The 92nd Tiger (27 page)

‘Well. Yes. I suppose I did.’

‘And Miss Biederbecker was with you in this cellar?’

‘Miss who?’

‘That’s me,’ said Tammy.

‘Certainly she was with me in the cellar.
All the time.’

‘And this character you strangled with your bare hands?’

‘Strangled?’

‘The rebel chief.’

‘Actually, he was shot.’

‘You shot him, Mr. Greest?’

Hugo said, ‘I suppose I must have done.’

Outside, in the streets, the placards were already on show.

Tiger Wins American Heiress

Real-Life Drama for Screen Hero

TV Personality in Middle East Coup

‘We’d better get hold of a copy of that paper,’ said Hugo, ‘and find out what really happened.’

Hugo’s car was trapped behind a long line of cars, lorries, taxis and buses; but mainly cars, driven by home-going business men who were wondering, for the hundredth time, whether it wouldn’t have been more sensible to come up to town by train. There was fog ahead, and already the queues were beginning to build up on the motorways and the illuminated diversion signs were being switched on.

The driver, who was from the television studio pool, and knew that part of London like his own back garden, said, ‘Once we get past this road junction I can slip off to the left, and we can say goodbye to this crowd. We shall need a bit of luck at Chiswick, but I reckon it’s worth it.’

‘I leave it to you,’ said Hugo. ‘We’re in very good time. They can’t start without me.’

They were telerecording Episode 92 that evening. ‘The Return of the Tiger.’ By popular demand, thought Hugo. No doubt about that. Had not the first person to telephone him when he got back to England been Sam? They’re falling over themselves to cash in on all this gorgeous publicity,’ he said. ‘I can sign you up for two more series of thirteen, with a one-way option on a third series. And listen, I think I can get you a percentage on the resale to America.’

He had not been keen, but Tammy had overruled him. She said, ‘Take the cash. You can always quit at the end.’

‘Then do what? Live on my wife?’

‘Why not? It’s a comfortable sort of life I imagine. I can’t see why men object.’

‘We’ll see about that,’ said Hugo. The conclusion of his arms deal with the American Government had left him with enough money not to worry too much about the immediate future.

They jerked on a dozen yards and stopped again. It was warm in the car and Hugo turned down the side window, but this let in such a gout of freezing fog that he quickly shut it again.

There had been good moments and bad ones, in the six months since his return. The best had been his mother’s reception of Tammy. They had got on to terms immediately. His mother had said, ‘The real trouble with Hugo is that girls have tended to fall down and worship him. I’m sure you won’t make that mistake.’

‘I’ll fight against it,’ said Tammy gallantly.

After that they got straight on to discussing the wedding arrangements.

‘As long as it isn’t a show-business wedding,’ said Mrs. Greest. ‘You know what I mean. Caxton Hall Registry Office, crowds blocking the traffic, the bridegroom carrying the bride in his arms, and a funny man from the B.B.C. cracking jokes on the pavement.’

Tammy shuddered and said, ‘Nothing like that. Technically I understand we ought to get married from my home. It’s a place called Nantasket, and it has a very pretty little church with a white clapboard steeple.’

In the end they had decided that this would be too complicated, and the wedding took place in Richmond Parish Church with a reception at the Star and Garter Hotel. Sam, of course, had come. And Hugo had, after some hesitation, invited Arnold Taverner who had returned a diplomatic refusal. The only disruption had been caused by the Tiger Fan Club, who had got into the reception ahead of the guests and taken away most of the wedding cake as souvenirs.

The car made thirty yards.

‘Any minute now,’ said the driver.

The bad moments had mostly been regret for Umran. When the weather was particularly vile he had thought about it a lot. The arch of the sky, deep blue above, fading to pearl on the horizon. The heat that pressed down on you like a weight, that hurt and anaesthetised the hurt at the same time, until in the end, like Martin Cowcroft, you lived in it and on it, a salamander in the fire. And the smell of musk and tamarisk and rotten fish and boiling tar, all mixed with the smell of the real desert, which was indescribable and which he had known when he was young.

That was the truth of the matter, he decided. It was a young man’s land. When he had tried to explain this to Tammy she had said, ‘To listen to you, anyone would think you were seventy. You’ve got more than half your life ahead of you. When this series is over, we’ll go to America and I’ll show you some
real
deserts. You could lose Arabia in some of them.’

The car shook itself free of the traffic and bowled down a side street of small suburban houses. Front doors were opening, letting out a stream of light and letting in the breadwinners, home to a quiet evening of supper, television and bed. They were his public. The ninety-nine point nine per cent, who liked to live quietly and were happy to enjoy their excitements vicariously. Sensible people, who only knew vaguely where the Persian Gulf was, and had never heard of Umran.

They reached the television studios with half an hour to spare. Hugo signed six autograph books, and stopped in the entrance hall for a word with George, the one-armed commissionaire.

‘Very glad to see you back, Mr. Greest. My family always look forward to your show.’

‘Thank you, George. I hope we don’t let you down.’

All Series titles can be read in order, or randomly as standalone novels

Inspector Hazlerigg

1. Close Quarters 
   (1947)
   
2. They Never Looked Inside 
   (alt: He Didn’t Mind Danger) (1948)
   
3. The Doors Open 
   (1949)
   
4. Smallbone Deceased 
   (1950)
   
5. Death has Deep Roots 
   (1951)
   
6. Fear To Tread 
   (in part)(1953)
   
7. The Young Petrella 
   (included) (short stories) (1988)
   
8. The Man Who Hated Banks and Other Mysteries
   (included) (short stories) (1997)
   

Patrick Petrella

1. Blood and Judgement 
   (1959)
   
2. Amateur in Violence
   (included) (short stories) (1973)
   
3. Petrella at Q 
   (short stories) (1977)
   
4. The Young Petrella 
   (short stories) (1988)
   
5. Roller Coaster 
   (1993)
   
6. The Man Who Hated Banks and Other Mysteries
   (included) (short stories) (1997)
   

Luke Pagan

1. Ring of Terror 
   (1995)
   
2. Into Battle 
   (1997)
   
3. Over and Out 
   (1998)
   

Calder & Behrens

1. Game Without Rules 
   (short stories) (1967)
   
2. Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens 
   (short stories) (1982)
   

Non-Series

1. Death in Captivity 
   (alt: The Danger Within) (1952)
   
2. Sky High 
   (alt: The Country House Burglar) (1955)
   
3. Be Shot for Sixpence 
   (1956)
   
4. After the Fine Weather 
   (1963)
   
5. The Crack in the Teacup 
   (1966)
   
6. The Dust and the Heat 
   (alt: Overdrive) (1967)
   
7. The Etruscan Net 
   (alt: The Family Tomb) (1969)
   
8. Stay of Execution and Other Stories
   (short stories) (1971)
   
9. The Body of a Girl 
   (1972)
   
10. The 92nd Tiger 
    (1973)
    
11. Flash Point 
    (1974)
    
12. The Night of the Twelfth 
    (1976)
    
13. The Empty House 
    (1979)
    
14. The Killing of Katie Steelstock 
    (alt: Death of a Favourite Girl) (1980)
    
15. The Final Throw 
    (alt: End Game) (1982)
    
16. The Black Seraphim 
    (1984)
    
17. The Long Journey Home 
    (1985)
    
18. Trouble 
    (1987)
    
19. Paint, Gold, and Blood 
    (1989)
    
20. Anything for a Quiet Life 
    (short stories) (1990)
    
21. The Queen against Karl Mullen 
    (1992)
    

Published by House of Stratus

After The Fine Weather When Laura Hart travels to Austria to visit her brother, vice-consul of Lienz in the Tyrol, she briefly meets an American who warns her of the mounting political tension. Neo-Nazis are stirring trouble in the province, and xenophobia is rife between the Austrians who control the area and the Italian locals. Then Laura experiences the troubles first-hand, a shocking incident that suggests Hofrat Humbold, leader of the Lienz government is using some heavy-handed tactics. Somewhat unsurprisingly, he is unwilling to let one little English girl destroy his plans for the largest Nazi move since the war, and Laura makes a dangerous enemy.

Anything For A Quiet Life Jonas Pickett, lawyer and commissioner of oaths is nearing retirement, but still has lots of energy. However, he leaves the pressure of a London practice behind to set up a new modest office in a quiet seaside resort. He soon finds that he is overwhelmed with clients and some of them involve him in very odd and sometimes dangerous cases. This collection of inter-linked stories tells how these are brought to a conclusion; ranging from an incredible courtroom drama involving a gipsy queen to terrorist thugs who make their demands at gunpoint.

Be Shot For Sixpence A gripping spy thriller with a deserved reputation. Philip sees an announcement in The Times from an old school friend who has instructed the newspaper to publish only if they don’t hear from him. This sets a trail running through Europe, with much of the action taking place on the Austro-Hungarian border. The Kremlin, defectors, agitators and the People’s Court set the background to a very realistic story that could well have happened …

The Black Seraphim James Scotland, a young pathologist, decides on a quiet holiday in Melchester, but amid the cathedral town’s quiet medieval atmosphere, he finds a hornet’s nest of church politics, town and country rivalries, and murder. He is called upon to investigate and finds that some very curious alliances between the church, state and business exist. With modern forensic pathology he unravels the unvarnished truth about Melchester, but not before a spot of unexpected romance intervenes.