For a while Johnny stayed on in the Club; but I could see that his thoughts were miles away from the square of parquet, now packed with dancers, and the dimly-lit tables at which parties were laughing together or couples discreetly making love.
It was about half an hour after midnight when, evidently having decided that any further appeal to Daisy would prove useless, he paid his bill, had the door porter get him a taxi and was driven in it back to his rooms. Setting his alarm for six o’clock he undressed and went to bed, while I settled down for the night in his sitting-room.
For the past six hours or more I had been so concerned with not missing a word that Johnny, Daisy or Mr. Tibitts said that I had had little chance to ponder their implications to myself, but now these flooded upon me with full force.
In the light of Mr. Tibitts’s expert opinion it seemed no longer possible to doubt that Daisy was right about my being what the ancient Egyptians had called a Ka. That she believed the Ka she had seen to be that of some evil individual attempting to impersonate me was beside the point. Every fact about my own death and that of Evans’s was known to me. No third man had been concerned in either, and Ankaret was the only living person who knew the whole truth. To suppose that she was a witch with powers to leave her body and assume my shape at will was palpably absurd. To me it had been self-evident from the first that Daisy’s theory was right off the mark, and these factors entirely ruled it out. But she had seen a Ka, and the Ka was mine. Therefore, unless the conclusions of everyone who had made a serious study of the occult from the earliest ages to the present time were wrong, there was still life in my corpse.
It was a terrifying thought. To have had to regard myself for the past four days as an earth-bound spirit had been bad enough; but this was infinitely worse. Now it was even conceivable that if the energy with which my Ka was imbued gave out, it might be forced back into my body. Swiftly, I thrust that horrifying idea from me.
But what of my future? Would Johnny succeed in getting my body exhumed? I thought it most unlikely. Even if he had been able to persuade Daisy to tell her story, the difficulty of inducing the Home Secretary to sign an exhumation order solely on the psychic evidence would be immense; and if Johnny went to the police without her support they would put him down as a liar or a lunatic.
But say he did, after all, manage to cajole or bully her into giving her help, and secured the order; what then?
If they removed my body from its coffin, would my Ka be able to get back into it? The possibility that it might opened up a whole new field of speculations. I saw at once that my return from the grave as a living person would start an endless chain of fresh complications; but now was no time to think of that, as the odds were all against my ever being called on to deal with them. It seemed as good as certain that I must continue as a Ka. But for how long?
The body and the Ka being so intimately connected, I judged it reasonable to suppose that as the body decayed so the Ka too would gradually become more nebulous. As against that I had felt not the least diminution in my powers of movement, or my faculties, since my Ka had left its body at the presumed moment of death.
What, though, if the Egyptians had been right after all about Kas having souls of their own, and I had become a Ba; so must wander the world in my present state for ever? Few conceptions could have been more depressing and I did not see how the immortality of the Egyptian Bas could have been rendered much more attractive by being given Ka figures in their tombs to live in.
Anyhow it seemed that Mr. Tibitts had been right about Egyptian families wasting their substance by filling the tombs of their relatives with food and clothes. I had so far felt no suggestion of hunger or thirst, and I continued to be insensible to changes of temperature. That argued that he had also been right in his contention that Kas had no separate immortality and ceased to exist when life left the body.
I could only pray that it was so. The undiminished vitality of my Ka could be explained by the fact that a body properly prepared for burial takes a long time to decompose, and mine could hardly have started to do so yet. This theory anyhow offered the comfort of believing that a limit was set to my ordeal. Waiting for my body to rot threatened to prove extremely wearisome, but at least I might hope …
In mid thought I checked myself. As long as there was life in my body it would not start to decompose; and Tibitts had definitely laid it down that to exist at all a Ka must be linked to a body with life in it.
Hopelessly confused, weary and depressed, I gave up and, shortly afterwards, drifted into merciful unconsciousness; coming to again only at the sound of Johnny running his bath.
Soon after seven we were on the way to Southampton. At The Bear in Esher he pulled up for breakfast; then we drove on through the slightly misty morning, arriving at the Hillary-Compton offices almost exactly at half-past nine.
In the board-room the other directors had already assembled, with the one exception of Bill, and were standing about making desultory conversation. Having greeted them Johnny joined James at the long window overlooking our yards and Southampton Water. Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed, and still no Bill. Little Toiller then came over to James and proposed that they should start without His Lordship.
‘Not much point in that,’ James replied. ‘The Wing Commander and I are expecting a report from Lord Wiltshire; and we are not disposed to discuss the matter of the E-boats further until we’ve had it.’
‘I took the opportunity to put one or two routine things on the agenda; so we might get on with those,’ Toiller suggested.
‘Oh well, in that case …’ James walked towards the table and, leaving the Chair vacant, took his usual place on the right of it.
When the others were seated, Toiller gave a gentle cough and, as Secretary, opened the proceedings. In a slightly husky voice he spoke of my death, and on his motion they all stood up to render the usual homage of one minute’s silence to my memory. As they sat down, he said:
‘And now, gentlemen, our next business is to elect a new Chairman.’
James was the obvious choice, and the Admiral was much too honest to allow their difference of opinion over the E-boats to deflect him from doing the proper thing as the next senior director. He at once proposed James, Johnny seconded the motion and on a unanimous show of hands James was elected. He said a few words of thanks then moved round to take the chair at the head of the table.
Before he could sit down there came a knock at the door. It was half opened and his secretary put her head round its edge. ‘Mr. Compton,’ she said, ‘I know you don’t like to be disturbed while you’re at a board meeting, but Lord Wiltshire is on the ‘phone from Longshot, and he says it’s urgent.’
‘Put him through,’ James told her and walked over to the side table on which stood the telephone extension.
Picking up the receiver he said: ‘Hello!’ then his jaw dropped slightly. After a moment he added: ‘I’m sorry … terribly sorry. No, of course I understand about your not coming over. Yes, I’ll tell the others. If there is any way in which I can help you have only to let me know.’
As he hung up, he turned towards his co-directors and said dully: ‘It seems as if a curse has suddenly descended on Longshot. When Lady Ankaret’s maid took her breakfast tray up about an hour ago she found her in a coma. All efforts to rouse her have failed. The doctor has just declared her to be dead.’
His news was greeted with exclamations of surprise and distress. For a moment I felt stunned by it, but only for a moment. A series of vivid pictures flashed through my mind and I had little doubt that they explained this new tragedy.
I saw Ankaret in the hall at Longshot, as I had last seen her. Silvers had just announced the saving of Johnny’s suitcase by Belton. She had jumped to the conclusion that it was the one that held those damning trial forgeries of hers. Poor sweet, in her secret agitation she must have forgotten that he had two cases and that it might be the other. Or perhaps she had never realised that instead of his usual one suit-case he had, on this occasion, brought down two. In any case, she could never have later secured full particulars from Silvers, as I had expected she would; otherwise she would have known that she still had nothing to fear. She had simply accepted it as a certainty that within another twenty-four hours she would be called on to answer questions to which even her quick and subtle mind could provide no satisfactory answers; and that she must then pay the penalty for her own carelessness in not having destroyed those few sheets of paper while she had the chance.
I saw her again seated at her dressing-table with the phial of veronal tablets in her hand. Again I heard her say ‘I’ll be damned if I do’ as she threw it back into the open drawer. But that had been before the fire; before she had had her show-down with Johnny; before he had accused her of starting it. That had been her last card. Not only had it, as she thought, failed her; but Johnny had told her bluntly that he knew of her immoralities, believed that by her indulgence in them she had condemned me to a life of mental torture, and that if he could get at the truth he would have no mercy on her.
Who could blame her if, after that, she had decided to make a painless end of herself?
I was conscious of a great sadness. She had been the love of my life and I of hers. For those who love profoundly sex is only a minor element in the human relationship; so Johnny’s belief that it had meant so much to either of us was wrong. From each of her infidelities she had returned to me and made herself more adorable, and had I while still living been robbed of her I should have been utterly inconsolable. Even now, disembodied as I was, I became a prey to the most poignant grief at the thought that never again would I behold her radiant beauty or hear her laughter.
For a few moments there was a shocked silence. It was the Admiral who broke it by saying: ‘What an awful thing. Who would have thought a week ago that both Gifford and his wife would be gone from us. Still, there it is. No good carrying on now. We must once more postpone our discussion; and I suppose Monday is about the earliest day that it would be practical to call another meeting.’
‘It was you, Sir.’ remarked Johnny quietly, ‘who pressed for a quick decision. Your view was that we ought not to hold up our reply to the Ministry of Supply for much longer, and I take it you still feel the same about that?’
‘I do,’ the Admiral nodded. ‘But I don’t see now how we can go ahead much before Monday.’
‘Oh we can, and personally I should prefer to get things settled this morning. You see,’ Johnny proceeded to explain, ‘while I am in my present post there is no difficulty about me performing my proper functions as a director and coming down here for monthly meetings—or an occasional special one. But I can’t keep on just taking time off, and during the past six days I’ve put in only a few hours at my office. Partly on account of Lady Ankaret’s death and partly for reasons of my own, I intend to ask for a further forty-eight hours; so I can’t possibly take another day off till the end of next week. Were it any other matter I would be content to leave it to the board to settle without me; but this is an exception.’
‘I appreciate your difficulty; but we met this morning expecting that Wiltshire would be able to give you and Compton Lady Ankaret’s view on how the voting power of her shares should be utilised. Now that is out of the question, how can you proceed without it?’
‘Her death has deprived her of any say in the matter.’
‘I am perfectly aware of that. Gifford’s shares now pass to his boy Harold; but as he is a minor the position of Compton and yourself, as Trustees, remains unaltered. He is quite old enough to understand how the decision of the board is likely to affect his interests; but, unlike Ankaret, he will have no previous knowledge of the subject. In consequence, when you have explained the whole thing to him, it would hardly be fair to give him less than two or three days to think it over.’
Johnny looked across at James. ‘I don’t know how you feel, but we are under no legal obligation to consult Harold; and the moment I heard of Lady Ankaret’s death I decided, for reasons that you will no doubt guess, that we should be wrong to do so.’
James nodded slowly. ‘Yes. I see what you are driving at, and I am inclined to agree. I think we must take the responsibility of deciding for him.’
‘Why?’ barked the Admiral. ‘Now that he has stepped into Ankaret’s shoes there is no difference in their cases.’
‘Oh yes there is,’ Johnny disagreed. ‘She was a woman of the world and competent to appreciate the far-reaching effects which might result from her decision; but one can’t say the same for this youngster. What is more Giff loved her and respected her judgment; so I feel sure he would have wished us to consult her. But unfortunately he felt very differently about his son. The boy was a great disappointment to him. He told me himself that he never meant to take him into the business; so I am certain that he would have been most averse to our allowing him to have a possible decisive say in a matter of this kind.’
‘I can substantiate that,’ James added. ‘Poor Giff and young Harold never saw eye to eye about anything.’
The Admiral’s face had gone a shade redder, and he snapped at Johnny: ‘I see now what’s behind all this. You were ready enough to consult Ankaret, because you banked on sentiment’s influencing her to back you in pushing through your plot. But now it is a question of the boy, you fear that his dislike of his father will cause him to side against you.’
‘Put it that way if you like.’ Johnny spoke coldly. ‘Although that is not altogether fair. You are right in thinking that out of spite Harold is likely to go against any project favoured by his father. But there is more to it than that. I know from Giff that Harold has Communist leanings. That being so, in the interests of security it would be very wrong for us to discuss this matter with him.’
‘Gifford’s boy a Communist!’ flared the Admiral. ‘What rot! I don’t believe it! And for you, young man, to talk about security after letting out God knows what to both Gifford and Ankaret! But you need say no more. It is plain to me that having first persuaded Gifford to aid you in your nefarious scheme, you have now wheedled Compton round into helping you put it over.’
Johnny had gone quite white. Clenching his fists, he cried: ‘I have told you time and again, Sir, that there is not a shadow of foundation for such imputations. I resent them intensely. Either you will withdraw them or I’ll sue you for slander.’
‘Sue and be damned,’ roared the Admiral, jumping to his feet. ‘I’ve got a cannon worth ten of that. Do what you like. You and Compton control the votes to force this thing through, so go to it. But you’ll put me down as dissenting. And I’ll call an Extraordinary General Meeting so that the shareholders can be informed how you have prejudiced the interests of the Company. As for bringing a case against me, you haven’t a hope. No, not even if such matters were permitted to be discussed in open court. Gifford and Ankaret are both dead, so can no longer be persuaded by you to perjure themselves and deny that you disclosed Official Secrets to them. But I can have a case brought against you. This afternoon I’ll go to London. I’ll see the Security people and disclose the whole of this scandalous affair to them. Before you are a week older you shall face a Court Martial.’
* * * *
When the Admiral, a short compact furious figure, had swept from the room, like the vortex of a cyclone, there was a long embarrassed silence. McFarlane, the Scots chief engineer, was by nature a taciturn man. He had hardly uttered a word since they had sat down to the table, and he continued to stare with expressionless face at the clean sheet of blotting-paper before him. Charles Toiller had been making frantic doodles on his; but he stopped, threw down his pencil, and said with a reproving shake of the head:
‘That was very unpleasant; very unpleasant—I must say. To see two of our directors quarrel like that—most upsetting.’
‘Wing Commander Norton acted under great provocation,’ James said, coming to Johnny’s defence. ‘All the same it was bad policy to threaten the Admiral. He’s the last man to take that sort of thing lying down.’
‘You are right about that, Sir.’ Old Toiller continued to shake his head. ‘But Sir Tuke’s bark has always been worse than his bite. I’ve known him since he was a young lieutenant, and there’s not an ounce of malice in him. He’ll soon calm down; and I don’t think for a moment that he will do as he said.’
‘I hope to God you’re right,’ Johnny muttered. ‘It could do his beloved Navy no good, and it would be bound to do me a lot of harm. There are plenty of people who are always ready to bring out the old tag “There is no smoke without fire”.’
‘Well,’ James coughed awkwardly, ‘I’m sure the board has complete confidence in your integrity.’ He looked at the others and added: ‘Isn’t that so, gentlemen?’
They both nodded, and McFarlane said: ‘This is no affair of mine; but if the Wing Commander was not in earnest about bringing an action, he’d do no harm to his own prospects by making Sir Tuke aware of that.’
Johnny thanked the Scot for his sound advice, and added:
‘If only my Uncle Gifford was still alive he could force the old boy to eat his words about me; but as he isn’t it would simply be my word against Sir Tuke’s. As he could not prove his accusations I’d probably get a verdict, but at what a price! At best I’d be exonerated only on a sort of non-proven basis, and the case would create such a stink that it would ruin my Service career. No; I’ve no intention of bringing one, but I can hardly run after him to tell him so.’
‘I can, though,’ said James. ‘Not literally of course; but it’s only mid-morning yet, and from what he said it’s unlikely that he’ll start for London until after lunch. As Toiller implied, there’s quite a good chance that by then he’ll have calmed down, and not go at all. Anyhow he’ll have to go home to pack a bag. I’ll give him to midday to cool off then telephone and ask him to see me. He can’t refuse, and I’ll do my best to straighten things out.’
‘That’s very good of you,’ Johnny said gratefully. ‘But I’m afraid he’s hardly likely to be in an accommodating mood if you go to him straight from a board meeting that has just passed this resolution he is so set against.’
James rose to the occasion. ‘All right. Let’s not pass it then. Why shouldn’t we write to the Ministry of Supply and say that, owing to the death of our late Chairman, until we have had a little time to sort things out we are in no position to make a definite acceptance of new contracts. That’s a shocking libel on poor Giff, and on myself for that matter; but they are not to know that Giff’s death has not left the finances of the Company in confusion. Anyway, it would enable me to tell Sir Tuke that as yet we have taken no decision, and are still considering his point of view.’
‘That’s it, Sir; that’s it,’ old Toiller agreed. ‘Gaining a little time can do wonders in such matters. This laying up of Vanguard shows the way the wind is blowing, and if other moves are made in the same direction during the next week or two, we may then feel it unnecessary to take the drastic step by which Sir Gifford wanted to arouse public opinion.’
‘I only hope you’re right.’ Johnny gave a sigh. ‘Of course, the laying up of Vanguard had been on the tapis for months; but there have recently been certain indications that the Navy is now prepared to take a broader view of strategic priorities. My uncle was probably incited to make his proposal by the feeling that time was precious and, of course, it is. But it was his proposal, not mine. My only commitment is to back it whenever it comes before the board, because to do otherwise would be contrary to my convictions.’
Thus the matter was left. As the meeting broke up Johnny put through a telephone call to Whitehall. He apologised to his master for not having gone to his office that morning, told him of Ankaret’s death and asked for a forty-eight-hour extension of leave; which was granted.
After a further conversation with James in private, during which they did little more than go over the ground already covered, Johnny went down to his car. As I now expected, as soon as he reached Southampton’s city centre, he took the road to Longshot.
Sitting, invisible, beside him in the car I felt greatly distressed by his sad and worn appearance. The riddle of how I had died, and even more the idea that I might have been buried alive, must have played a great part in that; but now, in addition, he, was faced with a major worry of his own. Unless James succeeded in calling the Admiral off, poor Johnny was going to have some very difficult explaining to do. Innocent he might be, and no one could prove him otherwise; but unless he could produce some plausible explanation to account for my having been in possession of so much Top Secret information, the weight of circumstantial evidence would incline everyone to believe that it was he who had given it to me. Then, on top of all that, by extraordinary ill-fortune, it chanced that the very man who had threatened to do his best to break him was the one he hoped to make his future father-in-law.
All this, although through no deliberate fault of mine, lay at my door; but badly as I felt about it, fate had placed it beyond my power to help him.
It was a little after midday when we arrived at Longshot. Silvers was hovering unhappily about the hall. He told Johnny that he would ‘find His Lordship in the library’; so Johnny walked through to my old sanctum. Bill was sitting there slumped in an arm-chair. On a table beside him stood a cocktail glass and a glass jug a third full of pale amber liquid, which I had no doubt consisted of about one French to eight Gin.
His Lordship liked his Martinis very dry. He also liked a carefree existence. In fact I had never known a man who, despite constant financial difficulties, displayed a greater ability to glide gracefully out of trouble. He toiled not, neither did he spin; but somehow, the war apart, he had managed to idle away all but a fraction of his life in congenial company. Now that trouble had been thrust upon him he was, true to form, doing his best to ride it out on a liberal supply of Dry Martinis.
Having proffered his deepest sympathy to the bereaved parent, Johnny accepted a ration of the brew. As he took it Bill said:
‘Terrible thing. And right on top of Giff, too. Can’t remember ever having been so cut up in my life—except when I lost my wife. Poor gel. Of course I knew she was damned fond of Giff, but not this much. Still, it’s obvious now that she felt she couldn’t go on without him.’
I had very good reasons to suppose, and so had Johnny, that it was not solely on account of love for me that Ankaret had made an end of herself. Naturally he forbade from suggesting that, and said instead:
‘From the little James Compton told us at the meeting I feared that might be the case. I suppose it is beyond doubt that she did, er—take her own life?’
‘Oh yes. It was quite deliberate, too. I imagine she had been contemplating so for some days. She ordered a half bottle of champagne to drink with her dinner; then when her maid found her this morning she had a lot of Giff’s love letters scattered over her bed, and an empty phial that had held veronal tablets still clutched in her hand.’
‘Did she leave any … any note, or anything?’ Johnny asked. He made his voice sound casual but I caught an eager glint in his eyes, which told me that, despite his own anxieties, he was still as keen as ever to get on the track of the hypothetical ‘Third Man’ who he believed had murdered me.
Bill had picked up the jug to pour himself another drink. ‘No,’ he said, without looking up. ‘Not as far as I know; but there’s just a chance that the police may find something. Naturally I had to call them in. They sent out that same Inspector chap and his pal the Sergeant. Being cautious blokes they wouldn’t give any definite opinion, and they are still up there routing round. In a clear case like this it seems all wrong they should be allowed to pry into poor Ankaret’s private affairs, but I suppose it’s their job to satisfy themselves that she really did, er—take an overdose.’
‘I’ll be staying here for the night,’ Johnny announced, ‘if that’s all right by you? As one of Giff’s trustees I’ve got to go through his papers. Unfortunately I had already removed the ones which were probably the most important from the lock-up top of his desk; and they were destroyed in the fire. But there are still the drawers underneath, and I expect he had some letter files somewhere.’
‘Glad to have you,’ Bill replied. ‘I’ve already telephoned to old Frothy Massingham and asked myself to dinner. Felt I must get out of the place for a few hours somehow. But Silvers will look after you. You’d better have the same room you slept in the night of the fire. Anyhow, make yourself at home.’
‘Thanks. And while I am here, if I can be of any help, you have only to let me know.’
At the idea of someone else taking on the tasks with which his daughter’s death had landed him I could almost see Bill’s somewhat sluggish mind rev up. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘there will be the funeral arrangements as soon as the police let us know when we can hold it. Perhaps you’d see the undertakers for me, and the vicar. Then there are Ankaret’s aunts and other relatives who will have to be informed. If I gave you a list of names you could send the telegrams off for me.’
Johnny smiled. ‘All right, let’s draft a telegram and make out a list, right away. I can fill in the time and date of the funeral when we know it.’
Having no interest in the matter I left them and floated upstairs to Ankaret.
A sheet had been pulled up over her face; so to any living person she would now have been only a still form lying in the centre of the bed. But on becoming a Ka I had soon realised the super-physical qualities that my new state gave me. Not only could I pass through solids at will but I could to some extent see through them. Just as my speed of movement was limited, so was the penetration of my vision. I could not see through brick walls, but if I concentrated on a closed cupboard I could make out its contents quite clearly, and the clothes people were wearing only blurred the outlines of their figures.
In consequence the linen sheet that covered Ankaret’s face was no more a barrier to my sight than would have been a sheet of cellophane; and even through the thicker bed-clothes her slender form was visible. She looked completely calm and there was a faint suggestion of a smile about her lips, as though she was amused at having cheated the world of its chance to condemn her to years of misery. About that I could not help being happy for her, yet my emotions were sadly wrung at the thought that her loveliness must soon be stiff, cold and mottled with blotches; and that never again could we experience together the joys we had known in life.
Yet it was not only to gaze upon her that I had come there. I hoped that having been so well attuned in life we might still be linked in death; and that if, as in my case, her Ka had survived we might be able to see each other, and so be happily reunited.
In that I was disappointed. No nebulous figure hovered in the room, and some psychic sense told me that her body was completely empty. Yet I did not despair of meeting her later on. If her Ka did survive it might well be elsewhere at the moment. In fact there was every reason why it should be, for the room was so full of police that they were almost tumbling over one another; and she would have resented their presence, just as I did.
The Inspector was going through the drawers of her bed-side table; the Sergeant was examining her make-up things; a photographer was erecting his camera by the window; a fingerprint expert was scattering powder on the knob of the door leading to the passage, and a fifth man was rummaging through her wardrobe.
Sick at heart I left them to it and went out into the garden. It was again a pleasant morning, and I thought it the most likely place in which I might find her; but though I drifted disconsolately about it and along the foreshore for the best part of two hours my search proved unavailing.
Re-entering the house about half-past two I found that Johnny had settled down to go through my remaining papers in earnest. He had emptied the drawers of my desk and found the letter files which I kept in the cupboard under the bookcase.
As he went through the files he was extracting a letter here and there and putting it aside. A glance at them told me that he was no longer seeking for evidence of Ankaret’s complicity in my death, or at least not primarily. The letters were mostly from men I had met in the war, who had remained my friends and since risen to high rank. There were four Air Marshals and two Generals among them; and three Admirals of a slightly older generation who had been friends of my father.
He was, of course, hoping to find that I had been in intimate correspondence with one of them, and thus perhaps get a lead to who had given me my secret information. But the letters he had put aside contained nothing other than news of mutual friends and arrangements to meet socially; and I knew only too well that he would come upon nothing which would be of the least value to him. Being tired now from another early morning start, I went into the drawing-room and settled down for my equivalent of a nap.
I was roused by Johnny coming through the room, and saw from the clock on the mantelpiece that it was now nearly six. As he strode past to the hall I followed, and we were soon once more together in his car. He took the road to Beaulieu and pulled up on the corner where he had met Sue two nights before. About five minutes later, her pretty brown curls blown back a little from her forehead by the wind, she came walking briskly up the lane.
As a lover’s greeting Johnny’s was considerably below par. Urged on by his anxiety, before she had had time even to settle herself beside him, he abruptly enquired if her father was at home.
‘No,’ she replied, raising her eyebrows, ‘why do you ask?’
He sighed. ‘I’m sorry to say, Sue, that this morning I had another row with him.’
‘Oh darling! You promised me faithfully that at the next board meeting you would keep your temper—so as not to make matters worse.’
‘I know I did. But there’s a limit to what even a saint could stand. He accused me of being a liar, a traitor and a crook. I couldn’t just sit there and let that pass; so I told him that unless he took it back I’d sue him for slander.’
‘What!’ Sue gave a gasp. ‘You threatened to bring an action against Daddy?’
‘That’s it. Of course, I didn’t really mean to; and after he had stamped out of the room James Compton offered to pour oil on the troubled waters by letting him know that. James promised to get hold of him about midday; but he telephoned me at Longshot, just after I asked you to meet me here this evening, to say that he had been on to your home, and the woman who answered the ‘phone had said that your father would not be in for lunch. Until a moment ago I was still hoping that James might have run him to earth at the Club in Southampton or somewhere.’
‘If Mr. Compton had spoken to me I could have told him that he would have no luck. Daddy packed a suit-case before he left this morning. He is spending the night in London, and after the board meeting he meant to drive straight up.’
‘So he intended to go to London anyway?’
‘Yes; but what is there so surprising about that?’
Johnny gave her then a full account of the meeting and of the Admiral’s final outburst. When he had done she asked:
‘What will happen to you if Daddy does carry out his threat?’
‘I’m hanged if I know.’ Johnny sighed again. ‘Uncle Giff could have cleared me in a single sentence. He would only have had to name the source from which he got the gen. But as he is dead there is no way in which I can prove my innocence. On the other hand nobody can possibly prove me to be guilty, because I’m not. Yet they will believe me to be. The circumstantial evidence is so damning. For a breach of security of this kind, an officer in my position of trust would be liable to be cashiered and receive a heavy prison sentence into the bargain. As the Court can’t find me guilty it won’t come to that. But the Air Ministry can retire an officer compulsorily at any time, simply by notifying him that Her Majesty no longer has any use for his services. That is probably the line they will adopt.
‘Alternatively if they have any doubts—although I can’t see why they should have—they may decide against being quite so drastic. That would mean my being hoisted out of my present job and transferred to some God forsaken post in a desert or a jungle where I’d no longer be a security risk. And of course, I’d be barred from any chance of further promotion. They would just let me work out my time in my present rank, then “goodbye Wing Commander Norton”. It would be a jolly life for the next few years, wouldn’t it?’ Johnny ended bitterly. ‘Trying to run some little off-the-map station with everyone whispering behind my back that I was the promising boyho who had blotted it because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.’
After a moment he went on: ‘I’ve not much doubt that your father meant to do what he threatened; and if he did I’m afraid I’m all washed-up. By the time the Air Ministry are through with me I’ll be little good to myself or anyone else; let alone a sweet person like you. I’m glad now that we haven’t announced our engagement. At least you’ll be spared from officious sympathy and unpleasant gossip through having broken it off. And that’s what we’ve got to do.’
Sue turned her face to his and her little chin stuck out. ‘We’ll do no such thing! Johnny, you’re mine. I love you and I mean to hang on to you. I wouldn’t be worth having if I hesitated about that for an instant. What is more, if they retire you or order you abroad I’ll marry you the very next day after they’ve told you their decision.’
‘No, I can’t let you. I love you much too much to allow you to sacrifice yourself.’ Johnny’s voice was firm, but I could see that Sue meant to fight him for all she was worth.
Feeling that it would be hardly decent to stand in while they faced this private crisis in their lives, I moved off some way along the ditch but kept a watch on the car as I did not want it to drive off without me. Nearly half an hour elapsed then, ignoring the fact that they were on the open road, they suddenly clutched one another in a violent embrace, and from the position of their heads it was obvious that they were kissing. That made me pretty confident that Sue had got the best of the argument; so, having given them a few endearments, I returned and passed into the back of the car.
Johnny was just saying: ‘I meant to break the bad news to you, than spend the rest of the evening in misery on my own. But since you are determined to see this thing through with me we had better cheer ourselves up with some dinner.’
‘I don’t feel like going to an inn,’ Sue said, after a moment. ‘Let’s go home, and I’ll knock up something.’
‘Better not,’ he replied a shade dubiously. ‘If your old man returned unexpectedly, he would be absolutely furious with you.’
Sue gave an abrupt, defiant laugh. ‘The odds are all against that. But if he did, who cares? The sooner he knows that I mean to nail my flag to the mast about this, the better. Even if he threw me out I’m not such a nit-wit that I couldn’t find a job to keep myself until we can get married.’
Johnny kissed her again. ‘You wouldn’t have to, my sweet. I’d see to that.’
Ten minutes later they were in the kitchen of Sue’s home. As the Admiral was away she had given the gardener’s wife, who came in and cooked for them, an evening off and had meant to get her own dinner. Now, their cares temporarily forgotten, they romped like children playing at husband and wife—except for breaking off to exchange frequent kisses—while preparing themselves a little feast to be eaten off the kitchen table.
But their happy mood did not last long. Before they were through the bottle of champagne that Sue had looted from her father’s cellar Johnny was replying only in monosyllables to her cheerful chatter. Giving him a swift sideways glance, she said:
‘You are looking wretched, darling; and terribly worn out. The big blow-up having taken place only this morning, that can’t account for it altogether. I suppose you are still worrying over the mystery surrounding your uncle’s death. Have you managed to get a line yet on the wicked Lady Ankaret?’
Sue’s question caused Johnny to realise that, not having seen her father since the board meeting, she still knew nothing of the latest tragedy at Longshot. He proceeded to tell her about it and what he believed to be the reason for Ankaret’s suicide. Once launched on the subject he was soon led to that of myself.
Quite understandably he refrained from disclosing his previous relationship to Daisy, describing her simply as a professional dancer whom he had met soon after his return from Malaya and whom, knowing her to have psychic gifts, he had looked up again to consult.
I don’t think Sue was deceived; but she was the sort of girl who would have had little respect for a chap who had not sowed his wild oats, and had enough confidence in herself not to be jealous of the past mistress of a man she had made up her mind to marry. Anyway she refrained from comment, and Johnny went on to describe in detail all that had occurred during his meeting with Daisy and with Mr. Tibitts.
Sue listened, her brown eyes at times wide with amazement, at others shadowed by doubt or disbelief. When he had done, she said:
‘This can’t be true, darling. It really can’t. The very idea of your uncle having been buried alive is too horrible to contemplate. It will give me nightmares for a week but I simply don’t believe it.’
Johnny’s tale had taken long in telling, and they argued the pros and cons for a further half hour; so it was after half-past ten when he declared:
‘Anyway, I can’t stand this uncertainty any longer. Neither Daisy nor Tibitts were lying. I am convinced of that. And if they are right about this Ka business you see what that adds up to? Uncle Giff is lying there in his coffin; and he is still alive. If they are wrong, and he isn’t, then I’ll be able to sleep again. But I’ve got to find out.’
‘You … you,’ Sue stared at him in sudden terror, ‘you don’t mean that you are going to his grave?’
‘Yes; that’s just what I am going to do. That’s the main reason why I telephoned for an extension of leave this morning. I meant to anyway, before I had the row with your father. I couldn’t go another night with this awful doubt hanging over me.’
‘No, Johnny! No! You mustn’t! It’s sacrilege or something. Anyhow there’s a heavy penalty for anyone caught interfering with a body that’s been buried.’
‘I won’t get caught. You needn’t worry about that.’
‘You might. And if you were I’m sure it would mean a prison sentence.’
Johnny stood up. ‘I can’t help that. I’m sorry I told you, Sue. I wouldn’t have if I weren’t half out of my mind already. But I’ll be driven right out of it if I don’t settle this thing once and for all. It’s a “must”, darling. If I don’t I’ll never have a quiet conscience again for the rest of my life.’
Sue too stood up. She had gone very pale but her voice was firm. ‘All right, then; I’ll come with you.’
‘You’ll do nothing of the sort!’
‘Why not? Be sensible. You’ll need someone to hold a torch while you unscrew the coffin lid.’
‘No I won’t. It’s not screwed down. Uncle Giff left an instruction in his will that it was not to be, and that airholes were to be bored in the coffin itself.’
‘What an extraordinary thing to do.’
‘It seems that he always had a fear that he might be buried alive. I can’t help feeling now that it may have been a premonition. It’s that idea on top of all the rest which decided me this morning that I positively must find out.’
A new look of credulity came into her eyes. ‘I believe you may be right, Johnny. Anyhow, I agree now that you must make sure. It … it’s going to be a ghastly business. But I won’t let you down. I mean I won’t faint, or anything. I’ve never fainted in my life.’
‘No, I’m sure you wouldn’t. All the same I’m not taking you with me.’
‘Yes you are.’
‘No I’m not. You were right about it being a prison job, if one is caught. Do you think I’d let you expose yourself to that?’
‘It’s all the more reason I should come. Two of us would run less risk than one. I could keep cave while you are down in the grave.’
‘Sue, I won’t have it. Nothing will induce me to let you mix yourself up in this.’
‘You can’t stop me. I’ve got my own car. I’ll catch you up before you’ve had time to get the lid off the coffin.’
That put Johnny in a fix. For another few minutes he pleaded with her to remain behind; but he could not shake her determination.
‘Very well,’ he conceded at last. ‘But on one condition. You are to remain outside the churchyard and seated at the wheel of your car. If you see anyone about to take the path through the churchyard you will sound your horn, then beat it like hell. No pulling up a hundred yards up the road to creep back and find out what has happened to me. You’ll drive straight home. Is that understood?’
She nodded. ‘Yes. I’ll agree to that.’
‘Promise? No mental reservations now. On your word of honour.’
‘You have it, Johnny.’
For a moment they eyed one another tensely, then he said: ‘We had better not park our cars close together, just in case I am surprised and have to run for it. Anyone chasing me might spot the number of yours as you drove off. You had better pull into the road-side just by the lych-gate outside the church. That’s the most likely direction from which anyone may approach. No one will be going out at this time of night; but there is just the chance that some late-comer might make his way home by the short cut across the churchyard to the village.’
‘Why not put it off till the small hours of the morning? It would be less risky then.’
Johnny drew a hand over his eyes. ‘I suppose you’re right. But I’d rather not. It’s days since I had a really long sleep, and I didn’t get a wink last night from worrying. I just couldn’t face sitting up for another three or four hours.’
‘You could have a sleep here, and I’ll wake you at, say, two o’clock.’
‘No. I’m all keyed up now. I want to get the thing done and finished with. It’s now eleven and everyone goes to bed early in these parts. Really the risk is negligible. By letting you come to keep cave for me and dispersing cars I’m only taking precautions against an outside chance. I’ll drive on round the church and up the road that leads to the village. There is a cottage opposite the other entrance to the footpath. I’ll park a little short of that and come into the churchyard that way.’
‘And afterwards?’ Sue asked.
‘As soon as I’m through I’ll drive back past you. As you see me pass, start up and follow me back here. If anything does go wrong we separate. You’ll already be on your way home, and I’ll drive straight back to Longshot; but I’ll telephone to let you know that I’m all right.’
With everything now settled, they went out to their cars. Sue’s was only an ancient run-about, so after a quick embrace he saw her into hers and gave her a few minutes’ start. I followed with him.
There was no moon and the night was dark, so favourable for this grim undertaking. As we covered the few miles at a steady pace I could hardly contain my impatience. My body had now been presumed dead for five days. Its intestines should be beginning to decompose. As the lid of the coffin was not fastened down ants might have got in and—horrible thought—be eating away the face. Anyway by this time the eyes should have sunk right back and hideous blotches have appeared on the skin. One glance at it would be enough to tell if the beliefs of the occultists were all moonshine, or if I was still tied by an invisible thread to the flesh that had been buried in the grave.
If I was, what then? But it would be time enough to wrestle with new problems when I knew. As with Johnny, the question that caused me such agitation at the moment was: what should we find there?
As we reached the valley bottom and approached the church it suddenly seemed to rear up, a black silhouette against the dark grey-black sky. Sue had drawn in her car near the lych-gate as Johnny had directed, but he did not slacken speed as we passed it. Driving on and round the corner on which the church stood he ran up the hill beyond it a few hundred yards, then drew in to the side of the road and switched off his lights.
I had listened to his plan with some anxiety, for I knew a thing that evidently he did not. The cottage opposite the entrance to the footpath was that of Cowper, the village constable. But it had been beyond my power to warn Johnny that it would be safer to go in the other way. Now, my uneasiness was increased by seeing that a light was still burning in one of the upstairs windows of the cottage, which meant that Cowper or his wife was still awake. If Cowper was there and had heard the car draw up, he might look out and, seeing that its lights had been cut off, come to investigate. The chances were against his actually catching Johnny interfering with my grave, but Johnny would have some awkward explaining to do if on returning to his car he found Cowper waiting there to serve him with a chit for having left it on the road with its lights out. I could only hope that Cowper was already in bed and would soon decide to go to sleep.
Taking a big torch from the car Johnny made his way up the last forty yards of road, turned into the churchyard and walked resolutely down its slope. Having been at my funeral he knew roughly the whereabouts of the grave, but not its exact position. It was one in a line of graves among a group of tall ancient yews, and it was so dark there that he had to put on his torch to find it. Having taken a wrong side path he had to hunt about for several minutes before he got his bearings. Then the beam of the torch fell upon the faded flowers of a wreath. Hurrying forward he found the grave and shone the torch full upon it.
In accordance with my instructions, the great stone slab that sealed the vault had not yet been replaced. It was lying tilted up on edge against another gravestone nearby. But the vault itself had not been left exposed. Presumably, to keep out the rain, or to hide the coffins in it from the sight of the morbidly-curious, a large tarpaulin had been spread over the aperture, and was held in place by a number of loose bricks on its sides and corners.
After a glance at the floral tributes that had been set out on either side of the grave, Johnny selected a harp that had been propped up amongst them and fixed his torch into the wires to that its beam fell on the tarpaulin. Quickly now he threw aside the bricks from one side of it, then drew the free half back.
The vault had been made to hold ten coffins, but, as yet, there were only six in it; so those of my father and of myself, which lay side by side, were nearly five feet below the level of the ground. It was quite a drop, and once down there, anyone other than a fit man, like Johnny, would have found it difficult to scramble out again.
The torch was not shining directly into the grave, and it was so dark that he could not even see the coffins. With commendable prudence, instead of lowering himself then stretching out a hand for the torch, he picked it up first and flashed it downwards to see how far he had to drop.
It was at that moment, as we both stared down at the two coffins—my father’s dull and damp-stained from the years it had lain there, and mine still highly polished, its silver fittings as yet hardly tarnished—that the faint sound of footsteps made me turn and look up the path.
The perceptions of my Ka being above the physically normal, I knew that I must have heard them well before Johnny would; and my sight being better able to penetrate the darkness I saw, as he would not have been able to do, the outline of a figure coming towards us but still some distance off.
Desperately I tried to convey a warning to Johnny. In an agony of apprehension I heard the footsteps getting nearer. With all the mental strength of which I was capable I willed him to realise his danger. But my efforts were of no avail. For what seemed to me an age he continued to stand there shining his torch down into that accursed grave.
To my unutterable relief the person who was approaching kicked against a stone. Johnny heard it. In a second he had gone into action. Switching out his torch he thrust it into his coat pocket. Next moment he had pulled the nearest of the two turned-back corners of the tarpaulin back over the vault and kicked a brick on to it. In two swift strides he was across one of the banks of flowers and, kneeling down, fumbled frantically for the other corner. Ten precious seconds were lost before his fingers closed upon it in the darkness and he drew it over. Dragging a brick from beneath his right knee, he jerked it on to the corner.
But he was still kneeling there when the bulky figure of Constable Cowper emerged from behind one of the big yews. A torch flashed on and in a gruff voice the policeman demanded:
‘What are you up to here?’
I have never admired Johnny more than at that moment. Most people would have cut and run, trusting to elude the constable among the gravestones and get away in the darkness. I certainly should have. But I suppose he realised in time that his car might be found and its number be taken before he could reach it; and that it was the capacity instantly to balance risks, required for handling aircraft at near supersonic speeds, which saved him in this instance.
Coming unhurriedly to his feet he replied: ‘Can’t you see for yourself? I was praying. Who are you?’
‘I am an officer of the Hampshire County Police,’ came the prompt answer. ‘And who may you be?’
‘I’m Wing Commander Norton; Sir Gifford Hillary’s nephew.’
‘Oh!’ Cowper seemed a little taken back. Raising the beam of his torch a little he shone it on Johnny’s face. I could see that it was covered with sweat; and, seeing the grisly undertaking he had been on the point of attempting, I did not wonder. But as they were standing at opposite ends of the grave and more than ten feet apart, the policeman might not have noticed that.
Lowering the torch again, he said more amiably: ‘I recognise you now, Sir, as the Air Force gentleman who sometimes stays up at the Hall. But if I may say so, this is hardly the proper time to say a prayer at a grave-side.’
‘Why not?’ Johnny said sharply. ‘There is no law against being in a churchyard after dark. And if I had come here to pray in the daytime I’d have had to risk the unpleasantness of passers-by who know about the tragedy stopping to gape at me.’
‘There is that, Sir. And there’s nothing illegal about your being here. But there is about interfering with a grave. Very much so.’ Shining his torch down on the side of the tarpaulin from which Johnny had removed, and not had time to replace, the bricks, he went on:
‘You wouldn’t have been interfering with this one, would you, Sir?’
‘Certainly not.’
‘Well, someone has. Them bricks were all on the tarpaulin to hold it down all round, as they should be, when I passed this way to my tea just before six o’clock.’
‘I’ve only been here about ten minutes, and the grave is exactly as I found it.’
‘Then someone else must have moved the bricks,’ Cowper said a shade lugubriously. ‘It was an odd notion of Sir Gifford’s, asking that the vault should be left open until a week after his burial; and not a very sensible one. Sexton Watkins is a great talker when he gets down to the local, so everyone hereabouts knows of it. And there are some strange characters about. It’s not so long ago that someone broke into a church just over the border, in Dorset, and defiled the altar. Cracked, of course; but, all the same, to my mind it’s tempting Providence to leave a grave open for longer than need be.’
Johnny gave a slightly forced laugh, ‘Well, anyway, I’m not a Satanist, Constable. You can set your mind at rest about that.’
‘I didn’t think you was, Sir.’ Cowper paused for a moment. ‘Still, I take it you’ve done what you came to do, and will be going home now?’
‘I owe a great deal to my uncle; so I intended to make a half hour’s vigil here.’
‘Just as you wish, Sir. Then I’ll stay around out of sight and see that nobody disturbs you.’
‘Thanks very much,’ Johnny replied with a heartiness he certainly could not have felt; and, as the policeman moved off into the darkness, he knelt down again.
I should like to think that he prayed for me, and it is very probable that he did. At all events with Cowper lurking somewhere on the far side of the yews, any further attempt by Johnny to get down into the vault was quite out of the question.
Some twenty minutes after Cowper had left him there came two sharp hoots on a motor horn, then the noise of a car starting up and the sound of its engine gradually fading away in the distance.
I had no doubt that it was Sue, and went forth to investigate. Her car had gone and the figure of a man was advancing up the path from the lych-gate. Cowper emerged from the shadows, and evidently knew him, as they exchanged a few words and a cheerful ‘good night’ before the late-comer went on his way.
Shortly afterwards Johnny came out from behind the yews, evidently feeling that he had spent long enough on the vigil that he had been forced to undertake in order to allay the constable’s suspicions. As he turned on to the upward path Cowper unobtrusively intercepted him, and said:
‘Would I be right, Sir, in supposing that to be your car, up by my cottage there?’
Johnny had no option but to admit it.
‘In that case, Sir,’ the policeman went on, ‘I’m afraid I must put in a report. It’s an offence, you know, to leave a car on the highway after dark without its lights on.’
‘I know,’ Johnny said wearily. ‘I’ve had an awful lot to see to these past few days; so I’m a bit tired. I switched them off without thinking what I was doing.’
‘That might happen to anyone, Sir; but I’ll have to report it just the same.’ Cowper fell into step with Johnny and they walked up the slope side by side. When they reached the car the policeman saw Johnny into it, then said:
‘Don’t you go worrying about Sir Gifford’s grave, Sir. I suffer a bit from insomnia; so I’m a great one for making night patrols. I’ll be out again at least once more tonight, and I’ll give special attention to it not being further interfered with.’
That, I felt, must squash any hopes that Johnny might have entertained of returning later for another attempt to get a sight of my body without fear of interruption. In a gloomy silence, which was on my part enforced and on Johnny’s natural, we drove back to the Hall.
As soon as Johnny got in, he telephoned Sue. Although everyone had gone to bed, he kept his voice low, as he said:
‘That you, darling? … No, I didn’t manage to do all that I had hoped … Yes, I was interrupted and had a slight spot of bother. But I got out of it all right … No, don’t worry your sweet self. I’m not going back … No, I promise you. I’m dropping with fatigue, anyway. Besides, I did succeed in getting a good look at the box. If things had been as I feared I feel sure the lid would have been displaced … Yes, by what’s there trying to get out when the thing that was seen returned to it between spells of travelling. But it wasn’t. There was no sign that there had been any activity at all; so I’m satisfied now … Yes, really. And if anything happens about the other business I’ll let you know at once … Yes, I will. Thanks, darling, for your help tonight. There are darn’ few girls who would be brave enough to insist on lending a hand on a job like that. Good night, my sweet. Sleep well. Bless you.’
When he had hung up, I watched him go slowly and wearily upstairs. He had said that he was satisfied. But I wasn’t. I too had had a look down into that grave. And by concentrating I could see through the coffin lid. Hair always continues to grow after death so I had not been surprised to see a five-days’ growth of stubble on my chin. But my body had been as fresh and pink as on the night it had crumpled to the floor under the shock of Evans’s death ray.