Eric Ambler - The Schirmer Inheritance

He watched the little man’s face as Miss Kolin translated. For a moment or two a quite extraordinary expression came over its loose grey folds, an expression compounded of equal parts of interest, amazement, indignation, and fear. Then a curtain came down and the face went blank. Its owner picked up his drink and drained the glass.

“I regret,” he said precisely, “that that is not a matter in which I can be of any assistance to you at all.”

He rose to his feet.

“Wait a minute,” said George. “If he can’t help me, ask him if he knows of anyone here who can.”

The proprietor hesitated, then glanced across at the officer sitting at the table by the bar. “One moment,” he said curtly. He went over to the officer, and bending over the table, began talking in a rapid undertone.

After a moment or two, George saw the officer look across quickly at him, then say something sharply to the proprietor. The little man shrugged. The officer stood up and came over to them.

He was a lean, dark young man with lustrous eyes, very wide riding-breeches, and a waist like a girl’s. He wore the badges of a captain. He bowed to Miss Kolin and smiled pleasantly at George.

“I beg your pardon, sir,” he said in English. “The patron tells me that you are here making inquiries.”

“That’s right.”

He clicked his heels. “Streftaris, Captain,” he said. “You are an American, Mr.-?”

“Carey’s my name. Yes, I’m an American.”

“And this lady?”

“Miss Kolin is French. She is my interpreter.”

“Thank you. Perhaps I can be of assistance to you, Mr. Carey.”

“That’s very kind of you, Captain. Sit down, won’t you?”

“Thank you.” The Captain spun the chair round, swung the seat between his legs, and sat down with his elbows resting on the back. There was something curiously insolent about the gesture. He smiled less pleasantly. “You have made the patron feel very uneasy, Mr. Carey.”

“I’m sorry about that. All I asked him was to put me in touch with someone who was in the Phengaros band in 1944. I told him there was nothing political about my business.”

The Captain sighed elaborately. “Mr. Carey,” he said, “if I were to come to you in America and ask you to put me in touch with a gangster wanted by the police, would you be prepared to help me?”

“Is that a true comparison?”

“Certainly. I do not think you quite understand our problems here. You are a foreigner, of course, and that excuses you, but it is very indiscreet to inquire into matters of this kind.”

“Do you mind telling me why?”

“These men are Communists-outlaws. Do you know that Phengaros himself is in prison on a criminal charge?”

“Yes. I interviewed him two days ago.”

“Pardon?”

“Colonel Chrysantos in Salonika was kind enough to arrange for me to see Phengaros in prison.”

The Captain’s smile faded. He took his elbows off the back of the chair.

“I beg your pardon, Mr. Carey.”

“What for?”

“I did not understand that you were on official business.”

“Well, to be exact-”

“I do not think we have received orders from Salonika. Had we done so, of course, the Commandant would have instructed me.”

“Now, just a moment, Captain, let’s get this straight. My business is legal rather than official. I’ll explain.”

The Captain listened carefully to the explanation. When George had finished he looked relieved.

“Then it is not on the advice of Colonel Chrysantos that you are here, sir?”

“No.”

“You must know, Mr. Carey, that I am military intelligence officer for the district. It would be most unfortunate for me if Colonel Chrysantos thought-”

“Sure, I know. A very efficient man, the Colonel.”

“Ah, yes.”

“And a busy one. So, you see, I thought it might be better if I didn’t trouble the Colonel again, but just got the names of some of these people unofficially.”

The Captain looked puzzled. “Unofficially? How unofficially?”

“I could buy the names, couldn’t I?”

“But from whom?”

“Well, that was what I was hoping the patron might be able to tell me.”

“Ah!” The Captain at last permitted himself to smile again. “Mr. Carey, if the patron knew where the names that you want could be bought, he would not be so foolish as to admit the fact to a stranger.”

“But haven’t you a line on any of these people? What happened to them all?”

“Some were killed with the Markos forces, some are across the border with our neighbours. The rest”-he shrugged-“they have taken other names.”

“But they’re somewhere about here, surely.”

“Yes, but I cannot recommend you to go looking for them. There are cafés in this town where, if you asked the questions you asked the patron here tonight, there would be much unpleasantness for you.”

“I see. What would you do in my place, Captain?”

The Captain thought carefully for a moment, then he leaned forward. “Mr. Carey, I would not wish you to believe that I am not anxious to give you all the assistance I can.”

“No, of course not.”

But the Captain had not finished. “I wish to help you all I can. Please, however, explain to me one thing. You wish simply to know if this German Sergeant was killed or not killed in the ambush. Is that right?”

“That’s right.”

“You do not specially wish to know the name of the person who saw him die?”

George considered. “Well, let’s put it this way,” he said finally; “the probability is that the Sergeant did die. If he did and I can be reasonably certain of the fact, then that’s all I want to know. My business is finished.”

The Captain nodded. “Ah. Now let us suppose for a moment that such information could be obtained in some way. Would you be prepared to pay perhaps three hundred dollars for that information without knowing where it came from?”

“Three hundred! That’s rather a lot isn’t it?”

The Captain waved the subject away deprecatingly. “Let us say two hundred. The sum is not important.”

“Then let’s say one hundred.”

“As you will. But would you pay, Mr. Carey?”

“Under certain conditions, yes.”

“What conditions, please?”

“Well, I can tell you right now that I’m not going to pay out a hundred dollars just for the pleasure of having someone tell me that he knows somebody else who knows a man who was in that ambush and says that the German Sergeant was killed. I’d want some kind of evidence that the story was genuine.”

“I understand that, but what evidence could there be?”

“Well, for one thing, what I’d want is a reasonable explanation of the fact that the Sergeant’s body was not found by the German patrol that came along afterwards. There were dead men there, but the Sergeant wasn’t among them. A genuine witness ought to know the answer to that one.”

“Yes, that is logical.”

“But is there any chance of getting the information?”

“That is what I have been thinking about. I see a chance, perhaps, yes. I can promise nothing. Do you know anything of police methods?”

“Only the usual things.”

“Then you will know that when one is dealing with criminals, it is sometimes wise to give the less dangerous ones temporary immunity, and even encouragement, if by doing so one can know a little of what is going on among the rest.”

“You mean paid informers?”

“Not quite. The paid informer is rarely satisfactory. One pays and pays for nothing and then, when he is about to be useful, he is found with his throat cut and the government’s money is wasted. No, the types I am discussing are the lesser criminals whose activities can be tolerated because they know and are trusted by those whom we may wish to put our hands on. Such types will not inform, you understand, but by seeming to be friendly and ready to overlook their little games one can learn much of what goes on that is interesting.”