Desmond Bagley - The Snow Tiger

The silence in the hall was total and seemed to last forever. It was as though time had stopped. There was a strange movement as people twisted in their seats to look in one direction. It was as though Charlie Peterson had developed a new form of attractive force — all eyes turned towards him like compass needles towards a magnet.

He was sitting slumped in his chair, his face white and his eyes staring. Next to him Eric had withdrawn and was looking at Charlie with a baffled expression. Liz was sitting upright, her hands in her lap, and staring rigidly ahead. Her brow was contracted and her lips compressed. She was very angry.

Charlie’s eyes flickered from side to side and he became aware that everyone was watching him in silence. He jumped to his feet. ‘It’s a lie!’ he shouted. ‘Miller is a liar. He started the avalanche, not me.’

The silence broke and a wave of sound washed around Charlie. Harrison hammered with his gavel furiously. With difficulty he achieved order and said icily, ‘Any more disturbance and I will adjourn this session.’ He looked at Charlie with cold eyes. ‘You will sit down, Mr Peterson.’

Charlie’s right hand stabbed out, pointing at Harrison and McGill’s eyes narrowed as he observed the strip of sticking-plaster which decorated his knuckles. ‘Aren’t you going to hear me?’ Charlie yelled. ‘You were ready enough to hear Ballard when his reputation was at stake.’

Harrison turned to Lyall. ‘You must control your client, Mr Lyall. Either he sits down or he leaves — by force, if necessary.’

Lyall called out, ‘Sit down, Charlie. You’re paying me to handle this.’

‘And you’re not doing too well,’ grumbled Charlie. But he sat down and Eric whispered to him furiously.

Lyall said, ‘I must formally protest against the admission of this unsubstantiated letter as evidence. It attacks my client’s reputation seriously and, in my opinion, unjustifiably. Mr Miller is not available for my cross-examination and I must protest. Further, I give formal warning that a motion of appeal will be entered immediately.’

Harrison said calmly, ‘As I remarked to Mr Rickman earlier in these proceedings, you will find the necessary procedure set out in the Act of Parliament which governs the holding of Commissions of Inquiry. Dr McGill, you mentioned that you have other evidence. Is this evidence in support of Mr Miller’s allegations?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Then we will hear it.’

‘Objection!’

‘Overruled, Mr Lyall.’

‘It is photographic evidence, Mr Chairman,’ said McGill. ‘I have taken the liberty of having the equipment made available. I would like to operate it myself.’

Harrison nodded abruptly. ‘See to it, Mr Reed.’

In the few minutes it took for the apparatus to be set up, noise again swelled in the hall. Dalwood said to Edwards, ‘You knew what was coming, you old fox.’ He was still scribbling furiously.

Edwards offered him a self-satisfied grin. ‘My boss will be remaking the front page right now. We’ve got a photocopy of Miller’s letter.’

‘How the hell did you get that?’

‘McGill wanted something from us.’ He nodded down at the hall. ‘You’ll see.’

Harrison called for silence and the hall quietened quickly. ‘Proceed, Dr McGill.’

McGill stood next to a cine projector. ‘I have here the original film taken of the avalanche by Flying Officer Hatry. The film he submitted to the Commission was a copy; the original is a better print. I don’t think that Flying Officer Hatry should be censured for this, either by this Commission or by his superiors in the Air Force. For a keen photographer to part with an original would be a highly unnatural act.’

He switched on the projector. ‘I will show only that portion of the film which is relevant.’

An unsteady picture appeared on the screen, the whiteness of snow and a few scattered rocks with blue sky beyond. A plume, as of smoke, arose and McGill switched off the projector to freeze the action. He stepped forward with a pointer in his hand.

‘As you can see, the avalanche started here, just by these rocks. It was daytime and the sun was shining in a clear sky. Under those conditions rock and snow take up heat in a different way; the rock warms more quickly, and this difference may set up stresses in the snow just enough to upset an already critical balance of forces. That was my assumption when I first saw this film.’

He switched off the cine projector. ‘I have here a greatly enlarged portion of that scene which I am going to put in this special projector. It is called a comparator.’ He switched it on. ‘The degree of enlargement is such that the image is very grainy, but it will suffice for our purposes.’

Again McGill went to the screen with the pointer. ‘Here are the rocks and there is the plume of snow powder which is the start of the avalanche. This photograph is from a frame of the film which we will call frame one. The next slide you will see is a similar shot but taken thirty-six frames later. That is, there is a two-second difference between the taking of the two photographs.’ He went back to the comparator and inserted the second slide.

‘There is not much difference, as you can see. The plume of snow powder is marginally greater.’ He paused. ‘But if we alternate the slides rapidly, as this machine is designed to do, you will see something curious.’

The image on the screen began to flicker rapidly and the snow plume oscillated. McGill used his pointer. Two of what I thought to be rocks — those two specks there — are obviously moving. This one at the top does not move very much in the two-second interval, but the one beneath moves a fair distance upwards. I submit that the speck at the top is Mr Miller, and the one beneath is Peterson climbing up to him after the avalanche was triggered.’

The increased sound in the hall was almost like the growl of a wild beast, and Harrison’s gavel slammed down. ‘I must protest again,’ said Lyall. ‘Two grainy images on a film which cannot even be seen to be men! What sort of evidence is this? They could very well be flaws in the film.’

‘I have not yet finished,’ said McGill quietly.

‘Neither have I,’ retorted Lyall. ‘I would like to talk to you in private, Mr Chairman.’

Harrison listened to the roil of noise in the hall. ‘I think if you keep your voice down you’ll be private enough here.’

‘I must object,’ said Lyall intensely. ‘Dr McGill has been giving evidence about something he could not possibly know — evidence that reflects upon my client. He has stated flatly in this room that one of those specks on the film is Charlie Peterson. Further, he has also stated that the lower of those specks is Mr Peterson and that he started the avalanche. Can he prove this?’

‘Well, Dr McGill?’ said Harrison.

McGill was silent for a moment. ‘No,’ he admitted.

‘Assuming, for the sake of theoretical argument, that those specks are men,’ said Lyall. ‘They could be anyone, and nothing to do with my client.’

‘Now wait a minute,’ said McGill. ‘Charlie just said that Miller started the avalanche. If he knows that, then it means he was there. And we have Miller’s sworn evidence.’

‘I’m quite capable of drawing my own conclusions,’ said Harrison. ‘I suggest you confine your evidence to that which you know, Dr McGill.’

Lyall said, ‘As I see it, it’s Miller’s word against that of my client. And Miller isn’t here to cross-examine.’

‘What would he gain by accusing Charlie!’ asked McGill. ‘He’d have done better for himself by keeping his mouth shut. As it is, he’s out ten thousand dollars.’

‘That’s enough,’ said Harrison sharply. ‘As I said before, you’re not here to argue a lawyer’s case, Dr McGill. Now you say you have more evidence?’