I needn’t have worried about there being no hole in the roof to show where the spent rocket had smashed through. When the firemen got there most of the roof had already fallen in. They concentrated on trying to contain the blaze and on confining it to the older, un-remodelled part of the building. The senior fireman thought they would succeed, but it would be a long job, and some of his men would have to stay with it to watch for flare-ups. No, he certainly wouldn’t advise anyone to sleep in the house. The fire had already got to the main electricity cable, and, when the pipes began to melt, the water would have to be turned off. Better start thinking about a hotel.
Since I didn’t intend to be available when the insurance investigators started wondering how best to avoid paying out on the owner’s claim, that left the cut phone lines as the likeliest source of trouble with local officialdom. If they could be seen to have been cut, there would be unpleasant questions asked and suspicion aroused prematurely. I consulted Yves.
‘It’s all right,’ he said; ‘the lines came in by the garage and that’s where I cut them. The fire won’t have left anything for anyone to see.’
‘Good. Now I’ll take that cassette.’
‘What cassette?’
‘The one that was in my recorder. The call from Mat.’
‘Krom took that. He thinks nobody saw him. It’s in his shirt pocket. You could try snatching it. I’ll bet he won’t give it to you.’ His eyes narrowed maliciously. ‘Did you know, Paul, that all that beautiful equipment of mine was charged to Symposia? You’ve lost that lot of tapes too. Bad luck.’
I tried to look as if he’d driven yet another nail into my coffin.
A gendarmerie radio van had arrived to handle communications with the various authorities along the coast who would be concerned with tracking down the Chanteuse and bringing in her passengers and crew for questioning.
The cook and her husband returned on their motor scooter, having heard in the village about the fire. The extension to the house that contained their apartment, though badly scorched on the outside, was otherwise undamaged. After preliminary lamentations, they set about malting a list of the valuable personal possessions they had left in the kitchen, the laundry, the wine-cellar, the pantry and one or two other rooms adjacent to the garage which had also suffered. A colour TV set, that they claimed to have bought themselves and installed in the pantry next to the freezer, was high on their list. The insurance investigator who diagnosed arson would have a choice of suspects.
The upper road had been closed by the police to nonessential traffic as soon as the alarm had been given. The coast road, however, became jammed with sightseers who had stopped their cars to watch the fun. Motor-cycle police had to be sent to move them on.
A television crew, who had seen the fire while covering a ‘folkorique’ happening up at La Turbie, were allowed in to get pictures for the regional news. Yves slipped away immediately, and so did I. Fortunately, the TV men didn’t stay long. The blaze was already under control. I avoided the cameras by taking refuge in my bedroom, and used the time, with the aid of a candle from one of the sconces in the hall, to pack the rest of my things. I also smudged those surfaces likely to yield clear fingerprints to anyone looking for such things. The cook’s husband and the daily woman would get around to cleaning up when we had gone; but, since the whole place wasn’t going to burn down after all, the less there was of me there to find the better.
Melanie had no problem with the cameras. She was closeted with the police. As the owner of a burned-out car, she had to file a separate report on that incident as well as making her statement as a tenant about the house fire. Connell too, the one who had signed the rental contract for the Fiat it appeared, would have to file a separate report to complete the paper work.
By then, it was eleven o’clock.
I could be certain of at least one thing. When the Chanteuse was picked up, Frank would not be among those found on board. It was also likely that, with all the police activity in and around the Villa Lipp, his squads of hired helpers on land had been withdrawn from the vicinity. Now, they would be waiting at assembly points farther out — waiting to see what my next move would be.
It was time I made it.
I found Krom sitting with Henson and Yves in the drawing-room, and set the ashtray I had been using as a candlestick down on the table nearest to them.
Krom was obviously very tired. However, my hope that fatigue would make him easier to deal with was a vain one.
‘We have no electricity,’ I began cheerfully; ‘and the fireman tells me that someone will shortly arrive to turn off the main water supply. There is still the swimming pool, of course, if you don’t mind the taste of chlorine and care to use buckets, but most of it has already been pumped on to the flames by one of the fire trucks.’
He flicked me away contemptuously. ‘Spare us. You meant to disperse our gathering. You still mean to disperse it. The enemies outside having been disposed of, you are now ready to dispose of the enemies within. Dr Henson agrees with me.’
Her eyes were unfriendly. ‘The relief of the beleaguered city having been completed,’ she said, ‘the garrison is ready to march out with colours flying. The cavalry are left in possession after their ride to the rescue.’
I knew then what the trouble with her was. The quip about cavalry riding to the rescue had been made by Connell while he was in her bed. By inadvertently throwing the word ‘cavalry’ back at him when he had accused me, facetiously, of trying to escape, I had let them both know that I had invaded their privacy. I could expect no more co-operation from them in dealing with Krom.
‘The garrison may march out,’ I said, ‘but I wouldn’t advise flying colours. You don’t think Mat Williamson’s going to give up just because of a little set-back here, do you?’
Krom’s teeth were back in service. ‘I too, think it unlikely that the person who made that telephone call to you will give up. Was he the ‘Vic’ we heard mentioned earlier? I think he must have been. So, he won’t give up any more than Kleister and Torten will give up. They want their revenge, and they have waited a long time. Now that someone has shown them how to find you, they can follow you to the ends of the earth if necessary. We are more fortunate.’
‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that.’
‘Oh, but I am sure, and my witnesses agree with me. The truth about you will be our protection. All we have to do is publish it. It’s you that they want dead, not us. Mr Boularis has made that clear.’
I glanced at Yves. He smiled slightly. His closed session with them had been highly profitable. It was time for me to cut my losses.
I moved over and sat down by Krom. ‘I think you have something of mine, Professor,’ I pointed to the cassette in his shirt pocket, and then extended my hand as if to grab it. ‘That!’
He drew back, clutching it to his breast fiercely. ‘Ah, No! No, Mr Firman. If you want this back, you’ll have to buy it. And I’ll tell you what the price is. Don’t you want to hear?’
His protective embrace had been passionate enough to smudge beyond recognition any of my fingerprints that might have been left on the thing, but to please him I nodded.
‘How much?’
I want two things. I want the rest of the papers you had prepared for me, the ones I would have had if we hadn’t been interrupted, and I want a resumption of our meetings by this time next week at the latest. And they will be in Brussels, if you please. We have met discreetly there before, and in a public place. Why not again? I’m sure you know how to protect yourself there from fireworks, and your victims are used to waiting for satisfaction. Besides, they are obviously careful men. They are not likely to attack you in the lobby of the Brussels Westbury. So, in not more than a week’s time we can continue, eh? I shall be expecting you. What do you say?’