told him to destroy the heathen images. He couldn’t understand why we couldn’t see his point of view.
The little man and Larry had opposite aims, but they had the same mind-set. A kind of mental constipation, if you will excuse the homely metaphor – a block of solid conviction through which no counter argument can pass.
Larry turned with a frown when the door opened. We’d been getting on so well; he felt sure I had been about to agree with him.
Her hair was tied back with a soft scarf that matched her pale blue dress. It was like a child’s pinafore, with wide shoulder straps and big pockets in the gathered skirt, and she looked about sixteen. The Greek earrings shone bright against the masses of her dark hair.
‘Has she got it?’ Mary’s voice was crisp and not at all childish.
‘We haven’t discussed that,’ Larry said. ‘I doubt it, though. Please go.’
‘You promised me . . .’
‘No, I didn’t. Get out and leave this to me.’
She divided a malignant glance between the two of us and slipped out.
‘That woman is getting to be a damned nuisance, Larry muttered. ‘I think she’s a little crazy.’
‘You know, Larry, you might have something there. Why don’t you fire her? You hired her.’
‘No, I didn’t. My original arrangements were made with her brother. A very competent man.’
Competent, sane Leif. I remembered the last sight I’d had of him. The knife with which he’d been slashing at me was still in his hand when John dragged him down under the icy water.
Larry’s frown smoothed out. ‘Well, it won’t be much longer. I will certainly sever my connections with the organization after this. I hate to do it because they’ve done excellent work for me in the past, and at the start she was quite efficient. Some of her ideas were brilliant, in fact – like planting that message with the dead agent to get you on board as a means of making Tregarth behave himself.’
‘Oh,’ I said. He seemed to expect some response, but congratulating him on that brilliant idea was more than I could manage.
‘Her organization handled that matter, and very well, too.’ Larry went on. ‘She’s been acting strangely the last few weeks, though, and one can’t put up with that sort of thing. It’s inefficient.’
‘Right,’ I said, swallowing.
‘I need that pectoral, Vicky,’ Larry went on. ‘Do you have it?’
‘What . . . Oh.’ In the fascination of following Larry’s mind along its monster-haunted byways I had almost forgotten the Tutankhamon jewel. ‘No, I don’t have it. Didn’t you search me?’
Larry looked uncomfortable. ‘Only in the most respectful fashion. Mary wanted to . . . Of course I couldn’t allow that.’
‘Thanks,’ I said. And I meant it. The idea of those soft little hands on me made my skin crawl.
‘It’s a very large object,’ Larry went on. ‘I don’t believe I could have missed it. Anyhow, I didn’t suppose Tregarth would trust you with it. He has it, doesn’t he?’
‘Unless he is a lot dumber than I think he is, he’s stowed it away somewhere safe by now.’
‘So we decided. Well.’ Larry rose. ‘He’ll turn it over to us in exchange for you. So you see, Vicky, you haven’t a thing to worry about. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?’
His departure would certainly have that effect but it wouldn’t have been tactful to say so. I shook my head.
‘Have a little rest,’ Larry said kindly. ‘I’ll let you know as soon as we hear from him.’
Mary wasn’t the only one who’d gone around the bend in the last few weeks. Or had Larry always been this way, determinedly unconscious of the deadly results of his ‘harmless’ schemes? Maybe they were all like that, the presidents and chairmen and commanding generals who sat in their offices and gave orders to ‘engage targets’ or ‘cut the work force.’ They never saw the suffering, bleeding bodies those orders affected.
I didn’t have a little rest or eat any of the food on the tray. It wasn’t very appetizing – dry sandwiches and a wilted salad that probably contained a whole colony of healthy typhoid germs. That suggested there were few or no servants in the house. Larry might not have his full crew with him. Some of them would have to stay with the boat. Mary and Hans were here, and that probably meant Max and Rudi were also with Larry. How many others?
And what the hell difference did it make? I couldn’t get out and there was no way John could get to me without being caught.
I went onto the balcony. Down below – far down – I saw a stone-paved terrace without so much as a shrub to break one’s fall. Rudi was down there too. At least the shape in the shadows, slim as a weasel, looked like his. To complete the picture of total disaster, the railing of the balcony swayed under the pressure of my hands. No point in trying the old bedsheet routine even if Rudi hadn’t been lurking. Those rails wouldn’t support the weight of a healthy six-foot female.
I was inspecting the bathroom, hoping to find a used razor blade or a nail file, when I heard the bedroom door open.
‘He’s on his way. He telephoned a few minutes ago.’
Her eyes glowed. Little flecks floated in them like the dead insects in amber. My heart couldn’t sink any farther; it was already trying to shove through the sole of my shoe.
‘So,’ Mary went on briskly, ‘we must get ready to receive him, mustn’t we. Sit down in that chair. Not the big carved armchair. That one.’
It was a straight chair, the seat and back covered with faded gold brocade.
‘No, thanks,’ I said, backing away. ‘I’d rather stand.’
‘If you prefer it this way.’ She turned to the door. ‘Hans. Come in.’
Hans’s face wasn’t capable of displaying subtle emotion, but I got the impression that even he was beginning to wonder about little Mary. ‘Aber, gnadige Frau, Herr Max hat mir gesagt – ’
‘From whom do you take your orders? I’m not going to hurt her,’ she added unconvincingly. At least it didn’t convince me. Poor bewildered Hans shrugged, setting off a miniature avalanche of muscles, and advanced on me.
Just for the look of the thing, I picked up a bowl from the table and heaved it. To my surprise it hit him square on the chest. Not to my surprise it didn’t halt his advance.
So I sat down in the chair and Hans took the cord Mary had foresightedly brought with her, and he tied my wrists and ankles. He worked with slow deliberation. The knots weren’t painfully tight. Hans didn’t get any jollies from hurting people. He just killed them.
‘Larry isn’t going to like this,’ I said.
‘Larry knows I’m here.’ Mary assisted Hans out the door and closed it. ‘My darling husband is an ingenious swine, and as I pointed out to Larry, it would be foolish to take unnecessary chances.’
‘Are you really married?’
‘Bell, book, and candle.’ Mary leaned against the table, hands in her pockets. ‘Not for long, though,’ she went on conversationally. ‘I regret that, in a way. I shall hate wearing black. It’s not my colour. And sharing his bed was quite an interesting experience.’
‘Oh, come off it,’ I said. ‘You’re wasting your time with that routine, Mary. He could hardly stand to touch you. It was always you hanging on to him, instead of – ’
I wouldn’t have believed a soft little hand like that could hit so hard. When my ears had stopped ringing I said, ‘Did Larry authorize beating me up?’
‘He took my knife away.’ Mary’s voice deepened and the golden eyes glittered. ‘But he can’t object to this. A few bruises will have a persuasive effect on John. You’ve got him trained like one of Pavlov’s dogs. I don’t understand how you accomplished it – ’
She examined me curiously, from head to foot and back again. I could see her problem; the idea that any normal man could resist a cuddly little cutie in favour of a six-foot Amazon with a sarcastic tongue and the disposition of a hedgehog absolutely baffled her. To be honest, it baffled me too – not that he could reisist little Miss Mary the Ripper, but that he had stuck with me so long.
With an abrupt movement she pulled the lovely little Greek heads from her ears and flung them at me. ‘These were meant for you, you know: I made him give them to me. Did you enjoy seeing me wear them?’
‘I did wonder. They aren’t your style.’
‘But they were clearly a love token, weren’t they? Something distinctive and different, carefully chosen for a
