Windfall

'You mean a straight fight for it?' Hardin made a wry face. 'We'd lose,' he said flatly. 'Look at us – middle-aged men except for Alan and Nair here, and I wouldn't think Alan has had the training for it. Dirk Hendriks is a husky young guy, and Brice looks as though he eats nails for breakfast. I don't know about the others,' He looked at Hunt.

'Patterson's a toughie and I wouldn't like to tackle Luke Maiyani without a club in my hand,' said Hunt frankly.

'Then if we can't use force we must use guile,' said Stafford.

Gunnarsson said, 'And we can't waste time standing here yapping.'

Nair said suddenly, 'Why is Brice coming here?' It was a rhetorical question because he answered it himself. 'I think Gunnarsson has been followed, probably by Patterson. It was Patterson who went looking for him in Nairobi. And Gunnarsson was following me. I think Brice expects to find only the two of us.'

'Makes sense,' said Hardin. 'And that means…'

'Yes,' said Stafford.

Gunnarsson found himself the centre of a circle of eyes. 'Now wait a minute. If you guys expect me to stick my neck out after the way you've treated me you're crazy.'

'Mr Gunnarsson,' said Nair politely. 'You and I are going across the island to meet Brice. On the way we'll think of something to tell him. I'm sure your imagination will be up to it.'

'Keep them occupied while we get rid of this stuff,' said Stafford. He waved his hand at the evidence of the camp site. 'Say ten or fifteen minutes. Then draw them out of sight of the boats at the jetty. We'll be coming in on the flank. And send Curtis down here.'

The engine note altered as the boat neared the jetty. Brice said, 'Two boats here. All right; one brought the Sikh but the boat which brought Gunnarsson went back, you said.' He turned to Patterson. 'So whose is the other?'

Patterson looked at his watch. 'The boatman must have come back for Gunnarsson. Just about time.'

Brice nodded briefly as the boat drifted in and touched the jetty. Baiya and Maiyani held it steady as he went ashore. He turned and said, 'Baiya, you stay here. The rest come with me.'

Baiya lashed the painter around a cleat on Hunt's boat and the others went ashore. Hendriks looked around. 'Where do we start?'

'We'll find them,' said Brice confidently. 'It's not a big island.'

'No need to go far,' said Patterson. 'They've found us. Look!' He pointed up the hill to where two figures stood silhouetted on the ridge.

'Good; that saves time,' said Brice. 'Let's go to meet them. I'd like to know what this is about – but let me do the talking.'

They walked up the hill and met Nair and Gunnarsson on the level base of the foundations of the old building. To Brice's surprise he saw handcuffs on Gunnarsson's wrists.

'What's going on here?' he demanded. 'Why is Mr Gunnarsson handcuffed?'

Nair Singh looked at him sternly. 'Do you know this man?'

'I had breakfast with him this morning.'

'I am a police officer.' Nair took a small leather case from his pocket and flipped it open. 'Nair Singh. This is my warrant card. Mr Gunnarsson is under arrest."

Brice turned to look at Hendriks who was plainly shocked. He turned back to Nair. 'May I know the charge?'

'He has been arrested but not yet charged,' said Nair. 'You say you had breakfast with Mr Gunnarsson this morning. May I know your name, sir.'

'Brice. Charles Brice.'

Nair's face cleared. 'Of Ol Njorowa College?'

'Yes. Now what's this all about?'

'Ah, then I think you'll be pleased to know that we caught this man before he did too much damage. He's under arrest for fraud.'

'It's a goddamn lie,' said Gunnarsson. 'Look, Mr Brice, do me a favour. Ring the American Embassy in Nairobi as soon as you can. This is a put-up job; I'm being framed for something I didn't do.'

'The American authorities will be informed,' said Nair coldly.

'Now hang on a minute,' said Hendriks. 'What sort of fraud?'

Nair looked at him. 'Who are you, sir?'

'Hendriks. Dirk Hendriks. I'm staying with Mr Brice at Ol Njorowa.'

Nair looked oddly embarrassed. 'Oh! Then you will be an heir to the estate which has benefited Ol Njorowa?'

'That's correct.'

Brice said impatiently, 'Who is Mr Gunnarsson supposed to have defrauded?'

Nair was playing for time. He said to Hendriks, 'Then it was your cousin who disappeared in Tanzania.'

Hendriks and Brice exchanged glances. Hendriks said, 'Yes; and nothing seems to have been done about it. Was Gunnarsson mixed up in that business? Is that it?'

'Not quite,' said Nair. 'How long had you known your cousin, Mr Hendriks?'

The question seemed strange to Dirk. 'What's that got to do with anything? And what's it got to do with Gunnarsson?'

'How long?' persisted Nair.

'Not very long – a matter of weeks. He was an American, you know. I met him for the first time in London.'

'Ah!' said Nair, as though suddenly a light had been shone into darkness. 'That would explain it.'

'Explain what?' said Brice in sudden irritation.

'Henry Hendrix came back across the border two days after he was kidnapped,' said Nair. 'And…'

Brice and Hendriks broke in simultaneously and then stopped, each looking at the other in astonishment. Brice said sharply, 'Why was no one told of this? It's monstrous that Mr Hendriks here should have been kept in ignorance. He's been worried about his cousin.'

'As I said, Henry Hendrix came back,' continued Nair calmly. 'But he was delirious; he had a bad case of sunstroke. In his delirium he talked of certain matters which required investigation and, when he recovered, he was questioned and made a full confession. I am sorry to tell you that the man known to you as Henry Hendrix is really called Corliss and he has implicated Gunnarsson in his imposture.'

'It's a lie,' cried Gunnarsson. "He screwed me the same way as he screwed everyone else.'

'That will be for the court to decide,' said Nair. He studied Brice and Hendriks, both of whom appeared to be shell-shocked, and smiled internally. 'The American Embassy has, of course, been kept acquainted with these developments and agreed that a certain amount of… er… reticence was in order while the matter was investigated. Mr Gunnarsson will have a number of questions to answer when we get back to Nairobi.' He looked at his watch. 'And now, if you gentlemen will excuse me…?'

There was something wrong here which Brice could not fathom. He watched Nair and Gunnarsson pass by and felt obscurely that somewhere he was being tricked. He said, 'Wait a moment. Have you been following Gunnarsson in that Kenatco taxi?'

Nair paused and looked back. 'In the line of duty.'

'Then why did it happen in reverse? Why did Gunnarsson follow you here to Crescent Island?'

'I tempted him,' said Nair blandly.

'Yeah, he suckered me all right,' said Gunnarsson in corroboration.

Suddenly Brice saw – or, rather, did not see – the missing piece, the missing man. If Gunnarsson had come to the. island and the boatman had gone away and had then returned to pick him up, then where the hell was he? Where was the boatman? And if there was no boatman then whose was the other boat? Brice jerked his head at Patterson and stepped forward. 'Look!' he said sharply, pointing at nothing in particular.

Both Nair and Gunnarsson turned to look and Brice, hooked his foot around Gunnarsson's leg and pushed. Gunnarsson went flying down the slope and instinctively put out his hands to save himself. In that he succeeded but the handcuffs went flying away in a guttering arc to clink on a rock, and Brice knew he had been right.

Stafford watched Curtis ghost through the trees to his left and then turned his head to watch Hardin on his right. He knew he did not have to worry about a couple of old pros who knew their business, but Hunt was different; he was a civilian amateur who did not know which end was up, which is why he was directly behind Stafford with strict instructions to walk in the Master's steps. 'I don't want a sound out of you,' Stafford had said. Hunt was doing his best but flinched when Stafford turned to glare at him when a twig snapped underfoot.