‘I’ve been trying to contact you for at least the last forty-eight hours, Blackstone,’ Carstairs said as they walked. ‘I would like to know where the hell you have been all that time.’
‘I’ve been pursuing my inquiries,’ Blackstone replied.
Captain Carstairs snorted. ‘That may be enough of an answer for some of the people you normally rub shoulders with, but I am a captain in His Majesty’s Armed Forces, and I consider it highly unsatisfactory,’ he said.
If he told Carstairs the truth — if he admitted he’d been tracking the movements of the three musketeers in Calais — then the captain would do everything within his power to sabotage the investigation, Blackstone thought.
‘I’ve been investigating the possibility that, from the very start, you may have been right — and I may have been wrong,’ he said aloud.
‘What are you talking about?’ Carstairs demanded.
‘You think it was one of the enlisted men who killed Lieutenant Fortesque, and, as a result of my investigations, I’m inclined to agree with you,’ Blackstone lied. ‘Now, if you’d like more details of those investigations. .’
‘No, no, I’m perfectly happy to leave it in your hands,’ Carstairs replied, sounding both pleased and relieved. ‘But the moment you have tracked down the guilty party, I shall, of course, expect to be informed.’
‘Naturally,’ Blackstone agreed.
They came to a halt at the mouth of a tunnel which was being dug in the side of the trench. One stocky Welshman, inside the tunnel, was passing a basket of earth to another stocky Welshman who was outside of it. They seemed unaware that Carstairs was there — or indeed, of anything beyond the task in hand.
The sergeant coughed, and the two miners looked up briefly, and then returned to their work.
‘You are in the presence of an officer, Sapper Thomas,’ the sergeant barked. ‘Show the proper respect!’
‘Oh, sorry, sir,’ the Welshman inside the tunnel said to Carstairs, before giving what was probably as smart a salute as the confined space allowed. ‘We thought you was in a hurry to get the tunnel finished, see, and every time we stops to salute you, that’s another shovel-full of earth we hasn’t shifted.’
‘Do not address an officer directly,’ the sergeant screamed.
‘Oh, sorry again, Sergeant,’ the Welshman said. ‘We thought the captain was in a hurry to get the tunnel finished, see, and-’
‘You’ve already said that,’ the sergeant told him.
‘Yes, but look you, the first time I said it, it was to the officer, then you told me I’m not allowed to-’
‘Silence!’ the sergeant shouted.
‘Ask him how the work is progressing,’ Carstairs said to the sergeant.
‘How is the work progressing?’ the sergeant asked Thomas.
‘We’s gone maybe ten yards,’ the Welshman replied.
Carstairs frowned. ‘That doesn’t seem very far.’
‘You’s never dug a tunnel yourself, has you, sir?’ Thomas asked.
‘Do not address an officer directly,’ the sergeant roared.
‘I thought he was addressing me, like,’ Thomas said, completely unperturbed. ‘Anyway, I was only asking him if he have ever dug a tunnel himself, and it’s obvious that he haven’t.’
‘Ask him how long it will take him to complete the tunnel,’ Carstairs said to the sergeant.
‘Save your breath, Sarge, ’cos I’ve already heard,’ Thomas said. He raised his hand, and scratched his head with a dirt-encrusted finger. ‘To be honest with you, it’s hard to say exactly. There’s all sorts of things what have to be taken into account with a tunnel, look you. But don’t you go worrying yourself, sir, we’s’ll get there in the end.’
‘Do not-’ the sergeant began.
‘Forget it, Sergeant,’ Carstairs told him, with evident weariness in his voice. ‘Blackstone and I are leaving now, but I want you to stay here and watch these men work, just to make certain there’s no shirking.’
‘We doesn’t-’ Thomas said.
‘Silence!’ the sergeant commanded.
Carstairs turned, signalled Blackstone to follow him, and walked a little way down the trench.
‘They’re barbarians, these Welshmen,’ the captain complained. ‘They have no idea of proper military discipline, and if they weren’t the best tunnellers we’ve got — by far — I wouldn’t tolerate having them anywhere near my men.’
An awkward silence followed, in which it was plain that Carstairs was expecting Blackstone to say something, and Blackstone himself had determined to say nothing at all until he had a clearer idea of what lay behind this little expedition down into the trenches.
Finally, after perhaps a minute, Carstairs said, ‘Well?’
‘Well, what?’ Blackstone replied.
‘What do you think?’ Carstairs asked, pointing back towards the tunnel.
‘I think it’s a tunnel,’ Blackstone said.
‘Yes, it’s a tunnel!’ Carstairs said exasperatedly. ‘And. .?’
‘And as far as I can tell, it’s pretty much like every other tunnel I’ve seen,’ Blackstone said. ‘It’s got two walls, a floor and a ceiling — and I really can’t think of much more to say about it.’
‘You do know why I’ve brought you to see it, don’t you?’
‘As a matter of fact, I don’t.’
Carstairs sighed at the detective’s obvious stupidity.
‘I wanted you to see it,’ he said, speaking slowly, to make sure Blackstone got the point, ‘so that when you report back to General Fortesque, as I’ve no doubt you will, you can tell him that we on the front line have done everything possible to comply with his wishes.’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ Blackstone admitted.
‘The General hasn’t told you of his request?’
‘No.’
Carstairs smirked. ‘Then perhaps you are not quite as much in his confidence as you would like to think you are.’
‘Maybe I’m not,’ Blackstone agreed.
‘Would you like to hear now what that request was?’
Yes, he did want to know, Blackstone thought, because whatever the General’s request had been, it was probably relevant to the investigation. But after Captain Carstairs had been so bloody supercilious, he was damned if he was going to ask him.
‘I’m not particularly interested,’ he said, ‘but since you seem so desperate for the General to be told what a good boy you’ve been, I should imagine you want to give me all the details.’
‘Don’t push me too far, Blackstone,’ Carstairs growled.
‘I’ll tell you what, why don’t we just forget the whole thing?’ Blackstone suggested.
‘I have the greatest possible respect for General Fortesque, and, because of that, I would like him to think well of me,’ Carstairs said, through clenched teeth. ‘And that is the reason — and the only reason — that I am prepared to tolerate your insolence on this occasion.’
Blackstone grinned. ‘In other words, I’m a bit like the Welsh miners — you might not like me, but you need me.’
Carstairs cleared his throat. ‘General Fortesque has asked us to recover the body of a Private Danvers, who was killed — and subsequently buried — in No Man’s Land, a few days ago,’ he began, as if the last few unpleasant exchanges had never occurred. ‘Since it was already planned to build a new sap listening post, which would, of course, be connected to this trench by a tunnel, I decided that the best idea would be to combine the two operations. The tunnel will first be used to recover the body — undoubtedly the safest way to do it — and then will be converted into part of our defences.’
Blackstone had stopped listening after the first sentence.
Danvers!
Where had he heard that name before?
Of course!
Danvers was the man who Lieutenant Fortesque had been planning to make his servant, before he changed his mind and appointed Blenkinsop.
Danvers was the soldier who had not just been killed in No Man’s Land, but had been killed on a patrol led by Lieutenant Soames — and only hours before Lieutenant Fortesque was murdered.