‘Still,’ said Owen, ‘not cheap!’
‘We’re the ones who are cheap,’ said the man, cheerfully, however.
‘Even you have to be paid for, though.’
‘There is a cost,’ the man agreed.
‘I didn’t know the Church was that rich,’ said Owen.
‘Oh, this kind of thing isn’t paid for by the Church. It’s financed by donations.’
‘And someone has given the money for you to do these?’
‘Enough for five of them only, unfortunately.’
‘Well, I suppose the cost adds up. I mean, the dust by itself…How much dust would you need to do a job like this?’
‘Very little,’ said the man. ‘That’s why it’s not worth your trying to take it off!’
Owen laughed.
‘I’ll have to find some other way of getting rich.’
They stood watching the man for a little while.
‘The workshop’s out the back, if you’d like to put your head in.’
Owen followed Georgiades down the stairs and out into the court with the palm trees and the fountain. A high wooden trellis of fine old meshrebiya work divided off a small garden at one end, on the other side of which were what looked like low cloisters. A man was working in one of them.
‘Just been talking to your mate upstairs,’ said Owen.
‘Oh, yes?’
The man stayed bent over his work. It was another ikon and he was gently brushing the face. Out here in the daylight the ikon seemed flatter, had lost its glow.
‘Difficult work,’ said Owen.
‘Not when you know how.’
‘Ah, yes, but it’s the knowing how! Not many people with your skills, I fancy.’
‘Not many,’ said the man, ‘but too many.’
‘Too many for the jobs available?’
‘You could say that.’
‘Churches aren’t the best customers. Still, from what your mate was saying, someone else is paying this time.’
‘Lucky for once.’
‘A sick patron?’
‘A dead patron. This was a bequest.’
‘Ah, so there won’t be any more when it’s finished?’
‘That’s right.’
They watched for a while and then turned away. Back up in the church a priest was lighting candles.
‘The bequest? All very fine, but it won’t buy salvation. Not by itself, that is. God isn’t bribable. Though Arturos probably thought he was. He certainly thought everyone else was.’
‘It’s a genuine bequest, then?’
‘In what sense?’
‘The church has actually received the money?’
‘Oh, yes.’
‘And decided to allocate it to restoration of the ikons? Or was that Arturos’s idea?’
‘Ours.’
‘Ah! A considerable sum?’
‘Considerable in Arturos’s eyes.’
‘Enough to restore five ikons?’
‘That’s about it.’
‘The materials are costly,’ Owen observed.
‘We’re used to tight budgeting.’
‘And Arturos himself, what sort of man was he? Interested in the Church?’
‘When he thought he was going to die, yes.’
Owen laughed.
‘A lot of us are like that.’
‘Everyone is like that,’ said the priest.
He walked with them to the door. In the court everything was still. Even while they had been inside, it had grown appreciably hotter.
They heard the tap of boots on the atrium, unusual in a world of slippers and bare feet. A man appeared at the top of the staircase.
‘One of the workmen?’
‘A friend of theirs, I think.’
First, the boots, and then the face; Owen recognized the man who had run after Sorgos on the night of the boisterous public meeting in the Der.
‘It must be,’ said Nikos. ‘Nicodemus said that Herbst-Wickel was insisting on payment in gold. It must be for the explosives.’
‘One thing’s for sure,’ said Georgiades; ‘it’s not for the ikons. The amount they need is nothing like the amount he’s getting.’
‘It’s got to be the explosives. What else would he want gold dust for?’
‘It’s a hell of a clumsy way to get gold, though, isn’t it?’ said Owen.
‘Ah, yes,’ said Georgiades, ‘But-don’t you see? — he’s never done it before. It’s not something you buy everyday. Take me, for instance: I never buy gold. You buy gold?’ he asked Nikos.
Nikos sniffed disdainfully.
‘If I did,’ he said, ‘I’d know how to go about it better than he does.’
‘Very amateurish,’ said Owen.
‘Ah, yes, but, you see, he is an amateur. It’s the first time he’s ever done anything like this. The same with all of them, probably. Never bought gold, never bought explosives, never even tried to kill a Grand Duke before!’
‘Why did they pick on explosives, then? Why not just try and shoot him?’
Nikos shrugged.
‘Perhaps they wanted to make sure.’
‘The danger is,’ said Owen, ‘that they try to make too sure and send a lot of other people with him. Explosives are not for amateurs. God knows who they might blow up!’
‘The way they’re going,’ said Nikos, ‘they’re not going to be in a position to blow anyone up, not by the time the Grand Duke gets here, anyway. Not if it depends on Sorgos acquiring enough gold to pay for the explosives. If you look at what he must have been able to get in this ham-fisted way, he must still be miles short.’
‘That’s our big hope.’
‘Well,’ said Georgiades, ‘if it all depends on Sorgos, isn’t the solution obvious?’
‘Take him in, you mean?’
‘Someone else might do it then,’ said Nikos, ‘someone who’s more efficient.’
‘In any case,’ said Owen, ‘I’m hoping he’s going to lead us to the rest of the people involved. You’ve got someone on him?’
‘Yes,’ said Nikos. ‘Apparently he’s still buying.’
‘That’s good. Don’t forget, Herbst-Wickel want payment in advance. It means they’ve still not got the explosives.’
Owen had hoped that, having passed the case over to Mahmoud, for the time being he could forget about protection gangs, but early the next morning he received an agitated summons from Mustapha.
‘What’s the trouble?’
‘Two!’ said Mustapha, shaking his head disbelievingly. ‘Two on the same night!’
‘Two what?’
‘More demands from the gangs. I thought you said everything was going to be all right?’
‘It will be. Don’t worry. Who were they from?’
‘The same as before. One was from the Black Scorpion. You know, like the first time. The other was one of those who came the other time, you know, the time they beat that dope up.’
He inclined his head in Selim’s direction. Selim, however, was unmoved. Indeed, he was positively beaming.
‘This is getting beyond a joke!’ said Mustapha. ‘I don’t mind paying protection to one gang, or, rather, I do, but there’s not much I can do about it. But I can’t pay protection to everyone in Cairo!’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll look after it.’
‘Well, I should hope you would. I pay my taxes, you know. Or, at least, some of them. That’s another bunch of robbers for you! It’s about time I got something back.’
‘Don’t worry. You won’t have to pay. I’ll see to it. Or, at least,’-remembering that Mahmoud was now supposed to be looking after this end of things-‘I’ll talk to someone who will.’
‘Oh, yes,’ said Mustapha sceptically. ‘Passing the buck, are you?’
‘No. I’ll get on to him right away. Meanwhile, you’ve got Selim. And friends.’
‘Friends?’ said Mustapha, scandalized. ‘You mean that?’
He drew Owen to the door and pointed along the street. A hulk lying in the shade raised an arm in acknowledgement.
‘He looks big enough,’ said Owen.
‘Oh, he’s big enough, all right. If he could only manage to drag himself to his feet. And the only time he does that is when he comes in here and asks for something “to keep him going”. Well, I’d like to keep him going, all right, going somewhere else, fast. Protection racket? This man’s a protection racket all on his own!’
‘Only coffee, I hope?’
‘ Only coffee? Look, coffee costs money, as well as all the other things my wife gives him. Another of these down-and-outs she can’t resist! I tell you, I’m feeding half the population. And the other bloody half is sending me protection notes!’