“Did you overhear anything?” Kaz said, in a slow, patient voice that I knew was holding back fury.
“No, never. I only talked to him once, when I brought up a meal. You’d left the room, and as I laid out the food, I asked him how he liked London. He said it was very pleasant, that’s all. Really, those are the only words I ever heard him speak. Honestly.”
“Very well,” Valerian said. “We believe you. We want you to continue to see this Russian as he wishes. But we will provide the information you are to give him. Do you understand?”
“Is this like being a double agent?”
“Yes, exactly, Edward Miller of 420 Penford Street in Camberwell,” Valerian said, tossing Eddie his billfold. “Except this is not the moving pictures. If you perform well, we will pay you. If not, we will kill you.”
“And forget you ever saw me, Eddie,” I said.
“I wish I could,” he said, holding his head in his hands.
“ Thank you, Billy,” Kaz said when we were alone in the hotel lounge bar. “You didn’t have to do that, I know.”
“It would’ve been hard to ignore,” I said. “Once I saw Sidorov meeting with that guy so close to the hotel, I knew it would involve you. I couldn’t let it go.”
“I hope we can turn this to our advantage,” Kaz said, lowering his voice. “The Russians are about to issue their own report on Katyn, now that they’ve had their own so-called experts examine the site. If they know we have an eyewitness, they may take action against him.”
“What kind of action?”
“What do you think?” Kaz said, finishing off the last of his lunch. “But I believe Eddie will soon tell them that our eyewitness confessed to being a fake. A deserter, a criminal who hoped to benefit financially, but grew afraid of unwanted attention. How does that sound?”
“Flimsy. Say he fell in love with his nurse, and she convinced him to tell the truth. The story needs a woman’s touch; it will make his change of heart more convincing. Tell me something, Kaz. Have you been aware of any other spies, or Russians following you around?”
“That’s very good-the woman, I mean. No evidence of Russian spying, although I have to assume they are aware of our activities. Why do you ask?”
“Just curious,” I said, draining my glass of ale, working at not meeting Kaz’s eyes.
“I am glad you are my friend, Billy. I’d hate to think you were suspicious of me.”
“You know me, Kaz. I’m suspicious of everyone.” I tried to smile and make a joke of it. Kaz laughed, but I don’t think he thought it funny. “Ever see this guy before?” I handed him the photo of Gennady Egorov.
“No, I haven’t,” Kaz said. “He doesn’t look well. Who is he?”
“He was Captain Gennady Egorov, late of the Soviet Air Force. Or NKVD. Stationed here in London, shot in the back of the head a few nights ago. I’m supposed to look into it for the general.”
“And you can’t help but wonder if the Polish Government in Exile was mixed up in it, given our differences with the Russians?”
“It’s a possibility that has to be explored, Kaz. It’s the first thing anyone would think of. It was the first thing you brought up.”
“It is how I’ve come to view the world. Through the eyes of thousands of murdered Poles. Through the eyes of Tadeusz. I want the world to know what they did, Billy. I want them to pay!” His voice had risen, and I laid my hand on his arm, quieting him with my touch. Heads had turned in our direction, but the other patrons soon went back to their drinks and dining.
“I know,” I said. I also knew that the Russians were fighting the Germans in far greater numbers than we were, and would be for months. The Poles were important, for historical as well as moral reasons. England had gone to war with Germany over the invasion of Poland, and the Polish people had suffered terribly since then. But the Russians had many, many divisions in the fight, and they were headed for Berlin, killing Germans as they went. The more they killed, the fewer would be facing us when we landed and made our own run at Adolf. Uncle Ike had taught me the mathematics of war, the horrible truth of the planned deaths of thousands. Some must die now so that more would live later. And it followed that some causes would be sacrificed, no matter how honorable, if doing so would lessen the final tally of dead, maimed, and lost. “I know,” I repeated, unable to tell Kaz what it was I knew with such certainty.
“What will you do next?” Kaz said, after the silence between us had become awkward.
“I need to check in with Harding, and then try to find a London gangster named Archibald Chapman.”
“Archie Chapman? What do you want with him?”
“You know him?”
“I know of him, and that’s quite enough. He’s head of an East End gang, and quite vicious. Unbalanced and unpredictable, they say. His gang has gone heavily into the black market since the war, but still runs a prostitution ring and deals in drugs.”
“There may be a link between him and the dead Russian.”
“I’m not surprised he’s the one left standing.”
“Happen to know where I can find him?”
“He lives in Shoreditch, but I wouldn’t advise asking for his address. He is superstitious about air raids, though. He still sleeps every night in the Liverpool Street Underground.”
“So I’ve heard. That’s not far from where the body was found.”
“Be very careful, Billy. He has bodyguards with him at all times.”
“How do you know all this?”
“I have a friend who works for the Sunday Dispatch. He was going to write a series about the London underworld, and he told me about his plans since he knew I was interested in American gangsters. Some of Chapman’s men paid him a visit and convinced him to move on to other projects.”
“How? Did they beat him up?”
“No, he was not injured at all. They stopped him at night on Fleet Street, outside his office. Two of them with some poor soul from the East End slums. They slit his throat right there on the sidewalk and told my friend that would happen to him if he ever wrote a single word about Archie Chapman.”
“I assume he found other stories to write.”
“Yes. No shortage of stories in wartime. I think it gives people license to tolerate things they ordinarily wouldn’t. The black market is harmless in some respects, but shockingly criminal in others. You see your neighbor getting a bit of extra butter or meat, and you quite naturally want yours, too. No one ever thinks about all the theft and organized crime behind it. Not to mention all the riches you Americans brought with you. It seems never ending, all the food, machinery, men, and supplies. Why not take your share, that’s the common feeling.”
“And men like Archie Chapman get rich while better men go off and get themselves killed,” I said.
“Yes. Remember, he’s feared, but also respected by some in the East End. He spreads a bit of his wealth throughout Shoreditch, so the locals tend to close ranks around him. Be cautious when you venture into the Underground, and don’t go unarmed.”
“You still carrying that little. 32 automatic?”
“Of course. Do you want to borrow it?”
“No, but thanks,” I said. “I have a. 38 police special packed away, I’ll bring that along. Not as conspicuous as a. 45.” I thought it was a good sign that Kaz offered his piece to me. A guy who’d popped a Russian in the head a few days ago would’ve gotten rid of it most likely. He sure wouldn’t be eager to offer it to a cop, or whatever the hell I was. “One thing I forgot to ask, Kaz. You know anything about a Russian delegation visiting High Wycombe recently?”
“Eighth Air Force? No, why would they go there?”
“Just what I wanted to know. Big Mike has a date with a WAC from up there. He’s picking her up tonight. Maybe she can tell him something.”
“There is a Polish RAF squadron nearby at the Northolt base. I can ask them, although if they spotted any Russians I would’ve heard about the fight by now.” He smiled grimly. It had been a joke, but it reinforced the truth about the feelings between Poles and Russians. Deadly.