out, and quickly covered her mouth with her hand.
Cabal ceased his pacing long enough to look directly at her. “No. No, Miss Ambersleigh. There is a Senzan spy involved in all this, but it wasn’t DeGarre. No, DeGarre died for being DeGarre. For being exactly what he appeared to be — a respected and world-famous designer of aeroships.”
Now it was Miss Barrow’s turn to be confused. “What? He was going to build a ship for the Senzans?”
“No, he was inadvertently going to prevent the Katamenians taking receipt of a dreadful weapon of war from the Mirkarvians.”
“But they searched the ship?”
“Yes, they did, and that was a masterly stroke of misdirection. All those tons of potatoes and turnips and other root vegetables too grimy to enumerate. Was that your idea, Count?”
Count Marechal smiled, and wafted his fifth cigarette in a casual salute of mocking acquiescence. In fact, the idea had come from a member of his junior staff, but it is the rôle of junior staff to make senior staff look good and take the blame for anything that might make the senior staff look bad.
“It was so obviously an attempt to hide something that the Senzans were all over those wretched piles of vegetables in a second,” continued Cabal. “They were so focussed on them that they gave the rest of the ship only a cursory inspection. Even if they hadn’t been otherwise engaged in bayoneting carrots, they probably wouldn’t have noticed anyway. Not like DeGarre; as soon as he was on the engineering deck, he would have been asking awkward questions. Why are the engines so overpowered? Why are the bulkheads so thick? Why is the flight deck — thank you for the correct term, Count — capable of holding so many entomopters?”
Konstantin was looking around himself with growing realisation and astonishment. “Ach, du lieber Himmel!” he muttered, having just managed to suppress saying something a great deal stronger.
“What is it?” demanded Miss Ambersleigh of anyone handy. “I don’t understand all this engineering talk. What is he talking about?”
“He’s saying,” answered Miss Barrow quietly, “that this ship is not a passenger vessel. It’s a warship.” Now she understood the delicacy of their position. DeGarre had been a nuisance, and had been eliminated with rapid efficiency. The fact that he was a foreigner and a man of some standing had not stayed the killer’s hand for a second.
“A warship? You sent me on a trip in a warship, Daddy?” Lady Ninuka was scandalised. “You told me the Princess Hortense was the finest ship in the skies!”
“And so she is. Just not a passenger ship. Princess Hortense — ” Count Marechal cogitated upon the name for a moment. “That name’s going, I can tell you. The Katamenians will give it a proper name, something you can be proud to go to war in. The Invincible, or something. Or the Stormcloud!” He warmed to the name immediately. “Raining death upon our enemies!”
Cabal raised an index finger in mild admonition. “Pardon me,” he said. “I was in mid-exposition.” Marechal made an exasperated face, but waved him on. Cabal checked his watch again, and continued. “It was supposed to look like suicide, but mistakes were made and, from there on in, they multiplied. The attack on me was made in a panic — it would have been far wiser just to leave me to my own devices. I didn’t actually find anything in the ventilation ducting; I was all set to go back to my cabin and forget about it. A murder attempt spoilt all that, and — more important — emphasised that DeGarre’s disappearance was certainly not due to suicide. Now they needed a scapegoat, which Zoruk, with his unseemly display at dinner, was perfectly suited to be.”
“I still don’t understand,” said Miss Ambersleigh, quite bewildered by so much naughtiness in the world. “Who are they? You cannot be referring to this gentleman?” She gestured at the count, although, being a lady by breeding if not entitlement, she was careful not to point. “He has only recently joined us.”
“They?” Cabal looked at her with mild surprise. “I’m very sorry, Miss Ambersleigh. I thought that was evident. They are very nearly everybody on this vessel. All the crew, and several of the passengers. They have all conspired in three murders. They also intend to kill, let’s see, Miss Barrow, myself, and, I’m afraid, you.”
Miss Ambersleigh seemed to shrink into her chair, her eyes wide and her mouth open with shock. This could not be. Ladies need fear only ruffians. Not gentlemen. Never gentlemen. She looked beseechingly at Schten. “Captain?” she said in wavering tones, but he could only look at the floor, his shame apparent.
“You can’t blame the captain,” said Cabal. “Or not completely. The first two killings were carried out under his orders, which is why such a hash was made of them. The captain is not a natural murderer; all this cloak-and-dagger nonsense does not come easily to a military man, does it?”
Captain Schten managed to look Miss Ambersleigh in the eye. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t want any of this.”
“He was just obeying orders, you see.”
Miss Barrow looked at Count Marechal, but couldn’t bear to speak to him directly. “His orders?” she asked Cabal.
“Yes, but not directly. Marechal here had his cat’s-paw aboard — the ship’s very own Mirkarvian intelligence officer — here to make sure smuggling the Princess Hortense through Senzan skies went according to plan. She was also the one who grew suspicious that Cacon and, I think, myself were not what we seemed. Cacon was the Senzan spy I alluded to earlier. She shadowed me in Parila, was spotted by Cacon, who shadowed her, I shadowed Cacon, and — after a bracing round of ‘Here we go round the mulberry bush’ — she ducked out. Unhappily for Cacon, she took refuge in the very alleyway that led to the safe house where he was supposed to wait to be debriefed. He walked right into her, and she murdered him.”
Lady Ninuka became aware that a lot of eyes were on her. “Me? I’ve never heard such slander!”
“No?” said Cabal, all innocence. “There are probably men’s toilets in Mirkarvia where slanderous comments about you are commonly aired. If you pause to read the walls, you will likely find much that is libellous, too. You remember the difference, yes? Oh, sit down,” he said to the count, who had risen from his barstool to defend his daughter’s honour, such as it was. “You will get your chance to kill me anon. In the meantime” — he turned his attention back to Lady Ninuka — “yes, it would be slander, if I were talking about you. I have had brief but unpleasant dealings with Mirkarvian security. I understand that security and intelligence all fall under the same organisational heading in Mirkarvia — which is unusual — and go by the name of ‘Section A.’ Marechal here is the de facto head of it, but will the Section A field agent please stand up?” Nobody moved. Cabal tutted impatiently. “Oh, come along, Frau Roborovski. We haven’t got all day.”
Frau Roborovski folded her hands in her l
ap, but she said nothing. Nor did she need to; her lack of surprise and calm demeanour were all the reaction necessary.
“Hold on, Cabal,” said Miss Barrow, “you said the killer was a single woman. Frau Roborovski’s, well, she’s a Frau. She’s married.” She looked sideways at Frau Roborovski, who returned the glance coolly. Miss Barrow’s conviction wavered. “Isn’t she?”
“No,” said Cabal, disappointed at such ignorance. “Of course she isn’t. She’s an intelligence officer. Probably changes her identity six times before breakfast even when she doesn’t need to, just to stay in trim. Incidentally” — Cabal addressed Frau Roborovski directly — “what is your real name? There’s not much point in maintaining your alias now, and I dislike calling you by a nom de guerre.”
“Special Agent Lisabet Satunin,” she said in a clear voice. The fussy hausfrau image had slipped away entirely. Now she sat there, calm and confident as a chess player one move away from victory. “At your service.”
“Not mine, unfortunately,” said Cabal, “or I would already have set you on Marechal. Your ‘husband,’ though — You’re no agent, sir. When we first met, I spoke of dovecote joins when, of course, the term is ‘dovetail.’ I was a little distracted at the time, and I can’t even remember if I said it in jest or in honest error. I do know, however, that a real cabinetmaker — or even a spy passing himself off as such — would surely have reacted in some way. What is your rôle in all this?”
Herr Roborovski sat in embarrassed silence, unsure whether he was permitted to speak. Fräulein Satunin did it for him. “His name really is Roborovski, but he’s not a cabinetmaker. He is this vessel’s architect. He oversaw its construction and he will be spending some time in Katamenia to assist them in making her ready for war.”
“I like this,” Cabal confided to Schten. “I like being able to ask questions and get the answers without being lied to. I like the truth.”
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