Seven Days to a Killing

by Clive Egleton

  ‘What about my son?’

  ‘Well, presumably, you had him removed to a safe hiding-place, and perhaps before very long you will be good enough to tell us where it is and then, some of us at least, can go home.’

  ‘You’re fucking crazy,’ Tarrant said angrily.

  Harper shook his head sadly. ‘You disappoint me, Tarrant,’ he said, ‘I expected reasoned argument from a man of your intelligence.’

  ‘Jesus Christ, that’s bloody marvellous coming from you. You’ve been mouthing rubbish from the moment I arrived here.’

  ‘I can make out a case against you.’

  ‘Charge me then, if you think you can make it stick.’

  ‘Don’t be in too much of a hurry. I’m prepared to take all the time in the world if I think it’s necessary. The man who set this up knew a great deal about the composition of the General Purpose Intelligence Committee and the financial resources of certain Government departments, and that man could be you. This man is also something of an expert on psychological warfare—he set out to condition us by deliberately killing two men in cold blood for no apparent reason so that when we hear your son’s voice on tape we unquestioningly believe that the boy is being tortured.’

  ‘Are you implying that David wasn’t tortured?’

  ‘I think he was, and that’s what sickens me about you.’

  ‘Christ, what sort of monster do you think I am? We lost our daughter mangled under a Leyland truck, and that boy is all I have left. If anything should happen to him, I don’t think I’d want to go on living. There are no limits to what I will do to get him back unharmed—it’s about bloody time you realised that!’

  Harper ignored the outburst. ‘You asked for half a million pounds in diamonds and a bill of sale, which perhaps you thought might make possession of those stones quite legal. It was also arranged that you should take the diamonds to Paris where you gave Drew and Vincent the slip according to a prearranged plan, met your contact and then handed over the merchandise. I don’t have to elaborate any further, do I?’

  ‘I suppose I got this lump on the back of my head because I banged it against a wall?’

  ‘We call it window-dressing,’ Harper said imperturbably. ‘I’ve seen more impressive wounds.’

  ‘All right, so I deceived you and they got the diamonds, but I had no choice. They are killing my son an inch at a time, and they will go on doing that unless I continue to co-operate with them.’

  ‘And they told you where and when to give Drew and Vincent the slip in Paris?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Before you left London?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘But not, I suggest, by telephone,’ Harper said blandly. ‘You see, we bugged your phone.’

  Tarrant said wearily, ‘They sent me a tape through the post.’

  ‘Where is this tape now?’

  ‘In my flat, but I wiped it clean.’

  ‘Because they told you to do so?’

  ‘Yes. Christ, I know it looks bad, but that’s the way it was.’

  ‘I shouldn’t worry about that,’ Harper said in a silky voice, ‘it wouldn’t have impressed me overmuch if you had been able to produce the tape. I could still argue that it was a put-up job.’

  ‘I bet you can even explain why I didn’t attempt to escape when I had the opportunity to do so.’

  ‘Oh, come on, Tarrant, you’re not that stupid. You didn’t want to spend the rest of your life running from the police.’ Harper propped both elbows on the desk and leaned forward. ‘You really are a bit of a shit, aren’t you?’ he said conversationally. ‘You hire two men for the job through the Contractor, both of whom you butcher to put the wind up me, and then finally you liquidate the Contractor just in case he should become talkative. We believe at least five other people are involved and all we want from you are some names and addresses.’

  Tarrant said, ‘And how about a bloody motive?’

  ‘Greed—and a woman.’

  ‘Alex? Now you really are insane.’

  ‘Not, not Alex. The woman we have in mind is a Mrs Barbara Lee Waterman.’

  Tarrant stared at Harper, his mouth dropped open and then slowly closed. ‘I hardly know her,’ he said thickly.

  ‘Well enough to sleep with her.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘She was seen leaving your flat early one morning.’

  ‘It happened only the once.’

  ‘That we know of.’

  ‘If you don’t believe me, why not ask her?’ Tarrant said angrily.

  ‘I wish we could, but she’s no longer in this country; allegedly, she is on holiday. We know she caught the Dover-Ostend car ferry on Saturday, nearly twenty-four hours before David was kidnapped, but since then we’ve been unable to trace her movements.’ Harper stood up and walked to the door. ‘But we are still looking for her, Tarrant, and you know the reason why. We are almost certain that she has the diamonds. Think about that while you’re alone.’

  The secret eye of the television camera high up in the ceiling spied upon Tarrant and his every move; every reaction was observed on the monitor screen in the adjoining room where Drew and Vincent were watching. Harper gave it a passing glance as he entered before he spoke to the girl seated at the telephone exchange.

  ‘I congratulate you,’ he said, ‘you were very convincing. How did you manage to disguise your voice on the second occasion?’ Harper already knew the answer but he liked to give the impression that he was interested even in the most minor details.

  The girl smiled warmly, patted her hair and said, ‘I spoke through a filter, sir.’

  ‘How clever,’ he murmured, ‘I would never have thought of that.’ He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ‘I don’t suppose you could make me a cup of coffee, Miss…?’

  ‘Runciman,’ she said. She stood up and gave him another warm smile. ‘I’ll make you one with pleasure, it won’t take me more than a minute or two.’

  Harper sat down in an armchair, waited until they were alone, and then said, ‘Well, Vincent, you’ve been watching him, what do you make of Tarrant?’

  ‘He was ice-cold to begin with but towards the end you had him rattled.’

  ‘But not badly enough to cough?’

  ‘He won’t break easily.’

  ‘So?’

  We bend his mind a little,’ said Drew. ‘Look, we kill the lights, leave him there in the dark, and then push the noise level up until he thinks the top of his head is about to lift off. He won’t be able to stand it for long because he’s in poor condition. He was complaining about a headache on the return flight and he had the stewardesses feeding him coffee and aspirins from takeoff to landing.’ He saw Harper shaking his head and tried a different approach. ‘Or if that doesn’t meet with your approval, we might try psycho-chemicals.’

  ‘That doesn’t meet with my approval either.’

  Vincent lit a cigarette. ‘I wonder if we’ve got the right man after all,’ he said.

  Harper looked at him sharply. ‘I hope we have,’ he said, ‘by God, I do. He’s the only candidate we’ve got at the moment, and I’d settle for a straightforward crime any day of the week. If he is innocent, we’ve got problems, and I don’t know where to look for the answers.’

  ‘So we’ll have to find his weak spot and make him crack.’ Vincent glanced at the image on the screen. ‘He hasn’t moved from that chair. I think he looks agitated—perhaps he really is worried about his son.’

  ‘If he is,’ said Harper, ‘we haven’t got a case.’

  Drew said, ‘We don’t seem to have very much on his wife— maybe we should ask Special Branch to do a little digging?’

  ‘We’ll get nothing more from them.’

  ‘Well, let’s try a little aggro on the separation angle. I’ll soften him up for Vincent. What do you say?’

  Harper said, ‘It might be worth a try. She’s a very attractive woman and I think he’s still half in love with her, but you’ll have to play it very carefully.’ />
  ‘I can handle it,’ Drew said complacently.

  Drew was a confident young man, full of ambition, who was not given to underestimating his own ability. He walked into the interrogation room, sat down in the chair facing Tarrant and ignored him while he pretended to read through his notebook. Occasionally, he would look up and stare at Tarrant as if seeing him in a different light.

  Quite suddenly, and without any preamble, he said, ‘When do you plan to divorce your wife?’

  ‘What business is that of yours?’

  Drew leaned back in the chair, pushed a lock of fair hair out of his eyes, and with a visible effort assumed a languid tone of voice. ‘I don’t think you quite realise the seriousness of your position,’ he said.

  ‘Oh, but I do. I’ve been brought to a place not of my own choosing, where I am held against my will and where I am being asked a battery of stupid questions by a berk with a phoney accent like you.’

  Drew managed a tight smile. ‘I’ve asked you precisely one question,’ he said.

  ‘An irrelevant one.’

  ‘I disagree. We know you have been having an affair with this woman Barbara Lee Waterman, and she’s not the sort of woman who sleeps around. According to our information, you two were quite serious about each other.’

  ‘Balls.’

  ‘Am I to take it from that remark that Barbara Waterman is in the habit of sleeping around, or that you were not serious about her despite seeing her frequently?’

  ‘Who told you that?’

  ‘Your caretaker. According to him, you said, "Will I see you for lunch as usual?" or words to that effect.’

  ‘We sometimes had lunch together but there was nothing permanent about our relationship.’

  ‘She was just a casual screw?’

  Tarrant said, ‘You’ve got a mind like a sewer, she’s not like that at all. She did once stay the night with me, and I think both of us regretted it afterwards. Don’t ask me to explain how it happened, it just did. We’d been to a New Year’s Eve ball and we came back to my place for a drink and one thing led to another.’

  ‘You knew her well enough to get the tickets in advance?’

  ‘It didn’t happen that way. She asked me to go with her because her partner had to let her down at the last minute.’

  ‘Well, I don’t blame you for going with her, she’s an attractive woman and, in your place, I would have done the same. After all, why should you remain a monk when your wife has been playing around?’

  ‘What the hell do you mean?’

  Drew feigned surprise. He was something of an actor and his performance was very convincing. His voice matched the visual expression. ‘She works part-time for Friedmanns, doesn’t she? As a story consultant for which she earns a pittance.’

  ‘Why don’t you get to the point?’

  ‘The point is that she is a very, very close friend of Peter Richardson, their publicity manager—you know what I mean?’ Drew smiled and wagged his head as if he were privy to some guilty secret. ‘Richardson’s had it away with her more than once in the back of his Triumph 2000.’

  The knife went in deep and Tarrant rose up out of his chair and drew back his right fist.

  Drew smiled easily. ‘That really got under your skin, didn’t it?’ he said. ‘Maybe you do care about her after all.’

  Tarrant sat slowly down again. ‘What do you care?’

  ‘You may have lost a child but that isn’t the whole reason for the bust up, is it?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Your mother-in-law doesn’t like you very much, does she? Perhaps she thinks you married Alex for her money?’

  ‘Something like that.’

  ‘How do you get on with her father?’

  ‘Not too well. Alex had a brother who was with the 18th Division which arrived in Singapore just in time for the surrender. He went into the bag and died of beriberi in Changi Jail two years later. The army isn’t popular in that family, and I’m a convenient whipping boy.’

  Drew stood up. ‘Keep on like that,’ he said, ‘and you’ll have our sympathy if nothing else.’

  ‘What happens now?’

  ‘You wait,’ said Drew. He walked out and locked the door behind him.

  *

  Before he became the middle man, Silk had been a sleeper, and a sleeper must of necessity be something of a schizophrenic. He had been a convinced Communist from the age of eighteen, but acting on orders, he had left the Party shortly after the Hungarian uprising of 1956, since when, outwardly at least, his political viewpoint had moved steadily towards the right. In the General Election of 1970, he let it be known that he had voted Conservative for the first time in his life. To strengthen his cover, he had joined the Territorial Army and Volunteer Reserve in 1960 and was now a troop sergeant in the Yeomanry Reconnaissance Regiment. For a total of sixteen years he had remained dormant, but on Friday, 14th January 1972, he was activated by the District Controller and assigned to an operational cell code-named ‘Drabble’ to act as the cut-out between McKee and Julyan.

  From Sunday onwards, in the interests of security, he was kept in ignorance of McKee’s whereabouts and was dependent on both men contacting him. Of Julyan he knew even less, and if by chance they had met in the street, Silk would have been unable to recognise him. At seven-thirty this Thursday evening his wife answered the call from Julyan and told Silk that a Mr Drabble wished to speak to him.

  Conscious that she was within earshot, he said, ‘Good evening, Mr Drabble, what can I do for you?’

  ‘It’s about that sample bottle of Hungarian Riesling you sent us. Of course, neither of us has had a chance to taste it yet, but my wife tells me that she’s heard from friends that it’s very good and so I’d like to confirm my initial order.’

  ‘I’m out of stock just now, Mr Drabble, but I’m expecting a call from the sales rep at any moment.’ Silk hesitated momentarily and then said, ‘Tell you what I’ll do—I’ll get him to drop a note in your box telling you when to expect delivery.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Julyan. ‘When might I expect to hear from you?’

  ‘Tonight.’

  Julyan said, ‘I must say you give a very good service.’

  ‘We try to,’ said Silk and hung up.

  The call from McKee came through a bare five minutes later and Silk was on hand to answer it.

  McKee said, ‘Any news?’

  ‘We’ve got a firm order for the Riesling. The customer is anxious to know where and when.’

  ‘Can you get a message to him tonight?’

  ‘Calvert can drop it into his box.’

  ‘All right then, tell him it’s the Lounge Bar, the Grand Hotel, Northampton, seven-thirty tomorrow night. He is to wear his identification badge and we’ll use the agreed contact procedure.’

  Silk said, ‘I suppose this will mean something to him?’

  ‘It will.’

  ‘What about us?’

  ‘I want you and Calvert parked outside Croft’s sweet shop in Towcester at two-fifteen tomorrow afternoon. About fifteen minutes later Tarrant will arrive in his Ford Zephyr UVY 421H. Shall I repeat that number?’

  ‘I’ve got it—UVY 421H.’

  ‘I hope you haven’t written it down.’

  ‘I’m not stupid.’

  ‘Good. Tarrant will be taking a call in the telephone booth across the road from the shop. As soon as he’s finished and left the immediate area, I shall want to speak to you in the same phone- box.’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘One more thing, will that woman of yours make any trouble?’

  Silk smiled at his wife across the room. ‘Janet’s going to her mother’s for the weekend,’ he said, ‘she won’t mind a bit.’

  12

  JARMAN ARRIVED IN ST MALO A FEW MINUTES BEFORE SIX AND CHECKED IN AT the Hotel Central in the Grande Rue. He asked for a single room with a private bathroom and was offered one on the second floor overlooking the street, which he promptly accepted. He registe
red under the name of Marcel Vergat, confirmed with the receptionist that he could stay on until the following Monday and then went up to his room.

  Jarman closed the French windows which opened on to a tiny balcony overlooking the narrow cobbled street, drew the blinds and locked the door before he started to unpack. Tarrant’s briefcase lay on top of the clothes, and he wished now that he had got rid of it en route and just kept the velvet bag which contained the diamonds, but, at the time, he had been reluctant to stop and find a secure hiding-place for it. He hung up his suits in the wardrobe, left a clean shirt and a fresh change of underwear on the chair and put the rest away in the chest of drawers. Loosening the cord around the neck of the bag, Jarman tipped the diamonds out on to the bed, and having sorted them into eight piles roughly equal in size, he then filled the pouches on the money belt. He took the belt with him into the bathroom, stripped off, showered and then dressed for dinner. He checked his appearance in the full-length mirror and satisfied himself that the receptionist would have to be particularly observant to notice that his waistline had become a little thicker in the space of an hour.

  The dining-room was a European melting pot. A party of six Italian nuns held silent court at one table with their Mother Superior whose facial expression clearly showed that neither the group of German students who were loud in voice and spirit, nor the young French couple who held hands while they fed each other with delicate slices of lobster met with her approval. She appeared to make an exception where Jarman was concerned, for every time their eyes happened to meet, she favoured him with an acid smile. Deep in thought, he returned her smile vacantly.

  Jarman was thinking about Melissa Julyan and wondering how far he could trust her. Until this moment, he had dealt all along with professionals whose competence he respected, but now he was being forced to deal with an amateur and his security would be at risk. He had never been totally enthusiastic about this operation from the time it was first mooted in Berlin, but he had been ordered to do it by the KGB, and if you were a Russian it paid never to argue with those people. He remembered that evening as if it were only yesterday.