More Than You Can Say Read Online Free PDF Page B

?’
    ‘Well, another two days of your time. It will be necessary to leave the house for a brief journey to the register office. We have prepared a great deal of paperwork but we will require your co-operation in completing some of the details.’
    I thought about all the reasons why I should insist on leaving now. Mr Khan and his servants were at best a bunch of crooks engaged in some sort of scam, which I had yet to understand. At worst, they might be dealing in human trafficking. Almost anything was possible; the only impossibility was that they were pleasant, honest people who wanted to do me a good turn.
    But ten thousand pounds! Apart from the cash I had on me I hadn’t a penny in the world. Some income from my army pension, but that didn’t go far. No capital, no chance of any handouts from my parents after the way I had treated them. But with ten thousand pounds in my pocket, maybe I could start to turn my life around. It would buy me a new suit, a haircut, time to go to the endless job interviews I knew I would have to go to before someone finally employed me. And after all: what were they asking me to do? Put my name on some piece of paper that allowed a woman from India or Pakistan to claim residency and then citizenship. That was what this was all about. Sham marriages were practically an industry these days. One more illegal immigrant wouldn’tmake any difference, would it? I was vague about the law but I imagined that once I had married the woman I would never have to see her again, and after a certain amount of time I could apply for a divorce.
    ‘Why not?’ I said.
    ‘What?’
    ‘I said, OK.’
    Mr Khan looked at me and I looked back at him and, for a moment, our gazes locked. Then he said, ‘I trust you will not mind if we keep you to your room for some of the time?’
    ‘I would prefer not.’
    Mr Khan hesitated for the first time in our conversation. Then he said:
    ‘You may have the use of this conservatory, and the drawing room if you feel the room upstairs is too confining. But you must not go into any of the other rooms. Most of the doors are locked anyway. And you must on no account use the telephone, or go outside. Are these conditions acceptable to you?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘And may I have your word as an English gentleman that you will adhere to them?’
    Once again, I was amused by the old-fashioned nature of his question.
    ‘Of course.’
    In fact, I had decided that for the moment I would not try to leave. I was by now too full of curiosity about the set-up here, and the bizarre arrangements that had been made for my forthcoming nuptials. The house was warm and comfortable and the food was good. Above all there was the matter of the money to be considered, which would more than compensate me for the loss of my bet with Ed Hartlepool –although nothing could have equalled the pleasure of seeing Ed Hartlepool write me out a large cheque.
    Mr Khan stood up. ‘I will not detain you any longer. Later this afternoon my assistant David may ask you to sign some forms. I apologise for all the paperwork. At home, matters would be simpler, but we are in England and must obey her laws.’
    He must have pressed the bell again, because as he was speaking David arrived.
    ‘Please show Mr Gaunt back to his room,’ said Mr Khan. ‘But there is no need to lock the door. Mr Gaunt and I have reached an understanding.’
    David took me upstairs and as he left me he said, ‘I will be back in half an hour or so with some documents for you to complete, Mr Gaunt. I trust that will be in order?’
    ‘I shall be here,’ I told him. I went back into my room, lay on the bed and thought about getting married. Would she be thin or fat; fair or dark? My success rate at pulling attractive women was not good. I remembered going out one night, when I was still in the army. We were on a Mountain Warfare Course in the Austrian Alps, which turned out to be a skiing holiday paid for by the grateful taxpayer.
    A few of