Arthur Upfield - Battling Prophet

“So, then, all of us were very happy to be with Mr. Wickham. We were sad to see him worried, and many times he was worried. Sometimes he would tell us. Sometimes he would-what you say?-bottle it up. Many visitors came for him. Some were meteorologists. And the newspaper correspondents. And the members of the board for Primary Producers. But the first visitors I suspected were bad persons were the two who came to the office on July three.

“The man who talked to Mr. Wickham, with the office door closed was-how shall I say?-perfume… o-oder…oderous…”

“In Australia we’d say he stank,” rumbled Mr. Luton and Dr. Linke smiled his gratitude.

“That’s it. The man stank. He betrayed his… his…”

“Stink,” assisted Mr. Luton.

“Carl means that the man’s appearance, his face, hair, eyes, everything gave him away,” Jessica Lawrence contributed.

“Ah! Yes, it gave him away. To me it gave him away,” went on the doctor. “He was from those persons who have become termites. He stink, no, stank, of those who are without a name because they have so many names they have forgotten their born name. And he had a shoulder pistol. The car driver also had one. The car driver never spoke but once, when he came in to lunch, and then he foolishly tried to make us think he was an Irishman.

“Two, three days after they had gone, Mr. Wickham said something to me that might relate to those men. He said: ‘Linke, d’youthink wars are started when the season is thought to be propitious for the aggressor?’ I told him that I thought it not a coincidence that the two World Wars began after the European harvest had been gathered. Then he said: ‘If a Hitler knew for fact that all over Europe 1960 would be a famine year, followed by another famine year, would he stock his granaries in the years ’58 and ’59 and start his war in ’60?’ Then he asked: ‘Can you imagine the value of long-range accurate weather forecasting to a would-be world conqueror?’ I replied that History tells much about victories and defeats caused by unpredictable weather conditions. He asked, not because he did not know. He wanted my agreement. So we agreed that accurate long-range weather forecasting would be a tremendous weapon.

“I remember Mr. Wickham looking at me a long time and thinking, so that his eyes were seeing strange and terrible pictures. After much time, he said to me: ‘It is comforting, Linke, to know we are not living near the Iron Curtain.’

“He would say no more, Inspectore, and he did not ever talk direct about the visit of two Eastern Europeans. Then, on July 13 was that telephone call. I recognised the caller’s voice. It was the manager at the Commonwealth Bank in Cowdry. I hide my money in that bank. He has helped me. He arranged for me to be a member of the Tennis Club. So I know his voice. He asked to speak with Mr. Wickham. It was ten minutes after eleven o’clock in the morning. So it was that Mr. Wickham was away with the estate manager. I said if I could give Mr. Wickham a message, and the caller said no, no, he would ring again. Then, as is polite, I enquired his name, and the caller was so silent.

“Mr. Wickham did not return until a minute before dinner. I saw him enter the house, saw Jackson, the driver, put the car in the garage. We had arranged some important work together that evening, and I waited until he came to the office to inform him of the call from Cowdry. He did not come to the office until after nine o’clock, and then to inform me we would work together another time as he had the engagement. Yesterday I spoke with Jackson, the chauffeur.”

Dr. Linke paused in what was a narrative to light his pipe, and possibly to highlight the climax. “What next occurred was that the manager rang once more when he knew Mr. Wickham would be at dinner, and he rang the House. My Jessica remembers Mr. Wickham was called to the telephone from dinner that night. He was two hours after dinner in his study, and then must have instructed Jackson to take him to Cowdry. He told Jackson not to speak of this journey, and Jackson spoke to me only because Mr. Wickham died. The car stopped at the private entrance to the Commonwealth Bank. It was then ten o’clock, and Mr. Wickham was with the manager for nearly one hour. When Mr. Wickham came from thebankman’s private door, two men came with him. The two men spoke a little moment with Mr. Wickham, and then walked away. Mr. Wickham entered the car, and Jackson brought him home.”

Dr. Linke having ceased talking, Jessica Lawrence rose to her feet, saying:

“I’m going to the kitchen, Mr. Luton, to make tea and sandwiches. I can’t see any relationship between the visit of those foreign men and the visit of Mr. Wickham to the Commonwealth Bank.”

“He didn’t bank with the Commonwealth, Sunset,” stated Mr. Luton. “I know that for a fact. And why go there at ten at night? If the manager wanted him to play cribbage or something, he wouldn’t have been so mysterious on the phone.”

“The only relationship I can see is that both occurrences are extremely odd. Now, where is the sandwich filling, Mr. Luton?”

“Better show you,” replied the old man, and together they left for the kitchen.

“Did he say anything to Jackson during the drive home?” Bony asked the Doctor.

“He did not say one word. Jackson said he spoke twice to him, and there was no reply. I did not see him after he returned. The next morning he seemed nothing unusual.”

“It would appear, Doctor, that Mr. Wickham did not visit the bank manager to play cards or to enjoy a social evening. Both the time and the period of time are against it. Was Jackson able to describe the men who emerged with Mr. Wickham?”

“It is for that I asked Jackson, Inspectore. He said he had noted the two who had called at the office, and the two with Mr. Wickham at the bank were not the same. He heard them say good-night to Mr. Wickham, and they were not aliens.”

“Perhaps Mr. Wickham kept his secrets as well as securities at the bank.”

“No,” replied Dr. Linke, a huge hand waving triumphantly. “I asked Mrs. Parsloe and she informed me she had gone to the Commonwealth Bank and the other two banks to enquire what they held for Mr. Wickham. They held nothing at all. And the lawyer had nothing, not even the will.”

“Does Mrs. Parsloe know that her brother paid that visit to the bank manager?”

“I did not tell her. Jackson did not tell her. We did not because Mr. Wickham had instructed Jackson not to say.”

“Did you happen to record the number of the car which brought the two men to the office?”

“No. But Jackson did so. It was X 10007. A Humber.”

“I must become acquainted with Mr. Jackson. Did Mr. Wickham ever say, even hint, that he might present his life’s work to a Government

… any Government?’^;

“I cannot be precise,” replied Linke. “I believe that Mr. Wickham tried much time ago to assist the Australian Government.”

“I might be able to answer that one,” Jessica said from the kitchen doorway. “Five years ago Mr. Wickham did approach Canberra. The outcome was that he was rebuffed on the ground that his methods were unorthodox in the view of meteorological experts. He told me that he would not again approach the Commonwealth Government. He spoke bitterly, and had every cause to do so.”

Mr. Luton nudged the girl, and she turned to take from hima tray on which were plates and a larger plate of meat sandwiches. He followed her, carrying another tray bearing tea cups and tea.

“Ben got no change from the Commonwealth Government,” he said, his eyes small and hard. “He never said why, but I know why. If theGov’ment had accepted Ben’s methods of long-rangeforecastin ’ all the duds in the Meteorological Departments would be out of work, and they’d all turnagin ’ theGov’ment at the next election.”