‘Trite, but worth a try. Now what the hell are you doing?’
‘Looking for my bag. Maybe I put it in the wardrobe.’
I’d been expecting it, but I started convulsively when it came – a wordless, genderless shout of rage, hardly muted by the heavy door. The response was just as audible. ‘You two cover the doors. They may not have left the house.’
I recognized that voice, though it had been several years since I’d heard it. I froze, my fingers clutching the strap of my bag. John grabbed me around the waist, trying, as I thought, to pull me towards the balcony. Instead he lifted me, shot me into the wardrobe, and closed the door.
And locked it. I couldn’t imagine how, I hadn’t seen a key or a keyhole, but when I shoved at the damned thing it didn’t budge. Then I stopped shoving. I also stopped breathing. The door of the room had burst open.
Maybe they’d look under the bed first. The wardrobe would certainly be next, there was no place else to hide, and they were obviously thorough, well-organized chaps. And while they searched for me – and found me – John would have time . . .
He had time. He was as agile as a cat; he could have dropped from the balcony and taken his chances on breaking a rib or two. I would have risked it, given the alternative. He didn’t. I stood there in the dark, wincing and biting my knuckles and calling myself names as I listened to what was happening. It didn’t last long. They were three to one.
And one of them was Hans, Max’s large, slow-witted associate. I discovered this after I had realized the interior of the wardrobe wasn’t completely dark. The pierced openings in the grillwork admitted light. A couple of them were big enough to give me a clear view.
Fortunately I was too short of breath to cry out, or I might have done so when I spotted Max, less than two feet away from my wide blue eye. His bald head shone as if it had been polished. The heavy horn-rimmed glasses provided an additional distraction – he must have worn contact lenses before – but if I had ever gotten a long, close look at him I would have known him. ‘Mr Schroeder,’ Larry’s secretary, had found reasonable excuses for keeping out of my way.
One of Hans’s ham-sized-fists was wrapped around John’s left arm. The guy who held his other arm was familiar too. Rudi always looked as if he wanted to murder somebody, and his expression hadn’t changed. This time I deduced he wanted to murder John. Rudi had one hand pressed against his stomach and he was whooping for breath, but the gallant lad mustered enough strength to give John’s arm a sharp upward and backward twist. John yelled, of course. Stoicism was not a quality he chose to cultivate.
‘Gently,’ Max said gently. ‘That is his right arm, Rudi. He must be able to use it.’
There was blood on his chin. (I couldn’t help noticing that Hans was unbruised and unbloodied. John tried to pick on people who were smaller than he was.) Max took out a handkerchief, wiped his mouth, studied the resultant smear of blood with fastidious distaste, and threw the handkerchief on the floor.
‘Where is she?’ he asked.
John opened his eyes as wide as they would go. ‘Who?’
Rudi had got his breath back. His shoulder shifted and John let out a pained yelp.
‘Stop it,’ Max said. He didn’t sound as if he meant it, though.
‘The balcony, I suppose,’ Max went on. ‘While you put up a gallant battle to prevent pursuit. Or was that the reason? I find it hard to believe that you would risk yourself even for her.’
‘I was dumbfounded myself,’ John admitted. ‘No doubt I did have another motive. I wonder what it could have been? You’re such a profound student of human nature, Maxie, perhaps you can suggest – ’
‘Get him out of here,’ Max said shortly.
‘What about the woman?’ Rudi demanded. His eyes moved, scanning the room.
‘The only woman in the house is my child bride,’ said John smoothly. ‘I wouldn’t interrupt her if I were you, Rudi, old chap, she’s probably sharpening her knives or dismembering a baby or – ’
I knew Max would crack if he kept it up long enough. John must have known too. Max’s backhand swing was – understandably – aimed at his mouth. It was hard enough to snap his head back and leave him hanging limp between the men who held him.
‘Tie him up,’ Max said.
‘But, Herr Max,’ Rudi began.
‘And gag him. If he makes one more clever remark I may not be able to control myself.’
I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t stop myself. Gnawing on my knuckles, I followed the proceedings with dry-eyed, unblinking attention. They tied his wrists and ankles and used the handkerchief Max had tossed onto the floor as a gag. There was more than a smear of blood on it when they finished.
Max watched too. His back was turned to me when he said coldly, ‘Take him away. I will stay here and search the room, just to be certain.’
Chapter Ten
MY HEART should have skipped a beat, or maybe my blood should have run cold. I didn’t feel a thing. Except a distant primeval urge to lay violent hands on Max.
After the others had gone out he closed the door. Then he looked at the wardrobe and said quietly, ‘I am sorry you had to see that, Dr Bliss.’
‘I’m sorry too.’ His statement had been so unexpected, not to say inapropos, that I answered without thinking. Why not? He knew I was there. Was he now going to apologize for dragging me out and turning me over to Hans and Rudi? And Mary?
‘Do you have a watch?’
I was thinking about Mary and the look in her eyes when she said she had plans for me. ‘What? Oh. Yes.’
‘Wait fifteen minutes. Most of us will have left the house by then. If you take reasonable precautions – I suggest the balcony – you should be able to leave unseen. I beg you won’t try something brave and foolish. You would only be caught again.’
‘Where are you taking him?’
Max clicked his tongue against his teeth. ‘Now, Dr Bliss, you know better than to ask that.’
‘Max. Please. You said you owed me a favour – ’
‘I am doing you that favour. I would be in great trouble if it were known I had connived at your escape. Catch the first plane to Cairo and leave the country as soon as you are able.’
‘You know I won’t do that.’ A sensible woman wouldn’t have wasted her breath arguing with him. Vicky Bliss went right on talking. ‘You asked me a question once, remember? I didn’t know the answer then. I do now. I love him, Max. Please . . .’
Max took a step towards me. ‘Are you crying?’ he asked suspiciously.
‘I would if I thought it would do any good,’ I said, sniffing.
‘It would not. Honestly, I cannot comprehend why an intelligent woman like you should behave this way. You ought to be thanking me for . . . Stop that!’
‘I can’t,’ I snuffled. The conversation, between a courteous criminal and a weeping wardrobe, might have seemed funny to a detached observer. I was not detached, and Max was clearly uncomfortable. I couldn’t figure him out. I never had been able to figure him out. Only in fiction do you find cold-blooded villains with one soft streak in their flinty hearts. But if he didn’t mean to let me go, why had he sent Rudi and Hans away?
‘Fifteen minutes,’ Max repeated. ‘There is no use trying to follow, they will have left the house by now. She is still here, however, and she would like nothing better than to get her hands on you. You can do him no good by allowing yourself to be recaptured.’
He thought he was being so clever. I said, between gulps, ‘I can’t get out. He locked me in.’
‘But there is no key. How . . .’ He came to the wardrobe. ‘Ah, I see. That is good, it will hold you just long enough. Auf Wiedersehen – or rather, goodbye, Dr Bliss.’