The man bowed and moved away. Shaw’s glance strayed to the walls, looking at the bright tiled scenes, scenes from old Spanish towns. He recalled, nostalgically, that Debonnair had been with him in Spain, on the Gibraltar job… he sighed, gave himself up to reverie.
Geisler was ten minutes late and arrived breathlessly apologetic. He said as he pumped away at Shaw’s hand and then sat down, ‘Well, Esmonde, it’s good to see you again. Very good.’ They talked for a while about old times and then Geisler asked, ‘Still at the same old game, are you?’
‘For my sins, yes.’ Shaw studied the American. Geisler had shed some of his years, rather than acquired more; the Bluebolt job hadn’t suited him, either climatically or because of the strain involved in running a vitally important control station in the midst of hostile elements and, in the end, catastrophic threat. Sheer worry had aged him immensely in those days, but now he was looking at peace with himself, and his eyes twinkled cheerfully at Shaw across the rim of the glass of Bitter Lemon, which the waiter had brought on Shaw’s order. ‘And you, Steve? How long have you been doing an attaché’s job?’
Geisler said comfortably, ‘Last two years, about. They took me off the specialized guided-missile stuff after Nogolia and I went back to sea for a spell — Exec in the Ravager. Then I got out of date technically and was lurked for something approaching your line of country. I was posted here only a month or so back, Esmonde, and I guess what with one thing and another I haven’t had much time to get in touch. Reckon I’d have got around to it, though!’ he added, smiling.
Shaw nodded and sipped at his sherry. ‘I’m sure you would, Steve, but as a matter of fact I’m seldom in London myself. By the way,’ he asked casually, ‘where were you last?’
‘SHAPE headquarters.’ Geisler dropped his voice. ‘Security stuff — you know?’
‘Uh-huh.’ Shaw was watching the whole room obliquely. There was no one sitting anywhere near his table. ‘I dare say you found that interesting, Steve.’
‘So-so.’ Geisler was non-committal. ‘It could be interesting at times all right, but mostly it was kind of dull, I’d say, just routine stuff and that, know what I mean? I certainly wasn’t sorry to be posted over here, neither was Beth. We’ve always wanted to see London.’
‘Beth? Your wife… of course. You’ve got her with you again, then?’
Geisler nodded. ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘There’s a kid now, too. A boy… eighteen months old.’ He added a little diffidently, ‘Called him Julian, after Julian Hartog. Remember?’
‘Yes, I do,’ Shaw said quietly. ‘That was a nice thought, Steve.’ He paused, sipped again at the ‘Tio Pepe.’ ‘Where d’you live, then?’
Geisler said, ‘Got a flat in Allen Street, off Kensington High Street. You must come along and see us sometime, Esmonde. Beth’d love to meet you again.’
‘I’d be delighted.’ Shaw handed his cigarette-case to the American. As he flicked his lighter he murmured, ‘As a matter of fact… I’m free this evening. No time like the present, Steve.’
Geisler didn’t latch on right away. He said, ‘Sure, I’d be only too pleased, but the trouble is Beth’s away for a day or two.’
‘Better still,’ Shaw said quietly — and meaningly.
Geisler looked surprised for a moment and then their eyes met. Geisler said, ‘So it’s that way. Okay, I follow. Come right along.’ He made to get up, but Shaw put out a hand to stop him and smiled slightly.
He said, ‘Buy me a sherry first, Steve. You haven’t been in this game long. I have — too long! Believe me, there are times when you act as swift as light and hope someone else isn’t swifter — and there are times when you don’t. This time, you don’t.’ He sat back. ‘We take it easy, Steve. Just as though we’ve all the time in the world. Just in case.’
They picked up a taxi outside the Piccadilly Hotel and inside ten minutes they were in Geisler’s expensive flat in a big block in Allen Street. In the taxi they had chatted of this and that, two people who’d once worked together and then hadn’t met in years, exchanging personal details and looking at a bunch of snaps of young Julian. But once Shaw was settled in a comfortable chair and Geisler had fixed him a drink, the American said, ‘Well, now, I guess you’d better come clean, Esmonde. What’s on your mind?’
Shaw said, ‘For one thing… a floating dock, which sank the Wrangles lightship last night with the loss of all hands — and was then abandoned by the ships that were presumably towing her, which is a mighty odd thing in my opinion.’ He added, ‘You’ll have heard about it, of course.’
‘Read it in the papers, that’s all.’ When Shaw didn’t react he added, ‘That’s all I know about it.’
Shaw shrugged, but kept his gaze on Geisler. ‘Well, if you say so, Steve…’
‘What’s that?’ Geisler set down his glass rather hard. ‘Say, you’re not suggesting I’m—’
‘I’m not suggesting anything, really. Unless it’s that I’m in the game too, as well you know, Steve! I mean I’d like to think you’d be willing to come clean with me too, as you suggested I should with you.’
‘You’re the one who wants something,’ Geisler pointed out reasonably enough. ‘What is there for me to come clean about, anyway?’
Shaw rubbed his jaw reflectively. ‘I don’t know… and I’m sorry to appear vague. But can’t you tell me anything about that dock — or its builders, Gottlieb Hauser of Hamburg?’
‘No.’ Geisler shook his head firmly. ‘I don’t know a darn thing about it, or this firm. Not a darn thing.’
‘Maybe not, but your people would like to know a hell of a lot about it, wouldn’t they, Steve?’
Geisler shrugged. ‘Don’t ask me,’ he said. ‘I don’t see why they should. Anyway, I’m not the Pentagon, or even the Department of the Navy, not on my own. I reckon there’s one helluva lot of things they’d like to know back in Washington, but they don’t consult me about them.’
‘Point taken!’ Shaw grinned. ‘We in our good old limey outfit suffer the same frustrations exactly.’ He frowned and blew cigarette smoke. ‘Look, Steve. We can trust one another, you and I. We sorted all that out a long while ago. Right?’
‘Right.’
‘Then cut out the clam act,’ Shaw said quietly. ‘Sealed lips went out in the thirties, but not before they helped to cause a world war, let me remind you! We’re allies, America and Britain, and we’re fighting a war right now, even if it is only a cold one. Hot or cold, it’s one we’ve got to win to survive. My chief means to find out all he can about that floating dock, and believe me, he will — in time. But time’s always short these days and stone-walling from your end doesn’t help us, though it may help the other side quite a lot.’
Geisler’s round face set stubbornly and his cigarette — end glowed almost white. ‘I’m sorry, Esmonde. I just don’t know a darn thing except what was in the papers. That’s honest.’
Shaw sighed. He slid a hand into his breast pocket and brought out half a dozen photographs. Selecting one, he passed it across to Geisler. It showed the head and shoulders of the dead girl, and some trick of photography had made her appear remarkably lifelike. There was nothing of the look of death about her at all, and the photograph seemed even to have corrected that slight waxiness of the skin that Shaw had noticed. The eyes, which were open, had been staring right into the lens. Shaw asked casually, ‘Ever met her, Steve?’
Geisler took the photograph, frowning in puzzlement at Shaw. And then, the moment he looked at it, his face went a muddy white and he started. He looked mutely at Shaw and then tried to cover up, but it was too late.
Shaw said quietly, ‘All right, Steve. Let’s have it all, then. What’s her name, and what was she after?’