TOLL FOR THE BRAVE by Jack Higgins

Author:Jack Higgins [Jack Higgins]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007369423
Publisher: HarperCollins

When I finally finished, we were sitting facing each other on the opposite sides of the table. She believed me, there was no doubt about that, but her distress was plain.

‘But why, Ellis? What could be the motive?’

‘All right,’ I said. ‘Accepting Vaughan’s version of things, an important part of the original plan was quite simply that I should appear to be a raving lunatic under the influence of dangerous drugs who then committed suicide. Fortunately for me, I vomited most of the poison and Sean arrived in time to do exactly the right thing.’

‘I know that,’ she said. ‘Go on.’

‘Now the fact that I’m alive, no matter how guilty I look, is more than inconvenient because it means there’s always a chance that if I keep on yelling loudly enough, someone might take a little notice.’

‘Not take things quite so much for granted, you mean?’

‘Exactly. Much better if poor, raving Ellis Jackson throws himself off the catwalk or jumps down the lift shaft. If either of those things had happened it would have been accepted as a second, only this time successful, attempt at suicide.’

‘But not by Vaughan, surely?’

‘Dead right, only they don’t know how far their little scheme’s come unstuck already, do they?’

She shook her head slowly. ‘Even so, this Flattery business is terrible. You should have stayed, Ellis. Now things look blacker than ever.’

‘Oh, no they don’t.’ I produced the visiting card. ‘Not as long as I’ve got this. The mysterious Mr Pendlebury’s got some explaining to do. There’ll be an R.A.C. handbook in the Alfa. Give me the keys.’

‘What do you want that for?’

‘To find out exactly where Sidbury is.’

‘You don’t mean to say you intend to go chasing off after this wretched man yourself.’

‘Have you any objections?’

She appeared to hesitate, then sighed heavily, reached for her handbag and took out the keys which she threw across the table.

‘For such a clever man you can sometimes be incredibly stupid, Ellis, but have it your own way.’

I went out into the rain, unlocked the Alfa and got into the driving seat. I found the R.A.C. handbook and looked up Sidbury in the gazetteer. It was there all right. Population one hundred and twenty. One pub, one garage and not much else, on the edge of the Mendip Hills not far from Wells. I had a look at the map then returned to the cottage.

Helen was not in the kitchen. I opened the far door and found myself in a pleasant, oak-beamed lounge. There was a stone hearth large enough to roast an ox and a log fire burned brightly. She was sitting beside it, her hand on the telephone.

‘Who are you thinking of calling – Vaughan?’

‘I can’t,’ she said. ‘He phoned earlier to say he’d been called to Paris for a NATO Intelligence conference to discuss this whole affair.’

‘When does he get back?’

‘Sometime tomorrow morning. He’s flying in on the RAF Support Command mail plane first thing.’

‘All right, that rules him out for the moment which only leaves Sean and he’ll still be en route for London.

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