I must say that, from the tapes, their characters came over well. Alexi — for all his charm and occasional jokes — had been given a brief and when it came to facts he was diamond-edged. The General was a nice enough chap outside of a bedroom, but he was a bit fuzzy around the edges, wanting things explained more than once. He had to have a big streak of simplicity in him, otherwise he would never have fallen for the invitation to use the Château de la Forclaz. O'Dowda, I knew, had made it open house for visiting members of the government for years and it hadn't occurred to the General to question the propriety of going on using it, as he had no doubt often done in the past when he felt the need for peace and quiet and the stimulating company of old friends like Panda and Mrs Makse. We all of us live and learn. It's a question of the proportion between the two. The General was miles away from ever breaking even.
I dismantled everything, and then packed the film and tape away in the parcel.
Downstairs the stove was alight, the room warm, and bottles and glasses had appeared on a side table. I could hear Julia moving about in the kitchen. I rummaged a desk, found paper and string and rewrapped the parcel. One thing was certain, I didn't want to have it around this place longer than I could help. I addressed it and then poked my head in the kitchen. She was doing something at the side of the sink with meat.
I said, 'Can I borrow your car? I want to go down to Megeve to the post office.'
She looked at her watch. 'It'll be shut.'
I said, 'There are ways round that.'
There was. I went back along the road to the golf course and then turned into the drive of the Hotel Mont d'Arbois. It was pretty deserted because it was almost the end of the season.
I handed the parcel, and a hundred-franc note, to the clerk at the desk and asked him to post it for me. He said it wouldn't go out until the next morning. I said that that was fine, asked if they'd had a good season, was told that it had been so-so, and went.
Going into the chalet it was a nice feeling to think the parcel was well out of my hands. It was nice, too, to see Julia.
She'd changed into the dress she had been wearing in my office the first time we had met; it could have been design or accident. Anyway, just watching her move in it was enough to soothe away the strain of the last few days. I said what would she have and she said a gin-and-Campari with a big slice of lemon and a lot of ice, and it was all there on the table. I poured a stiff whisky for myself. She squatted on the settee, drew her legs up, and took the drink with a polite little nod of her head. Something from the kitchen smelled good.
I said, 'You cook as well?'
'Cordon bleu.'
I said, 'You know why croissants are called croissants?'
'No.'
'Good.'
I stretched out in an armchair and lit a cigarette, sipped my drink and felt the first caress of whisky go lovingly down. All was well with the world, almost.
Almost, because she was giving me her dark-eyed gipsy stare, and I wasn't sure where to begin. Semi-honest, Aristide had called my business. He was right. Well why not, I thought, just for once, just for the hell of it, try straightforward honesty? Why not? It could pay off. It would hurt, of course, but I already had a four-thousand dollar purse to ease the pain. I decided to give it serious thought, later.
I said, 'Can you listen as well as I hope you cook?'
"You're nervous about something,' she said.
'Naturally. I'm considering being entirely honest. That's strange ground for me.'
'Take it a step at a time. It won't spoil what I'm cooking.' I did. She listened well. Summarized it went like this.
1. I had been employed by O'Dowda to trace his Mercedes. In the course of my investigations I had learnt that a parcel — of importance to O'Dowda — was hidden in the car. O'Dowda had told me that the parcel contained Japanese Bank Bonds. I did not believe this.
2. While tracing the car it had become clear that two other parties were interested in finding it and obtaining the parcel it contained. They were, in order of activity: Najib and Jimbo Alakwe, working under the orders of General Seyfu Gonwalla, head of an African state; and Interpol.
3. I had found the car and taken the parcel, which con tained certain film and a tape recording. (I didn't mention Otto or the Tony interlude.)
4. The film was a record, taken without their knowledge, of the sexual activities of General Gonwalla, Miss Panda Bubakar and a Mrs Falia Makse at the Château de la Forclaz.
5. The tape was a record, made without their knowledge, of a conversation between General Gonwalla and an Alexi Kukarin in which an exchange of arms, aircraft and equipment was agreed against a major proportion of the state's production of minerals, etc., in Gonwalla's country.
6. Clearly, the film and tape records had been secretly organized by O'Dowda for use in the General's country to stimulate the overthrow of his government and thus ensure a grant of a monopoly of mineral and mining rights promised O'Dowda by the previous government.
7. The Alakwe brothers wanted the tape and film in order to destroy it. O'Dowda wanted it to ensure his monopoly being granted. Interpol wanted it so that they could pass it to the custody of an interested government or governments. What the government(s) would do with it was pure guesswork, but clearly they weren't going to destroy it and so keep General Gonwalla in power, otherwise there would have been a link-up already between Interpol and the Alakwe brothers. Equally clearly they weren't going to hand it over to O'Dowda, otherwise Interpol would have linked up with me. Probably then their intention was to let Gonwalla know that they had it, and could at any time they wished release it to his governmental opponents, but wouldn't do so as long as Gonwalla made concessions either political or economic to the interested government(s), and none to Kukarin's government.
At this stage, I said, 'You get that?'
She said, 'Yes. But I'm surprised that Interpol would do a thing like that.'
I said, 'Governments are outside morality. What is devalu- ation but defaulting on your creditors? Governments can short-change but not individuals. To go on to the most important point—'
8. Following the question of morality — I had the vital parcel. I ran a small semi-honest business, patronized mostly by clients who were non-starters in the Halo Stakes. Some of them were bad payers. It had become my habit, in selected cases, to supplement clients' fees by imposing substantial rake-offs for myself where possible. The money escaped tax, and I flattered myself that I spent it wisely and not all on myself and, let's face it, a fair amount of it did eventually go to the government in the form of Betting Tax. The real problem of the moment was — what should I do with the parcel? I could sell it at a good price to either O'Dowda or General Gonwalla. Or, I might sell it to Interpol, though they would never match the price of the others. Or I could destroy it.