Contraband

      'May anything I say be used in evidence against me afterwards?' Gregory asked with a cautious smile.

      The big man laughed: 'We're not wanting you on any charge as far as I know so I don't think you need worry about that. This is just a private interview.'

      'Right oh,' said Gregory. 'I'm not worried as far as you're concerned, but I'm particularly anxious not to have my copybook blotted with the French police, so I'd like you to give me your undertaking that you won't pass anything I'm going to tell you on to them; that is, about myself.'

      The Superintendent scratched his ear. 'Well, providing you haven't committed a felony in France. Anyhow, I think you can leave it to me to use my discretion.'

      'Good, then I'll give you just the bald facts. On the third instant I had just completed a little motoring tour in Normandy ending up at Deauville. That night at the Casino I saw a very striking looking girl in the company of an elderly man who was known to me by sight. Just before midnight he pulled out his watch and, without saying a word to" the girl, showed it to her.

      'She left him at once and, as I was interested in the pair, I followed her. She picked up a private car outside the Normandie Hotel and drove in it down to Trouville Harbour. There she dismissed it and a few moments later met a man, evidently by appointment, who came out from behind one of the customs sheds. He was wearing an airman's jacket. The pair took a taxi through the old part of the town, dismissed it outside a little cafe in a narrow street, and went upstairs to a room on the first floor together.

      'I was just about to give up the chase, having made up my mind that I was butting in on some love affair, when the sound of fighting came from the room above the cafe. I dashed upstairs and found three dock labourers had set upon the man in the airman's kit. I went to his assistance and he managed to get away. The thugs went after him, leaving me alone with the girl.

      'By that time the people in the cafe downstairs were raising Cain and the proprietor yelling for the police. I didn't wish to be mixed up in the affair and be delayed for an investigation, so I determined to get out as quickly as I could, taking the girl with me. But, before I went, I noticed a pocketbook lying in the comer which had evidently been dropped during the struggle.

      'Later, when I went through it, I found that the owner's name was Wells, and that he was one of your people attached to the special branch. I got the girl away and as I wished to find out more about the business I gave her shelter for the night in my hotel to save her from being arrested. That's the part I want you to keep under your own hat and not give away to the French police.'

      Superintendent Marrowfat nodded, and Gregory went on:

      'She refused to give me any information, but I managed to hang on to her during a good bit of the following day and took her over to lunch at the Guillaume Conquerant Restaurant at Dives. Afterwards, when I was going to get my car to motor her back to Deauville, I was set upon, probably by a man whom she had pointed out during lunch and whom she referred to as the "Limper". In any case someone chucked a handful of pepper in my face and gave me a biff in the stomach.

      'By the time I was fit to stagger round again my car had disappeared and the girl with it. When I got back to Deauville I found that my car had been returned to the hotel garage but I was only just in time to catch the boat for England that night. That's the story for what it's worth and here's your man's pocketbook.'

      'Much obliged. Now, can you give me a description of this young woman?'

      Gregory hesitated a second. He had no desire to put the police on Sabine's track, whatever she might have been up to, but Sir Pellinore had been insistent that he must give the authorities all the information he had so he could hardly avoid complying with the Superintendent's request.

      'I can give you a sort of description,' he said, 'but I doubt if it will be very much use to you because, while one woman may be extremely beautiful, and another as plain as the back of a cab, their bald description about height, colouring, and so on, might tally almost completely. This one is of medium height, with what I suppose you would call a heart shaped face. She has black hair parted at the side and curled at the back of the head. I couldn't tell you the colour of her eyes exactly; pencilled eyebrows, like ninety per cent of women these days, and that's about all there is to it.'

      'Nationality?' prompted the Superintendent.

      'French I should think: she speaks excellent English though.'

      'Age?'

      'About twenty-six.'

      'Body?'

      'Good figure, fairly well developed bust.'

      'Legs?'

      'She'd get in the front row of the chorus on her legs all right.'

      'Nose?'

      'Straight.'

      'Complexion?'

      'Roses on pale bronze, but she was touched up, of course,, like any other smart woman.'

      'Cheeks?'

      'Full.'

      'Ears?'

      'I didn't notice.'

      'Mouth?'

      'Full curved lips.5

      'Teeth?'

      'Small, white, even.'

      'Forehead?'

      'Broad.'

      'Hands?'

      'Plump, pointed, with the usual crimson nails.'

      'Carriage?'

      'Very upright.'

      'Jewellery?'

      'She was wearing a big sapphire on the third finger of her right hand, when I saw her, and four no five, diamond bracelets; the heavy expensive sort, you know, and she had a pair of big pearls in her ears.'

      The Superintendent stopped making notes on the pad in front of him and remarked: 'Well, I've had worse descriptions than that to go on.'

      Gregory smiled ruefully. The description was far more full than he had intended to make it.

      'I think we may assume too the Superintendent went on, 'that, in your view at least, she was not as plain as the back of a cab, but extremely beautiful, since you risked getting yourself knifed on her account after only having seen her for a few moments.'

      'I followed her because it was part of my job,' said Gregory tonelessly.

      'Just as you wish. Now, what about the man she pointed out to you and referred to as the "Limper"?'

      'I only caught sight of him for a second and his back was turned towards me. He was a tall fellow, over six feet I should say, dressed in a smart, light grey, lounge suit and a Homburg. He dragged his left foot a little. That's all I can tell you.'

      'Thanks. It's a pity though that you can't tell us more about him, because he might be an old friend of ours whom we've lost sight of for some time. The lady, of course, we knew all about before.'

      'The devil you did!' exclaimed Gregory.

      'Yes. Wells got away all right and naturally he gave us details of the occurrence in his report. He'll be glad to have his pocketbook back. The woman's not French, but Hungarian, and you're right about her being a good looker. He laid stress on that in his description of her.'

      'If you had it already why on earth did you bother me for it then?'

      'Just a matter of routine, sir. We have rather a habit here of checking up as often as possible.'

      'Checking up whether I was lying to you, eh?'

      The big man's eyes twinkled. 'I wouldn't exactly say that, but I always like to establish the mental orientation of my visitors as far as possible; if you understand what I mean. Now, what can you tell me about the elderly man who was with the girl at the Casino?'