John Creasey - Inspector West At Home

“I doubt it,” said Roger. “Who is he?”

She stared. “Who? Malone?”

“I know Malone. I mean “Bill”.”

“He — he’s just a friend of mine.”

They heard ‘Bill’ coming up the stairs, running the last few steps and coming breezily into the room, smiling with deep satisfaction. He had eyes only for Lois, although he spoke to Roger.

“My name is Tennant, and I’m more than a friend of Lois’s, I am her fiancé — although sometimes she doesn’t seem very sure about it!” He grinned, looking twice as confident as he had before Malone’s arrival. “Sweetheart, this has got to stop, you know. I can see you’ve been in trouble while I’ve been away but it can’t be as bad as you seem to think. Don’t let an over-dressed lout like Malone frighten you.

“Should you ?” he appealed to Roger.

“You certainly shouldn’t. Do I gather that you’ve been away and come back to find Miss Randall in this spot?”

“Yes. I’ve been up north for several months and had no idea that this was happening until—” he paused, as if doubtful whether it was wise to go any further. “But that’s none of your business. Do you mind leaving, so that Lois and I can go into things privately?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I don’t see why.”

“You will, in time,” Roger assured him. “Miss Randall has been persuaded to contribute one or two things towards ruining my reputation at Scotland Yard. I’ve a deep personal interest.”“

“I don’t believe it!” Tennant said. He looked at Lois with a puzzled expression in his eyes. He was more like he had been when Roger had first arrived.

Tears filmed her eyes. She turned away, her shoulders shaking, and blindly walked into another room. She did not close the door after her and Roger saw her fling herself, face downwards, on a single bed.

“Oh, lord !” exclaimed Tennant, stepping towards her.

Roger laid a hand on his arm.

“I shouldn’t,” he advised. “Leave her for a few minutes. Is there a telephone in the flat ?”

“There’s one on the next floor — a public call-box.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Roger said. “Tennant, don’t let Lois leave here. Don’t encourage her, don’t let her persuade you to take her out the back way. If you’re gone when I come back there’ll be more trouble than you expect, and she won’t be safe unless she’s with friends all the time.”

Tennant looked steadily into his eyes, then nodded and said :

“I’ll keep her here, don’t worry.”

“Good man!” Roger hurried downstairs. He found the phone on the landing and took out some coppers. There was no sound of movement in the house. He kept his eyes on the stairs leading to the street, not convinced that Malone would accept even temporary defeat. He dialled his own number, grew worried because there was no immediate answer, and was already imagining disaster at Chelsea when he heard Janet’s voice.

“This is Chelsea 0123.”

“Good afternoon, Mrs West,” said Roger. “I am in great need of feminine assistance to take charge of a damsel in distress. I cast my mind round and after much deliberation decided that I knew no one better qualified for the post than you, so—”

“Oh, you fool!”

Roger heard Mark’s voice, Janet telling Mark to be quiet, then he went on :

“I’m at 29, Chapel Street, St John’s Wood, and I think Mark had better come with you. Will you hurry, darling?”

“I’ll come like the wind ! I — oh, I had the wind up thoroughly, Cornish telephoned and said that Pep had been shot and he wanted to speak to you. Has he been shot?”

Roger sorted out the confusion.

“Yes, but I haven’t! Jan, just a moment. A quarter of an hour won’t make any difference, so before you come here go to Pep’s home, will you? Tell his wife that he’s been shot in the leg but I’m not sure what hospital he’s at—”

“It’s the London,” Janet said in a strained voice. “Cornish told me.”

“Oh, good ! You’ll let her know and tell her not to worry?”

She rang off and Roger replaced the receiver, scratched his ear, then walked slowly up to the top flat.

Pennant was still in the outer room, looking bewildered and peering through at Lois, who was sobbing less violently but who had not moved. Roger looked about the poorly- furnished bedroom. There was a small window, fairly high up — he did not think there was any chance of her getting out that way, nor of anyone breaking in. He closed the door and turned to Tennant.

“You do take things into your own hands, don’t you?” Tennant remarked.

“In this case I must,” Roger said, offering a cigarette. “How much do you know?”

“Nothing. I’ve been in Scotland for four months. I’m—” he grinned — “an unarmed combat instructor! Before I left, Lois was — well, she was just her normal self. As a matter of fact,” he added with some embarrassment, “we’d got engaged during my last leave and I was rather in the clouds, you know. Her letters didn’t say anything about what’s been happening but a friend of mine wrote and told me that she seemed to be worried stiff. He didn’t know what it was about. I didn’t say anything about coming down, but I managed to wangle a week’s leave earlier than I’d expected. I found — well, she’s as jumpy as a cat! I thought she .would fall through the floor when she saw me. Then I realised that some brutes are pestering the life out of her. She’s absolutely terrified,” Tennant added. “I can’t make her say why. Do you know why she’s so frightened?” demanded Tennant.

“No,” admitted Roger, “but I hope to, soon.”

CHAPTER 13

Strictly Unofficial

JANET AND Mark arrived just inside the hour. Janet seemed to have recovered her composure completely.

Lois was in the bedroom with Tennant, who had gone in a few minutes before and who seemed to have been talking ever since. Janet looked radiant, with a high colour in her cheeks — probably the glow of excitement.

Mark looked slightly peeved, doubtless because he had been so inactive.

“Well, darling?” asked Janet. “What’s on?”

“The thing to accept first is that we’ve found the girl who paid in the money.”

“What!” cried Mark.

“We can’t do anything at all about it yet,” Roger said. “She’s been acting under compulsion and is so frightened that she doesn’t know what she’s doing or saying. Also she’s had a visit from Masher Malone,” he added, gently.

Mark said weakly : “No.”

The voices continued from the other room, Lois’s occasionally raised above Tennant’s; it was clear that she was still refusing to explain. Roger told the others what had happened since he had left Welbeck Street and found time to explain the visit of Mrs Sylvester Cartier and the Society of European Relief. They heard him out without comment, although Mark was scowling and Janet frowning.

“So we’ve got to nurse the girl to a better frame of mind,” Roger said, “because she can probably give us the key to much of it, although she’ll almost certainly be in some danger.”

“That’s fairly obvious,” Janet said. “Are you going to ask for police protection for her?”

“I don’t think so, yet. I think if she were to be interviewed by Abbott she’d collapse. He would be the finishing touch. For the time being I think it had better be unofficial. We won’t be able to get any help from Pep, but we can use one or two of his men. Then there’s this chap Tennant. That should be enough.”

Mark said thoughtfully : “I rather like the sound of Tennant. I wish I’d seen him handle Malone !”

Soberly, Roger commented :

“He’s made a bad enemy there; if only for the sake of revenge, Malone will come after him.”

“Roger,” said Janet, “I think you’re making a mistake.”

“Where?”

“By not telling the Yard everything. No, wait until I’ve finished!” she added as Roger was about to interrupt. “You’ve admitted that Malone is dangerous, and I think if you told them what happened here this afternoon they would arrest him.”

“Even if they couldn’t prove much, they would be able to keep him out of harm’s way,” Mark said, quickly.

“After all, they should be able to do something about what happened this morning,” Janet put in. “You and Tennant can say that he actually attacked him.”

Roger smiled.

“On the evidence of the three of us — always providing Lois would give evidence, which I think is doubtful, we could probably put Malone inside for a week or two, if we could find him. But he’ll know that we might lodge a complaint and he’ll probably keep out of the way. That apart, do we want him under charge?”

“And you’re a policeman!” exclaimed Mark, shocked.

“You know as well as I do that you’ve often been a tower of strength because you could do things which a copper couldn’t. If we put Malone away we may not find a way of getting in touch with the higher-ups in this business, but if we let him run loose we’ll be able to work through him.”

“I suppose that does put a rather different light on it,” Janet conceded. “All right. We’ll do it your way.”

“Thank you,” said Roger, with mock politeness.

“What are you going to do with the girl?” Mark inquired.

“We’ll take her home,” said Janet.

“I see a snag if we do that,” Mark said. “Roger isn’t out of the wood yet and there will be Yard men watching until he is. The Yard will know that the girl is mixed up in the case and I wouldn’t put it past Abbott to demand an interview with her. Besides, you’ve already told him that you’ve found who paid in the money. He’ll jump to conclusions. This isn’t simply an attempt to frame you, old man. It’s a pretty big show.”

“You’re right, of course, but where can we take her?”

“You could use my flat,” Mark said, hopefully.

“Of course, the police wouldn’t think of going there,” Janet said, sarcastically. “That’s no good.”

“I don’t see why you shouldn’t go to a hotel,” Roger said. “One of the glitter palaces would be a good idea.”

“Nonsense!” said Janet. “Those places are all doors, and I couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t run away or that someone wouldn’t come and take her away. Don’t you know of a small place where we could confide in the manager and put one or two of Pep Morgan’s men to guard it? The more central the better, because we’d be close by. I’d stay with her, of course. There must be such a place.”

“I am duly humbled,” said Roger. “It’s a good idea. I think I know a place where they might be able to fix you up. Mark and I would stay at Chelsea.”

“The young woman might have something to say about it, as well as her young man,” Mark observed.

“I think we’ll be able to persuade them,” said Roger. “If they come out before I’m back, introduce yourselves.” He moved towards the door.

“Where are you off to?” demanded Janet.

“Only to the telephone,” Roger told her.

He was back in ten minutes. No one had come from the bedroom but the voices were quieter — whether the couple had decided that it was not worth further argument, or whether they had reached an agreement, Roger could only guess. He told Janet and Mark that he had been able to make arrangements with the proprietor of the Legge Private Hotel, in Buckingham Palace Gate. It was a good-class family hotel where they would be comfortable and where, if necessary, Roger and Mark could stay for the night.

Roger went to the bedroom door and tapped.

“Just a moment,” Bill Tennant called.

There was another murmur of voices before the door opened.

Apparently Lois had realised that she had made a wreck of herself and she had made-up her face quickly. She seemed to take their presence more for granted.

“I have nothing to say,” she declared.

“I’ve tried to make her tell you everything,” Tennant said, awkwardly, “but no luck.”

Roger said : “It will all work out, I think. If Miss Randall doesn’t feel that it’s time to talk freely we’ll have to accept that. Other things are more important. In the first place, both of you are in acute danger.”

“Now, come off it, I—”

“Malone is a bad enemy,” Roger said. “His temper won’t be improved by the way you smacked him down. He has friends, and you can’t handle a bunch of them in the way you handled him.” He rubbed it in, conscious of the increasing anxiety in Lois Randall’s eyes. “They won’t stop at using knives and razors. Will they, Lois?”

Startled, she said : “No.”

“How the devil do you know?” demanded Tennant.

“We’ve decided not to press that point,” Roger told him, but he was puzzled by the girl’s admission that she knew how Malone would fight. “Both of you are on Malone’s list, so while he’s free you’ll be in danger. What I’ve arranged is—” he told them, briefly, of the Legge Hotel.

He expected the girl to protest but he was pleasantly surprised. She gave him the impression that she was pleased and relieved. Tennant raised the only objection.

“I don’t see why I can’t look after Lois. Anyhow, why are you so determined to hide her away?”

“Tennant, Lois will admit that she has impersonated my wife and as a result of it I’m in trouble at Scotland Yard — accused of accepting bribes. If anything happens to Lois, and I seriously think it will unless we take great care, one of the witnesses in my defence disappears. Why don’t you take my word that the only sensible course is for you both to stay at the hotel, coming out only after dark until it’s blown over?”

“I’m not going to hide from a punk like Malone !”

“When there’s a chance for you to throw your weight about I’ll tell you,” Roger said, “but don’t be obstructive now.”

Again he was agreeably surprised, for Tennant shrugged his shoulders and said that he supposed Roger knew what he was talking about.

“So that’s settled ?” Janet asked, eagerly.

“It — it doesn’t matter what you do, I can’t tell you anything,” Lois insisted. “I won’t pretend that I wouldn’t be glad to hide away, but I just can’t talk.” Her eyes were bright with defiance.

“Haven’t we agreed that the subject’s not to be discussed now?” Roger said.

“It won’t be any use saying that I came with you under false pretences.”

“It wouldn’t enter our heads!” declared Mark, brightly and with his head on one side. “When are we moving, Roger? Now, or after dark ?”

“After dark.”

“Do you seriously think there is danger in daylight?” demanded Tennant.

“Oh, no,” interrupted Mark. “He’s going to all this trouble because he likes being melodramatic! Don’t be an ass. This business is serious and we haven’t got anywhere near the bottom of it yet. Lois is in danger because she has information which might cause a lot of trouble to her so-called friends.”

“I’ve said I’ll work with you, haven’t I?” Tennant was aggressive.

“That’s fine !” said Roger. “All four of you go to the Legge Hotel. I’ll join you as soon as I can.” He had been edging towards the door casually, and with no apparent motive, but now he picked up his hat from a chair and opened the door quickly. “Tell them as much of the story as they don’t know,” he added. “I’ll be seeing you !”