Michael Pearce - The Mingrelian Conspiracy

‘Very reasonably. And so you thought you would have a word with me?’

‘Exactly!’

‘Well, I am interested, Mr. Nicodemus, I must admit. May I ask, though-it is best if we understand each other-are you offering this information…gratuit?. Or are you looking for…?’

Mr. Nicodemus shook his head hurriedly.

‘Oh, no, Captain Owen. Thank you, no. It is being offered purely disinterestedly. I just thought you might like to know.’

‘Indeed, I would. As I say, this kind of information interests me considerably. I wonder, though, would you perhaps add a little more detail? About the purchaser, for instance?’

‘The person who contacted me claimed to be acting on behalf of an Egyptian quarrying company. But I deal with quite a few quarry companies, Captain Owen, and I know that they do not place orders like that.’

He leaned forward and gave Owen a small slip of paper. ‘That was the original specification,’ he said.

Owen glanced at it.

‘Small,’ he said. ‘About enough to demolish a small building.’

Mr. Nicodemus nodded.

‘I thought, perhaps, a tomb?’ he said.

Robbers were always breaking into tombs. Usually they dug their way in. Occasionally, however, they found their way blocked, and then they blasted.

‘Perhaps. Can you give me some more details? The delivery date, for instance?’

‘One month after signature of contract. But, Captain Owen, that was when they first approached me. They said then that delivery was urgent, so perhaps-’

‘Your rival might have agreed to a shorter delivery?’

Mr. Nicodemus nodded.

‘It is a small order,’ he said. ‘It could be supplied from stocks. Then it would be only a question of transport.’

‘And entry. It would have to come through customs.’

Mr. Nicodemus spread his hands.

‘These things are not always declared,’ he said.

Owen glanced at the piece of paper.

‘Where was it to be delivered to?’ he asked.

‘Suez. To await collection.’

‘The name?’

‘The name on the original specification,’ said Mr. Nicodemus, ‘was Dhondy. Of course, it may be different now.’

‘But Suez, anyway?’

‘That, too, might be different. I can, perhaps, help you a little. The name of the supplier is Herbst-Wickel.’

‘Your competitor?’

‘Exactly.’ Mr. Nicodemus gave a little smile.

‘Would it be on the shipment certificate?’

‘Not necessarily. Not unless they were very foolish.’

‘Old labels, perhaps,’ said Owen.

‘Perhaps. I can tell you one thing more. Herbst-Wickel is asking for payment in gold. It’s what you do,’ said Mr. Nicodemus deprecatingly, ‘when you have doubts about the client. Now, of course, gold can always be obtained, but it takes a little more time and it costs a little more money, and I gather that the client is, or was, having some difficulty.’ Mr. Nicodemus had no more information to impart and shortly afterwards rose to go. Owen thanked him for his helpfulness.

‘Not at all,’ said Mr. Nicodemus politely.

He hesitated, however, in the doorway.

‘It would be nice,’ he said, ‘if my helpfulness could be remembered. At some convenient moment.’

‘Had you a moment in mind?’ asked Owen.

‘Well,’ said Mr. Nicodemus, ‘it so happens that we shall shortly be tendering for a contract to supply arms to the Khedivial Army. It is a substantial contract.’

‘More substantial than a one-off contract to supply explosives to an unknown client?’

‘Certainly.’ Mr. Nicodemus smiled. ‘You see, I am open with you.’

‘It’s the best way. Well, I will be equally open with you. I am grateful for your information but I am unable to influence the award of the contract. That is a matter entirely for the Purchasing Department.’

‘Of course!’ said Mr. Nicodemus hurriedly. ‘Of course!’ Still smiling, however and still waiting.

At last Owen understood.

‘Are Herbst-Wickel also tendering?’

‘I believe they are,’ said Mr. Nicodemus, now turning definitely to go.

‘Were you listening?’ asked Owen.

‘Yes,’ said Nikos.

‘What do you think?’

‘Genuine.’

‘Think we should follow it up?’

Nikos nodded. They usually did with reports of this nature. Explosives was something the administration took seriously. The big users, the quarrying companies and the construction firms working on the dams, were obliged by law to keep explosives under lock and key and notify at once any loss. Others could obtain explosives only in limited quantities and from registered suppliers. All imports were against a licence and licences were normally granted only to registered suppliers. Any report of an illegal import was at once followed up.

But how were they to do it in this case? Owen’s resources were already stretched and this business of the Grand Duke was stretching them further. Nikos, who would normally have conducted the enquiry, was busy playing noughts and crosses with the schedules for the Duke’s visit. Georgiades, who would usually stand in if Nikos was not available, was already complaining about workloads and talking about priorities. There were others he could use but they were occupied too.

This was precisely the sort of enquiry that suffered when extra things like the Grand Duke came along.

‘Shall we leave it for the time being?’

‘No, no, no!’

Nikos hated loose ends. If this were not followed up, it would gnaw at him for months.

‘It’s relatively hot,’ he said. ‘If we leave it, it will go cold.’

‘It’s a question of priorities,’ said Owen. Heavens, it was catching! ‘How important is this?’

‘There are some things about it I don’t like,’ said Nikos.

‘Such as?’

‘Size. Big enough to blow up a small house. What would it be needed for?’

‘Ordinary demolition work?’

‘Then why the secrecy?’

‘Tomb?’

‘All they need for that is a couple of sticks of dynamite.’

‘What else, then?’

‘A cafe? A recalcitrant cafe?’ Nikos spread his hands. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘It’s just that I’m uneasy. It doesn’t fall into any of the usual patterns.’

This, for Nikos, was the most heinous fault of all.

‘Who’s buying it, for instance?’ he said.

‘One of the clubs?’

‘They’ve usually got their own supplies.’

‘A new one, then?’

‘Well,’ said Nikos, ‘if that’s so, and they’re going straight for explosives, that’s very worrying. It’s all the more reason why we should follow it up. Look, I could at least ring round and see if any of the regular suppliers know anything about it.’

‘Well, I’ll tackle Customs,’ said Owen. ‘But that’s all!’ he said warningly. ‘We have to keep a sense of priorities.’

Jesus, there he was again! It was a disease.

Owen thought about it hard, then took the train to Port Suez. It would cost him, there and back, two days of valuable time. Two days! And there he was complaining about his resources being stretched! But in Egypt if you wanted to get anywhere you simply had to use a personal approach. Most of the departments were now equipped with telephones and Customs, which was one of the most efficient, would certainly have one. But people were not used to them yet and anyway it wasn’t quite the same. Face to face was what it always came down to; so train it was, much to Zeinab’s disgust, who had had other things in mind for the following evening.

The train left early, at four, and for the first hour he watched the spectacular sunrise. The sun came up over the desert in a great red ball and chased colours for a while across the sand. But then the colours and the redness disappeared and everything settled down to a steady monochrome, made more so by the way in which the tinted windows of the carriage filtered out the light. The landscape, too, settled down to monotonous, stony desert, the heat increased, and after that it was a case of grimly hanging on.