Blackstone and the Endgame Read Online Free PDF Page B

knew he had only weeks to live, there was a look of triumph on his face.
    â€˜We know
now
why Max wanted you to deliver the money, don’t we?’ Brigham demanded.
    â€˜
I
don’t know anything,’ Blackstone said. ‘Somebody in the dockyard knocked me unconscious, and everything’s a blank after that.’
    â€˜Somebody knocked you unconscious,’ Brigham repeated, his voice heavy with contempt. ‘And then what did he do? Did he carry you to a bench on the Victoria Embankment?’
    â€˜I couldn’t say,’ Blackstone admitted. ‘But I’m pretty certain that he drenched me in whisky.’
    â€˜Would that be before or after you made your deal with Max – before or after he had given you the one thousand pounds that we found in your pocket?’ Brigham asked.
    â€˜Do I look like an idiot?’ Blackstone demanded. ‘If I’d really had a deal with Max, don’t you think the first thing I would have done would be to get the hell out of London?’
    â€˜A greedy man, who suddenly finds himself in possession of one thousand pounds, will often behave stupidly,’ Brigham said. ‘Shall I tell you what actually occurred?’
    Blackstone shrugged. ‘Will it make any difference to you if I say no?’ he asked.
    â€˜No, it wouldn’t!’
    â€˜Then, by all means, please feel free to go ahead.’
    â€˜I’m now inclined to think your friend Max is not the master spy I once assumed him to be,’ Brigham said. ‘The truth is probably that he’s no more than a
minor
official in the German navy, who, purely by chance – or the carelessness of others – found himself in possession of a secret document. His first thought was to sell it to us, but because it was so limited in its scope, he realized he would never get more than a thousand pounds for it. And since there was no prospect of him acquiring any more documents, a thousand pounds was all he’d ever get. Then he came up with a brilliant idea – he’d give us that document for nothing and offer to sell us much more of the same for a considerable sum.’
    â€˜Yes, that probably is what happened,’ Blackstone agreed.
    â€˜So you admit it!’ Brigham said, pouncing like an overeager cat.
    â€˜Of course not! I had nothing to do with any of it, and I warned you yesterday that the whole idea was crazy.’
    â€˜Max needed an accomplice for his plan, and he chose you,’ Brigham continued, as if Blackstone hadn’t spoken. ‘Together, you ambushed the two constables on the dock gate—’
    â€˜They’d already gone when I arrived,’ Blackstone interrupted.
    â€˜All right, then,’ Brigham said, impatiently waving the objection aside. ‘Max and
some other
accomplice tied up the two constables—’
    â€˜So they’re still alive,’ Blackstone interrupted. ‘Thank God for that!’ And then the policeman in him took over his mind, and he continued, ‘But why didn’t he
kill
them?’
    â€˜You’d have liked him to have killed them, wouldn’t you?’ Todd asked, with another badly timed pounce.
    â€˜No, I wouldn’t,’ Blackstone said seriously. ‘I’d have been
appalled
if he’d killed them. But in his position, that would have been the safest thing to do – and since, if he’s caught, he’ll probably hang anyway, he had nothing to lose by it.’
    â€˜We are not here to debate what Max did or did not do,’ Brigham said. ‘This interrogation is solely concerned with your part in the affair.’
    â€˜Apart from obeying your orders to the letter, I
had
no part in the affair,’ Blackstone protested.
    â€˜To continue,’ Brigham said firmly. ‘You met Max at the docks. You handed him the money, and he gave you back your share, as you’d previously arranged. You knew that you’d have no trouble making