Whiff Of Money

The three moved down the corridor, paused at the foot of the staircase leading to the sixth floor, listened, then Girland drawing his gun, went up silently. Edging around the bend in the staircase, he assured himself no one was up there and he signalled for Gilly and Malik to come up.

'We'll wait here and see what happens,' he said and sat down on the carpet, his back against the wall, just out of sight of the stair head. The other two joined him. T could do with a pint of coffee with eggs and lashings of bacon,' he went on.

Malik eyed him, but said nothing. He disapproved of such weakness. Gilly grimaced. The thought of food, in her present state of panic, revolted her.

It wasn't until well after 08.00 hrs. that they heard a loud voice, speaking in German, come drifting up the well of the stairs. The man was saying: 'I want every one of you out into the forest. Take guns! These two must be found! Everyone is to go!'

Girland and Malik exchanged glances, then Girland got to his feet.

'Watch the stairs,' he said and moving along the corridor, he opened a door on his right and entered a small unfurnished room with a short spiral staircase, leading to one of the turrets. He climbed the stairs and moved into the turret. The slotted windows gave him a direct view down on the lawn and on to the distant forest.

He waited. Some five minutes later, he saw the first of von Goltz's men coming across the lawn, heading for the forest.

He began to count them... fifteen... twenty-three... thirty... They broke up and formed a long even line, each man ten metres apart from the other. They entered the forest. Girland continued to wait. Another five men came across the lawn, slowly followed by an enormously fat man who Girland guessed would be the chef. He plodded forward slowly, followed by another man who kept waving his arms as he talked to the fat man.

Ten minutes later, Girland saw an estate car full of women drive down to the gates. He watched the gates open and the car move off along the main road to Garmisch. Still he waited. Then he saw von Goltz, carrying a shotgun, with his major-domo at his heels also cross the lawn and enter the forest.

After waiting another ten minutes, Girland decided there was no one else to come and he returned to the corridor where Gilly looked expectantly at him. Malik was leaning over the banister, listening and watching. He straightened when Girland came from the room.

'Well?'

'Thirty-eight men and a number of women have left,' Girland said. 'The count with his major-domo has also gone into the forest. Did you hear anything?'

'They sent three men up to the room below. They took away the curtain cord and then went down again.'

The two men looked at each other.

'This could be a trap,' Girland said. 'A bluff... like the rope. The gunman could have been left behind to wait for us to show.'

Malik nodded.

'Yes. Shall we go down and find him?'

Gilly listened, her eyes growing round.

'He might not be down there. We'll play it safe just in case he is. We have plenty of time. We'll give him an hour or so.

He doesn't know for certain we are up here. Let's stretch his nerves a little.'

Again Malik nodded.

'I'll stay here . . . you watch from the turret. We want to be sure they don't give up the search in the forest and come back.'

'Yes.' Girland turned to Gilly. 'Come with me.' He led her into the turret-room. 'I'm going up into the turret. You sit on the floor. You may have a long wait, but try to amuse yourself. Think of all the nice things you've done in your life if you can remember them .. . that should keep you occupied.'

Gilly flushed.

There are moments when I could kill you!' she said fiercely. 'You treat me like a child!'

'No, Gilly... not a child.'

Girland regarded her for a long moment, then went up the turret stairs.

Gilly choked back a sob. That cool, indifferent look he had given her told her as no words could his opinion of her.

What really hurt her was that she knew his opinion of her was the same as her own.

* * *

Lu Silk sat motionless in his chair, his gun resting in his lap. The silence in this vast Schloss was depressing, but Silk was used to silence. He was also used to waiting. He was sure, sooner or later Girland would come down the stairs, and then he would have him.

While he sat there Silk recalled another long wait he once had -when was it? Three years back? He nodded to himself.

Yes, three years back.

There was an agitator, Jack Adams, who was stirring up trouble among the men working on one of Radnitz's big building projects. The work was slowing down and Radnitz could see he could get caught on the compensation clause: big money, so he had given Silk the signal to get rid of Adams.

Adams had lived in a two room walk-up in Brooklyn. He knew he was in danger, but he had a lot of confidence in himself which was a mistake when dealing with a man like Silk.