Jig (82 page)

“And even if you could remember more, you wouldn't tell me,” Pagan said. He tilted the bottle and a few capsules slid on to the table. He examined them carefully, checking the name of the manufacturer, Lilley, imprinted on the side of each one.

“I've told you everything,” Kiviranna said.

“I don't think so, Jake.” Pagan pushed one of the pills across the table to Kiviranna, who picked it up quickly and tossed it into his mouth. “Enjoy. We'll talk again tomorrow. Maybe you'll find your memory has improved after a good night's sleep.”

Pagan put the medicine bottle in his pocket together with Kiviranna's passport, stood up, walked towards the door. He was struck by fatigue but he knew that it was something he was going to have to carry around with him for some hours yet.

“What if I don't have anything new to tell you in the morning?” Kiviranna asked. “What then?”

Pagan turned, looked at the man, smiled in a thin way. He didn't answer the question but hoped that his smile, so devoid of mirth, suggested an unspeakable threat. Closing the door, he went out into the corridor and dipped his face into a drinking-fountain, letting a jet of lukewarm water splash against his eyes and forehead. A gun in a left-luggage locker, a nameless man in New York who'd sent Jake all the way to England – maybe it was all very simple, nothing more than a straightforward political assassination planned by Jake's anonymous acquaintance and carried out by Kiviranna who, through his own strange filter, saw the world in terms of black and white, evil and good. Maybe that's all there was to the affair.

But there was a dark area at the back of Pagan's mind, a room in which assorted problems lay like unlit lightbulbs awaiting a surge of electricity to illuminate them. And in this room there lived Pagan's muse, his own inner policeman, his personal inspector, who was rarely satisfied with simplicity and who hated darkness passionately. He loathed puzzles too, such as the plain white envelope, sealed and unaddressed, that Aleksis Romanenko had carried in his briefcase.

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Acknowledgments

My gratitude is due to Tom Congdon, whose editorial wizardry approaches that magical condition – alchemy. And to Richard Pine, who encouraged and helped and offered all kinds of wonderful assistance from the start of the Irish dance. And to Arthur Pine, whose staunch, supportive feeling about this novel made a world of difference. I would also like to thank Dave Post of Computer Services, Sedona, Arizona, and Chief Engineer Mike Wilson for their kindness, as well as my English editor, Nick Sayers, for all his help and thoughtful co-operation.

About the Author

Campbell Armstrong (1944–2013) was an international bestselling author best known for his thriller series featuring British counterterrorism agent Frank Pagan, and his quartet of Glasgow Novels, featuring detective Lou Perlman. Two of these,
White Rage
and
Butcher
, were nominated for France's Prix du Polar. Armstrong's novels
Assassins & Victims
and
The Punctual Rape
won Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Awards.

Born in Glasgow and educated at the University of Sussex, Armstrong worked as a book editor in London and taught creative writing at universities in the United States.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Portions of the lyric “Bye Bye Blackbird” by Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon. Copyright 1926 Warner Bros, Inc. (renewed), used by permission. All rights reserved.

For permission to quote from “Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On,” the author gratefully acknowledges the composer, Mr. David Curlee Williams.

Portions of “Sorrow” by The Merseybeats, copyright 1965, reprinted by kind permission of Grand Canyon Music, Inc.

Copyright © 1987 by Campbell Armstrong

Cover design by Angela Goddard

ISBN: 978-1-5040-0704-7

This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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