Postern of Fate (Tommy & Tuppence 5)

'He leaves them on the plate, I suppose,' said Tuppence, 'and eats the meat first.'

'He likes sponge cake, though, our dog does,' said Clarence.

Hannibal sniffed at the trophy just disinterred from the inside of Cambridge. He wheeled round suddenly then and barked.

'See if there's anyone outside,' said Tuppence. 'It might be a gardener. Somebody told me the other day, Mrs Herring, I think it was, that she knew of an elderly man who'd been a very good gardener in his time and who did jobbing.'

Tommy opened the door and went outside. Hannibal accompanied him.

'Nobody here,' said Tommy.

Hannibal barked. First he growled again, then he barked and barked more loudly.

'He thinks there's someone or something in that great clump of pampas grass,' said Tommy. 'Perhaps someone is un-burying one of his bones there. Perhaps there's a rabbit there. Hannibal's very stupid about rabbits. He needs an awful lot of encouragement before he'll chase a rabbit. He seems to have a kindly feeling about them. He goes after pigeons and large birds. Fortunately he never catches them.'

Hannibal was now sniffing round the pampas grass, first growling, after which he began to bark loudly. At intervals he turned his head towards Tommy.

'I expect there's a cat in there,' said Tommy. 'You know what he's like when he thinks a cat is around. There's that big black cat that comes round here and the little one. The one that we call the Kitty-cat.'

'That's the one that's always getting into the house,' said Tuppence. 'It seems to get through the smallest chinks. Oh, do stop, Hannibal. Come back.'

Hannibal heard and turned his head. He was expressing a very high degree of fierceness. He gave Tuppence a look, went back a little way, then turned his attention once more to the clump of pampas grass and began barking furiously.

'There's something worries him,' said Tommy. 'Come on, Hannibal.'

Hannibal shook himself, shook his head, looked at Tommy, looked at Tuppence and made a prancing attack on the pampas grass, barking loudly.

There was a sudden sound. Two sharp explosions.

'Good lord, somebody must be shooting rabbits,' exclaimed Tuppence.

'Get back. Get back inside KK, Tuppence,' said Tommy. Something flew past his ear. Hannibal, now fully alerted, was racing round and round the pampas grass. Tommy ran after him.

'He's chasing someone now,' he said. 'He's chasing someone down the hill. He's running like mad.'

'Who was it - what was it?' said Tuppence.

'You all right, Tuppence?'

'No, I'm not quite all right,' said Tuppence. 'Something - something, I think, hit me here, just below the shoulder. Was it - what was it?'

'It was someone shooting at us. Someone who was hidden inside that pampas grass.'

'Someone who was watching what we were doing,' said Tuppence. 'Do you think that's it, perhaps?'

'I expect it's them Irish,' said Clarence hopefully. 'The IRA. You know. They've been trying to blow this place up.'

'I don't think it's of any political significance,' said Tuppence.

'Come into the house,' said Tommy. 'Come quickly. Come on, Clarence, you'd better come too.'

'You don't think your dog will bite me?' said Clarence uncertainly.

'No,' said Tommy. 'I think he is busy for the moment.'

They had just turned the corner into the garden door when Hannibal reappeared suddenly. He came racing up the hill very out of breath. He spoke to Tommy in the way a dog does speak. He came up to him, shook himself, put a paw on Tommy's trouser leg and tried to pull him in the direction from which he bad just come.

'He wants me to go with him after whoever the man was,' said Tommy.

'Well, you're not to,' said Tuppence. 'If there's anyone there with a rifle or a pistol or something that shoots. I'm not going to have you shot. Not at your age. Who would look after me if anything happened to you? Come on, let's get indoors.'

They went into the house quickly. Tommy went out into the hall and spoke on the telephone.

'What are you doing?' said Tuppence.

'Telephoning the police,' said Tommy. 'Can't let anything like this pass. They may get on to someone if we're in time.'

'I think,' said Tuppence, 'that I want something put on my shoulder. This blood is ruining my best jumper.'

'Never mind your jumper,' said Tommy.

Albert appeared at that moment with a complete service of first aid.

'Well I never,' said Albert. 'You mean some dirty guy has shot at the missus? Whatever's happening next in this country?'

'You don't think you ought to go to the hospital, do you?'

'No, I don't,' said Tuppence. 'I'm quite all right but I want an outsize Band-Aid or something to stick on here. Put on something like friars balsam first.'

'I've got some iodine.'

'I don't want iodine. It stings. Besides, they say now in hospitals that it isn't the right thing to put on.'

'I thought friar's balsam was something you breathed in out of an inhaler,' said Albert hopefully.

'That's one use,' said Tuppence, 'but it's very good to put on slight scratches or scars or if children cut themselves or anything like that. Have you got the thing all right?'

'What thing, what do you mean, Tuppence?'

'The thing we just got out of the Cambridge Lohengrin. That's what I mean. The thing that was hanging on a nail. Perhaps it's something important, you know. They saw us. And so if they tried to kill us - and tried to get whatever it was - that really would be something!'

Chapter 11

HANNIBAL TAKES ACTION

Tommy sat with the police inspector in his office. The police officer, Inspector Norris, was nodding his head gently.

'I hope with any luck we may get results, Mr Beresford.' he said. 'Dr Crossfield, you say, is attending your wife.'

'Yes,' said Tommy, 'it isn't serious, I gather. It was just grazing by a bullet and it bled a good deal, but she's going to be all right, I think. There's nothing really dangerous Dr Crossfield said.'

'She's not very young, though, I suppose,' said Inspector Norris.

'She's over seventy,' said Tommy. 'We're both of us getting on, you know.'

'Yes, yes. Quite so,' said Inspector Norris. 'I've heard a good deal about her locally, you know, since you came here to live. People have taken to her in a big way. We've heard about her various activities. And about yours.'

'Oh, dear,' said Tommy.

'Can't live down your record, you know, whatever it is. Good or bad,' said Inspector Norris in a kindly voice. 'You can't live down your record if you're a criminal and you can't live down your record if you've been a hero either. Of one thing I can assure you. We'll do all we can to clear things up. You can't describe whoever it was, I suppose?'

'No,' said Tommy. 'When I saw him he was running with our dog after him. I should say he was not very old. He ran easily, I mean.'

'Difficult age round about fourteen, fifteen onwards.'

'It was someone older than that,' said Tommy.

'Not had any telephone calls or letters, demands for money or anything like that?' said the Inspector. 'Asking you to get out of your house, maybe?'

'No,' said Tommy, 'nothing like that.'

'And you've been here - how long?'

Tommy told him.

'Hmmm. Not very long. You go to London, I gather, most days of the week.'

'Yes,' said Tommy. 'If you want particulars -'

'No,' said Inspector Norris, 'no. No, I don't need any particulars. The only thing I should suggest is that - well, you don't go away too often. If you can manage to stay at home and look after Mrs Beresford yourself...'

'I thought of doing that anyway,' said Tommy. 'I think this is a good excuse for my not turning up always at the various appointments I've got in London.'

'Well, we'll do all we can to keep an eye on things, and if we could get hold of this whoever it is...'

'Do you feel - perhaps I oughtn't to ask this -'

said Tommy - 'do you feel you know who it is? Do you know his name or his reasons?'

'Well, we know a good many things about some of the chaps around here. More than they think we know very often. Sometimes we don't make it apparent how much we do know because that's the best way to get at them in the end. You find out then who they're mixed up with, who's paying them, for some of the things they do, or whether they thought of it themselves out of their own heads. But I think - well, I think somehow that this isn't one of our locals, as you might say.'

'Why do you think that?' asked Tommy.

'Ah. Well, one hears things, you know. One gets information from various headquarters elsewhere.'