aside a few scraps of paper and an empty file. There, at the bottom, was a single bullet. A. 32-caliber bullet, with fresh marks on the jacket nose where someone had filed an X, creating a homemade dumdum bullet.
“It appears Lieutenant Kazimierz forgot something,” Scutt said.
“It only appears that someone placed this bullet in this drawer,” I said. “He cleared everything out yesterday, didn’t he? A dozen people could have put it there. Any rookie could tell you that.”
“Perhaps,” Scutt admitted. “We may learn something if there are any fingerprints on it, or on the bayonet.”
“I must protest, Inspector,” Major Horak said. “This is an open area; the desks are not guarded. Who knows who placed the bullet there?”
“True enough,” Scutt said. “But why would anyone? Who here would want to frame Lieutenant Kazimierz for murder?”
“No one, of course,” Horak said, and then stopped as the logic sunk in. If it wasn’t a frame-up, then it was Kaz’s bullet.
“When was he here last?” Scutt said.
“Yesterday,” Horak said. “He came in midday to finish some paperwork, then he and Captain Radecki lunched downstairs. He came up to say good-bye to the staff, and departed.”
“Then he couldn’t have left the note for Eddie. It was found this morning.”
“The staff changes their clothes here. Eddie was working the early shift this week. Eddie would be certain to find it this morning, as it appears he did. Lieutenant Kazimierz could have easily placed it in his pocket before he left yesterday.”
“Have you questioned Sheila, on the hotel staff? She and Eddie seemed close.”
“Sheila Carlson,” Scutt said, consulting his notebook. “Today is her day off. We’ll get to her soon enough. We’re short staffed, with men rounding up more Germans each night. Nabbed half a dozen down in Croydon before dawn this morning.” He sighed and pocketed his notebook, his heavy eyelids showing his exhaustion.
“Major Horak,” I said. “Do you store weapons here?”
“No, only the sidearms we carry. The guards bring their weapons from the barracks.”
“No rifles, no bayonets?”
“No. But come with me.” Horak led us down the hall, to another, larger office, with Radecki’s name on the door. It was spacious, by army standards. There was a table, and behind it a bookshelf held volumes in English and Polish. Framed pictures were arranged around a battered green helmet. “It’s gone,” Horak said.
“What is?”
“Valerian’s bayonet. He is very proud of it, and the helmet. He was stationed with our border troops in the east and fought against the Russians. He escaped after all was lost, and is proud he never surrendered his weapons. They wouldn’t let him travel through Romania with his rifle, but he did keep everything else. The bayonet has always been right here, with his helmet.”
“Well, it found its way into Eddie Miller’s chest,” Scutt said, showing little care for Radecki’s wartime exploits. “Where is this fellow now?”
“He is visiting Station Number Eight,” Horak said, his discomfort visible as he looked away and spoke in a strangled whisper.
“What in blazes is Station Number Eight?” Scutt said, his anger rising. “And tell me where it is, for that matter!”
“I am afraid I can’t, Inspector,” Horak said. “I have my orders, which come in part from your own government. I can tell you Captain Radecki is on an assignment and I expect him back within the week.”
“Is he here in London?”
“He has not left England. More than that, I simply am not allowed to say.”
“You get in touch with him, and tell him Scotland Yard wants a word,” Scutt said, and left the room, muttering loudly enough to be heard. “Not left England! Who the bloody hell has?”
“The inspector is not a happy man,” Horak said.
“His feet hurt,” I said. “Occupational hazard for policemen. Did Radecki and Kaz often lunch together? I didn’t get the impression they were all that friendly.”
“Lieutenant Kazimierz, you mean? It seems you Americans must shorten every name with more than two syllables. I’m sorry,” he said, waving his hand as if to erase what he’d said. “No, they weren’t especially friendly. They differed over the treatment of Tadeusz Tucholski, the young man you met.”
“How so?”
“Captain Radecki pushed Tadeusz hard. He said it would be best for him to get everything out in the open. Lieutenant Kazimierz said Tadeusz needed time, and comforting.”
“What did you think?”
“I think we have very little time. But we needed to strike a balance, and I fear Captain Radecki was too adamant and caused Tadeusz to retreat into himself. I had to agree when Lieutenant Kazimierz suggested a break. We’ve used the facility at St. Albans before. It’s a sanatorium, run by the military, very secure. They specialize in treating shell shock. We hope it will help, but one never knows.”
“What was it exactly that led you to decide to place him in a sanatorium?” I picked up the helmet displayed on Radecki’s shelves. It was heavy, the brim a bit wider than ours. I put it back, staring at the shelves. I had no idea what I was looking for.
“Tadeusz slept more than usual,” Horak said, tapping a Wills Four Aces cigarette down on the yellow tin case before lighting it. “He always slept after telling his story, but it began to happen more and more. Even when he was awake, he was lethargic in the extreme. You heard his last coherent words, Lieutenant Boyle.”
“It must have been hard for him, reliving it on demand.” I walked in back of Radecki’s table, wondering what he and Kaz had talked about at lunch yesterday.
“Too hard, apparently,” Horak said, blowing smoke up to the ceiling. “If you don’t mind my asking, why does it matter to you?”
“I don’t like the idea of Scutt considering Kaz as a suspect.”
“Then you won’t like what I am about to tell you. Captain Radecki spoke with your friend in this office before they went to lunch. I came in to say good-bye to Lieutenant Kazimierz, and saw Radecki showing him his souvenirs. The lieutenant was handling the bayonet, feeling the heft of it.”
“So Kaz’s fingerprints will be all over it.”
“Unfortunately so,” Horak said. “Unless the killer wiped them away, along with his own.”
“He probably wore gloves. It’s cold enough outside to not be noticed. What worries me is that it had to be someone who wouldn’t have looked out of place in your offices, or elsewhere in the hotel. He had to have typed that note and left it for Eddie yesterday, and then taken the bayonet, either last night or early this morning. When did Radecki leave?”
“Sometime late yesterday afternoon. He was gone when I returned here a little after five o’clock.”
“So the bayonet could have been taken yesterday. You didn’t see it?”
“I only saw that his office was empty.”
“I suppose anyone could walk in there?”
“Once a person gains admittance to this floor, there are really no restrictions. Plus, we have hotel staff coming and going. Waiters, cleaning people, and so on.”
“Eddie, of course. And Sheila Carlson?”
“Yes, she’s been working on this floor for a month or so. Nice young girl.”
“Do you mind if I use the telephone?” I asked, sitting at Radecki’s table. Horak shrugged, ground out his cigarette, and told me to make myself comfortable. I did, and called Norfolk House to ask Harding if he’d send Big Mike over to pick me up and help look for Kaz. I had an idea he might pay a visit to Tadeusz, and that a drive up to St. Albans might turn him up. The switchboard put me on hold and, believing that idle hands are the devil’s workshop, I let them pull open the drawers on Radecki’s desk.
File folders full of papers typed in Polish. Notepads, none of the writing in English. A map of London, a pack of cigarettes, paper clips, a pencil stub. The usual office debris. The last drawer on the right held a first aid kit, along with a small glass bottle labeled TINCTURE OF OPIUM. LAUDANUM. Radecki probably had a spare with him, if his leg hurt as much as it seemed to. The doctor’s name and address were on the label. H. T. Ruskin, Horseferry Street, about a ten-minute walk. Harding came on the line and I shut the drawer. He said Big Mike was available,
