On Jan. 10, 1935, Italy resumed fighting in Ethiopia. Between 1934 and the middle of 1936 the Company made huge shipments to Italy...
On Mar. 16, 1935, Hitler broke the Versailles Treaty, ordered conscription in Germany, and began expansion of the German Army. Only one month before, the Company had acquired four more giant plants in widely scattered locations. In Mar. 1935 these were running at full capacity...
On June 5, 1936, Leon Blum, leader of the Socialist Party in France, formed the first Popular Front ministry. Within six weeks a far-reaching program of social reform was introduced, including (July 17) nationalization of the munitions industry. Bendigo was in and out of France frequently between the end of July 1936 and June 1937, when the Blum cabinet was forced to resign. Contiguity of additional Bendigo visits to France with significant dates — November, when the Cagoulards were frustrated in their revolutionary plot against the Republic; Mar. 1938, when the Chautemps government fell; Mar.-Apr. 1938, when Blum’s second ministry failed, to give way to the cabinet of Édouard Daladier — indicates that Bendigo from the very beginning worked to defeat the Popular Front and its social and nationalization program...
In 1937 the Japanese renewed fighting in China, Hitler repudiated German war guilt, Italy withdrew from the League, civil war raged even more violently in Spain. The Bodigen Arms Company in 1937 enjoyed its greatest year to that time...
On Mar. 11, 1938, Hitler’s troops crossed the Austrian frontier. Sept. 29–30, 1938 — Munich. Mr. Kane Bendigo, the ordinarily tireless, was “forced” to desert the arduous cares of business for a “rest”. He took a one-month vacation. The month: Sept. 1938. The place: A small hotel in Pfaffenhofen. Pfaffenhofen is some 50 kilometres from Munich...
In Mar. 1939 the Spanish war ended. In a private ceremony in Madrid, El Caudillo decorated Señor Kane Bendigo for unnamed reasons...
Czech Bohemia and Moravia... Memel... Lithuania... Albania...
Aug. 1939: Bendigo’s connexion with the events leading up to the diplomatic revolution which shook the world, the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact, remains obscure. Certain entries in Bellodgia’s diaries are strongly suggestive. That it was to Bendigo’s advantage to see the Soviet power temporarily neutralized so that Hitler might feel free to invade Poland and risk British and French declarations of war is childishly evident. K.B. had several sessions with Hitler and von Ribbentrop in early August, and there is reason to believe that he had a meeting with, or was present at a conference which was attended by, Molotov...
Sept. 1, 1939: Poland. On Sept. 3 Prime Minister Chamberlain announced in Parliament that a state of war existed between Great Britain and Germany: “Hitler can be stopped only by force.”
King Bendigo could have told Mr. Chamberlain that some time before...
The picture is monotonous and unmistakable. It clearly shows this man riding the rollers of history. It must be emphasized again that Bendigo does not cause events; he insinuates himself into their midst and diverts them to his purposes.
It is of no interest to him whether a Hitler comes to power, or a Stalin; he has done business with both. His dealings with the Soviet have been far more obscure than those with the Nazis, but only because there is virtually no data on them available. That they have been considerable and far-reaching is not to be doubted.
Bendigo is completely above loyalties or duties, isms or ologies. Patriotism to him is a device, not an ideal. His politics are fluid; they flow in every direction at once...
A Few Further Excerpts from the Notes
In the bombing of Rennes in 1940, 4,500 persons were killed. Bancroft Wells, the philanthropist, heading a committee of distinguished people, formally asked Mr. Kane Bendigo to act as honorary chairman of an international committee dedicated to the future restoration of the historic cathedral. Mr. Kane Bendigo accepted with an indignant speech denouncing “the barbaric practices of the enemies of civilization...”
On May 10, 1941, London suffered its worst air-raid of the war — 1,436 lives lost. King Bendigo left London in his private plane on May 9. Inevitable speculation: Did he have advance information?...
Dec. 7, 1941: Capt. Bellodgia records a rare item. For the one and only time in his long association with King Bendigo, Bellodgia was privileged to see the great man howling drunk. “He kept beating his chest like Tarzan in the movies — it was positively embarrassing. Also kind of out of place, I thought, seeing that Pres. Roosevelt had only just announced the Jap attack on Pearl Harbor...”
I was curious to see — purely as a point of character — exactly when and under what circumstances he met, wooed, and married Karla. The four-day period of their courtship in Paris provided the clue, and Karla had intimated that it was just after the war... I worked it out. They met in Paris on July 25, 1946, and they were married on July 29. On July 29, 1946, the first peace conference of World War II began — in Paris.
Between busy seasons, as it were.
14
The Inspector embraced him without shame.
“I thought you were never coming back, son.”
“Dad—”
“Wait till we get in the car. I purposely drove down to the field so we could have a few minutes alone.” When they were in the little Residence car, he said, “Well?”
“First,” said Ellery, “how is King?”
“Up and about, and as far as I can see he’s good as new. Storm won’t let him do more than a couple of hours’ work a day, so he’s taking mild exercise and spending a lot of time with Karla. What have you got?”
“The whole story.”
His father scowled. “Isn’t that ducky.”
“You don’t seem pleased!”
“Why should I be? Because you’ve got the whole story of what they did as kids in Wrightsville? How does that help us get off this damned roof?”
“The whole story,” said Ellery, “of the attempted murder. What’s behind it... and what, I think, is ahead of it.”
And Ellery started the car.
“Wait!” cried his father.
“Do you know where King is now?”
“When I left, he and Karla and that Max were lying around the outdoor pool. But Ellery—”
“Then I’d better hurry.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Look for something first. Something,” muttered Ellery, “I don’t expect to find.”
Ellery lingered outside the Residence long enough to ascertain that the royal couple were still basking on the bank of the outdoor pool. He did not go near the pool; he investigated from behind a bird-of-paradise bush in the gardens, and the Bendigos remained unaware of his presence. He could see Max’l’s furred body and bullet head rolling around in the water. Karla was stretched out on a beach pad; her skin, usually so fair, was red-gold, as if she had been spending her days in the sun. King dozed in a deck-chair. He was in light slacks, but he had removed his shirt and Ellery saw the puckered scar of the wound against his dark skin. The wound looked entirely healed.
They took the private elevator to the Bendigo apartments.
The captain of the guard saluted and then shook hands. “We heard you were expected back, sir. There’s no one in just now but Mr. Judah.”
“I’ll want to see him in a few minutes... I notice the seal on the Confidential Room, Captain, is broken.”