smoke, but he could not draw on it hard enough to light it. Jakes handed him the lit cigarette. Vandam thought: I'd like a martini to go with it. Jakes stopped the car outside police headquarters. Vandam said: 'We want the chief of detectives, whatever they call him.'
'I shouldn't think he'll be there at this hour---'
'No. Get his address. Well wake him up.'
Jakes went into the building. Vandam stared ahead through the windshield. Dawn was on its way. The stars had winked out, and now the sky was gray rather than black. There were a few people about. He saw a man leading two donkeys loaded with vegetables, presumably going to market. The muezzins had not yet called the first prayer of the day.
Jakes came back. 'Gezira,' he said as he put the car in gear and let in the clutch.
Vandam thought about Jakes. Someone had told Vandam that Jakes had a terrific sense of humor. Vandam had always found him pleasant and cheerful, but he had never seen any evidence of actual humor. Am I such a tyrant, Vandam thought, that my staff are terrified of cracking a joke in my presence? Nobody makes me laugh, he thought.
Except Elene.
'You never tell me jokes, Jakes.'
'Sir?'
'They say you have a terrific sense of humor, but you never tell me jokes.' 'No, sir.'
'Would you care to be candid for a moment and tell me why?'
There was a pause, then Jakes said: 'You don't invite familiarity, sir.' Vandam nodded. How would they know how much he liked to throw back his head and roar with laughter? He said: 'Very tactfully put, Jakes. The subject is closed.'
The Wolff business is getting to me, he thought. I wonder whether perhaps I've never really been any good at my job, and then I wonder if I'm any good for anything at all. And my face hurts.
They crossed the bridge to the island. The sky turned from slate-gray to pearl. Jakes said: 'I'd like to say, sir, that, if you'll pardon me, you're far and away the best superior officer I've ever had.'
'Oh.' Vandam was quite taken aback. 'Good Lord. Well, thank you, Jakes.
Thank you.'
'Not at all, sir. We're there.'
He stopped the car outside a small, pretty single-story house with a well-watered garden. Vandam guessed that the chief of detectives was doing well enough out of his bribes, but not too well. A cautious man, perhaps: it was a good sign.
They walked up the path and hammered on the door. After a couple of minutes a head looked out of a window and spoke in Arabic.
Jakes put on his sergeant majors voice. 'Military Intelligence--open up the bloody door!'
A minute later a small, handsome Arab opened up, still belting his trousers. He said in English: 'What's going on?'
Vandam took charge. 'An emergency. Let us in, will you?'
'Of course.' The detective stood aside and they entered. He led them into a small living room. 'What has happened?' He seemed frightened, and Vandam thought: Who wouldn't be? The knock on the door in the middle of the night...
Vandam said: 'There's nothing to panic about, but we want you to set up a surveillance, and we need it right away.'
'Of course. Please sit down.' The detective found a notebook and pencil.
'Who is the subject?'
'Sonja el-Ararn.'
'The dancer?'
'Yes. I want you to put a twenty-four-hour watch on her home, which is a houseboat called Jihan in Zamalek.'
As the detective wrote down the details, Vandam wished he did not have to use the Egyptian police for this work. However, he had no choice: it was impossible, in an African Country, to use conspicuous, white-skinned, English-speaking people for surveillance.
The detective said: 'And what is the nature of the crime?'
I'm not telling you, Vandam thought. He said: 'We think she may be an associate of whoever is passing counterfeit sterling in Cairo.'
'So you want to know who comes and goes, whether they carry anything, whether meetings are held aboard the boat. . .'
'Yes. And there is a particular man that we're interested in. He is Alex Wolff, the man suspected of the Assyut knife murder; you should have his description already.'
'Of course. Daily reports?'
'Yes, except that if Wolff is seen I want to know Immediately. You can reach Captain Jakes or me at GHQ during the day. Give him our home phone numbers, Jakes.'
'I know these houseboats,' the detective said. 'The towpath is a popular evening walk, I think, especially for
