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Chapters (45)
  1. The Man With No Face
  2. Also by
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. Contents
  8. INTRODUCTION
  9. CHAPTER ONE
  10. CHAPTER TWO
  11. CHAPTER THREE
  12. CHAPTER FOUR
  13. CHAPTER FIVE
  14. CHAPTER SIX
  15. CHAPTER SEVEN
  16. CHAPTER EIGHT
  17. CHAPTER NINE
  18. CHAPTER TEN
  19. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  20. CHAPTER TWELVE
  21. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  22. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  23. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  25. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  26. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  27. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Bannerman shook his head sadly. ‘I would have. Probably today. I only found out yesterday. I had a deal with Platt, but it looks as if he meant to jump the gun. Screw me over.’

‘My God, you are a fool, Monsieur! Who else knew about this?’

‘Only Platt, myself, my editor, and the man in Switzerland who did the company searches. Oh, and Jansen, of course.’

‘Jansen?’

‘I confronted him with it last night.’

Bannerman heard the air escape from between du Maurier’s clenched teeth.

‘And who knew about your deal with Platt?’

‘No one, as far as I know.’

The Inspector lit another cigarette. ‘Then it is you that they meant to kill.’

Bannerman closed his eyes. Still drunk, still in shock. ‘Yes.’

‘You’re taking it very calmly.’

‘Appearances can be deceptive.’ Bannerman was right on the edge. He could not remember having felt this bad at any time in his life. He had failed. Failed in everything. ‘Will you arrest Jansen?’

‘How can I arrest him?’

‘Because who else could be responsible?’ He was thinking how easily he had been taken in by Jansen, how easily he had been led to doubt Jansen’s involvement in the killings of Gryffe and Slater.

Du Maurier shook his head. ‘There is no proof. Not yet, anyway. One thing is clear, though. Whoever pulled the trigger on Monsieur Platt, it was not the same man who killed Gryffe and Slater.’

Bannerman turned to look at the policeman. His face seemed pale, almost yellow, in the light of the streetlamps. ‘How can you know that?’

‘Because the man at the Rue de Pavie was a professional. Meticulous in every way. Monsieur Platt was killed by some underworld hoodlum. A hired gun. Effective, but crude. Messy, not a pro. We have a better chance of catching him and so we have a better chance of finding out who hired him. We do not know that it is Jansen. Besides, I think your obsession with that man is perhaps blinding you to other possibilities.’

Bannerman shivered. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I am very tired, Monsieur.’ Du Maurier sighed. ‘I should like to be home in my bed. You will be required to come to my office later today to make an official statement. Perhaps we can discuss it then.’

Bannerman folded Platt’s story and held it out to the Inspector.

‘No, you keep it. It is better that we never found it. I shall wait until you have published. You see, Monsieur, public pressure will have a greater influence on my superiors to reopen the case than an uncorroborated story found on the body of a dead journalist. And we would not want to give them advance warning, would we?’

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Sunday. The change in the weather overnight was marked. It had rained steadily for some hours before dawn, and when the first light misted the rain-sodden air much of the snow had gone.