He had arrived back in Tchersky at 4 p.m. on Friday and immediately disappeared. The man was a professional — knew he had to leave in a hurry, and before the local comedians could guess he had gone. He hadn’t wasted time hiding himself. He had gone; out of the area, fast. This meant an air trip. An air trip meant an airport.
How, stepping out at 4 p.m. in this hole of a town, could he get to an airport — and not Tchersky airport, since Tchersky militia wanted him? In a vehicle. An early thought had been a Transport Company vehicle; but now the general thought otherwise. This artist would already have arranged a vehicle for himself.
But where? Since the vanishing trick had been performed in Tchersky the answer seemed to be — in Tchersky. But no vehicle was missing from Tchersky; at least had not been reported missing, which was another matter. If the vehicle had not been in Tchersky, then he had been taken to it.
In either case, someone was helping him.
That was one thing. Another was why he was here at all. This was much easier. He was here to get into Tcherny Vodi. And a curious fact had emerged, one the general had only learned on arrival; it seemed he had managed to get to it.
The general had tried to get to it himself, and had found this needed special permission from the establishment. This ridiculous situation he had promptly ordered Irkutsk to deal with, and was still awaiting some action. Now he decided to wait no longer. All other persons interrogated had been summoned to his office. On this one he decided to pay a personal call.
The medical officer did not rise as he entered, and he took off his hat and greatcoat, sizing her up.
‘I am afraid, Medical Officer, this fellow has duped you,’ he said.
‘So it seems.’ She was screwing the top on her fountain-pen, her smile frosty. ‘Not a common occurrence, I assure you.’
‘Yes. I hear you’re not easily fooled.’ His own smile was considerably warmer as he eased his bulk into a chair. An efficient-looking person, he saw; the first he had met in the place. ‘I am hoping you can put me right on a few points.’
Her intense nervousness she covered with an air of impatience, glancing at her watch, at the many papers on her desk. She knew the way this conversation had to be steered and the two points that had to be dropped into it. But this burly individual did not look very steerable and, as Johnny had warned, he knew his business.
She was astonished at how much he knew. He knew of the trips to Panarovka, to the Evenk herders, to Tcherny Vodi — and in detail the militia had not asked her. He had even that morning had someone interviewing Viktoria Eremevina!
He paused over his notes for some moments.
‘The man has a contact here, Medical Officer. Someone is helping him. This trip to the herders, for instance — how did he come to get that for himself?’
‘I am afraid I helped him to it. I couldn’t drive at the time − a sprained ankle. Of course, anybody could have driven me to the helicopter. But he’d expressed interest in them, and just then was pestering me for jobs to do.’
The general looked at her. ‘How did he do that?’
Her heart faltered.
‘He telephoned me. Here.’
‘Did he? I don’t seem to have a note of that.’
‘I am sorry to have to tell you, General,’ she said crisply, ‘that we don’t keep an account of every telephone call here. The girls were busy so I answered myself. I told him of my ankle and said he could come with me to the herds if he wanted.’
The general continued staring.
‘Where was he phoning from?’ he said.
‘Where from? I don’t know.’
‘Was it a public phone?’
‘I’ve no idea. Is there some relevance to this?’
‘The relevance is where he was.’ The general looked at his notes, ‘He told various people that he was at a collective. We know that he wasn’t … It says here that he returned with you from Panarovka on a Sunday, and went to the herds the following Friday. That’s five days in between. The source of a call during those five days is the relevance.’
‘Then I’m afraid I can’t help you.’
The general considered.
‘He wouldn’t have been far. On the other hand, he wasn’t at home. But he was somewhere … Let’s try another tack. On the. way to Panarovka you picked him up at his apartment. But it seems you didn’t take him back there. Is that right?’
‘Yes. Quite right.’
‘Did he have some other means of getting back?’
The first of the points was coming up and she felt her pulse quicken.
‘No. I drove him part way and dropped him.’
‘Why?’
‘He asked to be dropped off.’
‘Where was this?’
‘On the outskirts of Green Cape.’
‘Did he say why he wanted dropping there?’
‘No. I assumed he was seeing a friend.’
‘Was this a residential area?’
‘Well, not the most salubrious — a few sheds, the town rubbish dump — but yes, people live there.’
‘How far would it be from here, from the medical centre?’
‘I would say … a kilometre, maybe one and a half.’
The general made a note, and frowned at it.
‘A kilometre, one and a half … All right, so you drop him there on Sunday, and five days later he picks you up and flies out to the herders … Where he stayed overnight, I believe.’
‘Yes. Weather. You have it there,’ she said impatiently.
‘Did he know these natives worked at Tcherny Vodi?’
‘Yes, he would have known that.’
‘What could they have told him about it?’
‘Nothing. They know nothing themselves.’
‘The security aspects — guard routines?’
‘Well that, yes. If it was of any use.’
He pondered.
‘You made two trips to Tcherny Vodi, I believe.’
She nodded. ‘During the first I had an emergency call and only stayed to unload medical supplies — perhaps twenty minutes. The second was a normal surgery.’
‘How long did that take?’
‘I suppose an hour and a half.’
‘What happened to him on these occasions?’
‘He remained under guard. Almost certainly they’d have kept him in the vehicle. Security is very tight up there.’
‘Yes … Well, it doesn’t seem,’ the general said slowly, ‘that he can have gathered much. But to have got up there at all was a very serious breach. Also a puzzling one … On these other trips, he’s off work, hanging about. But this time he’s back at work. How does he come to be driving you there? Did someone ask for him specially?’
‘No. We asked for a driver. They sent him. Of course I see now he must have been angling for the job.’
‘Could he have known you were going there?’
‘He could have guessed. They were told it was a three-day job — we group out-of-town trips — and I go regularly. Yes, he could have guessed.’
‘But you’d never used a driver there before.’
‘No. I have been fortunate enough,’ she said dryly, ‘not to have sprained an ankle before.’
‘Ah, the ankle. He knew about it. Tell me one thing more. You spent two nights of this trip at settlements in the area. Did he know anybody there?’
‘No. He’d never been before.’
‘Did anybody seem to know him?’
‘Not that I could tell.’
‘At both places — my officers have visited them — it seems he ate by himself, in his room. Doesn’t that seem strange?’
‘Perhaps it embarrassed him to eat in public’
‘Or perhaps he wished not to embarrass somebody else. There’s something funny about this. He keeps out of sight … Somewhere here, Medical Officer, he has a helper. A helper with a vehicle. These places have vehicles — running in and out of Tchersky.’