what was in the shed.’ Leclerc missed a beat then took refuge in technique. ‘He had an Exa-two camera, single lens reflex. East German manufacture. It’s cheap housing but takes all the Exakta-range lenses; far fewer speeds than the Exakta, of course.’ He looked inquiringly at the technicians, Dennison and McCulloch. ‘Am I right, gentlemen?’ he asked. ‘You must correct me.’ They smiled sheepishly because there was nothing to correct. ‘He had a good wide-angle lens. The difficulty was the light. His next shift didn’t begin till four, by which time dusk would be falling and there would be even less light inside the shed. He had one fast Agfa film which he’d been keeping for a special occasion; it had a DIN speed of twenty-seven. He decided to use that.’ He paused, more for effect than for questions.
‘Why didn’t he wait till next morning?’ Haldane asked.
‘In the report,’ Leclerc continued blandly, ‘you’ll find a very full account by Gorton of how the man got into the hut, stood on an oil drum and took his photographs through the ventilator. I’m not going to repeat all that now. He used the maximum aperture of two point eight, speeds ranging from a quarter of a second to two seconds. A fortunate piece of German thoroughness.’ No one laughed. ‘The speeds were guesswork, of course. He was bracketing an estimated exposure time of one second. Only the last three frames show anything. Here they are.’
Leclerc unlocked the steel drawer of his desk and extracted a set of high-gloss photographs twelve inches by nine. He was smiling a little, like a man looking at his own reflection. They gathered round, all but Haldane and Avery, who had seen them before.
Something was there.
You could see it if you looked quickly; something hidden in the disintegrating shadows; but keep looking and the dark closed in and the shape was gone. Yet something was there; the muffled form of a gun barrel, but pointed and too long for its carriage, the suspicion of a transporter, a vague glint of what might have been a platform.
‘They would put protective covers over them, of course,’ Leclerc commented, studying their faces hopefully, waiting for their optimism.
Avery looked at his watch. It was twenty past eleven. ‘I shall have to go soon, Director,’ he said. He still hadn’t rung Sarah. ‘I have to see the accountant about my air ticket.’
‘Stay another ten minutes,’ Leclerc pleaded, and Haldane asked, ‘Where’s he going?’
Leclerc replied, ‘To take care of Taylor. He has a date at the Circus first.’
‘What do you mean, take care of him? Taylor’s dead.’
There was an uncomfortable silence.
‘You know very well that Taylor was travelling under an alias. Somebody has to collect his effects; recover the film. Avery is going out as next of kin. The Ministry has already given its approval; I wasn’t aware that I needed yours.’
‘To claim the body?’
‘To get the film,’ Leclerc repeated hotly.
‘That’s an operational job; Avery’s not trained.’
‘They were younger than he in the war. He can look after himself.’
‘Taylor couldn’t. What will he do when he’s got it; bring it back in his sponge bag?’
‘Shall we discuss that afterwards?’ Leclerc suggested, and addressed himself once more to the others, smiling patiently as if to say old Adrian must be humoured.
‘That was all we had to go on till ten days ago. Then came the second indicator. The area round Kalkstadt had been declared a prohibited area.’ There was an excited murmur of interest. ‘For a radius of – as far as we can establish – thirty kilometres. Sealed off; closed to all traffic. They brought in frontier guards.’ He glanced round the table. ‘I then informed the Minister. I cannot tell even you all the implications. But let me name one.’ He said the last sentence quickly, at the same time flicking upwards the little horns of greying hair that grew above his ears.
Haldane was
‘Why didn’t he wait till next morning?’ Haldane asked.
‘In the report,’ Leclerc continued blandly, ‘you’ll find a very full account by Gorton of how the man got into the hut, stood on an oil drum and took his photographs through the ventilator. I’m not going to repeat all that now. He used the maximum aperture of two point eight, speeds ranging from a quarter of a second to two seconds. A fortunate piece of German thoroughness.’ No one laughed. ‘The speeds were guesswork, of course. He was bracketing an estimated exposure time of one second. Only the last three frames show anything. Here they are.’
Leclerc unlocked the steel drawer of his desk and extracted a set of high-gloss photographs twelve inches by nine. He was smiling a little, like a man looking at his own reflection. They gathered round, all but Haldane and Avery, who had seen them before.
Something was there.
You could see it if you looked quickly; something hidden in the disintegrating shadows; but keep looking and the dark closed in and the shape was gone. Yet something was there; the muffled form of a gun barrel, but pointed and too long for its carriage, the suspicion of a transporter, a vague glint of what might have been a platform.
‘They would put protective covers over them, of course,’ Leclerc commented, studying their faces hopefully, waiting for their optimism.
Avery looked at his watch. It was twenty past eleven. ‘I shall have to go soon, Director,’ he said. He still hadn’t rung Sarah. ‘I have to see the accountant about my air ticket.’
‘Stay another ten minutes,’ Leclerc pleaded, and Haldane asked, ‘Where’s he going?’
Leclerc replied, ‘To take care of Taylor. He has a date at the Circus first.’
‘What do you mean, take care of him? Taylor’s dead.’
There was an uncomfortable silence.
‘You know very well that Taylor was travelling under an alias. Somebody has to collect his effects; recover the film. Avery is going out as next of kin. The Ministry has already given its approval; I wasn’t aware that I needed yours.’
‘To claim the body?’
‘To get the film,’ Leclerc repeated hotly.
‘That’s an operational job; Avery’s not trained.’
‘They were younger than he in the war. He can look after himself.’
‘Taylor couldn’t. What will he do when he’s got it; bring it back in his sponge bag?’
‘Shall we discuss that afterwards?’ Leclerc suggested, and addressed himself once more to the others, smiling patiently as if to say old Adrian must be humoured.
‘That was all we had to go on till ten days ago. Then came the second indicator. The area round Kalkstadt had been declared a prohibited area.’ There was an excited murmur of interest. ‘For a radius of – as far as we can establish – thirty kilometres. Sealed off; closed to all traffic. They brought in frontier guards.’ He glanced round the table. ‘I then informed the Minister. I cannot tell even you all the implications. But let me name one.’ He said the last sentence quickly, at the same time flicking upwards the little horns of greying hair that grew above his ears.
Haldane was
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