Chapter eight
The Assistant
Commissioner meets Vladimir
The Assistant Commissioner was driven quickly in a cab from
Brett Street to Westminster where he got out at the entrance to the Houses of
Parliament. He was shown immediately into a poorly-lit room where the greenish-coloured
lamps gave the feeling of being in a forest. The Home Secretary was sitting
behind a large, almost empty desk. Through the green shadows the Assistant
Commissioner could only see a heavy head resting on a large. white hand. He sat
down at the other side of the desk. In the green light, he looked darker and
more foreign. than ever.
Sir Ethelred showed no surprise at the other man’s early
arrival, but he wanted to know the news and his voice was hard. ‘Well,’ he
said, ‘what have you found out?’
‘Verloc was very quick to tell me everything, sir. His
brother-in- law, nothing more than a weak boy, was the person who was killed. Another
interesting thing is that I’m sure Michaelis had nothing to do with it although
the boy had been staying with him. It's difficult to believe, but Verloc was terrified of that man Vladimir. He thought that
he and the other Embassy people would destroy his life. I don’t think he
planned the death of that poor boy. but he completely lost his head.’
Something moved among the green shadows of the room and the
great man spoke.
‘What have you done with him?’
‘I let him go, Sir Ethelred. I don’t think he will
disappear. He seemed to want to be with his wife. He has to think of the
possible danger from his comrades too. How will he explain trying to disappear
to them?’
The great man, who perhaps had other, more important things to
think about, got up heavily.
‘Tonight I will discuss what to do with Verloc and I’ll send
for you tomorrow morning.’ He held out his big, white hand and shook the thin,
dark hand of the Assistant Commissioner. He had his information and the conversation
was over.
The Assistant Commissioner walked home and changed his
clothes. There was time after all to visit his wife’s friend, the great lady
who looked after Michaelis. He was glad — he knew that he was always welcome in
her house.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
When he entered the large and crowded room, he saw his wife
talking to a small group of people in the corner. The great lady herself was
sitting talking to a man with a thin lace and a short beard. She greeted the
Assistant Commissioner warmly.
‘I never hoped to see you here tonight. Annie told me that
you were working.’
‘Yes. I had no idea myself that my work would be over so
soon.’
He spoke in a lower voice: ‘I am glad to tell you that
Michaelis is out of trouble now.’
A silence fell. The other man smiled a little and the lady
said: ‘I don‘t know if you have ever met before.’
Mr Vladimir and the Assistant Commissioner were introduced
and greeted each other politely. It was surprising how, sooner or later. everybody
came to this house. Another woman standing next to them turned and spoke now,
looking towards Vladimir:
‘He’s been frightening me with all his talk about Greenwich.
He says we must stop these people or the future is black for us.’
‘Oh, Mr Vladimir is good at frightening people,’ said the
Assistant Commissioner. ‘But I’m sure he knows the true importance of what
happened at Greenwich.’
Vladimir did not trust policemen and he trusted this one
less than most. What did the man mean with his talk of ‘importance’? He smiled
when he answered, but his eyes were hard.
‘Perhaps we have problems in my country because you let
these people do what they like in your country.’
Vladimir got up to leave and when he had turned away the
Assistant Commissioner got up. too.
‘I thought you were going to stay and take Annie home.’ said
the great lady.
‘I still have a little work to do. It may be important.’
The Assistant Commissioner went out in.to the street first
and Vladimir waited as long as possible before he did the same. But it was not
long enough. The policeman was still standing there and he started to walk
along the street next to the other man. Vladimir was furious – what did he
want?
‘Terrible weather,’ said Vladimir angrily.
‘But not too cold.’ replied the Assistant Commissioner. Then
he added, ‘We’ve got a man called Verloc helping us. I think that you know
him.’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘I don’t. It’s Verloc who says that.’
‘A lying dog of some kind.’ said Vladimir, surprised that
the English police could be so clever.
‘Now we can really begin to get rid of all foreign spies
from this country. We can’t catch them one by one. The only way is to make
things difficult for the people who employ them. The arrest of this man Verloc
will show people how dangerous they are.’
‘Nobody will believe what a man like that says.’
‘I think that they will believe him when they hear the full
story.’
‘But you’re just making things easier for anyone who wants
to call himself a revolutionary,’ cried Vladimir.
‘Look, we have enough work to do catching the real revolutionaries. The last thing we want is to spend our time running after fake ones.’
‘I can’t agree with you. What you want to do is terrible. We
should be good Europeans, not just look after our own interests.’
‘Yes,’ said the Assistant Commissioner. ‘Except that you
look at Europe from the other end. No foreign country can complain about our
police this time. In less than twelve hours we have identified the dead man,
discovered who planned the bombing, and found out who had the idea in the first
place. And we can go further, but we will stop inside our own country.’
‘So you know that this crime was planned abroad?’ said
Vladimir quickly.
‘Well, in a way,’ said the Assistant Commissioner. ‘But
that’s a detail. I’m talking to you because it’s your country that complains
most about our police. As you can see, we are not always so bad.’
‘Thank you for telling me,' said Vladimir through his teeth.
‘We know every anarchist here. and where they are,’ said the
Assistant Commissioner, sounding just like Inspector Heat. ‘All we need to do
now to make everything safe is to get rid of the secret agent.’
Vladimir had heard more than enough. Without a word, he
stopped a passing cab, jumped inside and drove off.
The Assistant Commissioner looked at his watch and saw that
it was only half-past ten. Smiling to himself, he thought that he had had a
very full evening.
(to be continued)
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire