CHAPTER TEN

XVT hen he returned to the great man's home the As-" sistant Commissioner was greeted by Toodles. The secretary had not expected him to return so soon, for the great man had arranged for a meeting at midnight. He assumed that things had not gone well at all and prepared to speak very politely to the man in order to make him feel better.

"You can go into his office right away. He's busy worrying about all of the people of England." It was obvious that the boy thought the great man was something like a god. "Follow me.

As they walked down the hallway Toodles could not help wondering what had happened. He did not want to upset the Assistant Commissioner, but he could not control his curiosity any longer.

"Good news, I hope," he said turning to the Assistant Commissioner.

"Oh, excellent. He'll be so pleased," Toodles said with a large smile. "I guess you've caught yourself a little fish?"

"You could say that, yes. But I'm going to throw him back in the water so that he can lead me to the bigger ones."

"What sort of bigger ones?" asked Toodles.

"Oh, a very popular one. You may even have seen him before."

"Me? Really? Where would I have seen this fish?"

"Why you've probably seen him at The Explorers."

The Explorers was the name of a club for very rich and powerful men. The great man, himself, was a member of the club and Toodles sometimes went there with him.

"Do you mean that this fish might be a member of The Explorers?" asked Toodles in great surprise.

"One of the highest members, actually," answered the Assistant Commissioner proudly.

"My goodness! I can't believe it!"

"Please, don't tell anyone about this."

"How horrible that you would think that I could do such a thing!" For the rest of the way to the great man's office the two men did not speak.

When the Assistant Commissioner entered the large office, he found it very dark inside. Sir Ethelred was sitting at his desk, which had nothing on it except for a little statue and a small green lamp. The great man told him to have a seat and asked him what news he had so quickly gathered.

"Sir Ethelred, it seems that the man that Inspector Heat wished to protect, Mr Yerloc, wants to tell the police everything he knows. I did nothing more than walk into his store and tell him that I knew he was involved in the bombing. He then told me everything. He told me whose idea the bombing was and he told me who did the bombing. It seems that it was his brother-in-law who carried the bomb into the park. A strange story, actually. Not a normal young boy. I won't give you the details now, however."

"So what else did he tell you?" asked the great man.

"He told me that the boy was living with Michaelis for a short time, but that Michaelis was not involved in the bombing."

"Are you sure?" the man asked.

"Absolutely, sir. For several days, Verloc had visited Michaelis' home and told him that he and the boy were going out for a walk. The morning of the bombing, he did the very same thing. Michaelis had no reason to think that anything bad was going to happen. The anger in Verloc was easy to see. He told me that something had happened that made him quite upset for a month."

The Assistant Commissioner then told the man about Verloc's encounter with Mr Vladimir. He did not seem to doubt the story at all, however, the great man found it a little unbelievable.

"He felt that the Embassy would destroy his life if he failed to bomb Greenwich. He was truly frightened by them," the Assistant Commissioner said.

"And did you spend much time with Verloc?" asked the man.

"I guess it must have been around forty minutes. He was quite uncomfortable and I could see that he was upset about having lost his brother-in-law. Obviously, the bomb was not supposed to have exploded in the poor boy's arms. Something went wrong. It's clear to me that Yerloc is not a criminal at heart. I think he feels quite guilty now."

The great man placed his large cheek on his fat, white hand and asked where Verloc was now. When the Assistant Commissioner answered that he had not arrested him, but allowed him to return to his store, Sir Ethelred expressed his concern that the man might try to run away.

"I don't believe he'll run, sir. You should have seen this man. Believe me, he has no strength to do anything now. He feels far too sad and guilty. I also wanted to inform you of all that I'd learned before taking any action."

"Alright. I will call for you tomorrow morning after I speak with the highest lawyer we have. Do you have any other news?"

"No, sir. Nothing else you need to know at this time." "Fine. Did I hear you say that Verloc is married?"

"He has a wife, sir. It seems that Verloc would have disappeared and left the country, however, his wife would not agree to it."

The big man did not say anything else, but seemed to turn his thinking toward some other important matter he had to deal with. The Assistant Commissioner decided to stop there and then quietly left the office.

After that, he returned to his home and changed into proper evening clothing, for he planned to join his wife at the wealthy woman's home. From the time he left Sir Ethelred's office to the time he arrived at the Woman's home, he thought deeply about all that he had learned that evening. He was disgusted with Mr Verloc, but very happy with himself.

At the woman's party, the Assistant Commissioner found her talking with a man and a woman.

"Ah! Your wife told us not to expect you tonight!" the hostess cried when she saw him.

"I had planned not to come, but I finished early," he explained, "And I'm pleased to say that I've learned that Michaelis is innocent."

"I'm disappointed that the police thought he was involved at all!" she answered with an unhappy look.

"We can't ignore his past, you know. Anyway, he's clear now."

The lady then turned to the man she had been speaking with earlier and introduced him to the Assistant Commissioner as Mr Vladimir. They shook hands and said "hello" in a polite, but rather cold way.

"You should hear the way Mr Vladimir has been talking. I think he's trying to make me frightened! All this talk about the need to control society more and more," said the woman sitting next to him, "Especially since this bombing in Greenwich. I didn't know that it was so serious!"

"Really? Maybe he's not trying to frighten you at all," commented the Assistant Commissioner, "Maybe this is just the kind of thing he always says. I'm sure that he is well aware of the seriousness of the bombing."

Mr Vladimir, although involved in another conversation with the hostess of the party, heard every word the Assistant Commissioner had said. It was not exactly clear to him what the man was trying to say. He feared the police in England, much like some people fear dogs or insects. He could not help it. However, he felt the need to say something to the Assistant Commissioner.

"I am very familiar with these bombers, yes. They cause a lot of problems for us. However, it seems that the English police don't mind them at all. They let them run about the city like little children on holiday."

Mr Vladimir then got up and left. The Assistant Commissioner arose from his chair and prepared to leave as well. The hostess however asked him why he was going.

"It seems that my work is not yet finished, after all," he answered.

"I see. Something about Mr Via ... ?"

"Possibly. Yes. It could be something quite big."

He then went to the front hallway to get his coat and hat. He found Mr Vladimir there, preparing to leave. The Assistant Commissioner, having fewer items to collect, was able to exit the house first. Walking to the bottom of the outside front steps, he pretended to be trying to decide in which direction to walk. Mr Vladimir soon followed. Seeing the policeman on the sidewalk, he wondered if he might be waiting to talk with him.

Trying not to look worried, Mr Vladimir lit a cigar and began to look both directions down the street for a taxi. The only ones he could see were too far away to call. He would have to walk. When he got to the bottom of the staircase and turned left the policeman began to walk beside him. At first, the two men said nothing to one another. Mr Vladimir became terribly angry inside. He wanted to scream at the man next to him, but, instead, he complained about the weather.

"Terribly cold, isn't it?" he said loudly.

"Not too bad, actually," answered the Assistant Commissioner. "We caught a fellow by the name of Verloc today," he added with a calm voice.

Mr Vladimir tried his best to control himself, but could not prevent the question, "What?" from coming out of his mouth.

"I'm certain you are familiar with him," said the Assistant Commissioner, "He told us that you know him quite well."

"Obviously, this dog is not telling the truth," Mr Vladimir spoke in a low, angry voice. He was seriously impressed with the ability of the English police to have so quickly discovered the bomber. He began to feel ill and dropped his cigar on the ground, crushing it under his shoe.

"It's good that we found Mr Verloc. This bombing has given us a good excuse to start being tougher with spies and secret agents in England. They are a real problem for us, and quite a danger to society as well. Of course, because there are so many of them here, we've decided to go after the people who give them work. We're looking for the bosses. After we take Mr Verloc to court, all of England will become aware of the problems these foreigners are causing them."

"And why do you think that people will believe what Mr Verloc tells them?" asked Mr Vladimir, angrily.

"He has so much information to share, I don't think the people will have any choice but to believe it."

"So you will take him to court? That is your plan?" asked Mr Vladimir.

"What else can we do? He's guilty. We have to do our job."

"I don't see why you must make it into a big public trial." Mr Vladimir's face showed that he was worried. At that moment, the Assistant Commissioner realized that Mr Verloc's information actually had some truth in it.

"Anyway, it's also good for our police department. It shows the people that we are quite good at what we do and that we can be trusted. I mean look at what we've managed to discover in just less than half a day. We know who the bomber was. We know who made the bombs. We know who planned it. And, finally, we also have a good idea who hired these men to do the job. However, if we wanted to go to the very heart of the case, I'm afraid we'd have to visit another country."

"What? You mean foreigners are to blame for this whole thing?" asked Vladimir.

"Well, yes. Embassies are considered a part of the country they represent, aren't they?" The Assistant Commissioner, when he said this, looked directly into the eyes of the man standing in front of him. "I chose to tell you about this, because your government always complains that the English police are not strong enough or clever enough to deal with its criminals. I think that you can see now that this is not at all true."

"Yes, without a doubt," Mr Vladimir responded, hardly opening his mouth.

"And now, because we have a secret agent who's willing to talk, we're going to get the men who gave him his job."

Mr Vladimir, seeing a taxi approaching, raised his hand. He did not say anything further to the Assistant Commissioner, but climbed into the carriage.

"I'm surprised you're not paying this place a visit, here," said the Assistant Commissioner, pointing to a large brick building next to the wealthy woman's home. "I see a lot of your friends inside."

The carriage then drove away down the street, passing the building the Assistant Commissioner had pointed to. It was the Explorers Club.

(end of section)