`Sit with me. I'm a bit edgy…'
`Get some of this down. You'll feel wonderful. Cheers!'
`Cheers!' She drank the whole glass, he refilled it, and she drank half the contents of the fresh glass. The sparkle came back into her deep blue eyes. 'Now, I'll tell you. A very grim policeman came aboard early this morning. Grim, but I liked him. If that makes any sense. A man called Kuhlmann. He reminded me of a human powerhouse. Could I have a drop more?'
`That's what it's for.'
`He's very clever, this Kuhlmann. No one else could have persuaded me to tell him what I did.'
`And what did you tell him?'
`About that dinghy with the outboard I heard crossing over the channel from the beach after midnight…'
`I said you ought to tell the police.'
`I know.' She was playing with a lace handkerchief. She looked up suddenly at Tweed. 'I also told him Dr Berlin has an outboard-powered dinghy, that the one I saw – the wake as I told you – was heading for the marina where he keeps his dinghy. That, I am sure, is why the police raided the party. I feel awful about it now.'
`Surely a lot of people have that type of craft?'
`I suppose so…' She drank more champagne and went vague.
`Let's have a look at your letter,' Tweed said briskly.
He stood with his back to her, masking what he was doing. He picked up the envelope between the flat of his hands.
Fortunately, the flap had been hastily closed and came open easily. He extracted the folded message with his fingertips, opened it and read the brief message which bore signs of being hastily typed. Even the signature was typed. He read it aloud to her.
'Will be away for a while. Look after Sudwind. Expenses waiting at bank. Berlin.' ' He spoke over his shoulder. 'Can I keep this for a bit?'
`Why not?'
He slipped the folded sheet back into the envelope and slid the envelope inside his breast pocket. When he turned round she was lying back, her head resting on the cushion, staring up at the cabin roof. He sat down on the couch again.
`Diana, I can't quite understand it. He must have had this typed and delivered earlier this afternoon – which means he knew he would be leaving…'
`Not necessarily. That big Mercedes has everything inside it – including a desk flap and a small portable typewriter. He could have typed that while they were crossing on the ferry. Then he could have given it to one of his assistants, dropped him off when they landed so he could deliver it here while we were waiting for the ferry to come back.'
`He types himself?'
`Yes. He's always typing little notes with instructions.' Her eyes were sleepy as she watched him. 'He has many talents people don't know about. He plays the piano well. His favourite composer is Chopin. Stay the night with me here, Tweedy.'
`I was coming to that.' His tone was businesslike. 'After two murders nearby – and like those poor girls, you are also a blonde – you are not spending one more night aboard this cruiser. You come back to the Jensen and sleep there in your room. Is that clearly understood?'
`It's nice to have someone who cares. Yes, it is understood. I promise.'
`Then we'd better find Newman and get back to Lubeck. `After we've finished the bottle…'
She stretched out her right leg and rested it on his lap. He squeezed her ankle with his free hand, then shook his head as she raised herself and moved towards him.
`I'm fond of you, Diana, but I'm fully-occupied with a job which must be done. And I have a wife..
`Bob told me you were separated from her – have been for a long time.'
`Newman talks too much. We'll finish the champagne and then go…'
`An insurance job? You help people who are kidnapped – or who might be. Wealthy people…'
`That's right. I can't talk about it. Drink up…'
They collected Newman from Ann Grayle's sloop. Diana waited at the end of the landing-stage, keeping well away from what she called `that Grayle woman'.
It was only a short walk to the station, Travemunde Hafen. Aboard the empty train Diana sat by herself further along the coach, staring out of the window.
`She's upset,' Tweed explained to Newman, and told him about the letter and the outboard dinghy she had witnessed crossing to Priwall Island, the facts she had reported to Kuhlmann.
`A lot of people must have those dinghies,' Newman objected. 'I've seen at least a dozen of them.'
`That's what I said to her. There's something she didn't tell me – but I think she told Kuhlmann. Hence the raid. I think we've lost Dr Berlin for some time, maybe for good. And I've remembered what Diana said that seemed important – but not when she said it.'
`What was that?'
`Later…'
Tweed had spotted Diana leaving her seat and coming back to their part of the coach. She seemed quite different, her mood was impish, her walk light-footed. She sat down opposite Tweed.
`Sorry,' she said.
'For what?'
`Being so ill-mannered – going off on my own. I had the Black Dog perched on my shoulder – isn't that what Churchill used to say? I read it in a book. I had a decision to make…'
`Nothing to be sorry about,' Tweed assured her. 'Want to tell me about your decision?'
'Yes. I told that Federal policeman, Kuhlmann, more than I told you. That was why I had the raid on my conscience. I think you should both know what I did tell him. Especially since what happened when the police raid took place – the way Dr Berlin drove off at speed.'
`Clearly he wanted to avoid the police,' Tweed remarked.
'I told you Kuhlmann could be very persuasive. I told him I'd phoned Dr Berlin at his home just before midnight. He never goes to bed before two o'clock. He was always up late in the old Kenya days.'
She hesitated, dropped her eyes, and Tweed frowned at Newman to stop him speaking. Diana asked Newman for a cigarette and took a deep drag after he had lit it. She stared straight at Tweed.
'There was no reply. I'd called his private number which goes straight through to his study…'
'Maybe he was in another part of the house – it's a big place.'
'Which is exactly what Kuhlmann said. After trying the private line I called the house number. Danny Warning answered it. When I asked for Dr Berlin he said he was in his study and didn't want to be disturbed. Oh, God, I must be wrong.'
'The fact remains,' Tweed said, 'your calls proved Dr Berlin was not at home at just about the time Iris Hansen was killed on the beach.'
Sixteen
'I'm flying back to London,' Tweed announced. 'In the strictest secrecy. They'll know I've arrived at Park Crescent when I walk through the front door.'
He was pacing his bedroom at the Jensen with slow deliberate steps when he told Newman. He stood very erect and there was a hardness in his voice which startled Newman.
'What has happened?' he asked. 'I'm coming with you…'
'You are not. You stay here to guard Diana Chadwick. I shall catch the express to Hamburg tomorrow, go straight from the Hauptbahnhof to the airport, buy a ticket and board the first flight.'
`I'll ask you again. Why this sudden turnabout? I know you came here because you suspected you were being led into a trap – and you wanted to spring the trap yourself…'
`I have learned things since which make me realize the crisis facing me could be infinitely worse than I
