Midnight Never Comes - Jack Higgins [56]
It was perhaps half an hour later, that they became aware of voices raised in song, faint in the distance and then the door at the top of the cellar stairs was opened and heavy steps descended.
The singing stopped and Hector Munro appeared at the grill, Rory at his shoulder. They laughed foolishly, obviously half drunk and Hector kicked the door.
'Are ye still there, Mr. Chavasse?'
'I'm here,' Chavasse said. 'What do you want?'
'Just checking,' the old man said. 'I'm in charge here now, you know. Stavrou's away to Loch Dubh to see to things at the castle.' He laughed harshly. 'Are ye comfortable enough in there, the two of you?'
'It could be worse,' Chavasse said. 'It could be a prison cell with a fifteen-year sentence for treason stretching into the distance.' He laughed coldly. 'But why bother? You'll know all about that soon enough.'
The foolish smile disappeared from Rory's face and he turned to his father. 'What's he talking about, Da?'
'Never you heed him,' old Hector said. 'Come this evening, Mr. Donner will be back here to pay us our thousand pounds and we'll be away out of this and damn all this fella will be able to do about it.'
Rory's face cleared. 'Right you are, Da. We'll pick up Fergus at Tomintoul. If we get the evening train from Fort William, we could be in Glasgow in time to catch the nine o'clock boat to Belfast. No passports needed.'
The old man cackled. 'And crossing the border into Eire is no trick for the likes of us.'
What was it von Bayern had said? You grasped the opportunity that presented itself? Chavasse gripped the bars of the grill as they started to turn away.
'Just a minute, Munro.' The old man turned, swaying slightly. 'You said something about Fergus waiting for you in Tomintoul?'
'So what?'
Chavasse shook his head and said softly, 'He won't be there, Hector. Donner got to him first.'
The old man stood there staring stupidly at him, his face drained of all colour. 'It's a lie,' he said hoarsely. 'You're lying.'
'Let me out of here and I'll show you.'
'Maybe it's a trick, Da,' Rory Munro said.
'If it is, I'll kill him.' The old man took a bunch of keys from his pocket, tossed them across to his son and thumbed back the hammers of his shotgun. 'Let him out.'
'Do you know what you're doing?' von Bayern whispered.
Chavasse nodded. 'Don't try to be a hero when he opens the door. I don't think it's going to be necessary.'
When he stepped into the corridor, Rory slammed the door shut behind him immediately, locking it again. They both stood there covering him with their shotguns and Chavasse nodded.
'This way,' he said and moved down the passage.
He turned the corner at the end and found the cell he had previously been imprisoned in with no difficulty, recognising it at once by the bar across the door. It was in the next cell that Asta had told him she found Fergus.
'He's in there,' Chavasse said.
Hector glanced at him suspiciously, then nodded to Rory. 'Watch him. I'll take a look.'
He opened the door and fumbled for the light switch. A second later, he gave a terrible cry and his shotgun clattered to the floor. Rory turned involuntary to glance inside and his eyes widened with horror.
'Help me!' the old man moaned. 'Help me get him down.'
Rory leaned his gun against the wall and ran inside. Chavasse moved into the doorway and watched as they lifted the pathetic broken body from the hook and lowered it. The old man dropped to his knees and gently touched the blood-streaked face. When he looked up, there were tears in his eyes.
'Donner did this?'
Chavasse nodded. 'Miss Svensson was a witness.'
'Hung up and butchered like a side of beef. I was bought and paid for, so murdering my son didn't matter.' His hand came out of his pocket holding the bunch of keys and he tossed them across. 'You'll be needing these, I'm thinking.'
Chavasse picked up the old man's shotgun and collected Rory's on the way out and neither of them made the slightest objection, trapped in a world of their own private grief.
He ran back along the passage,