Sixty Days to Live Page 5

  ‘I was not referring to the possibilities of your unscrupulous scheme, sir, Gervaise snapped, ‘but to the impossibility of my son-in-law soiling his hands with such business.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Sam. ‘I was quite sure that was the way you would feel and it’s the way I feel myself.’

  Fink-Drummond drew himself up. ‘I can only excuse Mr. Stapleton’s ill-considered expressions on the grounds that, having lived here buried in the country for so long, he can have no understanding of the methods people like myself are sometimes compelled to use to bring about political necessities. Please be good enough to order my car.’

  ‘I haven’t finished yet.’ Sam held up his hand. ‘Mr. Fink-Drummond has also informed me that, if I refuse him the financial assistance that he seeks, he will endeavour to secure it elsewhere, and I have no doubt whatsoever that he will be able to do so, if not from British, then from foreign financiers.’

  ‘But listen, now,’ Hemmingway Hughes cut in, ‘surely Mr. Fink-Drummond can’t have fully considered the sort of situation which he proposes to bring about. For one thing, the stock markets will slump to zero directly he gets his Press campaign going.’

  ‘What of it?’ said Fink-Drummond coldly. ‘Those of us who are in the know should all be able to pick up a fortune.’

  Gervaise frowned. ‘You do not seem to consider the misery that such a slump might bring to thousands of small investors.’

  ‘My dear sir,’ Fink-Drummond turned towards him, ‘it is quite clear that you know little of high finance. Small people make or lose money every day, but that is no concern of the professionals who control the markets.’

  ‘But that’s only the start of it,’ Hemmingway Hughes cut in again. ‘To put this thing over, you’d have to make people believe that their lives were in danger. There would be the most frightful panics, demonstrations, riots. You might throw the whole country into a state of anarchy.’

  ‘There would naturally be a certain amount of trouble,’ Fink-Drummond conceded, ‘but we should proclaim martial law and with a good man at the War Office, we should soon get the unruly elements under.’

  ‘What?’ exclaimed Sam. ‘You actually mean that to serve your own ambitions you’re prepared to plunge the country into such a state of strife that there will be street-fighting and the troops will be called out to fire upon our own people? I’ve always known you were pretty unscrupulous, but this …’

  ‘That’s quite enough,’ snapped Fink-Drummond. His face dark with rage, he took a quick step towards the door. ‘You’re behaving like a fool and later you’ll regret it. Kindly send for my car.’

  ‘One moment,’ Gervaise said quietly. ‘Since Mr. Fink-Drummond appears determined to go through with his plans, with or without your assistance, Sam, I think it would be as well to dicuss the matter further. We all seem to have got a little heated and I was surprised into a breach of good taste myself only a moment ago. To calm ourselves I suggest that we should drink a glass of wine together before we say anything more. I’ll go and get a bottle.’

  ‘Let me, sir,’ Hemmingway offered.

  ‘No, no, I can manage,’ Gervaise replied. ‘But please, all of you, remain here. I don’t want this affair to reach the ears of any others members of the party.’

  As Gervaise left the room it was on the tip of Sam’s tongue to say that he did not think further discussion could serve any useful purpose, but as he had already conceived a great respect for his father-in-law’s wisdom he remained silent.

  When Gervaise returned he was carrying four full tumblers of champagne on a tray, which he offered first to Fink-Drummond.

  The ex-Cabinet Minister took the nearest glass and smiled again. ‘Let me congratulate you, Mr. Stapleton, on your good sense in suggesting that Sam should reconsider my proposition. He’s a hot-headed fellow but I feel sure that when he thinks the matter over he will see reason. As he admits himself I could easily get the money elsewhere, but I would prefer to work with Sam because I know that I can trust him.’

  Sam shrugged. ‘Oh, if I came into this, you could trust me all right; but I’m not coming into it.’

  ‘But why, my dear fellow? We’ve done many other deals together and some which, I think you will agree, certain people who know little of the inner workings of big business might, quite unjustifiably, consider questionable.’

  ‘That’s true. But I’ve done nothing that my competitors, who do understand such things, would not willingly have done, and for that reason I am not the least ashamed of our dealings. Big business, plus politics, plus finance, has its own code of laws and I’ve never gone outside them; but this is different, because it affects the happiness of the whole nation.’

  ‘We all see that, Sam,’ Gervaise reasoned mildly. ‘But if Mr. Fink-Drummond is determined to do this thing, surely it’s better for you to go into it with him than to permit somebody else to take it on who might prove—well, shall we say, much less scrupulous. Anyhow, here’s your health once again!’

  Sam looked at his father-in-law in surprise. It came as quite a shock to him that anyone so upright as Gervaise Stapleton should countenance his agreeing to Fink-Drummond’s suggestion on any terms whatsoever; but he lifted his glass with the rest and they all drank the proposed toast.

  ‘I don’t like it,’ Hemmingway Hughes exclaimed suddenly.

  ‘I’m damned if I do! High finance may have its own code, as Sam says, but this is different. Why, even the armament racketeers don’t go to the length of fermenting trouble which may cause bloodshed among their own people. Honestly, Sam, I wouldn’t touch this thing with a barge-pole.’

  ‘I’ve never had the least intention of doing so,’ Sam said firmly.

  ‘Perhaps you’re right.’ Gervaise set down his glass on a nearby table. ‘It’s difficult for me to express an opinion because I entirely lack experience in such matters, but I’ve always understood that some very queer things occur behind the scenes in politics.’

  ‘They do,’ Sam agreed, ‘but there’s a limit, and I should have thought anyone could see the misery that would be caused to countless innocent people if Fink-Drummond goes through with his scheme to unseat the Government.’

  ‘I should be able to form a better judgment on that if Mr. Fink-Drummond would be kind enough to explain his plans to me in some detail.’

  ‘By all means.’ Fink-Drummond took another drink from his glass, straightened himself up and began to outline his proposed campaign. Rumours must be set going at once, he explained. Ten days should be sufficient for him to get his following in the House together. They would then launch a huge Press attack on the Government for having concealed the approaching danger.

  Having got so far, Fink-Drummond passed a hand over his forehead as though to collect his thoughts. He then went on to speak of various measures that would get the public behind him and of special lines which his principal supporters would be instructed to follow. By that time he had gone deadly white and Sam noticed that he was slurring his words a little.

  For another moment Fink-Drummond continued to speak but his words came with difficulty and it was clear that something was wrong with him. He broke off abruptly, exclaimed ‘Sorry, I—I’m feeling ill,’ and began to mop his face with his handkerchief.

  Suddenly his eyes bulged, he sagged a little, rocked from side to side, choked and collapsed in a heap on the floor.

  Believing that he was suffering from a fit, Sam ran to him and, kneeling down, undid his collar. Hemmingway Hughes moved forward, too, but towards the desk against which Fink-Drummond had been leaning. He picked up the ex-Cabinet Minister’s half-empty glass and sniffed it.

  Gervaise Stapleton’s voice rang out like the crack of a whip. ‘Put that glass down!’

  Hemmingway turned to stare at him, and exclaimed: ‘Good God! I thought as much.’

  Fink-Drummond was now lying stiff and still upon the carpet. With a look of horror on his face, Sam glanced first at Hemmingway and then at his father-in-law. ‘Heavens
, man!’ he cried. ‘You’ll swing for this. You’ve poisoned him!’

  6

  A PLOT TO SAVE THE NATION

  ‘Yes,’ Gervaise admitted quietly, ‘I poisoned him.’ There was a look of calm satisfaction on his aristocratic features and with one hand he smoothed back his fine crop of white, slightly wavy hair.

  Sam jumped up from beside Fink-Drummond’s still body. ‘But hang it, man! You don’t seem to realise what you’ve done. We can’t conceal this thing—we’ll have to call in the police.’

  Hemmingway Hughes stepped towards the door. ‘We must get a doctor—a stomach pump. There may be a chance of saving him yet.’

  ‘That’s it,’ cried Sam, ‘hurry! In the meantime, we’ll try and think up some story to get my father-in-law out of this. If we keep our heads, we may be able to persuade them it was suicide.’

  Gervaise barred Hemmingway’s passage to the door. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘It’s good of you to be so concerned for me, but we don’t require either a doctor or the police.’

  ‘Don’t be a fool,’ Sam snapped. ‘Of course I appreciate your motives. You were kidding us just now when you appeared to be persuading me to listen to his rotten scheme; just giving the poison time to work. You made up your mind from the beginning that the only way to stop the swine sabotaging the whole country was to kill him, didn’t you? But that’s no reason why you should sacrifice your own neck, if we can save it.’

  ‘You’re right about my motive, Sam,’ Gervaise smiled, ‘but I’ve no intention whatever of sacrificing myself.’

  ‘If we can’t get a doctor to pull him round, or fix a suicide story, you’ll have to stand your trial for murder.’

  ‘Not at all. It’s true that I poisoned him but he’s not going to die.’

  Sam frowned. ‘Then, why the devil didn’t you say so?’

  ‘You didn’t give me much chance.’ Extending his left hand, Gervaise pointed to the little finger upon which there was a large, old-fashioned ring. ‘You see that? I bought it in Florence many years ago. There was still one man living then, a descendant of the old alchemists, who possessed the secret of some of the Medici poisons. The ring is hollow and he sold it to me with four little pills in it. The pills consist of a poison that is tasteless and odourless when served in wine. Two pills will cause death, while one will bring about a state of catalepsy within five minutes. I only put one pill in this rogue’s champagne.’

  ‘Thank God for that! But what do we do now? When he comes round there’ll be hell to pay. And I don’t see that having put him out for a bit is going to prevent him carrying through his Government-wrecking programme.’

  ‘He won’t come round for twenty-four hours at least, and by that time he will find himself a prisoner in the old nursery of this house. It’s on the third floor, looks down on the empty stables where no one ever goes these days and has barred windows.’

  ‘By Jove! You are a stout fellow.’ Sam grinned at his father-in law with sudden admiration. ‘I take it you mean to keep him a prisoner here until the trouble is over?’

  ‘Until then, or, if my brother is right, until the world comes to an end on June 24th.’

  ‘That’s all very well,’ remarked Hemmingway. ‘It’s a grand scheme as far as it goes; but there’ll be a terrific hue and cry after he’s been missing for a day or two. Ex-Cabinet Ministers aren’t given to disappearing without leaving any trace of their whereabouts.’

  ‘I can’t help that,’ Gervaise declared firmly. ‘This man is a danger to the State. It is our duty to protect our fellow-citizens from such people at whatever risk to ourselves. I am prepared to take the whole matter upon my own shoulders if you wish but, if you’re willing to co-operate, I shall be grateful for any help you can give me to cover his tracks.’

  ‘Of course,’ Sam agreed at once. ‘Somehow or other we must think up a plausible reason to account for his sudden disappearance.’

  ‘Could we use his wife in any way?’ Hemmingway suggested. ‘She sailed yesterday for the States. How about his going off in a private plane to overtake the ship and join her?’

  ‘That’s a grand idea,’ Sam nodded. ‘Then the plane disappears. His wife will radio that she knew nothing of his intentions, but we’ll spread a story that he left for urgent private reasons. It will be assumed that something went wrong with the plane and that he was drowned at sea.’

  ‘We can’t keep him a prisoner for ever, though.’

  ‘No, and he’ll sue the lot of us for conspiracy directly we let him out. Just think what a scandal there’ll be; and the case will cost us thousands. We may even be sent to prison ourselves for kidnapping.’

  ‘We need not worry about that till the end of June,’ Gervaise reminded them grimly. ‘And, if the world is still in existence then, I’m prepared to face any prosecution that may result from this business.’

  Hemmingway’s shrewd eyes were veiled for a moment by the lowering of his lazy eyelids. ‘There won’t be any prosecution. Fink-Drummond would never dare to bring one. We’d tell the whole story in court and show that none of us had benefited personally in any way by his disappearance. We might be fined a farthing damages but he’d be hounded out of the country. Let’s get on with the job and think of a man we can trust who’s got a plane. We ought to fake his departure this evening.’

  ‘Rupert Brand will do that for us, said Sam. ‘I’m sure we can rely on him and he’s got a big private plane at his place down at Cobham. He’ll have to disappear, too, for the time being and you, Hemmingway, must arrange to get the story of their sudden departure in to-morrow’s papers.’

  ‘That’s easy. I can fix it through the usual channels we tap for special business, without anyone being the wiser.’

  Gervaise pushed a cushion under Fink-Drummond’s head, and said: ‘We’d better get back to the others now. They must be wondering what on earth has happened to us. I’ll lock this door and attend to our prisoner myself when all the guests and hired staff have gone. I can leave the rest to you two, I take it?’

  Sam nodded. ‘I’ll take Rupert and he and Hemmingway can make all the other arrangements between them. If there were anything I could do that they can’t, I’d put off my honeymoon; but, as it is …’

  ‘My dear fellow, you mustn’t dream of such a thing.’ Gervaise patted him kindly on the shoulder and the three men left the room together.

  In the hall Sam paused. ‘You’d better find Rupert, Hemmingway, and bring him out here. If I go back into the drawing-room, I shall be surrounded by the crowd.’

  As Hemmingway hurried off, Lavina appeared, with Margery beside her. ‘Why, there you are!’ she exclaimed, as she saw Sam and her father. ‘Everybody’s been wondering wherever you two had got to.’

  Gervaise smiled. ‘We’ve been having a little private celebration. I’m sorry to have robbed you of Sam but you see it’s a new and very pleasant experience for me to have a son.’

  She kissed him quickly. ‘It makes me very happy that you like each other, darling. I’m just going up to change.’

  ‘You’d better go up and change, too,’ Margery admonished Sam. ‘You mustn’t keep the bride waiting.’

  Sam gave her an amiable grin. ‘It won’t take me as long as it will Lavina, but I’ll be up in a minute.’

  The two girls had just disappeared round the bend of the stairs when Hemmingway returned with Rupert Brand.

  ‘Listen, Rupert,’ Sam plunged in right away, ‘I’m going to ask you to do something pretty big for us. You may think us crazy but we want you to take that private plane of yours up to-night and disappear in it for six or seven weeks.’

  ‘The devil you do!’ exclaimed Rupert. ‘To put it mildly, that’s a most extraordinary request.’

  ‘We’re in an extraordinary situation and we’re counting on you to help us. It’s a matter which may affect the welfare of the whole nation. I really mean that.’

  ‘Well, if you put it that way. Is this M.I.5, or something?’

  ‘No. The three
of us are acting absolutely unofficially. In fact, we’re even risking prosecution for conspiracy and, later on, it’s possible that you might be called on to answer some pretty tricky questions. But Hemmingway will give you the details and I think when you hear them you’ll agree that this job has simply got to be done. I must go up and change now, and all I can add is that I do beg you to give us your assistance.’

  Rupert brushed up his small, fair Guardee moustache with the knuckle of his first finger. ‘Well, it’s going to be hellishly inconvenient—and there’s Conchita to be thought of; but I’m game to listen to anything Hemmingway’s got to say.’

  ‘Right,’ said Hemmingway. ‘Let’s go out into the garden where we can’t be overheard.’

  Gervaise nodded. ‘That would be best. I’ll go back and look after our guests while you change, Sam.’

  As they strolled up and down the newly mown lawn in the May sunshine, Hemmingway gave Rupert particulars of what had happened.

  When Hemmingway had done, Rupert said slowly: ‘I see the necessity for covering the disappearance of that swine, Fink-Drummond, all right. But there are a lot of snags to doing it the way you suggest.’

  ‘Let’s hear them.’

  ‘Well, to start with, there’s Conchita. We’d arranged to be married on the first of June. And to ask me to postpone our wedding is pretty tough on both of us.’

  ‘That certainly is a nasty one,’ Hemmingway agreed, ‘but it’s a purely personal matter and we’re asking you to make this big sacrifice in the service of your country.’

  Rupert grunted angrily. ‘Damn it, man, you don’t have to tell me that!’

  ‘What I’m really concerned about,’ Hemmingway went on smoothly, ‘is how you’re fixed officially. If you’re committed to the Service in any way, you couldn’t just flit off into the blue without obtaining leave. To do so would create immediate suspicion that the whole job was phony.’