“Have you questioned Sheila, on the hotel staff? She and Eddie seemed close.”
“Sheila Carlson,” Scutt said, consulting his notebook. “Today is her day off. We’ll get to her soon enough. We’re short staffed, with men rounding up more Germans each night. Nabbed half a dozen down in Croydon before dawn this morning.” He sighed and pocketed his notebook, his heavy eyelids showing his exhaustion.
“Major Horak,” I said. “Do you store weapons here?”
“No, only the sidearms we carry. The guards bring their weapons from the barracks.”
“No rifles, no bayonets?”
“No. But come with me.” Horak led us down the hall, to another, larger office, with Radecki’s name on the door. It was spacious, by army standards. There was a table, and behind it a bookshelf held volumes in English and Polish. Framed pictures were arranged around a battered green helmet. “It’s gone,” Horak said.
“What is?”
“Valerian’s bayonet. He is very proud of it, and the helmet. He was stationed with our border troops in the east and fought against the Russians. He escaped after all was lost, and is proud he never surrendered his weapons. They wouldn’t let him travel through Romania with his rifle, but he did keep everything else. The bayonet has always been right here, with his helmet.”
“Well, it found its way into Eddie Miller’s chest,” Scutt said, showing little care for Radecki’s wartime exploits. “Where is this fellow now?”
“He is visiting Station Number Eight,” Horak said, his discomfort visible as he looked away and spoke in a strangled whisper.
“What in blazes is Station Number Eight?” Scutt said, his anger rising. “And tell me where it is, for that matter!”
“I am afraid I can’t, Inspector,” Horak said. “I have my orders, which come in part from your own government. I can tell you Captain Radecki is on an assignment and I expect him back within the week.”
“Is he here in London?”
“He has not left England. More than that, I simply am not allowed to say.”
“You get in touch with him, and tell him Scotland Yard wants a word,” Scutt said, and left the room, muttering loudly enough to be heard. “Not left England! Who the bloody hell has?”
“The inspector is not a happy man,” Horak said.
“His feet hurt,” I said. “Occupational hazard for policemen. Did Radecki and Kaz often lunch together? I didn’t get the impression they were all that friendly.”
“Lieutenant Kazimierz, you mean? It seems you Americans must shorten every name with more than two syllables. I’m sorry,” he said, waving his hand as if to erase what he’d said. “No, they weren’t especially friendly. They differed over the treatment of Tadeusz Tucholski, the young man you met.”
“How so?”
“Captain Radecki pushed Tadeusz hard. He said it would be best for him to get everything out in the open. Lieutenant Kazimierz said Tadeusz needed time, and comforting.”
“What did you think?”
“I think we have very little time. But we needed to strike a balance, and I fear Captain Radecki was too adamant and caused Tadeusz to retreat into himself. I had to agree when Lieutenant Kazimierz suggested a break. We’ve used the facility at St. Albans before. It’s a sanatorium, run by the military, very secure. They specialize in treating shell shock. We hope it will help, but one never knows.”
“What was it exactly that led you to decide to place him in a sanatorium?” I picked up the helmet displayed on Radecki’s shelves. It was heavy, the brim a bit wider than ours. I put it back, staring at the shelves. I had no idea what I was looking for.
“Tadeusz slept more than usual,” Horak said, tapping a Wills Four Aces cigarette down on the yellow tin case before lighting it. “He always slept after telling his story, but it began to happen more and more. Even when he was awake, he was lethargic in the extreme. You heard his last coherent words, Lieutenant Boyle.”
“It must have been hard for him, reliving it on demand.” I walked in back of Radecki’s table, wondering what he and Kaz had talked about at lunch yesterday.
“Too hard, apparently,” Horak said, blowing smoke up to the ceiling. “If you don’t mind my asking, why does it matter to you?”
“I don’t like the idea of Scutt considering Kaz as a suspect.”
“Then you won’t like what I am about to tell you. Captain Radecki spoke with your friend in this office before they went to lunch. I came in to say good-bye to Lieutenant Kazimierz, and saw Radecki showing him his souvenirs. The lieutenant was handling the bayonet, feeling the heft of it.”
“So Kaz’s fingerprints will be all over it.”
“Unfortunately so,” Horak said. “Unless the killer wiped them away, along with his own.”
“He probably wore gloves. It’s cold enough outside to not be noticed. What worries me is that it had to be someone who wouldn’t have looked out of place in your offices, or elsewhere in the hotel. He had to have typed that note and left it for Eddie yesterday, and then taken the bayonet, either last night or early this morning. When did Radecki leave?”
“Sometime late yesterday afternoon. He was gone when I returned here a little after five o’clock.”
“So the bayonet could have been taken yesterday. You didn’t see it?”
“I only saw that his office was empty.”
“I suppose anyone could walk in there?”
“Once a person gains admittance to this floor, there are really no restrictions. Plus, we have hotel staff coming and going. Waiters, cleaning people, and so on.”
“Eddie, of course. And Sheila Carlson?”
“Yes, she’s been working on this floor for a month or so. Nice young girl.”
“Do you mind if I use the telephone?” I asked, sitting at Radecki’s table. Horak shrugged, ground out his cigarette, and told me to make myself comfortable. I did, and called Norfolk House to ask Harding if he’d send Big Mike over to pick me up and help look for Kaz. I had an idea he might pay a visit to Tadeusz, and that a drive up to St. Albans might turn him up. The switchboard put me on hold and, believing that idle hands are the devil’s workshop, I let them pull open the drawers on Radecki’s desk.
File folders full of papers typed in Polish. Notepads, none of the writing in English. A map of London, a pack of cigarettes, paper clips, a pencil stub. The usual office debris. The last drawer on the right held a first aid kit, along with a small glass bottle labeled TINCTURE OF OPIUM. LAUDANUM. Radecki probably had a spare with him, if his leg hurt as much as it seemed to. The doctor’s name and address were on the label. H. T. Ruskin, Horseferry Street, about a ten-minute walk. Harding came on the line and I shut the drawer. He said Big Mike was available, and that he’d come right over.
I set the receiver down and tried to get my jumbled thoughts in order. Kaz was in trouble, or damn close to it. If I was right about his going to St. Albans, it would give me a chance to warn him of Scutt’s suspicions. Nothing made sense about Eddie Miller’s killing. If Sidorov figured out Eddie had turned on him, the smart money would bet on his playing along. Knowing Eddie was feeding him bad information could point him to the truth, or at least to its neighborhood. As for Kaz and any of the other Poles, Eddie was too valuable alive; there was no percentage in killing him. As for what I was supposed to be investigating, the murder of Gennady Egorov, the only loose thread I had to pull was Topper. He and his father didn’t see eye to eye on his wish to serve king and country, and while I could appreciate the elder Chapman’s desire to keep his offspring alive it also gave me something to exploit. If I could drive them apart, the truth might have a chance to slither out between them. There seemed to be a link between the truck hijackings and Egorov’s murder. Somewhere in all this, there were connections that made sense, connections that would explain everything. I just couldn’t see them yet.
I took the street map of London, figuring Radecki wouldn’t need it while he was at Station Number Eight. I opened it up to see if by chance he’d marked the location with a nice big 8, but no dice. One street in Camberwell, south of the Thames, was marked. Penford Street, number 420. He had made a show of giving Eddie Miller the message that he knew where Eddie lived, reciting the address when he looked through Eddie’s wallet. Was this simply a reminder, or had he planned on making a visit? Probably a reminder, I decided, since he could always talk to Eddie at the hotel. But if he needed to make good on his threat, a home visit would be more intimidating.