The Blue Ice

'So it's Bill, is it? Big Bill Gansert.' He laughed unpleasantly. 'And you'll vouch for him, will you, Jill? My girl calls him Bill and she says she'll vouch for him, and I'm supposed to make him a present of my life's work. I'll see you in hell first,' he shouted at me. He turned on Jill. 'As for you — ' And then he stopped and rubbed his hand over his face. 'No,' he said. 'No. I guess it's not your fault. It's my fault. If only I could make you understand.'

'But I do understand,' she said softly.

He looked at her long and searchingly. 'Maybe you do,' he said with a sigh. 'But it's too late now.' He straightened up and looked us over, the muzzle of his luger following the direction of his gaze. 'I'll get away from you all — do you hear?'

'There are police down at Finse,' Jill said.

He nodded. 'Yes. I expected that. I expected that as soon as I saw Jorgensen here.' He crashed the butt of his pistol against the wooden wall. 'I'm hounded out of my own country. Now I'm being hounded out of Norway. Why? Why?' His voice was high-pitched, hysterical. 'I did what I had to do. These metals were my life work. I needed money for research. Would any institute in Britain give it to me? Would any of the big industrial concerns?

'No.' He looked angrily at me. 'Certainly not B.M. & I. So I stole the money. I stole it from my partner. He was a dull, unimaginative little man anyway. But now — now I've done the spadework and got something they want — now they'd be prepared to condone murder — if you can call killing a rat like Schreuder — a traitor — murder. Well, you won't get it — any of you. I'll get away. Right away. Somewhere where I'm not known. Then I'll make my own terms.'

'You can make your terms right here and now,' I said.

He looked at me. 'How do you mean?'

'I have full authority to act for B.M. & I.,' I pointed out.

He laughed. 'What will you offer?'

I hesitated. What offer could I honestly make him? 'Do you want an outright figure or a percentage of the ore lifted?' I asked.

'What's your outright figure?' He was watching me with a sneer.

'A hundred thousand pounds,' I said. 'Payable over five years provided the deposits hold out that long.'

He threw back his head and laughed. 'A hundred thousand! If you offered me a million, it wouldn't repay me for what I've been through — or Jill — or that poor little wretch, Clegg. It wouldn't bring Schreuder back to life or stop my father from committing suicide. You didn't know about that, did you? He committed suicide. A million! Those deposits are worth tens of millions to the company that gets hold of them.'

'What about a directorship in Del Norske Staalselskab and a part share in the business?' Jorgensen said.

He sighed. 'You don't seem to realise what I've got here. It's bigger than D.N.S. Bigger than B.M. & I. It could be the world's biggest industrial plant. And anyway I don't trust you,' he shouted. 'I don't trust any of you.'

'Well, who will you trust?' I asked. 'What about the person you sent those samples to — in the whale meat. Will you trust them? Who was it?'

He stared. 'You mean to say you don't know who it was? But I thought! — he looked across at Jill — 'I thought that's why you were here. Didn't you tip Gansert off?'

Jill stared. 'I don't understand.'

'Those samples — didn't you give them to Gansert?'

'I never received any samples. Mr Gansert got some, but that was from Sir Clinton Mann.'

'They were delivered to us as the result of an advertisement,' I explained. 'The address on the package had been obliterated by blood.'

'Oh. So that's what happened.' He looked across at Jill again. 'I'm sorry. I thought — '

He rubbed his hands across his face. He was dead with tiredness.

'Why don't you trust Mr Gansert?' Jill said again. 'Please, George.'

She moved towards him. But he waved her back. 'Keep there against the table, Jill. And throw me a sandwich from that packet.'

She tossed him the packet. He took another swig at the flask of brandy and then began to eat. 'He could get you out of Norway,' Jill went on, pleadingly. 'He's got his yacht here. Everything could be arranged. We could start again. Please, George — trust him.'

'I'll trust nobody,' he snarled, his mouth full.

I was watching Jill and I saw her lower lip tremble. Her eyes were dull and lifeless. Dahler began to agitate his withered arm. His right hand plucked at his ski suit. 'Mr Farnell,' he said. 'I wish to speak to you. I want to ask something of you. Once you saved my life, you know. Now I wish for your help again. I want you to tell them how I escaped. Tell them that I didn't sell any secrets to the Germans. Tell them — '

'Shut up!' Farnell shouted violently. 'I'm trying to think.'

'But — please — they,must be told. They will not let me into Norway.'They say I am a traitor. I am not. I gave no secrets away. Tell them that, please. Tell them how you helped me escape from Finse.'

'Shut up — damn you!' Farnell almost screamed.