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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 felt needles of shock prick his skin. For the first time he began seriously to doubt that there had been a third party. Doubt the interpretation of the child’s drawing. ‘It is just possible then that Slater went with a gun to the Rue de Pavie intending to kill Gryffe, take the money and skip the country.’

‘Possible,’ du Maurier conceded, ‘but I doubt it. It is a theory with very little to support it. Don’t forget all that I told you yesterday. Before I was instructed to drop my investigation, we found no way of connecting the gun to Monsieur Slater. In fact, I don’t think we ever would. The registration number had been filed off, and I’m sure that ballistics would have told us that they have no record of it. It was a professional’s gun, Monsieur. A once-only job. And Monsieur Slater was not a professional. Neither was he stupid. A man is shot dead, a man who others knew was meeting Slater in his house that morning. Slater disappears. Those are the actions of a stupid man. And Slater’s flight to London was not until Sunday evening. Even if he had meant to murder Gryffe and run, he would not have waited nearly twelve hours. He would never have reached the airport.’

Bannerman conceded du Maurier’s logic with something like relief. Since finding the packed cases there had been a niggling doubt in the back of his mind about Slater. At no point until then had he thought the man capable of murder. Du Maurier’s confirmation of Slater’s intention to flee the country had brought that seed of doubt to flower. But now it withered as quickly, leaving a greater clarity. ‘Then we are left with the original question of what business Slater had with Gryffe.’ He thought about it. ‘Blackmail?’

Du Maurier smiled. ‘Go on.’

‘If Slater was blackmailing Gryffe then there would be no need for him to make a hurried departure. Maybe,’ his mind was working overtime, ‘maybe if Slater had been blackmailing him for some time, Sunday was to have been the final pay-off. A quarter of a million dollars is a lot of money, but I wouldn’t have thought it was enough to make Slater give up everything here. Certainly not overnight. People win more on the Pools.’