They Came to Baghdad

girl. The fellow burst in, collapsed – she’s got a very kind heart and she hid him from the police. And now he’s dead. She oughtn’t to have done it, perhaps, but girls are soft-hearted.’

‘Of course she did not like the police,’ said Marcus. ‘Nobody likes the police. I do not like the police. But I have to stand well with them because of my hotel. You want me to square them with money?’

‘We just want to get the body away quietly.’

‘That is very nice, my dear. And I, too, I do not want a body in my hotel. But it is, as you say, not so easy to do?’

‘I think it could be managed,’ said Dakin. ‘You’ve got a doctor in your family, haven’t you?’

‘Yes, Paul, my sister’s husband, is a doctor. He is a very nice boy. But I do not want him to get into trouble.’

‘He won’t,’ said Dakin. ‘Listen, Marcus. We move the body from Miss Jones’ room across into my room. That lets her out of it. Then I use your telephone. In ten minutes’ time a young man reels into the hotel from the street. He is very drunk, he clutches at his side. He demands me at the top of his voice. He staggers into my room and collapses. I come out and call you and ask for a doctor. You produce your brother-in-law. He sends for an ambulance and he goes in it with this drunken friend of mine. Before they get to the hospital my friend is dead. He has been stabbed. That is all right for you. He has been stabbed in the street before coming into your hotel.’

‘My brother-in-law takes away the body – and the young man who plays the part of the drunkard, he goes away quietly in the morning perhaps?’

‘That’s the idea.’

‘And there is no body found in my hotel? And Miss Jones she does not get any worry or annoyance? I think, my dear, that that is all a very good idea.’

‘Good, then if you’ll make sure the coast is clear, I’ll get the body across to my room. Those servants of yours potter round the corridors half the night. Go along to your room and raise a shindy. Get them all running to fetch you things.’

Marcus nodded and left the room.

‘You’re a strong girl,’ said Dakin. ‘Can you manage to help me to carry him across the corridor to my room?’

Victoria nodded. Between them they lifted the limp body, carried it across the deserted corridor (in the distance Marcus’ voice could be heard upraised in furious anger) and laid it on Dakin’s bed.

Dakin said:

‘Got a pair of scissors? Then cut off the top of your underblanket where it’s stained. I don’t think the stain’s gone through to the mattress. The tunic soaked up most of it. I’ll come along to you in about an hour. Here, wait a minute, take a pull from this flask of mine.’

Victoria obeyed.

‘Good girl,’ said Dakin. ‘Now go back to your room. Turn out the light. As I said, I’ll be along in about an hour.’

‘And you’ll tell me what it all means?’

He gave her a long rather peculiar stare but did not answer her question.

Chapter 14

Victoria lay in bed with her light out, listening through the darkness. She heard sounds of loud drunken altercation. Heard a voice declaring: ‘Felt I got to look you up, ole man. Had a row with a fellow outside.’ She heard bells ring. Heard other voices. Heard a good deal of commotion. Then came a stretch of comparative silence – except for the far-off playing of Arab music on a gramophone in somebody’s room. When it seemed to her as though hours had passed, she heard the gentle opening of her door and sat up in bed and switched on the bedside lamp.

‘That’s right,’ said Dakin approvingly.

He brought a chair up to the bedside and sat down in it. He sat there staring at her in the considering manner of a physician making a diagnosis.

‘Tell me what it’s all about?’ demanded Victoria.

‘Suppose,’ said Dakin, ‘that you tell me all about yourself first. What are you doing here? Why did you come to Baghdad?’

Whether it was the events of the night, or whether it was something in Dakin’s personality ( Victoria thought afterwards that it was the latter), Victoria for once did not launch out on an inspired and meretricious account of her presence in Baghdad. Quite simply and straightforwardly she told him everything. Her meeting with Edward, her determination to get to Baghdad, the miracle of Mrs Hamilton Clipp, and her own financial destitution.

‘I see,’ said Dakin when she had finished.

He was silent for a moment before he spoke.

‘Perhaps I’d like to keep you out of this. I’m not sure. But the point is, you can’t be kept out of it! You’re in it, whether I like it or not. And as you’re in it, you might as well work for me.’

‘You’ve got a job for me?’ Victoria sat up in bed, her cheeks bright with anticipation.

‘Perhaps. But not the kind of job you’re thinking of. This is a serious job, Victoria. And it’s dangerous.’

‘Oh, that’s all right,’ said Victoria cheerfully. She added doubtfully, ‘It’s not dishonest, is it? Because though I know I tell an awful lot of lies, I wouldn’t really like to do anything that was dishonest.’

Dakin smiled a little.

‘Strangely enough, your capacity to think up a convincing lie quickly is one of your qualifications for the job. No, it’s not dishonest. On the contrary, you are enlisted in the cause of law and order. I’m going to put you in the picture – only in a general kind of way, but so that you can understand fully what it is you are doing and exactly what the dangers are. You seem to be a sensible young woman and I don’t suppose you’ve thought much about world politics which is just as well, because as Hamlet very wisely remarked, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”.’

‘I know everybody says there’s going to be another war sooner or later,’ said Victoria.

‘Exactly,’ said Mr Dakin. ‘Why does everybody say so, Victoria?’

She frowned. ‘Why, because Russia – the Communists – America –’ she stopped.

‘You see,’ said Dakin. ‘Those aren’t your own opinions or words. They’re picked up from newspapers and casual talk, and the wireless. There are two divergent points of view dominating different parts of the world, that is true enough. And they are represented loosely in the public mind as “ Russia and the Communists” and “ America ”. Now the only hope for the future, Victoria, lies in peace, in production, in constructive activities and not destructive ones. Therefore everything depends on those who hold those two divergent viewpoints, either agreeing to differ and each contenting themselves with their respective spheres of activity, or else finding a mutual basis for agreement, or at least toleration. Instead of that, the opposite is happening, a wedge is being driven in the whole time to force two mutually suspicious groups farther and farther apart. Certain things led one or two people to believe that this activity comes from a third party or group working under cover and so far absolutely unsuspected by the world at large. Whenever there is a chance of agreement being reached or any sign of dispersal of suspicion, some incident occurs to plunge one side back in distrust, or the other side into definite hysterical fear. These things are not accidents, Victoria, they are deliberately produced for a calculated effect.’

‘But why do you think so and who’s doing it?’

‘One of the reasons we think so is because of money. The money, you see, is coming from the wrong sources. Money, Victoria, is always the great clue to what is happening in the world. As a physician feels your pulse, to get a clue to your state of health, so money is the life-blood that feeds any great movement or cause. Without it, the movement can’t make headway. Now here, there are very large sums of money involved and although very cleverly and artfully camouflaged, there is definitely something wrong about where the money comes from and