The Vesuvius Club

22. End Game

AND yet, gentle reader, (as I’m sure you’ve gathered) I did not die! A long week later and the great shuddering roar of that eruption was like a strange dream to me. After the removal of Unmann’s bullet from my shoulder and much rest I had been re-established in my room at the Santa Lucia where I was at least able to sketch a little. An easel was optimistically set up but I found myself quickly exhausted and it was far easier to drift off into sleep after some of Charlie’s nourishing soup than to work. It was fully a fortnight before I was able to receive visitors.

First came Joshua Reynolds, on a rare foreign trip, bearing the profound thanks of HMG and whispers of medals, which I nobly refused for fully two minutes until he started taking me seriously and I had to beg for them.

The next day brought the newly liberated Christopher Miracle. He looked a little drawn (but not badly drawn, ho-ho), as well he might and he beamed at me with what looked suspiciously like renewed respect.

«I owe it all to you, old man,» he said with a catch in his voice. «Flush would have strung me up if you hadn’t intervened. I’m most awfully grateful.»

I gave a heroic but modest smile. «We still don’t know quite what happened that day, do we?»

«Ah, yes,» said Miracle. «We do. If you’re not too tired, dear Lucifer, there’s another guest who is most anxious to speak to you.»

Charlie showed in the extraordinary apparition that was Mrs Midsomer Knight, once more swathed in veils and sporting a rather splendid new gown of deepest emerald. She took a seat by my blanketed form and inclined her head in greeting.

«Mr Box, how do I begin to thank you?»

«Please don’t even try,» I said manfully. In truth I didn’t have the strength to be gushed over. «It’s reward enough to know that my friend here is exonerated and that you and the professors — well, a quorum of them at least — are out of danger. That and the fact that a dangerous lunatic’s plans have come to nought.»

«Ah yes,» mused Mrs Knight. «My unfortunate son.»

I sat up on one elbow, wincing slightly. «It would please me greatly, however, if you could clear up one or two points in connection with this matter.»

«Anything.»

«Perhaps I can help you there,» came a booming voice from the doorway. The massive frame of the Duce Tiepolo emerged from the shadows.

«Your Grace,» I said quietly. «I fear I have done you a grave disservice. For I thought you behind this whole mad scheme.»

«I am guilty,» said the great man. «Guilty of a mad love. For this wonderful woman.»

He took Mrs Knight’s hand in his. «It was so long ago,» he croaked. «It is not an easy thing, Signor Box, to know that you have been born into wealth and privilege then see all that swept away. I was a hunted man. One day I arrived in Naples and I met a girl. She was only sixteen or so, and a little frightened of me. But I knew at once that I loved her… Loved her!»

«But she was married.»

The Duce nodded bitterly. «With a child. The husband, Morraine, was a good man, an honest man, but we could not help ourselves, could we, my dear? It was like a fire, the passion that burned within us!»

Mrs Knight sighed. «At first it was easy to see each other in secret. My husband, Maxwell, thought only of his work. He and his colleagues laboured from dawn to dusk. But finally our secret was betrayed! Maxwell was mad with jealousy. I went to see him. To tell him I must leave him… I found him in his laboratory. Told him that the Duce and I were in love. At first he seemed not to hear me. He was burning his papers after some scientific disappointment. He threw more and more paper on to the fire until suddenly it was out of control and…»

Mrs Knight pressed her hand to her mouth and sobbed. «It took away my youth, my beauty…»

The Duce clamped his huge arm around the delicate woman’s shoulders. «And I knew nothing of this for years. The authorities caught me and I was deported. I found out about the fire and believed Kate to be dead. How was I to know that she had been spirited away from Naples and was back in England? Years passed. I never expected to see my lover again.»

«But you did.» I drawled, taking a slow drag on my cigarette.

«I did! Can you imagine it, Signor Box? After all that time? I have roamed Europe like a vagrant. I was passing through London and, one day, as I was walking through the park, you saw me, didn’t you, my pet?»

He turned to his lost love, his weathered face wreathed in smiles.

Mrs Knight continued. «Even after all these years I knew him at once.»

«And you felt the same?» I asked the Duce.

«Once I knew it was her, of course! What did I care for her scars? Her „ugliness“? She was my darling girl. Restored to me when I thought her long dead.»

The Duce’s noble head bobbed low on his breast, then he raised it again, tears welling in his rheumy eyes. «I bought the silence of my companion and we spent the whole afternoon together. There were secret letters, stolen moments. And then I hit upon the drawing-class scheme. We planned to elope. Elope! Like star-crossed lovers!»

«That night, the night of Miracle’s ball, she was meant to steal away and meet me in the gardens. But she did not come! And then I heard about the body — oh! A second time she was taken from me!»

He groaned like a wounded beast. «And so I came here. Home. To Naples. In secret, of course, and seeking — who knows what? Peace?»

I pulled myself up on the pillows. «And what of that day in the Mechanical Institute, Mrs Knight? I gather you had already suspected you were under observation?»

The veiled woman placed her hands in her lap and sighed. «That I had. But I thought they were sent by my husband, and that our scheme was impenetrable. I little thought what they might have in mind until that day.» Miss Frenzy and I had just switched places when two men burst into the lavatory. At once they grabbed poor Miss Frenzy but she fought valiantly, biting one of them upon the hand.

«Of course I could not simply hide in the cubicle and leave Abigail to her fate but their faces were a pretty sight when they were suddenly confronted by two identically dressed women! As time was obviously of the essence, they bundled us both from the place and took us to some low lodging house where the truth was forced from us. One of them, a man called Bowler, decided that fate had put in his way a serendipitous event. They had come to abduct me, how much better if I were thought to be dead!»

She tailed off and gave a little sob. «From that moment poor Abigail’s fate was sealed. I was quite unable to protest as they gave me the first of those hideous injections and I was scarcely sensible from that day on.»

Tiepolo laid his big hand over hers. «It is over now,» he said in a reassuring tone.

I sank back. «And what will you do now, my dear? If you’ll take the advice of an impecunious artist…»

«Thank you, Mr Box, but I do not need it! I am resolved to change my life while there’s still time.»

The Duce Tiepolo grunted his approval.

Miracle frowned. «And what of your husband?»

«I’m afraid he shall have to get used to it,» trilled Mrs Knight, almost girlishly. «For the Duce and I are… well… eloping tonight.»

I wished them both well, confident that, in the fullness of time, I might receive massive financial reward for services rendered.

Miracle ushered them out then returned to my side.

«Well?» he demanded. «Have you heard from her?»

«Heard from whom?» I said, all innocence.

«Why from Miss Bella Pok, of course! You have been in here fully two weeks! Has she not been to visit you?»

I shrugged lightly. «I have received a note or two enquiring after my health.»

Miracle leaned forward in his chair. «And when do you see her?»

I laughed sharply, making my injured shoulder twinge, unable to keep up the pretence a moment more. «Tomorrow morning! But now I am most awfully tired, Chris. You must let me get my strength up for the great occasion!»

He left me, promising dinner at Maxim’s, showers of gold and all the tea in China once I was fully recovered.

A happy peace had settled over my routine. Charlie had turned himself into an excellent nurse and his bedside manner was more than admirable.

That night I slept heavily, my head seeming to pound in time to the eruption of Vesuvius as I found myself back there, the sky behind me a strange, lurid red. But suddenly I knew it was not the sky at all but the canopy of my own eyelids. I blinked once. Twice. And the pounding roar of the volcano resolved itself into an urgent knocking at the door of my hotel room.

I glanced down at the bed. Naked, Charlie lay sound asleep at my side, his bruised body lightly covered by the cool cotton sheets. Suddenly I remembered.

«Bella!» I cried.

I jumped to my feet, immediately regretted it and flopped back on the bed. I looked wildly about.

«Up!» I hissed, slapping Charlie on the side. «Up!»

He half opened his very blue eyes. «What?»

«Get yourself up, Charlie boy. We have company.»

He groaned and shook his head. «Tell them to sling theirs. I’m your company.»

I leant down and pinched him savagely on the nipple. «Get yourself up, Mr Jackpot or you’ll be sorry.»

Yelping in pain, the boy sat up and flapped his hands at mine. «All right, all right, you swine!»

Still befuddled by sleep, he looked dumbly at his nakedness and began to get dressed.

«Quickly!» I hissed. «It is Miss Pok.»

He struggled swiftly into his trousers and threw on his shirt.

«Now, after you’ve shown the lady in, you must make yourself scarce.»

«You ashamed of me?»

I sighed. «You’re my servant, Jackpot. It’s time you started behaving like one instead of bleating away like the Little Match Girl.»

«Lucifer?» came Bella’s muffled voice from beyond the door.

«All right,» said Charlie, sloping sullenly off towards the door. He dragged it open and ushered Bella inside with ill-concealed contempt.

«Miss Bella Pok,» he muttered.

«Thank you, Charles,» I said between gritted teeth. «You may take the rest of the day off.»

«Oh!» he cried, clasping his hands to his bosom. «May I, sir? Oh, how kind of you, sir.»

«That will be all, Charles,» I said firmly. He went out and slammed the door.

«Bella! How wonderful to see you! Pray accept my apologies for him. It is so devilishly hard to find good servants these days that one accepts even the most rough-edged and bothersome.»

«I thought he was rather sweet,» she said sunnily.

I was slightly breathless and my head ached. «Well, well, no doubt that is your pleasant disposition. I fear I do not appear at my best…»

She took in my tousled appearance and sleep-shocked hair and waved away my apologies with a yellow-gloved hand. I took it and kissed it fervently.

«You are safe! That is all that matters!»

«You got my note, then? It was a foolish thing I did. To risk my life when I had so much to look forward to.»

Smiling indulgently, she lifted the white veil from her face. I felt my pulse quicken at this renewed view of her beauty. «You are very bold, Lucifer,» she said quietly.

«I have offended you!» I groaned. «It is only that I had hoped so much that when I got back to England we might…»

She sat next to the bed and took my hand in hers. «Rest assured, dear Lucifer, that I have not forgotten you.»

I smiled happily.

«Now,» she said, settling herself. «How on earth did you come by these dreadful injuries? I want to hear all about your adventures!»

«Oh?» I said wearily. «Really?»

Impressions of the extraordinary events of the past weeks began to crowd my brain, all of them tinged in a volcanic glow. I thought of coming up with an entirely neutral version of events, concerned with sketching trips and abandoned canvases and amusingly dreadful restaurant fare but Bella deserved better than that. She knew I had some dark secret.

«Lucifer?»

I opened my eyes. «Was I drifting?»

«So it seems,» she said concernedly. «Are you quite well?»

I winced suddenly and she moved to my side, noticing, beneath my dressing gown, the bandages that swaddled my chest.

«Oh you poor, poor darling.»

I made a stoic face. «It’s nothing, really.»

She shook her head. «I shall fetch you a drink.»

«Well, it is the hour for vermouth,» I smiled.

She took my hand and squeezed it. Moments later she had returned with two glasses.

I took the one she proffered gratefully.

The glass was almost at my lips when I suddenly felt curiously uneasy. It was not the ache in my shoulder, nor the fatigue of having so many visitors, nor even the effort of my recent tumble with young Charlie. It was a strange, indefinable something and it caused me to set the glass down on the counterpane. «Think I’ll save it for a moment. Don’t want it to go to my head.»

Bella shrugged. «As you please.»

I looked at her steadily and nodded towards the glass. «Aren’t you joining me?» I said lightly.

The young woman shook her head. «No, thank you.»

She seemed to become aware that I was staring at her. Bella’s pale, slender throat made a noticeable undulation and she looked down at me, smiling. Then her face changed with the suddenness of a mask falling away. She balled her hand into a fist and punched me hard directly in my wound.

I gasped in pain and shock and fell back against the pillows. At once, Bella had picked up the whisky glass and was prising my mouth open. My head swam with nausea as I felt her fingers stealing into my mouth and the edge of the glass tapping against my teeth.

«Drink it!» she hissed. «Drink it, you bastard!»

There was nothing but steel in her voice now and the lovely eyes had turned cold.

I pushed at her but I was so weak that she forced me back on the bed. Risking some kind of fearsome rupture, I rolled off the bed and fell to the floor.

Bella at once stalked towards me, holding the glass in both hands.

«What the hell are you doing?» I screeched. «Are you mad?»

«Drink it, my dear. It is prussic acid. There will be a little pain but soon you will be insensate.»

«Bella!» I cried, trying desperately to stand. «What is wrong? It is I, Lucifer Box!»

«Pauvre petite,» she murmured. «You pursued me like a goat from the day we met, didn’t you? And never once did you guess at the truth.»

«Truth? What truth?»

She put down the glass and from her dress produced a dainty pistol which she levelled at my chest. She laughed. It was that gay, musical laugh I had grown so fond of. «You remember a chase by coach through London?»

«Of course.»

«I drove that coach! I! I sent the venomous insect to your home! I did it all, to get my revenge on you!»

«On me?» I said, all innocence.

«I believe I once told you I am Dutch by birth. That is not quite true. I am Afrikaans. I lived in Pretoria till I was nine. Just me and my beloved father. Everard Supple!»

I shook my head desperately. «Who?»

«Can you have forgotten so soon? The man you gunned down in cold blood! I know, Mr Lucifer Box, I know all!»

Everard Supple? Everard Supple! It seemed incredible. The old fool I’d killed all those weeks ago as a routine assignment. But how could she have found out? This was just the sort of thing Joshua Reynolds was meant to protect me against!

«Supple was your father?»

«Yes! A great man. A man whose feet you were not worthy to kiss!»

I wasn’t having this. I struggled to my feet, tears of agony springing to my eyes. «A dangerous anarchist!» I yelled. «I despatched him because he planned to assassinate the foreign secretary!»

Bella’s eyes blazed in fury. «I will not listen to your lies! I only know that I have spent these last weeks planning how best to despatch you, Box. I was not sure, at first, despite my information, that you were responsible.»

«Information?»

«My father’s diplomatic contacts.»

«Ah,» I gasped. «Spies.»

«I had no idea how I might engineer a meeting and then your little advertisement came along. It was too perfect. I came to your studio and I confess I could not believe you to be a killer. And then…»

«Then?»

«There, amongst the paints and brushes, I saw it. My father’s glass eye!»

«Ah»

«And then my heart hardened, Mr Box. I swore I would destroy you!»

«You didn’t manage very well, did you?» I piped up, eyeing the door. Despite my weakened state I was going to make a break for it. Fool! Why had I sent Charlie away? There were hotel staff about. But could I make it in time? If I could but raise the alarm…

«Unlike you, Mr Box, I am not a professional murderer.»

I looked at her with as much stoicism as I could muster. «What do you want me to do?» I asked. «Beg for my life? I won’t do it, my dear. You must know me well enough by now. I may be a cad but I’m not a coward. I stand by what I did to your father. I should do it again.»

«Ha!»

«You must understand, that I am a servant of His Majesty’s Government. I never kill without taking the greatest pains to ensure that what I’m doing is right! Of course I feel for you and your loss but you must believe me when I say your father was a dangerous fanatic.»

«And what does that make you! The fêted artist, the dashing dandy. But by night — philanderer, sodomite and assassin!»

As a thumbnail sketch of me that wasn’t half bad.

Bella aimed the revolver at my face and cocked it. «And so… farewell…»

Then things moved very quickly. I sprang forward, throwing the deadly contents of the whisky glass towards Bella’s face. Her arm shot up defensively and the liquid splashed harmlessly over the sleeve of her gown. An instant later she fired the revolver, but I had already thrown myself to the floor and, gasping in pain, rolled over and behind my easel.

Bella skittered towards me. I grabbed at a pot of brushes and flung it at her. The glass shattered against the wall and the pistol spat fire again.

I scrambled under a chair, the pain of my wound making me giddy, and struggled to think. I would never make it across the room alive.

«Come out, come out wherever you are!» cried Bella with a kind of dreadful gaiety.

She dragged the easel aside on its squealing castors and my ludicrous hiding place was exposed.

«What an ignominious end, Mr Box!» she crowed. «Now, Papa! You shall be revenged»

All at once, and to my utter astonishment, the bedroom door flew open and Charlie launched himself on to Bella’s back.

The two of them careered around like a carousel, Bella’s skirts sending painting materials flying. She bellowed alarmingly and began to twist her arm from Charlie’s grip so that she might get a clear shot at him.

«Lucifer!» cried Charlie. «Quick!»

I needed no prompting. I dashed out from under the chair, grabbed at a half-finished canvas and cracked Bella viciously under the jaw with it. She toppled backwards and Charlie fell from her, the gun grasped in one hand. He threw the weapon to me and I had raised it ready to fire when I stopped dead.

Bella had fallen back against the dresser and now stood stock still. Her shaking hands flew to her back and came away bloody. She sank to her knees, seemed to pause for a moment, and then pitched forward on to her face with an awful gurgling moan.

Stuck in her back was the lance of that frightful spelter statue she had drawn so prettily on the first day of our acquaintance.

Charlie dashed to my side and lifted my head on to his knee. Fatigue and nausea were washing over me. «Charlie…»

We both watched as a torrent of blood as red as lava began to flow from Bella’s back, drenching her gown. Then her eyes turned glassy and she lay still.

«This is meant to be my day off,» said Charlie. «Who do I talk to about overtime?»

I looked him directly in the eye and managed a smile. «Charlie, what can I say?»

He stroked my hair with uncommon gentleness. «All part of the service.»

«Well, I’m glad you mentioned that, Charlie,» I murmured, managing to prop myself up on one elbow. «You know, my pal Beardsley always said that his indisposition made him frightfully horny. No doubt one is not quite in control of oneself when one’s glands are up.»

I smiled what my friends call, naturally enough, the smile of Lucifer.