He stood in the doorway and bowed. Miss Bertram? he asked.
Yes. You are Colonel Hakim?
Yes. I am sorry to call on you so late without warning. He spoke English with only the faintest intonation.
I think we have a mutual acquaintance, General Abdul.
May I sit down?
Of course. Youll find that chair by the dressing-table the most comfortable. This is my nephew, Henry Pulling.
Good evening, Mr. Pulling. I hope you enjoyed the dancing at the West Berlin Hotel. A convivial spot unknown to most tourists. May I turn on the light, Miss Bertram?
I would rather not. I have weak eyes, and I always prefer to read by candlelight.
A very beautiful candle.
They make them in Venice. The coats of arms belong to their four greatest doges. Dont ask me their names.
How is General Abdul? I had been hoping to meet him again.
I am afraid General Abdul is a very sick man.
Colonel Hakim hooked his walking stick over the mirror before he sat down. He leant his head forward to my aunt at a slight angle, which gave him an air of deference, but I noticed that the real reason was a small hearing-aid that he carried in his right ear. He was a great friend of you and Mr. Visconti, was he not?
The amount you know[160], my aunt said with an endearing smile.
Oh, its my disagreeable business, the colonel said, to be a Nosey Harker.
Parker[161].
My English is rusty.
You had me followed to the West Berlin Hotel? I asked.
Oh no, I suggested to the driver that he should take you there, Colonel Hakim said. I thought it might interest you and hold your attention longer than it did. The fashionable night clubs here are very banal and international. You might just as well be in Paris or London, except that in those cities you would see a better show. Of course I told the driver to take you somewhere else first. One never knows.
Tell me about General Abdul, my aunt said impatiently. What is wrong with him?
Colonel Hakim leant forward a little more in his chair and lowered his voice as though he were confiding a secret. He was shot, he said, while trying to escape.
Escape? my aunt exclaimed. Escape from whom?
From me, Colonel Hakim said with shy modesty and he fiddled at his hearing-aid. A long silence followed his words. There seemed nothing to say. Even my aunt was at a loss[162]. She sat back against the cushions with her mouth a little open. Colonel Hakim took a tin out of his pocket and opened it. Excuse me, he said, eucalyptus and menthol. I suffer from asthma. He put a lozenge into his mouth and sucked. There was silence again until my aunt spoke.
Those lozenges cant do you much good, she said.
I think it is only the suggestion. Asthma is a nervous disease. The lozenges seem to alleviate it, but only perhaps because I believe they alleviate it. He panted a little when he spoke. I am always apt to get an attack when I am at the climax of a case.
Mr. Visconti suffered from asthma too, Aunt Augusta said. He was cured by hypnotism.
I would not like to put myself so completely in someone elses hands.
Of course Mr. Visconti had a hold on the hypnotist.
Yes, that makes a difference, Colonel Hakim said with approval. And where is Mr. Visconti now?
Those lozenges cant do you much good, she said.
I think it is only the suggestion. Asthma is a nervous disease. The lozenges seem to alleviate it, but only perhaps because I believe they alleviate it. He panted a little when he spoke. I am always apt to get an attack when I am at the climax of a case.
Mr. Visconti suffered from asthma too, Aunt Augusta said. He was cured by hypnotism.
I would not like to put myself so completely in someone elses hands.
Of course Mr. Visconti had a hold on the hypnotist.
Yes, that makes a difference, Colonel Hakim said with approval. And where is Mr. Visconti now?
Ive no idea.
Nor had General Abdul. We only want the information for the Interpol files. The affair is more than thirty years old. I just ask you in passing[163]. I have no personal interest. It is not the real subject of my interrogation.
Am I being interrogated, Colonel?
Yes. In a way. I hope an agreeable way. We have found a letter from you to General Abdul which speaks about an investment he had recommended. You wrote to him that you found it essential to make the investment while in Europe and anonymously, and this presented certain difficulties.
Surely you are not working for the Bank of England, Colonel?
I am not so fortunate, but General Abdul was planning a little trouble here; he was very short of funds. Certain friends with whom he had speculated in the old days came back to his mind. So he got in touch with you (perhaps he hoped through you to contact Visconti again), with a German called Weissmann of whom you probably havent heard, and with a man called Harvey Crowder, who is a meat packer in Chicago. The CIA have had him under observation for a long while and they reported to us. Of course I mention these names only because all the men are under arrest and have talked.
If you really have to know, my aunt said, for the sake of your files, General Abdul recommended me to buy Deutsche Texaco Convertible Bonds out of the question in England because of the dollar premium, and away from England, for an English resident, quite illegal. So I had to remain anonymous.