Алистер Маклин - Bear Island

She sniffed a bit and then she said: ‘You’re an awfully kind person, Dr Marlowe. I know you’re trying to help us–’

‘Oh, do shut up,’ I said. ‘I can prove it.’

‘Prove it? Prove it?’ There was some hope in the sick eyes, she didn’t know whether to believe me or not, and then it seemed that she decided not to, for she shook her head again and said numbly: ‘She said I killed him.’

‘Miss Haynes was speaking figuratively,’ I said, ‘which is not the same thing at all, and even then she was wrong. What she meant was that you were the precipitating factor in her husband’s death, which of course you weren’t.’

‘Precipitating factor?’

‘Yes.’ I took her hands from my now badly crushed lapels, held them in mine and looked at her in my best avuncular fashion. ‘Tell me, Mary darling, have you ever dallied in the moonlight with Michael Stryker?’

‘Me? Have I–’

‘Mary?’

‘Yes,’ she said miserably. ‘I mean no, no, I didn’t.’

‘That’s very clear,’ I said. ‘Let’s put it this way. Did you ever give Miss Haynes reason to suspect that you had been? Dallying, I mean.’

‘Yes.’ She sniffed again. ‘No. I mean he did.’ I kept my baffled expression in cold storage and looked at her encouragingly. ‘He called me into his cabin, just the day we left Wick, that was. He was alone there. He said that he wanted to discuss some things about the film with me.’

‘A change from etchings,’ I said.

She looked at me uncomprehendingly and went on: ‘But it wasn’t about the film he wanted to talk. You must believe me, Dr Marlowe. You must!’

‘I believe you.’

‘He closed the door and grabbed me and then–’

‘Spare my unsullied mind the grisly details. When the villain was forcing his unwelcome attentions upon you there came the pit-a-pat of feminine footsteps in the corridor outside, whereupon the villain rapidly assumed a position where you appeared to be forcing your unwelcome attentions upon him and when the door opened – to reveal, of course, none other than his better half – there he was, fending off the licentious young continuity girl and crying, “No, no, Nanette, control yourself, this can never be,” or words to that effect.’

‘More or less.’ She looked more miserable than ever, then her eyes widened. ‘How did you know?’

‘The Strykers of this world are pretty thick upon the ground. The ensuing scene must have been pretty painful.’

‘There were two scenes,’ she said dully. ‘Something like it happened on the upper deck the following night. She said she was going to report me to her father – Mr Gerran. He said – not when she was there, of course – that if I tried to make trouble he’d have me fired. He was a director, you know. Later, when I got, well, friendly with Allen, he said he’d get us both fired if need be and make sure that neither of us would ever again get a job in films. Allen said that this was all wrong, why should we accept this when neither of us had done anything, so–’

‘So he tried to make him see the error of his ways this morning and got clobbered for his pains. Don’t worry, you’ve neither of you anything to worry about. You’ll find your wounded knight-errant next door, Mary.’ I smiled and gently touched the swollen cheek. ‘This should be something to see. Love’s young dream in sticking-plaster. You do love him, don’t you, Mary?’

‘Of course.’ She looked at me solemnly. ‘Dr Marlowe.’

‘I’m wonderful?’

She smiled, almost happily, and left. Smithy, who must have been watching for her departure, came in almost at once and I told him what had been said.

‘Had to be that, of course,’ he said. ‘The truth’s always obvious when it’s hung up in front of you and you’re beaten over the head with a two-by-four to make you take notice. And now?’

‘And now, I think, three things. The first, to clear the names of the two love-birds next door: that’s not important at this stage, but they’re sensitive souls and I think they’d like to be on speaking terms with the rest of the company again. Second thing is, I’ve no intention of being stranded here for the next twenty-two days – two days is a lot more like it: who knows, I might be able to pressure unknown or unknowns into precipitate action.’

‘I should have thought there had been enough of that already,’ Smithy said.

‘You may have a point. Third thing is, I could make life a great deal easier and safer for both of us if we had every person so busy watching every other person that it would make it a great deal more difficult for the disaffected to creep up upon our backs unawares.’

‘You touch upon a very sympathetic nerve,’ Smithy said. ‘Your plan into action and at once, I say. A small chat with the assembled company?’

‘A small chat with the assembled company. I suggested a couple of hours’ lie-down to Allen but I think he and Mary should be there. Would you?’

Smithy left and I went into the living area. Goin, Otto and the Count, all armed with glasses as was almost every other person there, were still in solemn and low-voiced conclave. Otto beckoned me across.

‘One moment,’ I said. I went outside, coughed and caught my breath as the bitter air cut into my lungs, then trudged against that snow-filled gale across to the provisions hut. Lonnie was seated on a packing case, lovingly examining the amber contents of a glass against the light from his torch.

‘Ha!’ he said. ‘Our peripatetic healer. You know, when one consumes a noble wine like this–’

‘Wine?’

‘A figure of speech. When one consumes a noble scotch like this, half the pleasure lies in the visual satisfaction. Ever tried it in the darkness? Flat, stale, strangely lacking in bouquet. There’s a worthwhile monograph here, I’m sure.’ He waved his glass in the direction of the crates of bottles by one wall. ‘Harking back to my earlier allusions to the hereafter, if they can have bars in Bear Island then surely–’

‘Lonnie,’ I said, ‘you’re missing out on the largesse stakes. Otto is dispensing noble wine at this very moment. He’s using very large glasses.’

‘I was on the very point of leaving.’ He tilted his head and swallowed rapidly. ‘I have a dread of being thought a misanthrope.’

I took this friend of the human race back to the main cabin and counted those there. Twenty-one, myself included, as it should have been: the twenty-second and last, Judith Haynes, was deeply unconscious and would be so for hours. Otto beckoned me a second time and I went across.

‘We’ve been having what you might call a council of war,’ Otto said importantly. ‘We’ve arrived at a conclusion and would like to have your opinion.’

‘Why mine? I’m just an employee, like everyone else here, apart, of course, from the three of you – and Miss Haynes.’

‘Consider yourself a co-opted director,’ the Count said generously. ‘Temporary and unpaid, of course.’

‘Your opinion would be valued,’ Goin said precisely.

‘Opinion about what?’

‘Our proposed measures for dealing with Allen,’ Otto said. ‘I know that in law every man is presumed innocent until proved otherwise. Nor do we have any wish to be inhumane. But simply in order to protect ourselves–’

‘I wanted to talk to you about that,’ I said. ‘About protecting ourselves. I wanted to talk to everybody about that. In fact, that’s what I propose to do this very moment.’

‘You propose to do what?’ Otto could arrange his eyebrows in a very forbidding fashion when he put his mind to it.

‘A brief address only,’ I said. ‘I’ll take up hardly any of your time.’

‘I can’t permit that,’ Otto said loftily. ‘At least, not until you give us some idea what you have in mind and then we may or may not give our consent.’