Dennis Wheatley - Contraband

'Fine,' Gregory agreed. 'I got in a good sleep today at Ramsgate, but my chest's still devilish painful from the gruelling I had with that lifeline, so a few hours in bed wouldn't do me any harm. I expect Wells feels much the same' way.'

The Inspector drew himself up but winced as the bandages under his armpits pulled at the raw skin. 'I'm game to go on,' he said, 'but there doesn't seem anything to go on with at the moment, so I think you're right, sir. We'd best pack up for the night.'

A taxi carried Gregory swiftly through the deserted streets to Kensington. It was just four o'clock as he inserted the spare key he had telephoned Rudd to send up to the Yard in the side door of No. 272 Gloucester Road and let himself in. The terrifying experience through which he had been had taken a lot out of him and he wearily mounted the stairs covered by their worn carpet.

In his sitting room Rudd had left, as usual, drinks and biscuits set out on a tray. He mixed himself a badly needed whisky and soda, threw off his coat, and drank it slowly.

His thoughts had turned to Sabine. The police net was closing upon Lord Gavin's organisation. She was still at Quex Park sleeping all unperturbed and unconscious, no doubt, of the approaching danger. By telephoning Sir Pellinore on the previous night she had undoubtedly saved the lives of

Wells and himself, but how much would the police let that weigh in her favour when they came to pull her in as one of the gang. And what was Wells's promise worth, when he had said that he would do his best for her, two nights previously, as Gregory had gone overboard from the aeroplane, trusting in the parachute to save his neck.

The police would have to charge her. They couldn't avoid doing that; and when she came before a court she would certainly be sentenced. The authorities could do no more than state that she had saved the lives of Wells and himself by giving timely information of their intended murder. It would reduce her sentence very considerably, no doubt, but she would be sentenced all the same, because she had refused to turn King's evidence when he had asked her to. She would be sent to prison and be faced with a hideous company of female gaol birds. Somehow or other he had got to save her from that.

For a moment he contemplated getting out his car and running straight down to Quex Park again, throwing the police overboard, telling her everything, and getting her out of the country by aeroplane if necessary, before they decided to arrest her. Yet if he did that, the whole of the police campaign would fall in ruins; all the work and risks taken by Wells and himself would go for nothing.

That did not matter so much, but the terrible thing was that Lord Gavin would escape and his secret organisation remain unbroken. He would create new bases farther north, perhaps upon the Essex coast, and start the game all over again. Soon, when the time was ripe, agitators and saboteurs would be landing there from his planes to pass unsuspected into the great industrial areas where they would ferment strikes and engineer every sort of trouble. He couldn't let that happen just because he was in love. Sabine was at Quex Park and she must take her chance that he would be able to get her out when the police made their general clear up.

He opened the door of his bedroom. The light behind him was enough for him to see his bed. Upon it, stretched out on the eiderdown, her head buried in the pillows, and sleeping as soundly as a little child was Sabine.

19

Joy and Frustration

Gregory paused there in the doorway staring at her. Then, as though feeling his presence in her sleep, she stirred and, as he stepped forward, her eyes opened.

'So you are here at last.' She raised herself on one elbow. 'I thought that you would never come and I was so tired I dropped off to sleep.'

He sat down quickly on the bed beside her and took her hands. 'My dear! How did you get here? Who let you in?'

'That nice man, Rudd. He said you were at Scotland Yard and that he had just sent up a spare key of the house for you. He offered to telephone to say I was here, but I would not let him and, not knowing how long you would be, I sent him back to bed again.'

A slow smile lit Gregory's lined face. 'You can have no possible conception how terribly glad I am to see you.'

She slid an arm round his shoulders and, pulling herself up, let her cheek rest against his. 'You are safe, cherie, safe. That is the only thing which matters.'

'Yes, thanks to you, but how did you know they managed to get us out of those devilish sands in time?'

'Sir Pellinore. All last night and all today I have been almost crazy with anxiety. I got out of the Park early this morning, before anybody was up, and telephoned to Carlton House Terrace from the village. Sir Pellinore was away and no one there could tell me where he had gone to. After that, I had no chance to phone again. I dared not do so from the house: in case Gavin cut in on the line, and all through the afternoon he kept me busy, typing out endless sheets of figures for him because, you see, I have acted as his secretary for all his most confidential business. After dinner he made me play backgammon with him and I thought I should go mad trying to conceal my desperate anxiety from those sharp eyes of his. At eleven o'clock we went up to bed and I had to give him a little time to settle down; but by midnight I had crept out of the house again and down to the village. Sir Pellinore was in when I called him up. He told me that you were safe back in London, so I knocked, up a garage, hired a car and drove straight here to you.'

Gregory smiled again, a little bantering smile. 'Have you come to me for good?'

'Yes, if you want me.'

'Sabine, you know I do! But you mean to cut clear of this Gavin Fortescue business for good and all don't you?'

'Yes. You were right about him. I did not know it, because he has always been so good to me, but that man is the devil in human form, I t'ink. Last night, when the Limper telephoned him that you had been caught, he sat there and told me quite calmly what he intended to do with you and the police inspector. I was horrified. Smuggling is one thing but murder another; and what a fiendish mind he must have to conceive such a terrible way of killing his enemies. I determined then that I must get away from him at whatever cost to my mother and myself; yet I had to pretend complete indifference at the time so that he should have no suspicion of my intentions. Immediately he left for Ash Level I telephoned to Sir Pellinore.'

Gregory nodded. 'It must have been grim for you, darling. It was grim for us, too; because they didn't get us out until the very last moment. I really thought our numbers were up.'

'But why? The tide was not low till half past six and I warned Sir Pellinore in ample time,'

'The police wanted Gavin and the Limper to remain under the impression they had done us in; so our rescue was not attempted until the Limper's boat had got back to land and we were buried up to our armpits in the quicksand. I take it Gavin doesn't know that we escaped, does he?'

'No, otherwise I am sure he would have spoken of it to me during the day. He seemed to have brushed the whole affair from his mind as though it had never happened; that was what made it so terrible for me. I felt quite certain that I should have heard of it if the police had raided his base at Ash Level. I waited hour after hour on tenterhooks, but no news came and I feared most terribly that something had happened to Sir Pellinore, so that he had been unable to pass my warning on to the police at all.'

'You poor darling; but never mind, we're safe enough now and it's the next move we've got to consider. Time's important, so I think, if you're not feeling too done up, you had best come up to Scotland Yard with me. We'll get Superintendent Marrowfat out of bed again and you must tell him all you know.'