The Light of Day (25 page)

'I'm sorry, Arthur, that'll have to wait. In fact, my friends seem to feel that you may be quite a security risk for the next twelve hours or so.'

'I don't understand.'

'Sure you do.' He grinned. 'Ill bet the idea's been churning around in that cute little brain of yours for the last five minutes. "If two hands on a rope are worth two thousand dollars to these people, what would a tip-off be worth to the police?"

'I assure you . ..'

'Of course you do, Arthur. I was only kidding.' His tone was quite friendly 'But you see the problems. We like to feel safe. Even that letter doesn't mean much here. Do you have the car keys?'

'Yes.'

‘Let me have them.'

I handed them to him.

"You see, we wouldn't want you to have second thoughts and maybe walk out on us,* he explained.

'And we would not like him to use the telephone,' said Miller.

That's right.' Harper thought for a moment. *Hans is going to need help undressing,' he said, 'and the doctor's given him another antibiotic he has to take. I think it would be best if we made up an extra bed in his room and Arthur slept there '

'So that he can kill me when I am helpless and get out by the window? Fischer demanded thickly

'Oh, I don't think Arthur would do that. Would you, Arthur?'

'Of course not'

That's right But we don't want Hans to be worrying, do we? The doctor says he really needs to sleep. And you should have a good night's sleep too, Arthur. You won't get any tomorrow night You wouldn't mind taking a couple
of good strong sleeping pills, would you? Or maybe even three?'

I hesitated.

'Oh, they won't hurt you, Arthur.' Miss Lipp gave me a fond smile. 'Ill tell you what. If you'll be a good boy and take your pills, I'll take one, too. We'll all need our sleep tomorrow.'

What could I say?

CHAPTER
 
NINE

My head felt as if it had been stuffed with steel wool. There was even a metallic taste in my mouth. It took me some time to remember where I was. I could hear a loud buzzing noise. When
_t
at last, I managed to open my eyes, I saw Fischer. The buzzing came from an electric shaver which he was holding, awkwardly, in his right hand.

My bed consisted of a mattress on the floor and the blankets from my old room. I rolled off the mattress and got to my feet unsteadily. Fischer gave me a disagreeable look.

'You snore like a pig,' he said.

He had a shirt and slacks on,
 
I was glad to see; Harper or Miller must have helped him. Undressing him, the night before, had been an unpleasant task. It had meant touching him, and I hate touching anyone I dislike—another man especially.

'What's the time?' I asked.

They had taken everything from me after they had made me swallow the sleeping pills, even my watch. All I had been allowed had been my
pyjama
coat.

'About eleven/ he answered. 'Your clothes have been put in there.' He indicated a door.

I
went through and found myself in one of the part-furnished rooms I had seen the day before. My tilings were piled on a brown, cut-velvet
chaise-longue. I
disposed of a minor anxiety first. The cigarette packet with the message inside it was still in my hip pocket and apparently undetected. I left it where it was. With any luck, I thought, I might be able to add to it. My papers were there. The radio was in its case.

From the bedroom Fischer said: 'I have finished with this bathroom. You may use it.'

'I think I will go and get some coffee first.’

‘Then bring all your papers and money in here.’

There was no point in arguing. I did as he said, pot some trousers on and found my way downstairs to the kitchen.

Mrs Hamul was there. The sight of the hired driver, unshaven and wearing
a pyjama
jacket at eleven in the morning must have seemed odd to her. She looked at me as if I were raving mad. I asked her for coffee. She gave me tea, and some of the previous day's bread toasted. The tea wasn't bad. My head began to clear. As I ate the toast, I wondered if I could muster enough Turkish to persuade her or her husband to take a message to the surveillance people on the road. Then Miss Lipp came in, well-groomed and very chic in white with yellow stripes.

'Good morning, Arthur. How do you feel?'

'Good morning, Miss Lipp. I feel terrible, thank you.’

"Yes, you look it, but I expect you'll feel better when you've cleaned up a bit. What's the Turkish for eggs?’

‘
"Yumurta",
I think.'

Mrs Hamul heard the word and they began a sign-language conversation about eggs. I went back upstairs.

Miller was helping Fischer to pack. I slipped the empty cigarette packet and a pencil into my shaving kit and went into the bathroom. There was a lock on. the door. While my bath was running, I added to the message I had written the previous night.
Am forced replace injured Fischer and closely watched. Event planned for tonight. Details unknown. Miller may be key person.

The bedroom was empty when I returned to it. I dressed, packed my bag and went back down to the kitchen.

Miss Lipp was supervising the Hamuls' preparations for lunch. She looked

up as

 
I came in.

‘The others are out on the terrace, Arthur,' she said. 'Why don't you go out there and get yourself a drink?'

'Very well.'

I went through the dining-room into the main hall. There, I hesitated. I was still trying to think of a way of getting down to the road and back without their knowing. As they were on the terrace it was, of course, hopeless to attempt to cross the courtyard. I would have to find some other way round the back and down through the trees. But that might take twenty minutes or more. And supposing Miss Lipp
came ont
to the terrace and asked where I was, I gave up, and decided to rely upon dropping the cigarette packet

The first dung I saw on the terrace was the cardboard box which Harper had brought back, with him from Pendik. It was open and discarded on a chair. Harper, Fischer and Miller were contemplating something laid out across two tables.

It was a block-and-tackle, but of a kind I had not seen before. The blocks were triple-sheaved and made of some light metal alloy. They were so small that you could hold both of them in one hand. The 'rope' was a white cord about a quarter of an inch in diameter and there was a lot of it. On another table there was a thing that looked like a broad belt with hooks at each end, like those you see on dog-leashes.

Fischer looked up and stared at me haughtily.

'Miss Lipp told me to come here and have a drink,' I said.

Harper waved to a table with bottles and glasses on it. Help yourself. Then you'd better have a look at this.'

I gave myself some
raki
and looked at the cord of the tackle. It was like silk.

'Nylon,' Harper said; 'breaking strain over a ton. What you have to remember about it is that it's also slightly elastic. There's a lot of give in this tackle. You know how these things work?'

'Yes.'

'Show me,' said Miller. He picked up the belt and hooked it around one of the terrace pillars. 'Show me how you would pull this pillar down.'

I hooked one block to the belt, tied the other to the balustrade and pulled on the tackle.

•Okay,' said Harper, 'that'll do. Leo, I think you'd better carry the tackle. Arthur's too fat. It'll show on him. He can take the sling and the anchor rope. I don't think Hans should carry anything except his gun and the water-flask.'

'It is only because my skin is very sensitive that I object,' said Miller.

"Well, it won't be for long. As soon as you're inside you can take it off.'

Miller sighed irritably but said no more.

'May I Jcnow what it is I have to do?' I asked.

'Just pull on this tackle, Arthur. Oh, you Inean about taking this gear along? Well, you'll have to carry that sling—' he indicated the belt—'and this extra rope here, wound around that beautiful body of yours under your shirt, so that nobody can see it. It'll be a bit warm for a while, but you'll have plenty of time to cool off. Any other questions?'

I had a dozen and he knew it, but there isn't any sense in asking when you know you're not going to be answered.

'Who is going to carry the bag?' asked Miller.

‘You'd better take that, folded in your pocket.'

Miss Lipp came out. 'Lunch in thirty minutes,' she said.

‘Lunch!' Miller looked sour.

‘You can eat eggs, Leo. You've got to eat something.' She took the drink Harper handed her. 'Does Arthur know that he's going to have to wait for his dinner tonight?'

‘
I
don't know anything, Miss Lipp,' I said calmly; 'but I will say this. I was told that I would be given a briefing today. So far, all I have been given is a bad attack of nervous indigestion. Whether I eat dinner or not, and, for that matter, whether I eat lunch or not, are matters of complete indifference to me.'

She went quite red in the face, and I wondered for a moment if I had said anything offensive; then I realized that the damned woman was trying not to laugh. She looked at Harper.

'Okay,' he said. ‘Come in here.' He led the way through a french window into the drawing-room. Only Miss Lipp followed with me. I heard Fischer asking Miller to pour him another drink and Miller telling him that he ought to exercise the hand not pamper it. Then I no longer listened. Harper had walked to the library table, opened a drawer in it and pulled out the 'map'.

'Recognize this place?' he asked.

‘Yes.'

It was a plan of part of the Seraglio area and of the roads adjacent to the walls. The triangular shape I had noted was formed by the coastline. This is what we are going to do,' be went on. 'When we
leave here, we will drive to a garage in Istanbul. Our bags will be in the trunk of the Lincoln. At the garage, Mr Miller, Mr Fischer, you and I will get out of the Lincoln and into a different car which will be waiting there. I will then drive you to the Seraglio Palace. Then, Mr Miller, Mr Fischer and you will get out The Palace is open to the public until five. The three of you will buy tickets and enter in the ordinary way as tourists. You will then cross the second courtyard to the Gate of Felicity. When you are sore that the guides have lost interest in you, you will go through into the third courtyard and turn left. You then have a short walk—exactly sixty paces—before you come to a big bronze gate in a courtyard to die left with a small door beside it. Both gate and door are kept locked, but Mr Miller will have a key to the door. Beyond the door is a passage with a stairway leading up to the roof of the White Eunuchs' apartments'—he pointed to the plan—'here. Then you lock the door behind you and wait Clear so far?'

'Quite clear, except about why we're doing all this.'

‘Oh, I thought you'd have guessed that.' He grinned. ‘We're just going to have ourselves a piece of the old Sultans' loot. Just a little piece, that's all—about a million dollars' worth.’

I looked at Miss Lipp.

'I was being cagey, Arthur,' she said. ‘There is some obsidian and garnet there, and green tourmaline, too. But a lot of that stuff's the real thing. There are six pigeon's blood rubies in that throne-room that must be over twenty carats apiece. Do you know what just one ruby like that is worth, Arthur? And the emeralds on those Koran caskets! My God!'

Harper laughed. 'All right, honey, I think Arthur has the picture. Now'—he turned again to the plan—‘there are civilian watchmen on duty, but not very many of them, and the night-shift comes on at eight You give them an hour to settle down. At nine you move. You go up the stairs to the roof and turn left. There are three little domes, cupolas they call them, on the roof mere, and you walk along to the right of them. After that the roof is more or less flat until you get to the gate arch. You go around that over the roof of the
audience
chamber and on until you see the chimneys of the kitchens on your right. Then you
tura
left again, cross the roof of the place where they have the miniatures and tapestries. At the end of it there's a three-foot drop on to the roof of the Treasury museum. That's where you have to be careful. The Treasury roof is thirty-five feet wide, but it's vaulted. There is a flat area around the cupola, though, so you climb down there.
AB
quite safe. The cupola is ten feet in diameter and that'll be your anchor for the tackle. Mr Miller'll tie the knots for you. When he's got the sling hooked up, he'll sit in it. Then all you have to do is lower him over the side until he's level with a steel shutter eighteen feet below. He’ll do the rest.’

‘Mr Miller will?'

He looked at me with amusement. ‘You think he's too old for that sort of thing? Arthur, when Mr Miller gets busy he makes a fly look like a man in diving boots.'