Michael Pearce - The Mamur Zapt and the Men Behind

‘You don’t think they’ve got the idea already?’

‘No. As I say, I think there’s only one group operating. Maybe some people are beginning to put two and two together and are saying, hello, they’re having a go at the British, but it’s at a very general level. They’re not saying, Christ, I’m a civil servant and they’re after me.’

‘How long do you think it will be before they get that far?’

‘Maybe long enough for us to get the group.’

They were having a drink at the Sporting Club after playing tennis. They had, in fact, been standing in for John and his partner, another officer, both now confined to barracks. John was not happy.

‘It’s a pity you let those two go,’ said Paul. ‘You should have picked them up while you could.’

‘I wasn’t sure. Jullians might have been imagining things. Think what a fuss the Press would have made if we’d picked the wrong people up.’

‘You control the Press, don’t you?’

Press censorship was another of the Mamur Zapt’s functions.

‘I don’t control it. I just cut bits out.’

‘That would do.’

‘No, it wouldn’t. Those are the bits that get around quickest.’

‘It would have been worth the risk.’

‘I wanted to get the rest of the group.’

Paul ruminated.

‘I suppose you’re right. You’ve got to balance risks. However, Gareth, I’m beginning to worry about you. You’re taking an increasingly cold-blooded view of things. It’s not like you. I shall ask Zeinab to straighten you out.’

‘It’s not something I like.’

‘No. Well, going back to this question of warning people. I’m still not happy about letting them go as unsuspecting lambs to the slaughter. You know about it and I know about it. Oughtn’t others too, so that they could take precautions?’

‘What precautions could they take?’

‘See they’re not being followed. Stay at home. I know it’s not much, but oughtn’t they to have the chance? The ones most at risk, at any rate?’

‘The judges?’

‘For instance.’

Owen sipped his drink thoughtfully.

‘The trouble is,’ he said, ‘where do you draw the line? Would you have said Fairclough was most at risk? Don’t we leave ourselves open to the charge of looking after the people at the top and letting the poor devils at the bottom, the Faircloughs, fend for themselves?’

Paul was silent. After a while he shrugged.

‘OK,’ he said, ‘so what are we going to do? Leave well alone?’

‘I’m not too happy about that either,’ Owen admitted.

Paul went on thinking.

‘What we could do,’ he said, ‘is issue a confidential warning to Government employees to lie low generally for the duration of the present political emergency. We could tie it to that, not to any terrorist activity. You know, say that choice of a government is a matter for the Egyptians only, that it’s best if the British are seen to be having nothing to do with it, that in the circumstances, just for the time being, while the crisis remains unresolved, it might be better if everyone kept out of sight.’

‘Like the Army?’

‘Like the Army.’ Paul brightened. ‘That’s it! It will look as if we have got a policy. I’ll get the Old Man on to it first thing in the morning.’

‘It’ll make the Army happier too.’

‘Yes.’ Paul looked at him reflectively. ‘Although, you know … Are you sure you wouldn’t like to change your mind? In the circumstances.’

‘About keeping the Army out of it? Quite sure,’ said Owen.

Fairclough sat uncomfortably on his chair, a worried expression on his face. Dark smudges of moisture were spreading out almost visibly beneath the armpits of his suit. It was very hot in the room. A fan was going but with three people in the small space the temperature had risen uncomfortably.

The Parquet official, Mohammed Bishari, had almost completed his questioning. Owen wondered why he was there. It was not usual for the Parquet to invite him to sit in on its cases. However, he had wanted to find out from Mohammed Bishari how the case was going anyway, so had come readily enough.

Mohammed Bishari was a wiry, intense little man in his early forties. They would have put one of their most experienced men on the case since it involved a Britisher.

He had been taking Fairclough through the events on the day of the shooting, concentrating on the homeward ride. He was very thorough. He had even asked Fairclough where the donkey was tethered during office hours.

He was coming to the end of that part. He must have asked Fairclough those questions before since they were written up in his preliminary report, a copy of which had been sent to Owen. Fairclough hardly needed to think to answer them. What Bishari was doing, presumably, was confirming things for the record.

The report drawn up by the Parquet official was very important in the Egyptian judicial system. The Egyptian system was based on the Code Napoléon and, as in France, the Parquet had the responsibility not just of investigating but also of preparing the case and carrying through any prosecution. The court often decided issues on the basis of the Parquet’s report, or procès-verbal , rather than on the basis of testimony in court, which in Egypt was probably wise.

Something in Mohammed Bishari’s voice warned Owen to pay attention. He was asking now about Fairclough’s private life, whether there was anyone in it who might bear him a grudge.

Fairclough didn’t think so.

‘Servants?’ asked Mohammed Bishari casually. ‘Servants in the past?’

Again Fairclough didn’t think so.

‘Someone you’ve dismissed?’

Fairclough thought hard.

‘I’ve only had three servants all the time I’ve been here,’ he said. ‘There’s Ali—he’s my cook, and I’ve had him ever since I came. He was Hetherington’s cook and he passed him on to me when he went to Juba, because Ali didn’t want to go down there. I’ve had one or two house-boys. Abdul, that’s the one I’ve got now, I’ve had for a couple of years.’

‘Eighteen months,’ said Mohammed Bishari.

‘Well, he’s all right. No grudge there.’

‘Before him?’

‘Ibrahim? Well, I did sack him. Beggar was at the drink. I marked the bottle and caught him red-handed. But that kind of thing happens all the time. You don’t bear grudges. Not to the extent of killing, anyway.’

‘You didn’t beat him?’

‘Kicked his ass occasionally. Have you talked to him? He doesn’t say I did, does he?’ Fairclough looked at Mohammed Bishari indignantly.

‘He does say you did, as a matter of fact,’ said Mohammed Bishari. ‘But they all say that and I didn’t necessarily believe him.’

‘Well, I bloody didn’t,’ said Fairclough. ‘I don’t believe in that sort of thing. Ask Ali.’

‘We have. On the whole he confirms what you say.’

Fairclough snorted.

‘However,’ said Mohammed Bishari, ‘Ibrahim also told us something else, which, admittedly after a considerable time, Ali also confirmed. While Ibrahim was with you, he undertook various errands for you. He used to fetch women, for example.’

Fairclough flushed and looked at his shoes. ‘Needs of the flesh,’ he muttered.

‘Quite so. We don’t need to go into that. Nor where he got the women. However, on one occasion there was some difficulty. A woman had come to you while her husband was away. When he got back, neighbours told him. He came round to see you.’

‘He was about off his rocker,’ said Fairclough. ‘Foaming at the mouth, that sort of thing. He had a bloody great knife. It took three of us to hold him—Ali, Ibrahim and me.’

‘You gave him some money. Quite a lot.’