The Schirmer Inheritance

“It was dead easy,” Arthur said. “The Sarge had got hold of a list of all the secret Party members and sympathizers in the Salonika area, and we sorted out those that worked in banks and in the offices of businesses with big payrolls. Then we approached them and gave them their big chance to serve the Party in its hour of need, just as the book said the old Bolshies had done. We could always say we’d denounce them if they got suspicious, but we haven’t had any trouble of that kind. I tell you, every single job we’ve done, we’ve had a man or woman on the inside, helping us for the honour and glory of the Party.” He laughed contemptuously. “Flies in the Ointment, Unite! They couldn’t wait to ditch the people they were working for. Some of them would torture their own mothers if the Party wanted them to, and be glad to do it. ‘Yes, Comrade. Certainly, Comrade. Glad to be of service, Comrade!’ It’s made me sick sometimes to hear them,” he added self-righteously.

“Still, you did pretty well out of it, didn’t you?”

“Maybe we did, but I still don’t like people who bite the hand that feeds them.”

“Surely, it must have taken quite a bit of courage for some of these people to act on their convictions to the extent of helping you.”

“I’m not so sure,” said Arthur sourly. “If you ask me, these political convictions that make it O.K. to play someone else a dirty trick behind their backs have something pretty phony about them.”

“You’re quite a moralist, Arthur. What about the trick you were playing?”

“I’m not pretending to be better than I am. It’s these phonies I can’t stand. You should talk to some of them. Clever. Know all the answers. Prove anything you like. The sort you don’t want with you if you’re going out on a patrol, because, if things get sticky, they’re the ones who’ll start looking round for a reason for everybody to chuck in their hands and go home.”

“Does the Sergeant feel the same way about these things?”

“Him?” Arthur laughed. “No. He doesn’t bother. You see, I think there are all kinds of people. He doesn’t. He thinks there are only two kinds-those you’d want with you when things are bad, and those you wouldn’t have at any price.” He smiled slyly and added: “And he makes up his mind real quick.”

George lit his last cigarette and stared thoughtfully at Arthur for a moment. The suspicion suddenly became a certainty. He screwed up the empty pack and tossed it on the table.

“Where are they, Arthur?” he said.

“Where are who?” Arthur’s face was all innocence.

“Come on, Arthur! Let’s stop playing games. They were here last night, I know, because I heard the Sergeant come in around midnight and start talking to you. But this morning neither he nor Miss Kolin was here. At least, I didn’t see him, and no food’s been taken up to her. So where are they?”

“I don’t know.”

“Think again.”

“I don’t know, Mr. Carey, and that’s a fact.” “Has he gone for good?”

Arthur hesitated and then shrugged. “Yes, he has.”

George nodded. He had suspected, but, now that he knew for certain, the news came as a blow. “What am I being kept here for?” he asked.

“He’s got to have time to get clear.”

“Clear of me?”

“No, clear of this country.” Arthur leaned forward earnestly. “You see, supposing you went back and Chrysantos started on you, and you blew the gaff about his being on the way out. I don’t say you’d mean to, but he’s a cunning bastard, that one. You can see it might be awkward.”

“Yes, I see. He’d already decided what he was going to do. I think he might have told me.”

“He asked me to, Mr. Carey. I was going to wait until after supper, just to be on the safe side, but you may as well know now. You see, there wasn’t much time. We’ve been all fixed up to go for days. He made the final arrangements yesterday and just came back to ask her if she wanted to go too.”

“And she did?”

“Like a shot. Can’t keep her hands off him. Proper case it is.”

“Isn’t he afraid she’ll try and turn him in again?” Arthur laughed. “Don’t be silly, chum. She’s been waiting for a man like that all her life.” “I still don’t get it.”

“I expect you’re like me,” Arthur said consolingly. “I like it a little more on the quiet side myself. But about the money-”

“Yes, about the money.”

“We talked it over, him and me, Mr. Carey, and we came to a conclusion. He couldn’t have claimed it. You see that, don’t you? You talked about extradition and all that, but that’s not the point. Extradition or not, everything would have had to come out. That’d be no good. He’s going to start a new life under a new name, with all this behind him. He hasn’t got half a million dollars or anything like, but he’s got enough to go on with. If he claimed that money he’d be a marked man. You know that as well as I do.”

“He could have told me this the first time.”

“He only wanted his family papers, Mr. Carey. You can’t blame him for that.”

“And he just had me stringing along so that I wouldn’t make trouble. I get it.” George sighed. “All right. What’s his new name going to be? Schneider?”