06 Alias the Saint

"She might have run away with Perry," said the Saint, with a kind of frantic hope that he knew instinctively to be the hope of a fool.

And the detective's reply came so pat that even Simon Templar was startled,

"She might have," said Teal grimly, "because Perry's also disappeared."

The Saint stood like a statue.

Then when he spoke again his voice was strangely quiet.

"Tell me about Perry," he said. . "Perry just went out to lunch in the ordinary way, but he never went back to the office."

The Saint removed his cigarette from his mouth. It had gone out. He gazed at it as if it's extinction was the only thing in the world that mattered.

Then he said: "At the police court this morning, Hallin was remanded for a medical examination. Was that the beak's idea--or yours?"

"Largely mine," said Teal,

"Would Hallin know?"

"He might have guessed."

"And what happened after that?"

"Probably, he lunched with Perry. The identification isn't certain, but--"

"Has Hallin been seen anywhere since?"

"I've had men making inquiries. If you'll let me use your telephone--"

"Carry on."

The detective moved ponderously over to the instrument; and Simon, lighting another cigarette, began to stride up and down the room.

He was still pacing the carpet when Teal hung up the receiver and turned to him again.

"Hallin hasn't been seen since lunch."

The Saint nodded without speaking, and set off on a fresh route, his hands deep in his pockets. Teal watched him with exasperation.

"Haven't you got anything to say?" he demanded.

Simon raised his eyes from the floor.

"I've made a big mistake," he said, as though nothing else concerned him; and Teal seethed audibly,

"For heaven's sake!"

"Er--not exactly."

The Saint stopped abruptly on those words, and faced about; and Teal was suddenly amazed that he could ever have associated that dark, rakish profile with trivialities.

"My mistake," said the Saint, "was in underrating Hallin's intelligence. I don't know why I did it. He'd naturally be quick on the uptake. And he'd realize that when those shares went up he'd be damned. Perry would have to believe me. And the rest follows."

"What follows?"

"He got Perry away with some yarn--probably about Moyna. Then he rushed down to Windsor, caught Moyna at the station, and offered to drive her to London. But I know where they went--Perry may be there too."

"Where?"

"Wales."

"How d'you know that?"

"Hallin's got a place there. Damn it, Teal, d'you think you're the only durned General Information Bureau in this gosh-blinded burg?"

Teal brushed his hat on his sleeve.

"I can get a police car round here in five minutes," he stated.

"Do it," said the Saint; and Teal went again to the telephone--very quickly.

When he had given his instructions, he put his hat down on the table, and came and stood in front of the Saint. And suddenly his hands shot out, and moved swiftly and firmly over the Saint's pockets. And the Saint smiled.

"Did you think I was carrying the missing couple around with me?" he murmured, in the mildest of expostulation; but Teal was not amused.

"I'm remembering Lemuel," he said briefly. "You may be coming with me, but you're not carrying a gun."

The Saint smiled even more gently.

"Miles Hallin is terribly afraid," he said, addressing the ceiling. "Once upon a time, he was just afraid of dying; but now he has an even bigger fear. He's afraid of dying before he's finished with life. ... I think someone had better carry a gun."

Teal understood perfectly,

6

"So there you are'" Nigel Perry flung open the door of the cottage as Hallin's car pulled up outside. ."I was wondering what on earth to do. Moyna isn't here--"

"She isn't far away," Hallin said.

He climbed stiffly out of his seat. Perry could not see his face clearly in the gloom, but something in Hallin's tone puzzled him. And then Hallin took him by the arm with a laugh.

"Come inside," he said, "and I'll tell you all about it."

Inside, in the lighted room, Hallin's heavy features seemed drawn and strained; but of course he had just driven nearly a hundred and sixty miles at his usual breakneck pace.

"Heavens, I'm tired!"

He sat down and passed a hand across his forehead. His eyes strayed towards the decanter on a side table, and the younger man hurried towards it.

"Thanks," Hallin said.

"I've been bothered to death, Miles!" said Perry, boyishly, splashing soda water into the glass. "I didn't dare leave the place, in case Moyna arrived and found nobody here, and I didn't know how to get in touch with you."

"And now I expect you're wondering why I'm here at all.'

"I am."

Hallin took the tumbler and half emptied it at a gulp.

"That's better! . . . Well, everything's gone wrong that could go wrong."

"Don't you know any more than you knew at lunchtime?"