The Lives and Times of Bernardo Brown Read Online Free PDF Page A

apologised humbly and meant it, ignorance seeming a greater crime to the young than to the old. He thanked Count Kalmody for believing his story and asked—no doubt clumsily—if there were any way in which he could show his gratitude. He was also eager to know what had caused all that excitement on the previous night.
    The Count replied that it seemed to be simply an unsuccessful attempt to steal Her Majesty’s property. She had something worth stealing for the first time in six years, and the burglar must have known it.’
    ‘He was taking an awful risk with you around, wasn’t he?’
    ‘Crowned heads in exile like routine, Mr. Brown. From half past nine to half past ten Her Majesty reads an improvingbook aloud to her faithful servants. Obviously the man knew that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had spent an earlier evening having a good look round. What he didn’t reckon on was that I should be spending a few days at the villa to see how Zita was getting on and—failing a direct command—I refuse to be read aloud at. I caught him just when he was sneaking out to the terrace with a suitcase. Nothing is missing, so I was in time to stop him filling it.’
    ‘It was not empty,’ Bernardo said.
    ‘Well, now you mention it, he did seem to me to be running a bit lopsided. What was in it?’
    ‘Just clothes, I thought.’
    ‘You didn’t look? No curiosity?’
    ‘Not enough to fiddle with locks. I wanted to get home.’
    ‘Where do you think he was going in the dinghy?’
    ‘Not far. One of the beaches to the east and then over the frontier by land.’
    ‘What makes you say that?’
    ‘Well, he didn’t look as if he belonged here.’
    ‘You’re very observant, Mr. Brown. We had a moment’s conversation before I realised he had no business to be in the villa. I addressed him in French since I speak no Spanish. His replies were so idiomatic that they left no doubt of his nationality. Can you make any guess where the other, your fellow alpinist, belonged?’
    ‘Not Spanish or French. Might have been a German but I don’t think so.’
    ‘Describe him to me!’
    ‘Sunburnt. Built like a light heavyweight. Not much over thirty but already bald. Deep lines running down to the corners of his mouth. Mad blue eyes.’
    ‘My God, Bobo!’
    ‘Bobo?’
    ‘Heir to a Russian Grand Duke, but don’t let that bother you! The Romanoffs will all be thankful to be rid of him. Dubiously claims to have sabred dozens of communists inthe Civil War. Lived on stolen diamonds. When they ran out, sold himself to the Czechs and Romanians to do their dirtiest jobs—with their French friends looking the other way. He’s above high tide mark, you think?’
    Bernardo, feeling slightly dizzy with this shot of memory in his brandy, said he was sure of it.
    ‘Then we’re in trouble, Mr. Brown. How about reconstructing his movements? He’d have waited all night at the rendezvous arranged with his fellow agent. Then at dawn—do you agree?—a look at the open sea and any likely beaches. Only when he had drawn a blank would he have tried the headlands west of Lequeitio. How do you suppose he moved around so fast?’
    ‘Must have had a car.’
    ‘And where is that car now?’
    ‘Oh, lord!’
    ‘Exactly. Deserted and standing by the side of a road somewhere very near the cliffs.’
    ‘But the police couldn’t guess where to look for him.’
    ‘Well, I know where I should try first—at the edge of the precipice. And perhaps find some footprints where you say he thought there was a path?’
    ‘No footprints, I think. At least not where anyone could get.’
    ‘And then, if the sea is calm tomorrow or the next day, I should take a boat along the foot of the cliffs and I should find both bodies with your wallet and identity card in Bobo’s pocket. It’s going to look as if you killed both of them.’
    ‘But, damn it, you shot one and the other fell!’
    ‘Assuming you didn’t give him a push. But possibly you didn’t. It’s