скачать книгу бесплатно
The Information Officer
Mark Mills
From the No. 1 bestseller and author of Richard & Judy pick The Savage Garden: an atmospheric world war two crime thriller for fans of Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Jed Rubenfeld"You want to know who I am? I'm the last living soul you'll ever set eyes on"Summer, 1942. For the people of Malta, suffering daily bombing raids, the British are the last line of defence against the Nazis. And it is Max Chadwick's job as the information officer to ensure the news the islanders receive maintains morale.So when Max is given proof suggesting a British officer is murdering local women, he knows the consequences of discovery are dire. With the violence on the war-ravaged island escalating daily, he embarks on a private investigation, hidden from the eyes of superiors, friends and the woman he loves.But Max finds himself torn between patriotic duty and personal honour in his efforts to track down the killer… an elusive figure always one step ahead of his hunter.
THE
INFORMATION
OFFICER
MARK MILLS
For Caroline, Gus and Rosie
You have killed a sweet lady,and her death shall fall heavy on you.
Much Ado About Nothing William Shakespeare
Contents
Title Page (#ua1415de2-735e-5156-b512-08ab51c33f40)Epigraph (#u17c0f917-a3d5-51aa-8a5a-d366dca5cbfe)London May (#u714a9466-cf74-5285-bafb-b7e34365a011)Malta April (#ua0a9ac30-9424-5ae1-b6d5-eebea9e4091a)Day One (#ufe984487-6c12-53f1-aa95-51f1b74405f9)He lay stretched (#u0d920717-95d2-509e-8e4e-e2dcfd187743)Day Two (#uc4069ca3-50dd-57eb-8cbe-8b129b45898b)High overhead (#ucab762af-623b-54c5-8c42-a75248eabffa)Day Three (#u3d24c8aa-1363-56bd-9514-1fe9baeb06bb)It wasn't a diary (#litres_trial_promo)Day Four (#litres_trial_promo)The message was short (#litres_trial_promo)Day Five (#litres_trial_promo)He usually wrote (#litres_trial_promo)Day Six (#litres_trial_promo)Tacitus contacted (#litres_trial_promo)Day Seven (#litres_trial_promo)It was perfect (#litres_trial_promo)Day Eight (#litres_trial_promo)Carmela Cassar had sobbed (#litres_trial_promo)Day Nine (#litres_trial_promo)London May 1951 (#litres_trial_promo)The fly-in of new Spitfires (#litres_trial_promo)Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)By The Same Author (#litres_trial_promo)About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
LONDON May 1951 (#u296e1901-f8de-5c3d-b9ec-50e57552a8c9)
Mario was in a good mood.
This wasn’t saying much; he was often in a good mood. It was a legacy from his father—a simple, hardworking man who had drilled into his children the value of giving daily thanks for those things which most took for granted.
Mario cast an approving eye around the restaurant. A prime site a stone’s throw from the Ritz, and after just four short years, a reputation to match the very best in town. Not bad for the son of a shoemaker from a small village in northern Italy. Not bad at all.
The place was empty, just one lone customer at the bar, but it would be heaving within the hour, even in these austere times. He checked over the reservations book, memorizing the names and the table allocations. He prided himself on not having to refer to it once the first diners had arrived. There was the usual smattering of household names with strong views about where they sat. Juggling their wishes was about as hard as his job got.
Table 7 was the first to show. His face wasn’t well-known to Mario—one of the birthdays-andanniversaries-only crowd—but he remembered him as a generous tipper. He wore a good quality suit, its looser cut suggesting one of the new tailors just off Savile Row. He informed Mario that his wife would be arriving separately and requested a Dry Martini to keep him company in the meantime.
The wife was obviously a romantic because a special order had been placed earlier in the day for a bottle of wine to be brought to the table as a surprise. It was a white wine from a small French house and it had arrived by taxi along with written instructions and a generous contribution towards corkage.
It was already on ice, ready and waiting behind the bar. Mario tipped Gregory the wink before taking up a discreet position behind a bushy palmetto to observe the reaction.
The man smiled at the appearance of the ice bucket, but the moment Gregory revealed the bottle to him he fell absolutely still, the blood draining from his face. He looked up at Gregory, speechless, and then his eyes darted wildly around the restaurant. They came to settle on the only other customer—the gentleman seated at the bar. His back was turned to Table 7, but he now swivelled round on his stool.
It was impossible to read the look that passed between the two men, but it crackled with a strange intensity. Poor Gregory was flummoxed. He offered to pour the wine, was ignored, then wisely chose to retire as the gentleman at the bar made his way over, clutching his cocktail. He was tall and balding and walked with a lazy grace.
Another thing Mario prided himself on was his absolute discretion, but this was a conversation he wanted to hear. He drifted towards Table 10, out of sight behind the high banquette but just within earshot, he calculated. He arrived as the balding man was taking a seat.
‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
There was a soft but unmistakable American lilt to his accent.
‘Where’s my wife?’ said the other man.
‘Don’t worry, she’s just fine.’
‘Where is she?’
‘At home. She thought we should talk.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘It’s true. Call her if you like. Cigarette?’
‘I have my own.’
‘Try one of these—they’re Russian.’
Mario heard the cigarettes being lit and then the balding man say, ‘What’s your secret?’
‘My secret?’
‘You’ve barely aged in ten years.’
‘Nine.’
‘It feels longer.’
‘Does it?’
‘I miss Malta.’
‘I doubt that.’
‘You don’t seem very pleased to see me.’
‘What did you expect? The last time I saw you, you tried to kill me.’
Mario almost toppled a wine glass on Table 10.
‘Is that what they told you?’ asked the balding man.
‘They didn’t have to. I was there, remember?’
‘You’re wrong. I could have killed you. Maybe I should have. I chose not to.’
The other man gave a short snort of derision.
Mario was well out of his depth now and regretting his decision to eavesdrop. Help came in the form of a large party of diners who blew in through the door on a gale of laughter. Mario couldn’t see them from where he was lurking.
‘Isn’t that the actor everyone’s talking about?’ said the balding man.
‘I think so.’
‘I’m not sure a Fedora and a cloak suit a fellow that short. He looks like a kid playing at Zorro.’
Definitely Table 2, thought Mario, swooping from his hiding place to greet the new arrivals.
MALTA April 1942 (#u296e1901-f8de-5c3d-b9ec-50e57552a8c9)
She knew the cemetery well; not every gravestone, tomb and mausoleum, but most. She certainly knew it well enough to tread its twisting pathways with confidence, even on a moonless night such as this. Before the blackout restrictions, she would have been assisted on her way by a constellation of flickering candles, but with the deep darkness as her only companion she still walked with confidence and purpose.
The mellow scent of pine sap came at her clear on the warm night breeze. Tonight, however, it did battle with the rank odour of decay, of putrefaction. Two wayward German bombs—or possibly Italian, now that the cicci macaroni were back—had smacked into the hillside the previous night during a raid, reducing family tombs to rubble and wrenching coffins from the thin soil. Corpses in various states of decomposition had been scattered in all directions, their rude awakening like some dress rehearsal for the Day of Judgement.
It was Father Debono who had drawn this parallel for their benefit at early-morning Mass, and while it was the sort of observation for which he was known, and which endeared him to the younger members of his flock, his willingness to flirt with irreverence was a source of ongoing distrust among the more elderly. Many had furrowed their brows; some had even tut-tutted from their pews.
She knew where her sympathies lay, though. She knew that it was Father Debono, not old Grech and his wizened, holier-than-thou sister, who had spent that day in the thick of it, toiling through the pitiless heat and the inhuman stench to ensure that all the corpses were recovered and reburied with all the proper rites.
Judging from the smell, Father Debono and his small band of helpers had not been able to complete their grim task before nightfall, and she picked up her pace a little at the thought of the rats feasting on flesh nearby. She had always hated rats, even before the war, before the stories of what went on beneath the rubble of the bombed-out buildings had begun to circulate.
That’s when she saw the light up ahead: a flickering flame…the vague contours of a face…a man lighting a cigarette. Then darkness once more.
She slowed, more from respect than fear. With the cemetery doing a roaring trade, it was not the first time she had come across some grieving soul while making her way home from work in the early hours of the morning. She had once heard deep male sobs in the darkness and had removed her shoes so that the unfortunate person would not be disturbed by her footfalls on the paved pathway.
‘Good evening,’ she said quietly in Maltese as she drew level.
He was seated on the low stone wall to the right of the path, and he responded in English.
‘I think you’ll find it’s morning, Carmela.’
She didn’t know the voice, or if she did, she couldn’t place it.
‘Did you make good money tonight?’
He not only knew her, he knew what she did, and she was happy he couldn’t see the colour rising in her cheeks.
‘Yes, not bad.’
‘Oh, but you are, and you know it.’
It wasn’t so much the words as the slow, easy drawl with which they were delivered that set her heart racing.
His small laugh did something to soothe her building apprehension.
‘I was only joking.’
He drew long and hard on his cigarette. In the dim glow of burning tobacco, she could just discern that he was wearing khaki battle-dress: shirt and shorts. This didn’t help much. All the services had adopted it recently, and she was unable to make out the shoulder flashes.
‘Who are you?’ she asked.
‘Ah, now I’m insulted.’
It could have been Harry, or Bernard, or even young Bill, the one they all called ‘little Willy’ (before invariably erupting in laughter). But she didn’t feel like laughing, because it could have been almost any one of the officers who passed through the Blue Parrot on a typical night, and this man remained silent, enjoying her confusion, her discomfort, which was cruel and uncalled for.
‘I must go.’
He was off the wall and seizing her arm before she had taken two paces.
‘What’s the hurry?’
She tried to pull free, but his grip was firm, vice-like, painful. She let out a small cry and attempted to twist away. The manoeuvre failed miserably and she found herself trapped against him, her back pressed into his chest.
He clamped his free hand over her mouth. ‘Ssshhhh…’ he soothed.
He spat the cigarette away and put his mouth to her ear.
‘You want to know who I am? I’m the last living soul you’ll ever set eyes on.’
She didn’t need to know all of the words, she understood their meaning. And now she began to struggle in earnest, her thoughts turning to her home, her parents, her brothers, her dog, all so close, just a short way up the hill.
He repaid her efforts by twisting her left arm up behind her until something gave in her shoulder. The pain ripped through her, carrying her to the brink of unconsciousness, her knees starting to give. In desperation she tried to bite the hand gagging her cries but he cupped his fingers away from her teeth. His other hand released her now useless arm and jammed itself between her legs, into the fork of her thighs, pulling her back against him.
His breathing was strangely calm and measured, and there was something in the sound of it that suggested he was smiling.
When she felt him hardening against her, she began to weep.
Day One (#u296e1901-f8de-5c3d-b9ec-50e57552a8c9)
‘Tea or coffee?’
‘Which do you recommend?’
‘Well, the first tastes like dishwater, the second like slurry run-off.’
‘I’ll try the slurry run-off.’
Max summoned the attention of the waiter hovering nearby. He was new—squat and toad-like—some member of the kitchen staff drafted in to replace Ugo, whose wife had been wounded in a strafing attack at the weekend while out strolling with friends near Rabat. Gratifyingly, the pilot of the Messerschmitt 109 had paid for this outrage with his life, a Spitfire from Ta’ Qali dropping on to his tail moments later and bringing him down in the drink off the Dingli Cliffs.
‘How’s Ugo’s wife?’ Max enquired of the waiter.
‘She dead.’
‘Oh.’
In case there was any doubt, the waiter tilted his head to one side and let a fat tongue roll out his mouth. The eyes remained open, staring.
‘Two coffees, please.’
‘Two coffee.’
‘Yes, thank you.’
Max’s eyes tracked the waiter as he waddled off, but his thoughts were elsewhere, with Ugo, and wondering how long it would be before he smiled his crooked smile again.
