Midnight Plus One

'That's why he rammed Harvey down your throat: made you take him along even when Maganhard didn't think there'd be any shooting. That way, when it was all over, it'd look as if Merlin had done his best – and all the blame was on Calieron. He didn't mind that: Galleron hadn't got a traceable past and was going to vanish, anyway, once Caspar was cashed in. Probably he hired Alain and Bernard in the name of Galleron, so they never knew who they were working for and couldn't give him away.' I looked up at the girl. 'I told you the lions might not know they were working for Nero, either.'

She raised her eyebrows. 'And that makes us the Christians, does it? I hadn't known Christians ate lions.'

I gave her an insincere smile and said quickly: 'So all in all, Merlin could go back to being Merlin with just an extra ten million in an anonymous account in Switzerland. No need to run off and be Joe Smith in Brazil.' Then I thought of something and turned to Maganhard. 'Aren't you supposed to be having a company meeting, after all this?'

'Yes. But Herr Fiez has been good enough to remind me that we do not have proof that Max's certificate was destroyed. It is still possible that his heir may appear with it before midnight. Therefore we must wait until then.' He gave Fiez a heavy sideways look that showed what he thought of the possibility.

Then he remembered: 'Herr Fiez could have identified Monsieur Merlin as this Galleron.'

'He could, but it wasn't so much of a risk. By Caspar's rules, I believe Fiez can't get away from Liechtenstein much, so he wouldn't be likely to meet Merlin again. And when the deal was complete, in a month or two, I imagine Fiez would have got quietly pushed off a mountain.'

Fiez went as white as new snow and dropped his glass. Maganhard smiled a stiff satisfied smile.

Miss Jarman said: 'Who killed that man in the Citroen at Quimper, then?'

I shrugged my good shoulder. 'Merlin, I'd say. Harvey's got Henri's gun, but it looked the right calibre.'

Harvey seemed surprised for a moment, then dipped into his pocket and brought out the little automatic and peered down the muzzle. 'Six-point-three-five,' he said. That's right.'

'But Merlin wasn't at Quimper that night,' the girl objected. 'You rang him up in Paris at four o'clock or something.'

'Heshouldn't have been there,' I said. 'Probably the driver spotted him and that's what got him killed. And I didn't get through to him in Paris. I rang there, and he had to ring back a few minutes later. There was time to ring from Paris to Quimper to tell him to get on to me. After that, we didn't talk to him until past noon. He could have got back to Paris by then.'

She nodded thoughtfully, then said: 'So the telephoning that was getting us into trouble-'

'Yes. I was doing it all myself.'

She just looked at me.

Harvey got up and helped himself to another whisky without being asked. The girl watched him, expressionless.

Maganhard said: 'And what will happen now?'

I lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. 'The French police'!! be jumping; the Swiss police'll be jumping. And you'll have the Liechtenstein cops up here first thing tomorrow. But as long as you swear you were here since before they closed the frontier… they won't convict a live millionaire on the evidence of a few dead gunmen. They won't even try.'

The girl said softly: 'Poor old lions.'

Maganhard said: 'But what about the… the charge against me in France?'

'It'll fall down. The woman in the case is going to get a letter from Merlin, back-dated a few months, saying he'd arranged for it to be sent if he died. And it'll tell her to drop the case.'

He frowned. 'Do you believe he has arranged such a letter?'

'Of course not. But I'll get Ginette to write it – I told you she was a good forger, remember? Just send me the woman's name and one of Henri's signatures.'

He stared at me while he chewed this over. Then his face moved slowly, piece by piece, into his version of a smile. 'Considering everything, Mr Cane, you appear to have done an efficient job.' The voice got official. 'I would consider having you work for me on a permanent basis. I might pay-'

'No.'

The smile vanished. 'I have not said what I might pay! '

I shook my head wearily. 'That's nothing to do with it, Mr Maganhard. Don't you see what Merlin proved? I'd been going around playing Caneton: the big professional, the man who couldn't step aside when a job like this came up. Now – now we know Merlin picked both sides: Harvey and me against Alain and Bernard and the others. So he choseus as the two most likely to fail."

There was a silence. Then Harvey said mildly: 'Wrong, wasn't he?'

'Only just, chum, only just. And at least he tried: he picked an Englishman who made a reputation back in the war – and an alcoholic gunman. To guard a man worth ten million quid. And we weren't even bright enough to see that.'

Maganhard put on a stiff frown. He hated the idea that anybody working for him might have been second-rate; he could swallow Merlin – first-class and merely crooked – a lot easier.

He said: 'I think you are being rather fanciful, Mr Cane. As Mr Lo veil says, Monsieur Merlin was wrong. We were right, and we were successful.'

I nodded. 'Oh yes, we won the war. Andyou were right… I thought for a time that made me right, too. But it doesn't. I should never have taken this job. The way I do things – the way Caneton does them – too many people get killed. I don't know what else I could have done… but maybe that's the trouble. Maybe somebody else could have thought of something. You find him. Hire him.'

The girl was looking at me curiously. 'I thought you didn't care about what happened to those men down there.'

'I don't, not much. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think it matters who kills hired killers, or when, or even how. I was thinking of Harvey.' Out of the corner of my eye I saw his head jerk round. I kept looking at Miss Jarman – hard. 'Harvey's no killer; don't ever think you have to cure him of that. The real killers are the ones who can do it without taking a drink. After or before.'

'I hate to spoil a good speech,' Harvey said slowly, 'but nobody seems to have noticed I ain't dead yet.'

I gave him a quick look, then stood up, finished my drink, and said to nobody in particular: 'I'm going to run the Rolls down the hill and dump it, then catch a train from Vaduz. They won't be checking on who's goingout yet.' I looked at the girl. 'Get him away from here before the cops come.'

Harvey asked me: 'Paris?'

'France, anyway. I've got to find a doctor who won't talk.'

He finished his whisky with a gulp. 'Guess I'll come, too. The work'll be piling up.'

Miss Jarman turned slowly to face him, her face stiff and unbelieving.'What work?'

He seemed surprised. 'My work.'

Inside, I felt as cold and empty as a forgotten church. I said dully: That was what I meant.'

THIRTY-FOUR

After a moment! said: 'He's the top gunman in Europe, now Bernard and Alain are dead. Even if it never gets out that he killed them, he's the number one man. The best jobs, the top rates.'

The girl didn't seem to have heard me. She said to Harvey: 'But… but Merlin chose you because of your -your drinking problem. Heexpected you to get killed! '

He shrugged. 'So like I say – he was wrong.'

I said: 'He doesn't have a drink problem. Not now.'

She whipped round at me.

I said: 'His problem was he didn't think he could mix guns and booze. That's why he went dry at the beginning of this job. It's why he tried to keep us out of it tonight – he knew he'd drunk too much. He'd faced up to it, then: he was honest enough to say he'd screwed up his job by his drinking.'

My voice sounded empty and monotonous, like the hollow thumping of a big gong. But I had to go on beating it. 'Then he got into the fight – and he killed the best gunman in Europe. A man rated above him. Now – Where's his problem? He's proved he can mix pistols and whisky. He won't live two months.'