The Light of Day (13 page)

This was just answerable. I looked at the letter in his hand. 'You didn't send that. I was afraid all the time that you'd sent it anyway, out of spite.'

'Even though it would have cost me three hundred dollars?'

'It wouldn't have cost you anything. The cheques would have been returned to you eventually.'

That's true.' He nodded. 'Not bad, Arthur. Now tell me what you meant when you told Mr Fischer that he'd been careless. What did you think he'd been careless about?'

They were all three waiting for my answer to that The men's suspicion of me was in the air and Miss Lipp had smelt it as well. What was more, she didn't look in the least puzzled by what Harper was saying. Whatever the game was, they were all in it.

I did the best I could. 'Why? Because of the way he'd behaved, of course. Because he
had
been careless. Oh, he knew your name all right and he knew enough to get in touch with me, but I knew he couldn't be acting on your orders.'

‘How did you know?’

I pointed to the letter. 'Because of that. You told me it was your insurance. You'd know I wouldn't turn the car over to a complete stranger without getting my letter back. He didn't even mention it.'

Harper looked at Fischer. 'You see?'

'I was only trying to save time,' said Fischer angrily. 'I have said so. This does not explain why he used that word.'

'No, it doesn't,' I said. The only way to bull it through. 'But this does. When he started threatening me I offered to go with him to the police and settle the matter. I've never seen anyone back down so fast in my life.'

‘That is a lie! ' Fischer shouted; but he wasn't so sure of himself now.

I looked at Harper. 'Anyone who pulls that sort of bluff without knowing what to do when it's called is careless to my way of thinking. If Mr Fischer had been a dishonest servant instead of your helpful guest, you'd have said I'd been pretty careless to let him get away with a fourteen-thousand-dollar car. I'd be lucky if that was
all
you said.’

There was a brief silence, then Harper nodded. 'Well, Arthur, I guess Mr Fischer won't mind accepting your apology. Let's say it was a misunderstanding.'

Fischer shrugged.

Just what Harper thought that I was making of the situation I cannot imagine. Even if I hadn't known what was hidden in the car, I would have realized by now that there was something really fishy going on. Miss Lipp, in Turkey for a little ten-day tourist trip with a Lincoln and a villa the size of the Taj Mahal, was sufficiently improbable. The shenanigans over the delivery of the car had been positively grotesque.

However, it was soon apparent that nothing I might think or suspect was going to give Harper any sleepless nights.

'All right, Arthur,' he said, 'you've gotten yourself a deal. A hundred a week. You still have that fifty dollars I gave you?’

'Yes, sir.'

Will that take care of the bill at the Park?'

'I think so.'

'Right. Here's the hundred you have coming for the trip down. Go back to town now. In the morning check out of the hotel. Then, take a ferry-boat back to Sariyer pier so that you get there around eleven. Someone will meet you. We'll find a room for you here.’

‘Thank you, sir, but I can find a room in a hotel.'

‘There isn't a hotel nearer than Sariyer, and that's too far away. You'd have to use the car to get to and fro
_t
and it'd always be there when we wanted it here. Besides, we've got plenty of rooms
.’

 
‘Very well, sir. May I have my letter?'

He put it back in his pocket. 'Sure. When you're paid off at the end of the job. That was the deal, remember?'

‘I remember,' I said grimly.

Of course, he thought that by still holding the letter over me he was making sure that I toed the line, and that, if I happened to see or hear anything that I shouldn't, I would be too scared to do anything but keep my mourn shut about it. The fact that he wasn't being as clever as he

thought was no consolation to me. I wanted to get back to Athens and
Nicki,
but I wanted that letter first "You will drive,' said Fischer.

I said 'Good-night, madam,' to Miss Lipp, but she didn't seem to hear. She
was already walking back up the steps with Harper.

Fischer got into the back seat. I thought at first that he merely intended, in a petty way, to show me who was boss; but, as I drove back down to the road, I saw him looking over the door panels. He was obviously still suspicious. I thanked my stars that the packing had been carefully done. It was almost comforting to see the sand-coloured Peugeot in the driving mirror.

He didn't say anything to me on the way. In Sariyer, I stopped at the pier approach and turned the car for him. Then I got out and opened the door as if he were royalty. I’d hoped it would make him feel a bit silly, but it didn't seem to. Without a word he got in behind the wheel, gave me a black look and tore off back along the coast road like a maniac.

The Peugeot had stopped and turned about a hundred yards back, and a man was scrambling out of its front passenger seat. He slammed the door and the Peugeot shot away after the Lincoln. There was a ferry-boat already at the pier, and I did not wait to see if the man who had got out followed me. I suppose he did.

I was back at the Kabatas ferry pier soon after eight and shared a
dolmus
cab going up to Taxim Square. Then I walked down to the hotel and had a drink or two.

I needed them. I had managed to do what
Tufan
wanted, up to a point. I was in touch with Harper and would for the moment remain so. On the other hand, by agreeing to stay at the villa I had put myself virtually out of
touch with
Tufan;
at least as far as regular contact was concerned. There was no way of knowing what life at the villa was going to be like, nor what would be expected of me there. It might be easy for me to get out to a safe telephone, or it might be quite difficult. If I were seen telephoning, Harper would immediately- get suspicious. Who did I know in Istanbul? What was the number? Call it again—and so on.

Yet I didn't see how I could have refused to stay there. If I had argued the point any further, Harper might have changed his mind about keeping me on.
Tufan
couldn't have it both ways; and I made up my mind to tell him so if he started moaning at me.

I had some dinner and went down to the
café
beside the hotel. A man with a porter's harness on his back followed me this time.

Tufan
did not moan at me as a matter of fact; but when I had finished my report he was silent for so long that I thought he'd hung up. I said: 'Hullo.'

'I was thinking,' he said; 'it will be necessary for us to meet tonight. Are you in the
café
in the street by the hotel?'

'Yes.'

Wait five minutes, then go up to the hotel and walk along the street past it for about a hundred yards. You will see a small brown car parked there.'

‘The Peugeot that's been following me?’

‘Yes. Open the door and get in beside the driver. He will know where to take you. Is that clear?'

'Yes.'

I paid for the telephone call and bought a drink. When the five minutes were up I left.

As I approached the Peugeot, the driver leaned across and pushed open the door for me to get in. Then he drove off past the hotel and down the hill towards the Necati Bey Avenue.

He was a young, plump, dark man. The car smelt of cigarettes, hair-oil and stale food. In his job, I suppose, he had to eat most of his meals sitting in the car. There was a V.H.F. two-way taxi radio fitted under the dash and every now and again Turkish voices would squawk through the loudspeaker. He appeared not to be listening to them. After a minute or so he began to talk to me in French.

'Did you like driving the Lincoln?' he asked.

‘Yes, it's a good car.'

'But too big and long. I saw the trouble you had in the narrow streets this afternoon.'

'It's very fast, though. Were you able to keep up with him when
to drove back to the villa?'

'Oh, he stopped about a kilometre up the road and began looking at the doors. Did they rattle?'

'Not that I noticed. Did he stop long?'

'A minute or two. After that he did not go so fast But this little . . .'

He broke off and picked up a microphone, as a fresh lot of squawks came over the radio.

'Evet,
efendi,
evet,'
he answered, then put the microphone back. 'But this little machine can show those big ones a thing-or two. On a narrow hill with corners I can leave them standing.'

He had turned on to the Avenue and we were running parallel to the shore.

'Where are we going?' I asked.

'I am not permitted to answer questions.'

We were passing the state entrance to the
Dolmabahçe
Palace now.

It was built in the last century when the Sultans gave up wearing robes and turbans and took to black frock-coats and the fez. From the sea it looks like a lakeside grand hotel imported from Switzerland; but from the road, because of the very high stone wall enclosing the grounds, it looks like a prison. There is about half a mile of this wall running along the right-hand side of the road, and just to look up at it gave me an uncomfortable feeling. It reminded me of the yard at
Maidstone.

Then I saw a light high up on the wall ahead, and the driver began to slow down.

What are we stopping here for?' I asked.

He did not answer.

The light came from a reflector flood and the beam of it shone down vertically on to an armed sentry. Behind him was a pair of huge iron-bound wooden gates. One of them was half-open.

'We get out,' he said.

I joined him on the roadway and he led the way up to the gates. He said something to the sentry, who motioned us on. We went through the gap between the gates and turned left There was a light burning in what I assumed was the guardroom. He led the way up a low flight of steps to the door. Inside was a bare room with a table and chair. A young lieutenant—I suppose he was orderly officer of the day—sat on the table talking to the sergeant of the guard,
 
who was standing. As we came in, the officer stood up, too, and said something to the driver.

He turned to me. "You have a guide's licence,' he said ’you are to show it to this officer.'

I did so. He handed it back to me, picked up a flashlight and said in French: 'Follow me, please.'

The driver stayed behind with the sergeant of the guard. I followed the lieutenant down the steps again and across some uneven cobblestones to a narrow roadway running along the side of the building which seemed to be a barracks. The windows showed lights and I could hear the sound of voices and a radio playing
jazz.
There were light posts at intervals, and, although the surface of the road was broken in places, it was just possible to see where one was walking. Then we went through a high archway out of the barracks area into some sort of garden. Here it was very dark. There was some moonlight and I could see parts of the white bulk of the palace looming to the left of us, but trees shadowed the ground. The lieutenant switched on
í
his flashlight and told me to be careful where I walked.
 
It was necessary advice. Restoration work seemed to be in progress. There were loose flagstones and masonry rubble everywhere. Finally, however, we came to a solidly paved walk. Ahead was a doorway and, beside it, a lighted window.

The lieutenant opened the door and went in. The light came from a janitor's room just inside, and, as the lieutenant entered, a man in a drab blue uniform came out. He
 
had some keys in his hand. The lieutenant said something to him. The janitor answered briefly, and then, with a curious glance at me, led the, way across a hall and up a staircase, switching on lights as he went. At the landing he turned off down a long corridor with a lot of closed doors along one side and grilled, uncurtained windows on the other. There was carpet on the floor with a narrow drugget running down the centre to save wear.

From
the
proportions of the staircase and the height of the ceilings it was obvious that we were in a large building; but there was nothing noticeably palatial about that part of it We might have been in a provincial town hall. The walls were covered with dingy oil paintings.
There
seemed to be hundreds of them, mostly landscapes with cattle or battle scenes, and all with the same yellowy-brown varnish colour. I don't know anything about paintings. I suppose they must have been valuable or they would not have been in a palace; but I found them depressing, like the smell of moth-balls.

There was a pair of heavy metal doors at the end of that corridor, and beyond it more corridors and more paintings.