The List of Adrian Messenger Page #4

B Company, Number One Platoon.

Lieutenant Petrie Commanding, till

he caught a packet outside Antwerp.

Then Lieutenant Scott took over.

Did you brother ever talk

about his experiences in Burma?

Jim? Talked about nothing. Spent

his time working the football pools.

Did you ever hear mention

of any of these names?

Braddock, l knew s Braddock once,

first name Eric.

Come to think of it, it wasn't

Braddock at all. It was Craddock.

Anything else you'd like to know?.

Nothing. Thank you.

What's this all about?

We're forming the Society of

Veterans of the Burma Campaign.

Good evening.

As l so aptly said.

11 names and then there were none.

That makes it 100%.

-They looking for you, they are.

-Stop your nattering.

Call it nattering, all right.

But l say you've had it.

You tried the impossible

and you got away with it.

But not no more. Now, l say run.

run fast and far.

-How do you feel?

-Ashamed.

That l should oversleep.

l am not the man l used to be.

The yeas have taken their toll.

Eight broken ribs and 11 hours

in salt water maybe played a part.

In any case,

you were spared a wild goose chase.

No progress?

All present on Messenger's

list have been accounted for.

There are no survivors.

Now we're left with an undecipherable

phrase, ''Only one brush left''.

What the devil did he mean?

Madam Jocelyn has returned to

the country.

-She was here?

-She stopped by.

l suggested she say nothing

about yesterday. You approve?

l do indeed.

''One brush left.''

-You have known here long?

-Yes, since she was a child.

-Her husband was a good man?

-Very good man.

-A son survives him?

-Yes, young Derek.

Perhaps l shall buy him a bicycle.

l see.

Ajax is a bachelor.

Like Polidor.

A good reason Im not married.

She preferred Derek's father.

He must have been a very good man.

But he's dead now, and you are alive.

Don't give it another thought.

lf we were to meet now, for the first

time, it might be a different matter.

But there's too much

past for both of us.

l have met here now for

the first time.

My point exactly.

Let us return to the murderer.

Double gay

and frisky for Jolly Joe Slattery!

Cheers.

Let's have another.

Forget about that.

Well, Jim?

Are you satisfied now?.

Jim?

''Don't you worry, Ma,'' you said.

''Jim Slattery knows what's what!''

What do you know now, Jim?

Why did he take his brother's place.

To draw Joe's disability pension,

of course.

Jim was well and strong.

''What use is it to Joe?'' you said.

What us is it to you now, Jim?

He lied to me. It cost him his life.

It was the drink. l always

knew there'd be an accident.

It was no accident.

Your son was murdered.

Maybe. He made enemies with

his bragging and his bullying.

It was because that happened

a long time ago in Burma.

lf he'd been honest with me, he'd be

alive now and I'd know the murderer.

He can't answer me now, Mrs.

Slattery, but you can.

-He was in Burma, wasn't he?

-Yes. He was in Burma.

To hear him talk you'd think

he was the only one that suffered.

-Him and his prison camp.

-So that was it.

He suffered horrible.

Had the scars to prove it.

Did he ever talk about his experiences,

mention any names?

No. Never talked

about anyone but himself.

Not Jim.

Thank you, Mrs. Slattery.

l should have never taken

the guard off him.

Poor fool.

He only had himself to blame.

But we should be grateful to him.

He's given us

the one real common denominator.

Now we need the names of next of

kin of every person on the list.

You can tackle the first half.

LeBorg and l will start

with General Pomfret's widow.

Its Mr. Gethryn.

How do you do?

You telephoned, didn't you?

Im Anton Karoudjian.

Very good of you to have us,

Mrs. Karoudjian.

The is Monsieur LeBorg. He was

on the plane with Adrian Messenger.

Yes, poor fellow.

What a fearful way to die.

Ive read Mr. Messenger's books.

One can only be enriched by the

exposure to the clarity of his prose.

Tony, please be quiet. There's no

need for you to impress Mr. Gethryn.

My husband served with Mr. Messenger.

My wife refers to

her previous husband,...

Sir Francis Pomfret,

O.B.E, D.S.M., K.B.

He was twice mentioned in dispatches.

A brilliant officer! l didn't

have the privilege of bearing arms.

During the war years,

Mr. Karoudjian was Swiss.

Tony, don't be such a coward!

What was it you wanted to know?.

Sir Francis and Adrian were in

Burma together, weren't they?

It was a special force

was trained in India.

Later they went to Burma in '42.

It was a sort of junior

edition of the Wingate later...

and more important operation.

A very bad show!

What was that?

Most of them were killed

and the rest were captured.

Including Adrian and your husband?

Yes. they had a ghastly time!

They were starved and tortured,

and finally betrayed.

Betrayed?

How?.

Well, the escape was planned.

Francis said it would have gone

through if it wasn't for a Canadian!

A sergeant. He sold them out for

perks, tobacco, and things like that.

l wonder if you'd

happen to remember his name?

Im most frightfully sorry,

l must say that l don't.

In fact, l don't think

Francis ever mentioned it.

He always called him

that bloody Canadian.

Except 'bloody' wasn't exactly the word

he used, if you know what l mean.

Quite. Do you happen to know what

happened to this nameless betrayer?

Yes. Francis checked that, all right.

'Missing, believed dead,

' was the report.

Francis was awfully upset. He so

wanted to kill the chap himself.

Well, thank you so much. You've

no idea how helpful you've been.

A little more champagne?

l think now, thank you.

We must get back to London.

-Good day.

-Good-bye.

-Good-bye, Madame.

-Good-bye, Monsieur.

Mr. Messenger was

very well connected.

A great friend of the Bruttenholm's.

-The who?

-The Bruttenholm's.

It is the family name of

the Marquis of Gleneyre.

l have read it in the 'Tattler.'

-Brooms!

-What?

lf you must bandy names, l do wish

you'd learn to pronounce them!

''Bruttenholm. Broome.''

-But it is spelled...

-l don't care how it is spelled.

l do wish you'd

learn to speak English.

You mean you selected him as

the villain of the piece?

It is inescapable.

Some unknown Canadian guilty

of some vague act of treason,...

in some vague and long

forgotten operation in Burma.

You elect him as a mass murderer,

yet don't know he survived the war!

-Balderdash!

-Quite, but still inescapable.

You've inverted the only murder

motive in that set of circumstances.

Certainly men can nurse a loathing

of a traitor, conspire to murder him.

But it's ridiculous to think he'd

risk murdering the man he betrayed.

No use, Gethryn.

-Your theory just won't wash.

-Is it my turn now?.

Well, fire away.

You went off

the scent with your assumption that...

the only motive for betrayer killing

the betrayed is fear of his own life.

lf it isn't the only one,

name a few more.

l can't. No more than one, l mean.

Therefore, it must be the right one.

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