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‘I mean, was he born in America?’
‘Why yes, I’ve always thought so. I was always under the impression he was born in Chicago.’
‘I think perhaps I ought to tell you, Greene, before we go any further,’ Temple spoke slowly, emphasising his words, ‘Portland took me into his confidence. He told me why he was coming to England.’
Greene took that on board thoughtfully. ‘He did?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, I hope you won’t say anything about it, Temple. Now that the old boy’s dead, I don’t see any reason why we should go ahead. After all, it puts rather a different complexion on it. Don’t you agree?’
‘Yes, but if you’ve no objection, I’d like you to do me a favour.’
‘By all means. What is it?’
‘I want you to introduce me to Mr Madison.’
‘Mr Madison?’ Greene repeated the name as if it meant nothing to him.
‘Yes,’ said Temple, watching him.
‘Who’s Mr Madison?’
‘Why, he’s the private inquiry agent, the man you …’ Temple broke off. In a few seconds this affair had taken a whole new twist. ‘Are you trying to tell me that you’ve never heard of Madison?’
‘Of course I haven’t heard of him,’ Greene said with exasperation. ‘Who is he?’
‘Two weeks ago you telexed Portland with the news that a private detective called Madison had discovered information concerning his identity.’
Greene shook his head, more bewildered than ever. ‘Whose identity? Portland’s?’
‘Yes.’
‘Look here, I don’t want to be rude, Temple, but have you been drinking?’
‘You’ve never heard of Madison?’
Greene met Temple’s level gaze steadily. ‘I’ve already told you that I haven’t.’
‘Then why was Sam Portland in such a hurry to get to England?’
Greene reached into his pocket and brought out a packet of cigarettes. The librarian, standing on his library steps above and behind him, gave a loud cough. The library was a ‘No Smoking’ area. Greene put his cigarettes away again. ‘I thought you knew why. You said he told you. I was having trouble with Moira. I’ve been having trouble with her for weeks now. The girl’s a little bi– well she gets completely out of hand. I tried to keep it from Sam but in the end it was quite impossible. Three days ago I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to stand any more of her damned nonsense. I telexed her father and offered my resignation.’
‘I see.’
‘If you don’t believe me, ask George Kelly.’ Greene had already stood up. ‘He knows about Moira, he knows what’s been going on. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to see if Mrs Portland is ready to be taken down to the car.’
Temple did not stand up. He responded in kind to Greene’s curt nod. His head did not turn as the other man walked past him and out through the door behind. He sat there quite still for several minutes before he stood up and followed Portland’s London representative.
‘Paul, I do wish you’d get out of my way.’
‘Now don’t be irritable, Steve!’
‘Darling, we’ve been away for two weeks and I’m trying to unpack!’
The Temples were back at their flat in Eaton Square by seven o’clock. Charlie had prepared a special welcome-home dinner, which the Temples had felt bound to savour to the full. Then there had been the inevitable pile of correspondence which Temple had sifted through to find out if there was anything of immediate importance. In the end it was ten o’clock before they even started to unpack their suitcases and the extra packages of duty-free goods they had bought on board ship.
‘Yes, all right! All right, Steve! Where’s that bow tie – the one I bought in New York?’
‘Now what on earth do you want that for?’
‘I want to try it on.’
‘You can’t try it on now, not in your pyjamas, you’ll look ridiculous. Besides, you’ve been trying it on ever since you bought it!’
‘Oh, here it is!’ Temple deftly tied the bow and studied the effect in the mirror. His expression changed from enthusiasm to gloom.
‘I think it’s a bit bright.’
‘Of course it’s too bright, I told you that in the shop.’
‘It looked all right in New York.’
‘Yes, well, we’re not in New York! Paul, go into your study and read a book or get into bed or have a bath or something!’
‘By Timothy, I am popular!’
‘You’re just getting in my way, darling! Now where did I put that blouse? Oh, here it is … Come in, Charlie!’
Charlie was the Temples’ Jack-of-all-trades – cook, housemaid, watch-dog and even driver, but the latter only in time of dire necessity. He stood five-foot six in his socks, which were all he had on his feet now. Above them he was wearing a pair of over tight chef’s trousers and an old cardigan that had been buttoned up skew-whiff. He stared goggle-eyed at his master in pyjama top and dazzling bow tie.
‘What is it, Charlie?’
‘Sir Graham Forbes is here, sir. He’d like to have a word with you.’
‘Sir Graham? I didn’t hear the door-bell.’
‘No, sir. You and Mrs Temple was kickin’ up quite a racket. I put him in the living room, was that all right, sir?’
‘Yes, that’s all right, Charlie.’
Still mesmerised by the tie, Charlie withdrew. Steve exchanged a worried glance with her husband.
‘Paul, what does he want – do you know?’
‘No, darling. Where’s my dressing-gown?’
‘It’s on the bed.’
‘Oh, thanks …’
Temple put on his dressing-gown and thrust his feet into slippers. Steve’s voice stopped him when he was at the door.
‘Paul.’
‘Yes?’
‘I shouldn’t wear the tie, darling.’
Sir Graham Forbes was the kind of man who seemed to fill any room he was in. Broad shoulders, a trim moustache and bushy eyebrows enhanced his commanding features. He was old enough to treat women with an avuncular protectiveness to which they reacted favourably. Steve always flirted with him shamelessly, knowing that he would never overstep the bounds of correctness.
‘Hello, Steve!’ he greeted her, as she came into the sitting-room a minute or two after Paul. The two men already had glasses of whisky in their hands. ‘My word, you do look well!’ His eyes ran appreciatively over the silk house-robe she had put on. ‘Are you glad to be home?’
‘Well, I don’t know, Sir Graham. It all depends what you’ve got up your sleeve!’
‘I haven’t got anything up my sleeve,’ Forbes protested, a little too emphatically. ‘So don’t worry, my dear!’
‘Well, Sir Graham, is this a social call?’ Temple asked, waving his guest to a chair.
‘Not exactly. I want some information.’ Forbes sipped his whisky appreciatively and put the glass down on a low table beside his chair. ‘When you were on the boat coming over from America did you meet a man called Portland – Sam Portland?’
Temple nodded. ‘Yes, we did.’
‘Did you see much of him?’
‘Well – I had quite a chat with him. As a matter of fact I was going to ’phone you. There’s something about Portland you ought to know.’
Steve was standing behind the sofa. ‘Don’t you think you ought to start the story at the beginning, darling?’ she suggested.
‘Well,’ Temple began, ‘we left America last Friday evening. I was feeling rather tired because I’d had a pretty hectic time. It was just after six o’clock when the boat sailed. Steve was on deck staring at the skyscrapers and waving a last farewell to New York …’
Sir Graham listened without interruption while Temple told him in detail what had occurred on the Princess Diana. He ended with an account of his conversation with Hubert Greene.
‘Did you speak to George Kelly?’
‘Yes. He confirmed Greene’s story. He said he’d actually seen the telex from Hubert Greene offering Portland his resignation.’
‘Did you ask him about Madison?’
‘He’d never heard of him.’
‘M’m.’ Forbes sounded sceptical about that. He picked up his glass and tipped his head back to empty it. Temple stood up to replenish both their glasses.
‘Sir Graham, how does Scotland Yard come into this?’
‘Just over a week ago one of my men – Chief Inspector James – received this note. Here we are, Steve, read it.’
Steve had seated herself on the end of the sofa. She reached over for the note and slowly read it out. ‘An American multi-millionaire called Sam Portland intends to visit England. He must be stopped from doing so – if he isn’t … a … murder … will … be … committed.’
‘Is there a signature?’ Temple asked.
‘No, it’s typed, darling. There’s no signature.’
‘At first we thought it was a hoax,’ Forbes said, recovering the note from Steve. ‘Then something came up which made James decide to take it seriously. He contacted New York. They checked up and told him that Portland apparently hadn’t the slightest intention of coming to England.’
‘He probably hadn’t at that time.’
‘We kept the file open but took no further action until we heard that Portland was on his way over here …’
‘… and had died of a heart attack,’ Temple finished for him.
‘Precisely. Naturally we obtained a list of passengers and when I saw your name on it I was confident you could fill us in. There will have to be an inquest, of course, even though the doctor appeared quite happy to sign a death certificate attributing the cause of death as … ‘Forbes paused as there came a knock on the door and Charlie poked his head in.
‘Excuse me, sir.’
‘What is it, Charlie?’ Temple asked with ill-concealed impatience.
‘There’s a Mr Greene to see you, sir. I didn’t say you was in.’
‘Surely it’s a bit late for a social call,’ Steve protested.
‘That’s all right, Charlie,’ Temple said with resignation. ‘I’ll see him.’
Steve stood up and adjusted her house-robe more carefully. ‘What can Greene want, Paul?’
‘We’ll soon see,’ Temple murmured. He just had time to put the whisky glasses away before Charlie showed the visitor in. ‘Hello, Greene! Come in! What can I do for you?’
Greene was taken aback to find his hosts in night attire. ‘I’m awfully sorry to disturb you, especially at this time of night, but …’ He was staring at Sir Graham, who had remained seated. ‘I beg your pardon, sir, but haven’t we met before?’
‘My name is Forbes,’ Sir Graham told him bluntly, as if that precluded any previous acquaintance.
‘This is Sir Graham Forbes of Scotland Yard,’ Temple explained tactfully.
‘Oh, I beg your pardon! I was under the impression that we’d met somewhere. How do you do, sir?’ Greene was ready to follow up the introduction with a handshake but Sir Graham made no move to respond in kind, contenting himself with a nod.
‘I think you’ve met my wife.’
‘Yes, we met at Southampton.’ Having been rebuffed once Greene did not offer to shake hands with Steve. ‘Good evening, Mrs Temple. Temple, I’ve just left Mrs Portland. She’s in a pretty bad way, I’m afraid, and she seems very upset about – well – what seems to me rather a trivial matter.’
‘What is Mrs Portland upset about?’
‘Well, it seems that somebody’s stolen Mr Portland’s watch-chain.’
‘Stolen his watch-chain?’ It was Sir Graham that spoke.
‘Yes.’
‘Was it very valuable?’
