Brian Freemantle - Charlie Muffin U.S.A.

‘What about the Englishman?’

‘We’ve enough men to cover him,’ said Pendlebury. ‘He’ll be at a meeting with me most of the time.’

‘It’ll mean using yesterday’s people,’ warned Gilbert.

‘Then be careful,’ said Pendlebury. After Gilbert had left the room, Pendlebury remained half crouched in a sitting-room chair, reviewing what he had done. He had become complacent, he realised, critically. Everything had conformed so easily to his expectations that he had overlooked the unexpected and now he was having to move too fast. And speed unsettled Pendlebury. He liked to consider problems in a leisurely fashion, imagining a move and then his opponent’s counter to it, like playing chess. He looked towards the vodka bottle, decided against it and went down to the exhibition room.

Cosgrove was just inside the door of the side chamber. Heppert and the chief of the uniformed guard stood slightly apart and the Englishman was alone, near the linking door into the main hall. Charlie Muffin smiled at Pendlebury’s approach, guessing from the look on the man’s face that the threat of withdrawal had had the disruptive effect he had hoped for.

‘This is monstrous,’ said Cosgrove in his politician’s voice.

Pendlebury ignored the organising chairman, halting just in front of Charlie.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ he demanded.

‘You keep asking me that,’ complained Charlie. ‘I thought I’d made that clear last night. I’m trying to protect the exhibition. That’s what I came here for.’

‘You’ve put the fear of God up everyone.’

‘The time it took people to react to an alarm bell last night put the fear of God up me,’ said Charlie. ‘It should have had the same effect on you.’

‘I said this is monstrous,’ repeated Cosgrove, forcing his way into the conversation. ‘Do we have proper cover here or don’t we?’

‘At the moment you don’t,’ said Charlie. It pleased him to deflate the pompous man, particularly as he knew from Clarissa of Cosgrove’s earlier annoyance.

‘My firm have asked me to say how sorry they are for any inconvenience,’ said Pendlebury.

‘There’s already been a committee meeting,’ reported Cosgrove. ‘They don’t see how they could possibly continue without the proper insurance protection. I argued against cancellation, but the feeling was that the risk is incalculable.’

‘We are willing to draft here immediately as many extra people as you consider necessary,’ Pendlebury assured him.

The white-haired man looked at Charlie. ‘What is necessary for security doesn’t really seem to be my prerogative,’ he said.

‘No,’ said Charlie. ‘It’s mine. You were not here for the test I made last night, but had you been I’m sure you would have been appalled. It took eight minutes to open the exhibition doors, even to discover if anything had been touched. And a full twenty minutes for the local police to arrive.’

‘I was here within minutes,’ Pendlebury interposed defensively.

‘ Outside,’ qualified Charlie, ‘by yourself for a further five, and with no idea of what might have been going on behind those locked doors.’

‘Shall we sit down?’ suggested Cosgrove, indicating a semi-circle of chairs that had been arranged.

Charlie had expected Pendlebury to be irritated, but not as annoyed as he obviously was.

‘How many extra men would you consider necessary for your firm to continue the insurance protection?’ Cosgrove asked Charlie, once they had settled at the table.

‘It’s not a question of numbers,’ said Charlie. ‘It’s a matter of efficiency.’

‘We could increase the number of patrols perhaps to one every fifteen minutes,’ offered Pendlebury.

Charlie sat gazing at the man, aware of his desperation and curious at it.

‘Well?’ demanded the chairman of Charlie.

‘We would also like an improvement on the night-time checks,’ said Charlie. ‘At the moment the guards merely look through the windows. I want the doors opened and the cases examined.’

‘Agreed,’ said Pendlebury tightly.

‘A number of display case keys were available in New York,’ Charlie reminded him. ‘I want them fully accounted for.’

‘They will be,’ conceded Pendlebury.

Cosgrove shifted hopefully. ‘So we’re in agreement?’ he said, smiling.

‘No,’ replied Charlie. ‘The announcement about cover was made from London. Obviously I must consult them first to see if all their doubts are resolved.’

‘Where does that leave us?’ demanded the man, allowing his annoyance to show for the first time.

‘With limited cover and the understanding that we would dispute our liability were anything to happen to the exhibition until we have formally issued an addendum to the policy, guaranteeing the points agreed here.’

‘It would take days for a document to arrive here,’ protested Cosgrove. ‘I think I should warn you that we are taking legal advice about this. If our lawyers advise it, we will consider issuing a writ against your company, demanding the continued protection.’

‘I expected you to take the proper advice,’ said Charlie, unconcerned. ‘As far as the document is concerned, it was my intention to have it telexed from London, here to the hotel.’

Cosgrove smiled briefly. That would be acceptable, certainly,’ he said.

‘How long will it take to get a reaction from London?’ asked Pendlebury.

Charlie looked at his watch. ‘It’s seven-thirty at night there now,’ he said. ‘I can speak to my principal at home, but I doubt very much that we could manage it today… I don’t even know about tomorrow. There are members of a syndicate to consult.’

‘But this is preposterous!’ exclaimed Cosgrove. ‘We couldn’t continue, faced with this uncertainty.’

‘What would you do?’ demanded Pendlebury.

Cosgrove shrugged. ‘At the meeting this morning there was talk of curtailing the exhibition.’

Charlie had been watching Pendlebury as the other American spoke, so he saw the open concern on the F.B.I. man’s face.

‘We could have extra staff here by tomorrow,’ said Pendlebury.

‘It’s not my agreement that’s necessary. It’s the insurers’,’ said Cosgrove.

‘The whole thing could be settled within three days,’ Charlie tempted him. ‘Four at the outside.’

‘I don’t think we would be prepared to run the risk for that length of time,’ responded Cosgrove.

‘No,’ said Pendlebury, unaware of the trap Charlie had set. ‘It must be resolved before then. Two days would be the longest we could consider waiting.’

Charlie kept from his face any expression of satisfaction at Pendlebury’s slip. Two days was acceptable; four was not. So whatever was going to happen was scheduled for either Wednesday or Thursday. The meeting was proving far more productive than Charlie had hoped.

‘You’re not prepared to confirm full cover with the promises that have been made here today?’ Cosgrove demanded of Charlie.

‘No.’

‘But you will contact your principal immediately?’

‘Yes.’

‘And warn your London office what I said about lawyers?’ added Cosgrove.

‘Of course,’ said Charlie.

‘Until the insurance is restored, we’ll restrict opening,’ decided Cosgrove. ‘We’ll delay until eleven in the morning. And close earlier than nine. Five, I think.’

‘That should make it easier for you to organise your security properly,’ Charlie said to Pendlebury.

‘I never regarded it as badly organised before,’ said the American.

‘It was though, wasn’t it?’ said Charlie.

Anticipating that there would be reporters and cameramen outside the room, Charlie lingered, unwilling to be photographed. The journalists descended on the recognisable figure of Cosgrove and Charlie moved quickly around the crush, hurrying back to his rooms. He kept the telephone to his ear, after booking the call, listening to the connection being made with London and trying to identify any other sound which would indicate a tap on his line. Willoughby answered immediately. Fairly confident there was no monitor, Charlie outlined to the underwriter what had happened and what he suspected.