And not too bloody expensive, Jan. Remembering how easily we could hang you. The taxpayers pay their money grudgingly. We have to be sparing of it, Jan.’ He flicked Jan. ‘How much do you want?’
Kasimir didn’t move a muscle.
Empton flicked. ‘You heard me, Jan?’
Kasimir breathed hard, didn’t speak.
Empton laid his fist on Kasimir’s chin and pushed Kasimir’s head first one way, then the other.
‘Little Jan,’ he said. ‘How much?’
Kasimir stared at him. He said nothing.
‘Perhaps little Jan is afraid,’ Empton said. ‘Perhaps he doesn’t trust us with his secrets. Thinks if he told us how he killed Teodowicz we might write it down and use it as evidence. But that’s because little Jan is a wog. He doesn’t understand our English justice. He doesn’t know that a confession of murder obtained by a bribe is inadmissable. But he’s hearing it now, isn’t he, Jan?’ Empton gave Kasimir a double slap. ‘And he knows he can deal, doesn’t he, Jan?’ Empton feinted a slap, let his hand fall. ‘So what’s the price, little Jan?’
Kasimir closed his eyes, rocked a little.
‘A couple of thou?’ Empton said. ‘Don’t go to sleep, Jan. I might have to wake you.’
‘I did not kill him,’ Kasimir said huskily. ‘You know about that. It is not me.’
‘Eloquence,’ Empton said, slapping him. ‘Little Jan has got a tongue.’
‘I did not kill him,’ Kasimir said. ‘I will not confess. I did not kill him.’
‘I’ll make it three thousand,’ Empton said.
‘No,’ Kasimir said. ‘Was not me.’
Empton slapped him. ‘Don’t push your market.’ He slapped him again. ‘Three and a half.’
‘No. No.’
Empton paused. ‘Just what have you got to sell us?’ he asked. ‘Who was Teodowicz?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Four thou.’
‘Is no good,’ Kasimir said.
Empton slapped him. ‘Five thou.’
‘No,’ Kasimir said. ‘I will not confess.’
‘What’s the figure?’
Kasimir said nothing. Empton slapped him. Kasimir still said nothing.
‘So it’s something big,’ Empton said. ‘Or you think it is, little Jan. And you’re not going to muck it away because you think we can’t stick you with the killing. But you’re wrong there, little Jan. We can fix you up all right. And we don’t have to put in a confession which the judge would sling straight back at us.’ He eased away from Kasimir. ‘We’ve got you taped, little Jan,’ he said. ‘You received instructions to kill Teodowicz. We pay money. We get info.’
‘No!’ Kasimir said.
‘Oh yes,’ Empton said. ‘You’re a little green in the racket, aren’t you? There’s plenty of double-selling goes on among the ranks of Tuscany, you know. And you’ve been sold. Right up the Volga. You were sent here to kill him, little Jan. You took a week off from making instruments and you came here, and you killed Teodowicz.’
Empton leant forward casually, gave Kasimir a double slap.
‘Six thou,’ he said. ‘We’ll find a level of interest somewhere.’
Kasimir sat up even straighter. ‘That is a lie!’ he cried passionately.
Empton slapped him several times.
‘Naughty,’ he said. ‘Don’t call me a liar.’
‘But it is a lie. I was not sent to kill him!’
‘Seven thousand?’ Empton said.
‘And I shall never, never, confess it!’
Empton hit him in the mouth.
‘I don’t know why I bother,’ he said. ‘This is only to satisfy bourgeois prejudice. If we leak some info in the right direction, you’ll get no more letters out of Poland.’
Kasimir sprang up. ‘Swine!’ he screamed. Empton punched him in the stomach.
‘Don’t get hysterical, Jan,’ he said. ‘It isn’t British. Don’t do it.’
Kasimir fell back in the chair, gasping, sobbing, clutching his stomach. Empton watched him. He turned to Whitaker.
‘Sorry to worry you, old man,’ he said.
‘I think that’s enough of that,’ Whitaker said.
‘Damned un-bourgeois,’ Empton said. ‘But I’ve probably made my point now.’
‘I think that’s enough of it,’ Whitaker said.
Kasimir sobbed. His mouth was bleeding. He didn’t try to cover his face. He sat holding his stomach and crying, like any child might cry.
‘Well, well,’ Empton said. ‘Well, well, little Jan. Did you cry when you shot Teodowicz, or did you just close your eyes?’
‘Swine, swine,’ Kasimir sobbed.
‘Why was he killed, little Jan?’
‘It is you who kill him,’ Kasimir sobbed. ‘The British police. You kill Teodowicz.’
‘Dear me,’ Empton said. ‘This is doing us too much honour. Why should we kill Teodowicz, when you can think up an answer?’
‘Because we talk to him,’ Kasimir sobbed. ‘Because we ask him to go back. So you kill him, that is why. To make it seem that we kill people.’
‘How extraordinary,’ Empton said. ‘It sounds almost strange enough to be true.’
‘And you do kill him!’ Kasimir sobbed. ‘It is not us. It is you.’
Empton stared at him for some moments. ‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s too simple. Think again, little Jan. I don’t think we can quite swallow that one.’
‘Yes,’ Kasimir sobbed, ‘yes. It is you who have done that. That is why I have to come back, to find out who has done the killing. And now I know. It is you. And you want that I shall confess. And I never, never shall confess. It is the British police who kill Teodowicz!’
‘Better and better,’ Empton said. ‘Who is your contact man, Jan?’
‘How should I know who he is — twice, only, I have seen him.’
‘What do they call him?’ Empton said.
‘I do not know what they call him.’
‘Is he tall, short, fat, thin?’
‘He is tall man, not fat.’
‘A Pole, is he?’
‘Yes,’ Kasimir sobbed.
‘And that’s all the description you can give us?’
‘He comes from the Embassy!’ Kasimir sobbed. ‘He is man like you. But he is a Pole.’
Empton’s teeth appeared very slowly. ‘A man like me, Jan,’ he said. ‘We’re getting compliments thick and fast now you’re opening your mouth a little. Is it Razek?’
‘I do not know.’
‘A man with grey eyes and a cheek scar.’
‘I do not know… yes, a scar.’
‘Speaks slowly. Doesn’t look at you.’
‘Yes,’ Kasimir said. ‘That is the man.’
‘Wears light grey suits, pale ties.’
‘Yes, a light grey suit,’ Kasimir said. ‘That is the man. Speaks slowly.’
‘Well, well,’ Empton said. ‘So this is one of Razek’s projects. And he’s a man like me, is he, Jan? That’s more of a compliment than you’re aware of. Razek,’ he said to Whitaker, ‘is an old acquaintance of mine. Rule Britannia to one side, I’m a great admirer of Razek’s. That makes little Jan almost a friend. I’m sure we ought to do some business. I’m sure it would hurt Razek’s feelings if we were crude enough to deport little Jan.’ He flicked Kasimir
