O= They Ate the Truth 15

Johann sounds very Dutch, but he speaks English well, if a little
too deliberately. He stresses his words too much. He reminds me of the
man in the Grolsch adverts that I always hated "Schtop, this bride is
not ready yet!".

"So, " he says, "You're the bloke who's been sleeping with my wife. Not
sure how I feel about that. "

I'm not inclined to help him out. To help me focus, I grind broken
glass under my heel. My head is full of Bill and how I've dragged him
into something he should never have been part of. Any minute now, the
guy following Bill is going to come out of the Gents. He's been looking
for van Gibt, he's not going to mess around.

"My hands are sticky, " complains van Gibt when I don't answer, "Bill's
little chum slipped and banged his head on the sink. I have hair wax
all over my palms. "

"What do you want? " I ask, then almost groan at how bad a line it
is.

His voice takes on a dreamy quality, "I don't know. Not to work with
children? Not mad about world peace either. I'd quite like the stack of
money I'm due to get, and my wife back. "

Grind some more glass, work it out on that, get myself calm before
answering.

"I'm not handing her over. You tried to kill her. "

He laughs so hard he begins coughing. "You really are quite stupid.
Lafferty's little boy was watching the house all week - if we'd been
wanting to kill Lorrie, we could have done it any time. We wanted to
kill you. "

Thank God that bottle's smashed. I throw a look down at the floor,
wondering for a second whether any of the rum has pooled so that I
could dip a finger in it. I'm so pathetic. Some detective I am, I'd
never even thought of that.

"Lafferty? " I say.

"My new business associates. Chesterton is old news, and a poor payer.
Go running back to his mob if you like, but as Lafferty says 'They can
kill you, but we can kill you worse'. "

They are all fond of their snappy lines, these intelligence folk. I
hadn't realised. I wonder idly whether it is a spin-off from Pulp
Fiction. Old, I know, but a few years back Bill told me every cheap
crook in the game was thumbing through the Bible, trying to find
themselves a scary line to call their own. Maybe that filtered up to
the intelligence boys too, they feel inadequate if they don't have a
chilling sentence.

"Interesting guy though, Chesterton, " says van Gibt, "Were you aware
that he injected himself with a small amount of sodium pentathol every
day, to build up resistance to truth serums? "

"No, I wasn't. "

"Took his preservation of information very seriously, " says van Gibt,
"That's why I knew although he needed me, he was always a little scared
of me. I wonder if he did the injections himself or got that silent
housekeeper to do it. I can't really picture him with trousers hitched
down and her dabbing him with cotton wool. "

I'm unbuttoning my shirt, it feels too tight around the shoulders.
Perhaps I'm having a panic attack.

"Odd thing, " says van Gibt, "The first sound his little son ever heard
was his father screaming as my creatures chewed out his secrets. They
were so full by the time they finished. I've barely touched the surface
with the reconstitution. "

"Scratched, " I say automatically, "Scratched the surface. "

"Is all the same, " says van Gibt. He has absolutely no remorse about
it at all. It makes me wonder how he could let the bugs fly at
Chesterton (can he really be dead?) without fearing that they would
come for him.

"Still, " he says, "I was only really interested in you and Lorrie, and
he didn't know where either of you were. He did know somewhere you
might be found though, that's why I'm here with your friend. "

"He has nothing to do with this, " I say, and I surprise myself with
the chill that I'm able to put into my words.

"Bit late for that, " says van Gibt - he must have someone else there
with him, someone watching Bill. I can hear foreign words being
exchanged, "You brought him into this. Only you can pull him out.
"

"What do you want? " I ask.

Johann laughs again, "Jesus, " he says, pronouncing it nearly with a
Ch, "I thought we'd done that already. Little Lorrie. She's really very
good at making men fall in love with her. You knew that, didn't you?
That was what Chesterton trained her for. She didn't count on meeting
someone like me though. "

Fancies himself. I remembered that. Arrogant, good-looking son of a
bitch. Of course I'm not jealous. I'm worried about my friend Bill, and
whether or not the world is going to end, jealousy is far from my
thoughts.

"No training for me, " crows van Gibt, "Women just fall in love with
me. Sometimes whether I want them to or not. Of course, Lorrie doesn't
remember that she loves me. But she'll be just as easy next time
around. And perhaps her magic worked on me, just a bit. "

I think I'm going to be sick. I may as well have drunk that bottle of
rum, because I'd be throwing it all up right now. If there's anyone in
my life I wanted to punch in the face more, I can't think of him right
now. The bald guy with the milk-bottle glasses in the Halifax adverts,
who sings and dances with his hips in a sickening way? Not even
him.

Deep breath. "I have no way of getting in touch with her. You've got to
believe me. I needed to be sure when I went to see Chesterton that I
wouldn't betray her, that they couldn't find her through me. "

He makes a noise through his teeth, "That is true, " he says, "A sap
like you wouldn't stand up to ten minutes of Chesterton. I found out
such things from him. He was a very disturbed individual, I would
think. But, I don't think you are the one to cut her loose, to leave
her on her own. A girl who can't think for herself. "

Damn.

"I would imagine, " he says, "That she has a way of getting in touch
with you, should the need arise. Something clever. You are not brave,
but you are deceitful. Chesterton thought that of you. "

I've been on this telephone for too long, are they tracing it? Am I
being found as I wait here? And by whom?

"Three days, " he says, "Bring her to me by then. You will give me your
mobile telephone number. I know that you don't use it, but you have
one. I'm still in love with her, but you know, these things wear off.
Three days, or I have to kill your friend for fun. I have loads of new
things I want to try out."

What can I do?

"Let me say this, " I say to him, keeping my voice level, "You hurt
Bill, you die. You hurt Lorrie, you die. "

"These things, " he says, "Are in your grasp, not mine. "

I can't let him leave this call winning everything. "You killed my
insects. That's still something we have to settle. "

I can almost hear him blink. "Not my work, little man. Interesting.
Chesterton hadn't done it either. I wonder who is left? "

All I can do now is go back to the hotel and wait for Kilroy to come on
in the morning?