Страница 71 из 79
After lunch Sir Arthur went back to the Octagon, where he had set up his headquarters. Walden and Thomson put on their hats and took their cigars out onto the terrace. The park looked lovely in the sunshine, as always. From the distant drawing room came the crashing opening chords of the Tchaikovsky piano concerto: Lydia was playing. Walden felt sad. Then the music was drowned by the roar of a motorcycle as another messenger came to report the progress of the search to Sir Arthur. So far there had been no news.
A footman served coffee, then left them alone. Thomson said: “I didn’t want to say this in front of Lady Walden, but I think we may have a clue to the identity of the traitor.”
Walden went cold.
Thomson said: “Last night I interviewed Bridget Callahan, the Cork Street landlady. I’m afraid I got nothing out of her. However, I left my men to search her house. This morning they showed me what they had found.” He took from his pocket an envelope which had been torn in half, and handed the two pieces to Walden.
Walden saw with a shock that the envelope bore the Walden Hall crest.
Thomson said: “Do you recognize the handwriting?”
Walden turned the pieces over. The envelope was addressed:
Mr. F. Kschessinsky c/o 19 Cork Street London, N.
Walden said: “Oh, dear God, not Charlotte.” He wanted to cry.
Thomson was silent.
“She led him here,” Walden said. “My own daughter.” He stared at the envelope, willing it to disappear. The handwriting was quite unmistakable, like a juvenile version of his own script.
“Look at the postmark,” Thomson said. “She wrote it as soon as she arrived here. It was mailed from the village.”
“How could this happen?” Walden said.
Thomson made no reply.
“Feliks was the man in the tweed cap,” Walden said. “It all fits.” He felt hopelessly sad, almost bereaved, as if someone dear to him had died. He looked out over his park, at trees planted fifty years ago by his father, at a lawn that had been cared for by his family for a hundred years, and it all seemed worthless, worthless. He said quietly: “You fight for your country, and you are betrayed from within by socialists and revolutionists; you fight for your class, and you’re betrayed by Liberals; you fight for your family, and even they betray you. Charlotte! Why, Charlotte, why?” He felt a choking sensation. “What a damnable life this is, Thomson. What a damnable life.”
“I’ll have to interview her,” Thomson said.
“So will I.” Walden stood up. He looked at his cigar. It had gone out. He threw it away. “Let’s go in.”
They went in.
In the hall Walden stopped a maid. “Do you know where Lady Charlotte is?”
“I believe she’s in her room, my lord. Shall I go and see?”
“Yes. Tell her I wish to speak to her in her room immediately.”
“Very good, m’lord.”
Thomson and Walden waited in the hall. Walden looked around. The marble floor, the carved staircase, the stucco ceiling, the perfect proportions-worthless. A footman drifted by silently, eyes lowered. A motorcycle messenger came in and headed for the Octagon. Pritchard crossed the hall and picked up the letters for posting from the hall table, just as he must have the day Charlotte’s treacherous letter to Feliks was written. The maid came down the stairs.
“Lady Charlotte is ready to see you, my lord.”
Walden and Thomson went up.
Charlotte’s room was on the second floor at the front of the house, looking over the park. It was su
“You look rather fierce, Papa,” Charlotte said.
“I’ve reason to be,” Walden replied. “Mr. Thomson has just given me the most dreadful piece of news of my whole life.”
Charlotte frowned.
Thomson said: “Lady Charlotte, where is Feliks?”
Charlotte turned white. “I’ve no idea, of course.”
Walden said: “Don’t be so damned cool!”
“How dare you swear at me!”
“I beg your pardon.”
Thomson said: “Perhaps if you’d leave it to me, my lord…”
“Very well.” Walden sat down in the window seat, thinking: How did I find myself apologizing?
Thomson addressed Charlotte. “Lady Charlotte, I’m a policeman, and I can prove that you have committed conspiracy to murder. Now my concern, and your father’s, is to let this go no further; and, in particular, to ensure that you will not have to go to jail for a period of many years.”
Walden stared at Thomson. Jail! Surely he’s merely frightening her. But no, he realized with a sense of overwhelming dread; he’s right: she’s a criminal…
Thomson went on: “As long as we can prevent the murder, we feel we can cover up your participation. But if the assassin succeeds, I will have no option but to bring you to trial-and then the charge will not be conspiracy to murder, but accessory to murder. In theory you could be hanged.”
“No!” Walden shouted involuntarily.
“Yes,” Thomson said quietly.
Walden buried his face in his hands.
Thomson said: “You must save yourself that agony-and not only yourself, but your mama and papa. You must do everything in your power to help us find Feliks and save Prince Orlov.”
It could not be, Walden thought desperately. He felt as if he were going insane. My daughter could not be hanged. But if Aleks is killed, Charlotte will have been one of the murderers. But it would never come to trial. Who was Home Secretary? McKe
Thomson said: “Tell me when you last saw Feliks.”
Walden watched Charlotte, waiting for her response. She stood behind a chair, gripping its back with both hands. Her knuckles showed white, but her face appeared calm. Finally she spoke. “I have nothing to tell you.”
Walden groaned aloud. How could she continue to be like this now that she was found out? What was going on in her mind? She seemed a stranger. He thought: When did I lose her?
“Do you know where Feliks is now?” Thomson asked her.
She said nothing.
“Have you warned him of our security precautions here?”
She looked blank.
“How is he armed?”
Nothing.
“Each time you refuse to answer a question, you become a little more guilty. Do you realize that?”
Walden noticed a change of tone in Thomson’s voice, and looked at him. He seemed genuinely angry now.
“Let me explain something to you,” Thomson said. “You may think that your papa can save you from justice. He is perhaps thinking the same thing. But if Orlov dies, I swear to you that I will bring you to trial for murder. Now think about that!”
Thomson left the room.
Charlotte was dismayed to see him go. With a stranger in the room she had just about managed to keep her composure. Alone with Papa she was afraid she would break down.
“I’ll save you if I can,” Papa said sadly.
Charlotte swallowed thickly and looked away. I wish he’d be angry, she thought; I could cope with that.
He looked out of the window. “I’m responsible, you see,” he said painfully. “I chose your mother, I fathered you, and I brought you up. You’re nothing but what I’ve made you. I can’t understand how this has happened. I really can’t.” He looked back at her. “Can you explain it to me, please?”
“Yes, I can,” she said. She was eager to make him understand, and she was sure he would, if she could tell it right. “I don’t want you to succeed in making Russia go to war, because if you do, millions of i
He looked surprised. “Is that it?” he said. “Is that why you’ve done these awful things? Is that what Feliks is trying to achieve?”
Perhaps he will understand, she thought joyfully. “Yes,” she said. She went on enthusiastically: “Feliks also wants a revolution in Russia-even you might think that could be a good thing-and he believes it will begin when the people there find out that Aleks has been trying to drag them into war.”