Colin Forbes - The Janus Man

The atmosphere seemed fresher. Air percolating in through the open windows. A logical thought. He sensed his mind was on a tightrope – midway between sanity and hallucination. Another logical thought. He drank three more glasses. Something touched his left hand. He looked down. A cherub with an outsize head gazed up at him, its hand touching his. Oh, no…'

He stared down at the obscene thing. The vision was less defined, faded as he continued staring at it. He stepped back, slipped on the soap tablet and his foot skidded. He saved himself again by grabbing the edge of the basin with his left hand. Must keep away from those open windows – and the abyss beyond.

He was filling the glass when he glanced in the mirror. In his state of shock he let the water fill up the glass – run over the rim. He'd never had time to switch on the bathroom light. The only illumination was light filtering in from the bedroom. A figure loomed behind him. He saw it only vaguely in the dim light, the face of Kurt Franck. The face moved, was shown up in a little more light. He'd grown a beard. Tweed took a firmer grip on the glass and swung round. This was no hallucination. This was for real.

Franck had stepped out of the elevator into a deserted corridor. He checked the numbers of the rooms. He found 303 at the end of the corridor. He tried the handle gently. The door was locked. He inserted his pick-lock, fiddled, felt the lock slide open.

He went inside into a bedroom. The light was on. From the bathroom he heard the sound of running water. He turned to lock the door. No sign of the key. Too tricky to use the pick-lock. He'd want to leave quickly. He walked into the darkened bathroom.

Tweed was standing staring into the mirror over the washbasin. Munzel noticed the soap smears on the floor, gleaming in the dim light, the open windows beyond. A perfect set-up. So many accidents happened in bathrooms. He stepped behind Tweed. Their eyes met in the mirror. Tweed swung round with surprising speed. He dashed the glassful of water into Munzel's eyes. The German couldn't see for a moment. In that moment

Tweed brought the tough base of the glass down on the bridge of Munzel's large nose. His eyes watered – this time with real pain – but Tweed was too weak to have delivered the blow with great force.

`Bob! How good to see you…' Diana had half-risen from her seat, handbag tucked under her arm, when Newman walked into the restaurant. 'Tweed is here,' she went on. 'I was just going to find out what's happened to him…'

'Why?'

`He suddenly felt unwell. He went to his room. But he's been there a long time. I was going up to see him. And soon after he'd gone I saw a big blond German get up from his table over there and go out of the restaurant. From the back, the way he moved, in a great hurry…'

`Tweed's room number?'

`Three-O-Three…'

`Wait here. Don't move.'

Newman, remembering the placid pace of the elevator, ran up the staircase. 303? That was the room Tweed had occupied before. He knew exactly where it was. He reached the third floor, raced down the corridor, tried the handle and pushed it open quietly, pushing it almost closed behind him. The sounds came from the bathroom. He ran to the open door. Tweed was grappling with Franck, who had his huge arms round Tweed's waist, lifting him off the floor.

Newman, fresh from East Germany, took in the scene at a glance. The soap-smeared floor, the open windows beyond. He clenched his right fist, jerked his elbow back, rammed his fist forward, slamming a vicious kidney punch into the German. Franck let go of Tweed, doubled over, straightened up and started to turn. He slipped on the floor, skidded clear across the bathroom and his hands slapped down on the window ledge. He turned again and his feet slithered under him. He ended up half out of the window, his waist against the ledge, his long legs stretched in front of him.

He bent down, hauled up his left trouser leg, heaved out the broad-bladed knife from the sheath strapped to his leg. That reaction took a few seconds. Newman had crossed the bathroom, avoiding the skid-marks. He stooped down, grasped Franck by the ankles, elevated them and shoved with all his strength.

The German shot out of the window, disappeared. They heard his wailing shriek, cut off suddenly, followed instantly by a horrible soft thud. Newman peered out. Franck lay spread-eagled in the yard far below, reminding Newman of one of those chalk-mark silhouettes police left behind, showing where the corpse was found.

`Anyone see him go?' Tweed asked.

`Doesn't look like it.'

`Keep it…' Tweed had trouble speaking.. quiet.'

He fumbled for his wallet, got it out, dropped it on the floor. Newman picked it up as Tweed crept into the bedroom, warning Newman to keep clear of the skid-marks He sagged on to the bed.

`Get Kuhlmann. Local police station. Possehl-strasse 4. Something like that. Folded sheet of paper. In my wallet. Tell him what happened. Discreetly…'

`I've found it. I'll get the number from the directory here.'

Newman made the call. He was put through to Kuhlmann almost immediately. The conversation was short. Newman put down the phone, came over to Tweed who had propped up a pillow and was slumped against it.

`He'll be here in-five minutes. I'll just pop downstairs, see Diana, stop her coming up. She was on her way when I went into the restaurant. Anything you need now?'

`One thing. Bob, get me a glass of water.'

Kuhlmann arrived with only one other man, a Dr Rimek, who insisted on examining Tweed while Kuhlmann spent time with Newman in the bathroom. Rimek, a humorous-looking man in his sixties, was thin and stooped and wore a pince-nez.

He listened while Tweed confined his description of what had happened in his hallucinatory experiences, nodding his head occasionally. Then he checked Tweed's pulse, blood pressure and used his stethoscope. He straightened up and grunted.

`What's the verdict?' Tweed asked in German.

`Tough as old hickory, you are. And you did just the right thing – drinking litres of water. I'd say it was mescaline, something like that, you were drugged with.' He looked up as Newman came back into the room. 'If that drink, whatever it was called…'

`Margharita,' Tweed said.

`If that drink is still on the table in the dining-room I'd like the glass for analysis…'

`I brought it up with me.' Newman opened the wardrobe and took a glass rimmed with salt from the top shelf. `This is it.'

`Excellent.' Rimek took a wide-mouthed plastic bottle out of his bag, poured the contents of the glass into it, screwed down the top. 'I'll know tomorrow…'

`Phone the results to me,' Kuhlmann called out from the bathroom door. 'He'll live, I take it? Good. And, Rimek, not one word about this to anyone else.'

Rimek took a blood sample before he left. He paused at the door, staring at Tweed. 'Two days' complete rest. You don't have to stay in bed. Just in the hotel. Maybe a short walk tomorrow afternoon. No more than two hundred metres. Same the day after. And no alcohol for two days. I'll get off now.'

Kuhlmann waited until Rimek had gone, then lit his cigar and began talking.

`Before I call the clean-up squad – fingerprint, photographer, forensic, etc – we have to get our story straight. Newman has told me what happened. Now I'll tell you. You feel up to this, I hope, Tweed?'

'Go ahead.'

`You don't want any publicity – being who and what you are. Newman arrived soon after you came up here.' Kuhlmann jabbed his cigar at Tweed to emphasize his point. 'You were never here. You were in the dining-room. You gave Newman your room key to borrow a handkerchief. He comes up, finds the door wide open, finds Franck rifling the room. Pull out a drawer in a minute, empty the contents on a floor. There's a struggle in the bathroom – where Newman found Franck taking a pee. Franck pulls a knife. That went down in the area with him. You've left the bathroom windows open – it's a hot night. Franck goes out of the window – slipped on the soap. That's it. Keep it simple. The local police chief is a pal of mine – I'll keep him off your back. I'm going to phone Possehl-strasse now.'