The Light of Day by Eric Ambler Page B

white paint. Istifham is a Turkish word I know; it means 'interrogation'.
    There was only one small screened and barred window in the room; the sun was beginning to set and it was already quite dark in there. As I went in, one of the guards followed me and switched on the light. His friend shut and locked the door from the outside. The guard who was to stay with me sat down on a bench against the wall and yawned noisily.
    The room was about eighteen feet square. Off one corner there was a washroom with no door on it. Apart from the bench, the furniture consisted of a solid-looking table bolted to the floor and half a dozen chairs. On the wall was a telephone and a framed lithograph of Kemal Ataturk. The floor was covered with worn brown linoleum.
    I got out my cigarettes and offered one to the guard. He shook his head and looked contemptuous as if I had offered him an inadequate bribe. I shrugged and, putting the cigarette in my own mouth, made signs that I wanted a light. He shook his head again. I put the cigarette away and sat down at the table. I had to assume that at any moment now a representative of the Second Section would arrive and start questioning me. What I needed, very badly, was something to tell him.
    It is always the same with interrogation. I remember my father trying to explain it to Mum one night just before he was killed. It's no good for a soldier who is up on a charge before his CO. just telling the truth; he has to have something more, something fancy to go with it. If he got back to barracks half an hour after lights-out just because he'd had too much beer and missed the last bus, who cares about him? He's simply a careless bloody fool—seven days confined to barracks, next case. But if, when he's asked if he has anything to say, he can tell the tale so that the C.O. gets a bit of fun out of hearing it, things are different, he may be only admonished. My father said that there was a corporal in his old regiment who was so good at making up yarns for the orderly room that he used to sell them for half a crown apiece. They were known as "well-sirs”. My father bought a well-sir once when he was 'crimed' for overstaying an evening pass. It went like this:
    'Well, sir, I was proceeding back along Cantonment Road towards the barracks in good time for lights-out and in a soldierly manner. Then, sir, just as I was passing the shopping arcade by Ordnance Avenue, I heard a woman scream.'   Pause. 'Well, sir, I stopped to listen and heard her scream again. There were also some confused cries. The sound was coming from one of the shops in the arcade, so I went to investigate.'   Pause again, then go on slowly. ‘ Well, sir, what I found was one of these Wogs — beg pardon, sir, a native — molesting a white woman in a doorway. I could see she was a lady, sir.' Let that sink in a bit. 'Well, sir, the moment this lady saw me she appealed to me for help. She said she'd been on her way home to her mother's house, which was over on the other side of Artillery Park, when this native had attempted to — well, interfere with her. I told him to clear out. In reply, sir, he became abusive, calling me some very dirty names m his own lingo and using insulting language about the Regiment.'   Take a deep breath. 'Well, sir, for the lady's sake I managed to hold on to my temper. As a matter of fact, sir, I think the man must have been drunk or under the influence of drugs. He had sense enough to keep his distance, but the moment I escorted the lady out of the arcade 1 realized that he was following us. Just waiting for a chance to molest her again, sir. She knew it, too. I’ve never seen a lady more frightened, sir. When she appealed to me to escort her to her mother's house, sir, I realized that it would make me late. But if I'd just gone on my way and something terrible had happened to her, I'd never have forgiven myself, sir.' Stiffen up and look without blinking at the wall space over the C.O.'shead. 'No excuse to