affectionately. ‘Now see here, Jan,’ he said. ‘Let’s get together on this like pals instead of playing it tough with each other.’
‘I have told you about it,’ Kasimir said.
‘Yes,’ Empton said. ‘But not enough. Cards on the table, Jan, old fellow, then we’ll see about a deal. You aren’t in this for love, I know, and we don’t expect you to be. There’s some ready money sitting in my car and it was signed out especially for little Jan. Now — why did Teodowicz have to die?’
Kasimir moaned, covered his face.
‘I’m not asking who killed him,’ Empton said. ‘That’s something we’ll leave between you and Razek. These things happen. You didn’t want to do it. You had pressure put on you, I know about that. And Razek had pressure put on him too, he isn’t a man who kills for policy. But he’d give you a hint of why you were doing it, and it’s that hint I’m ready to pay for. This is business, little Jan. You don’t have to fence any longer.’
‘I will not confess,’ Kasimir said. He said it between his teeth. ‘I will not confess.’
‘Jan,’ Empton said. ‘You play ball with me and I’ll play ball with you. You won’t be touched if you cooperate, you’ll just get your money, that’s all. You’ll go back to West Hampstead and you’ll report to Razek that we’re off the scent — he’ll believe it, I’ll drop some info — and he’ll never know about the deal. Then I’ll give you a man you can contact when something fresh turns up, and you’ll be paid pretty well, Jan. We aren’t mean with our agents.’
Kasimir sobbed.
‘Jan,’ Empton said. ‘You aren’t listening, Jan.’
‘I will not confess,’ Kasimir said.
Empton struck him in the face.
‘Here,’ Whitaker said. ‘That’s enough. I’m not going to permit that sort of thing.’
‘Bloody wogs,’ Empton said. ‘He’ll talk.’
‘I won’t have it,’ Whitaker said.
‘I’ll take him back with me,’ Empton said. ‘He’ll talk. A couple of days will make him vocal.’
Gently said: ‘He walks out of that door unless you’ve a charge to hang on him.’
Empton turned to look at Gently. He stared hard, showed the teeth. ‘Bless my soul, old man,’ he said. ‘English justice in person. You want to be technical? I’ll be technical. I’ve got a charge tucked up my sleeve for him. He’s an alien, you know, and you heard what he admitted to us. He’s been in touch with a foreign power.’
‘They’ve been in touch with him,’ Gently said. ‘He seems to have been under some duress.’
‘The mere spirit,’ Empton said. ‘You asked for the letter, I’ve given it to you. And don’t forget that Teodowicz was murdered, however venial the act may seem. I think the law has a hold on Jan, if Jan has a hold on the law.’
‘Jan,’ Gently said, ‘will you talk to me now?’
‘I won’t confess,’ Kasimir whispered.
‘I’m not asking you to confess,’ Gently said. ‘I’d just like you to explain what you told us. It wasn’t us who killed Teodowicz, and we’re not trying to find a scapegoat. But we have to understand how you came into it. That seems to have a bearing on Teodowicz’s death. Won’t you tell me about that?’
‘I have told you this,’ Kasimir said. He began crying again, with a helpless bitterness. Empton sighed, got up, walked over to the window.
‘Jan,’ Gently said.
Kasimir sobbed. His face was twisted and blotched with tears.
‘Jan.’
‘I have told you…’
‘It’s important, Jan.’
‘I have told you… I go to speak to him.’ He faced Gently, his eyes glazed. ‘I am not a criminal,’ he said. ‘I am a decent person, you understand…? I want to live like a decent person.’
‘Tell me, Jan,’ Gently said.
‘And I’m not a coward!’ Kasimir sobbed. ‘I was in the Resistance, I fought the Germans, I have been tortured, sentenced to death… I am not a coward, you understand? They broke my leg… I am not a coward.’
‘Tell me what happened,’ Gently said.
‘And I am not a traitor,’ Kasimir sobbed. ‘I leave Poland, but I am not a traitor. I love Poland very much. I am not a traitor to Poland. I think it is good, much that they do there. But me, I have said too many things, I have to leave, I have to come here… and I do not have any illusions about your country, I think only you let me live decent. You understand? I want to live decent, I have all that I can take…’ He broke down again. ‘I am not a traitor…’
‘Go on, Jan,’ Gently said.
‘I love Poland,’ he sobbed. ‘I love my mother and my sister.’
‘They’re still in Poland?’
‘Yes… still in Poland.’
‘And that was the pressure they put on you?’
Kasimir nodded. ‘This man… he knows my mother and sister by name. He does not threaten me, nothing like that. Just ask me how they are getting on…’
‘What had you to do?’ Gently said.
‘To talk to Teodowicz, this is all. To make him see it is right for him to go back, stand trial…’
‘Not to threaten him?’
‘No… this is true! I have to appeal to him to go back. It is good if he do this, you understand? He would not get a heavy sentence.’
‘And you talked to Teodowicz.’
‘Yes, of course. I cannot do anything else.’
‘How did he take it?’
‘He does not like it… is a big shock, I think. All this time he has been forgotten, thinks he has done with all that. Then I talk to him.’ Kasimir gulped. ‘I did not want to do that.’
‘Was he difficult?’
‘No, not difficult… he knows I could not help coming. He is shocked, first of all… doesn’t know what to do about it. He asks me if he is threatened. I tell him no, no threats. What will happen, he says, if I take no notice. I do not know what to tell him. He keeps walking up and down, up and down, like an animal.’
‘Did he make his mind up?’
‘No. He must have time, he says. I must come back in a few days, then he will know what to tell me.’
‘What did you do?’
‘I stop here. I have to go back with an answer. I tell him where he can find me so he can talk to me again.’
‘I see,’ Gently said. He sat some moments frowning at the desk. ‘What were you doing during that time — two or three days, it would be?’
Kasimir gave a little shrug. ‘It is very dull. I visit Cambridge I have a friend there, a college professor, he will tell you it is true. Mathias Lukov, that is his name. He is in the telephone directory.’
‘You were in Cambridge on Monday?’
‘Yes. I am sleeping here, you understand. On Monday we go to the Arts Theatre, a first night, ‘‘The Italian Straw Hat’’. I have a hire car, you see, I come back quite late.’
‘How late?’
‘Oh, after midnight. We had some supper in Lukov’s rooms.’
‘You can prove it?’
‘But yes. There is Lukov, also his friends. It is a small party, six or seven. I am not back here till perhaps two o’clock.’
‘Go on,’ Gently said. ‘How did you learn that Teodowicz was dead?’
‘It is in the news,’ Kasimir said. ‘The BBC, Tuesday morning. I hear it at breakfast where I am staying. I am flabbergasted to hear this. If he had shot himself I could understand, but he could not have shot himself like that. I go back to London straight away and get in touch with this man, he says the British police must have done it to give our government a bad name. He is very surprised too, cannot understand at all. I must return to Offingham, he tells me, try to find out the truth about it.’
‘What did you find out?’ Gently asked.
