The Dark Side of the Island - Jack Higgins [38]
"And you think that a sufficient reason?"
"I'm a professional writer, remember. People are my business."
Lomax sat down again at a table. "Tell me what happened when they arrrested you."
"A rather officious young officer arrived with a squad of men and searched the house without giving me any explanation. That's when the amphora got smashed. Afterwards, they took me to headquarters to see Steiner. He simply said that he had information to the effect that I'd harboured you and Boyd. Naturally, I told him I didn't know what he was talking about."
"And when was it first suggested that I'd given him the information?"
"I first heard it about a month later from one of the guards at the town gaol."
"They didn't send you to Fonchi straight away then?"
"I was in prison here for three months before they transferred me. Most of the others were already there when I arrived."
"Including Alexias?"
"He was never at Fonchi. They sent him direct to the Gestapo prison in Athens. I suppose they thought they could squeeze him dry in time. They knew he'd been working with the EOK in Crete."
"But why did they keep you here in the town gaol after the others had left?"
"That was Steiner's doing. He knew my health wasn't good and the garrison doctor told him I wouldn't last three months at Fonchi. I think he was trying to do the best he could for me."
"Why should he?" Lomax demanded bluntly.
"He liked me, it was as simple as that." Van Horn shrugged. "We played chess every week, remember. When I needed them, he obtained scarce medical supplies that saved many lives. He was ruthless, even cold-blooded, but he was not a bad man."
"Then why the change of heart after three months?"
"There was none. He left the island on an E-boat one morning bound for a military conference on Crete. Like you, he was never heard of again. His successor had me transferred to Fonchi as soon as he took over. I was there until the German surrender in Greece the following year."
"That garrison doctor was pretty wide of the mark when he said you wouldn't last three months," Lomax said.
His challenge was unmistakable and the fact of it lay between them like a sword. Out of the silence Van Horn said calmly, "There would appear to be some doubt in your mind as to the truth of my story. Perhaps I can convince you with something a little more concrete than words."
He stood up, unbuttoned his cream linen beach shirt and turned. From his shoulders to the base of the spine, his back was a mass of scar tissue, great raised weals crossing each other to form an ugly web that could have had only one possible cause.
He pulled on his shirt again. "Not very pleasant, eh? Fifty lashes for striking a guard and that was mild compared to what they did to some people."
"And you survived that?" Lomax said slowly.
Van Horn started to button his shirt. "I reached rock-bottom, Lomax. The ultimate in degradation. It's a funny thing, but when you're that low, you become so full of hate for the people who've put you there that it gives you new life. I swore I'd live to walk out through the gates of that place. As a matter of fact they had to carry me, but at least I was alive."
Lomax got to his feet and went to the balustrade and stood there, seeing again in his mind's eye the scars criss-crossing Van Horn's back, thinking of those who had died and of Katina and her own private agony.
After a moment, Van Horn moved beside him and said softly, "I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere for your traitor."
"Any suggestions?" Lomax said.
Van Horn shook his head and sighed. "Even if I knew, I'm not sure that I'd tell you."
For a long moment Lomax looked down into the fine face and the blue eyes so full of compassion and then he turned quickly and went back into the house.
Book Three
A Sound of Hunting
13
To the Other End of Time
He went down the steps from the terrace and moved through the garden, conscious of its freshness after the heat of the day. The sky was an angry red towards the horizon, the cypress trees by the wall etched against it like black lace, but