Читаем The Blue Ice полностью

I looked at her again. She was gazing out across the bows to where Diviner's spars showed against the black background of the pines shadowed by the mountainside. There was a stony, withdrawn look in her face. It was no longer the face of a girl. It was the face of a woman, tired and somehow forlorn. And I realised then that perhaps Farnell dead was more attractive to her than Farnell alive.

Jill wasn't the only one who was affected curiously by the discovery that Farnell was alive. Dahler sat in the stern, his sound hand gripping the gunn'l so that the knuckles showed white. He was excited. I could see it in his eyes, which glinted strangely in the moonlight. His face was taut, his whole body tense. He sat in the boat as though he were riding a horse in the Grand National. The lines at the corners of his mouth were etched deep and his lips were drawn back so that his teeth showed. His face looked cruel — cruel and excited.

As soon as we were on board I had the engine started and cast off. I got Wilson and Carter on deck and, leaving them to run the boat down the fjord, I went below to the saloon. The others were already there. Dick was pouring whisky into tumblers. Jill was seated on one of the settees, very still and silent, her face quite white against the dark red of the mahogany panelling. Dahler was standing in the doorway of his cabin, his hand plucking at his jacket and his eyes bright. 'Get Sunde,' I said to Curtis. 'I want to talk to him.'

'There is no need.' Dahler's voice was tense.

Curtis stopped and turned. We all looked at Dahler.

'I can tell you all you wish to know,' Dahler said. He sat down with a quick movement and leaned his weight on his withered arm. 'Sit down, please,' he said. 'Mr Sunde will not talk to you. He will do nothing without his partner. But to-day I have spoken with him. I used some persuasion — a little smuggling he has been engaged in with a man I know.'

'Was that why you telephoned from the hotel at Fjaerland?' I asked.

'Max Bakke? No.'

'Who did you telephone then?'

He smiled. 'That is my business, you know. Come, sit down — all of you, please.' He was leaning forward and there was that same strange glint in his eyes that I'd noticed in the boat. It was a savage, triumphant expression. I felt a shiver run down my spine. This cripple was suddenly in charge of the situation, dominating us all.

I sat down. 'You know where Farnell is?' I asked.

'That is better,' he said. 'Yes. I know where Farnell is.'

'Where?'

'He will be up in the mountains by now,' he replied. 'He is trying to escape. There is a warrant issued for his arrest.'

I looked at Jill. She was sitting motionless, staring at Dahler. 'How do you know?' I asked.

'What did you expect Jorgensen to do?' he demanded. 'He must find Farnell. So, he uses the police.'

'But what is he to be arrested for?' Curtis asked.

'For murder,' Dahler answered.

'But nobody but ourselves know that the body in that grave isn't Farnell's,' I pointed out.

He laughed. It was a quick, sharp sound and it grated in the expectant silence. 'You do not quite understand. Farnell is Schreuder now. It is Schreuder who is being arrested — he is to be arrested for the murder of. Farnell.'

'But-' I hesitated. The irony of it! 'Does Jorgensen know that it is Farnell who is alive?'

'But, of course. As soon as Kaptein Lovaas describes the man who escapes from his ship, Jorgensen knows it is Farnell. The little finger, you remember? No man can hide that. You did not know it was Farnell, eh?' He smiled as though it amused him.

'No,' I said. 'And nor did you.'

'Oh, but I did,' he answered. 'I knew as soon as Mr Sunde admitted that his partner and Einar Sandven had helped the man.'

'But how?' I asked.

'How?' His voice became suddenly harsh. 'Because Schreuder was an Austrian Jew and had worked for the Germans. You forgot that Sunde and Storjohann were of the Kompani Linge. Old Einar Sandven was also in the resistance. It had to be Farnell — Bernt Olsen, as they knew him. Listen. You wish to know how the message was placed in the whale meat. Well, I will tell you. Farnell came by boat from Fjaerland to Bovaagen after he had killed Schreuder. He came to Bovaagen because he had friends there who had hidden him during the war. He stayed at Nordhanger with Einar Sandven and his wife. It was Sandven who placed the package in the whale meat. It was Sandven who approached Kaptein Lovaas and got Farnell shipped as a hand on Hval Ti.'