JACK OF DIAMONDS

CHAPTER 15 part 1 (WHERE EVERY TITLE HAS FOR A NAME...)

i

“And what makes you think I’ve got anything to say to the likes of you two? I know who you are. The whole town knows who you are,” he added, looking at Sonia.

He was about to close the door when Nigel put his foot in the opening, pushing against the door with his shoulder. He looked up at the man who was staring down at Nigel’s foot.

“If you know me, you should know not to talk to me.”

“I said we want a word,” Nigel said slowly.

“And I said I don’t now then, didn’t I?”

“Look, we found a body up at Chumley—”

“And you immediately thought about me? I’m flattered.”

“One of the men there identified the body as your friend—what was the name?” he asked Sonia.

“Antonov. Alexandr Antonov.”

“Alex is dead? Oh that’s just great, isn’t it?”

“So you knew him?”

Lawrence opened the door and made to step outside, looking over his shoulder and shaking his head as though motioning to someone. Picking up his boots and slipping them on as he stepped outside, he continued watching the two Constables. Boots on, he stepped down off the narrow porch, looking up at the trees for a moment—a man obviously trying to get things right in his mind as far as the story in his head went, Nigel told himself. He wondered if the man was going to start off with a lie, or if he’d come straight and tell them everything he knew.

“I know him. Sorry. I guess that’s knew him now then, isn’t it? Are you sure it’s him?” he asked, turning to look at them.

Nigel stepped down off the porch, followed by Sonia who was taking her notebook out of her pocket and taking notes. Lawrence began by walking away from the house, toward the outhouse, and Nigel felt the man was leading them away from the house on purpose. He looked back over his shoulder and thought he saw a face behind the faded curtains.

“We don’t have a positive ID,” Nigel explained, “but one of the stable hands at Bedloe said it was him. He said the man was trying to find recruits?”

“Yeah. He come down from London last month,” Lawrence said, and the open the outhouse door. “Mind if I take a piss?”

“Do you have an address?” Sonia asked.

“Why would I have his fuckin’ address? He come here and said the Party sent him down to recruit fuckin’ members, and that’s all I know about him,” he added, letting the door close behind him.

“How’s that working out?” Nigel asked through the door.

“Jesus Christ, Sherlock! Can’t you let a man piss in peace?”

“Do you know who would’ve wanted to kill him?” Nigel asked as soon as Lawrence stepped out of the outhouse.

“Well, my first guess would be the Russians out here, wouldn’t it?”

“What Russians?” Sonia asked. “There’s no Russians living here—”

“He means in Chumley. Don’t you? You mean Chumley, right?” Nigel asked, looking at Lawrence.

“You from Chumley?”

Nigel nodded.

“Then you know who I mean.”

“We can’t go and see him on that,” Nigel laughed. “Not if you mean who I think you mean.”

“They call him Prince Igor, but he’s no prince. He’s a fuckin’ banker. But he’s a blue blood.”

“You mean a White Russian?”

“To the bone. He tried to organize an attempt to save the Tsar and his family.”

“What happened?” Sonia asked.

“Well, he didn’t do it, did he?”

“I mean, why did he fail?”

“That I couldn’t tell you. I wasn’t there. But he came home and started making all kinds of noise. He was trying to rescue his friends and family, smuggle out treasures—art work, jewelry, that sort of thing—while the country’s going through a fuckin’ revolution. And then a Civil War? In the meantime, all he can do is to think about how he can go about saving the Tsar, and failing that, maybe a painting or two.”

“Did he?”

“Did he what?”

“Failing to rescue the Tsar, save his friends and family?” Sonia asked.

“He did. But he also drew the attention of the Politburo. They wanted him dead, and so they tried to kill him.”

“And they sent Andropov—”

“Antonov,” Sonia corrected him, and Nigel half-smiled, nodding.

“Antonov. By what you’re saying, you mean to tell us that he came here with the intent to kill Prince Igor?”

“If by Prince Igor you mean Chernetsov, then yes, I believe that was his intent.”

“You don’t know for certain? The man stayed here for a couple of weeks—”

“There’s always someone coming down from London for one reason or another. They don’t talk to me. I’m not privy to what their plans are, and I like it like that. I get them the things they need. If they need an automobilist, I find someone to drive them wherever they want to go.”

“Is there someone down from London now?”

“Yes.”

“Can we talk to him?” Sonia asked.

“For one thing, it’s not a him. It’s a her. And no, you can’t.”

“Why’s that?” Nigel asked, looking at the window where he could still see the blurred figure of someone behind the curtain.

“She’s not here.”

“She’s not?” Nigel asked, turning directly away from the house and looking Lawrence in the eye.

“You wouldn’t want to talk to her, anyway. She’s a real cunt, if you know what I mean?”

“No, I don’t know what you mean,” Sonia smiled.

“Beggin’ your pardon an’ pardon my French, mum, but she has her own ideas; her own agenda.”

“And what would that be?”

“Now that I do know. She’s here looking for Antonov. They were a thing, you know?”

“I can believe that more than I’m willing to believe the woman’s a cunt. You most likely feel that way because she refuses to fuck you,” Sonia smiled. “I’m going to have to agree with her on that point, because you see, most women don’t have a natural affinity for fucking farmers—especially pig farmers. They stink.”

“Honestly, Sonia. Now?”

“Let her say what she wants. I don’t care. Do you want me to call you a cunt, too? Because I’ll gladly call you a cunt, you cunt. All women are cunts in my eyes.”

“Prefer taking it yourself, do you?”

“Please, Mr an you tell us anything else about him we should know?”

“You’re a hard one, aren’t you? Or is it you’re in need of a hard one?” he laughed.

“Look, I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you as far as this strange woman’s concerned. And it doesn’t sound as though Special Constable Nazar here is going to accommodate you, either, so can we just get back to the question?”

“I told you, they don’t tell me their plans. I don’t ask. It’s better that way. If you know too much, things might happen.”

“You mean they’ll kill you?” Nigel said.

“Look, did you serve?” Lawrence asked slowly. He leaned back against the fence and looked at Nigel, who nodded.

“Messenger service.”

“I was a nurse. Two years at the Front,” Sonia added.

“A nurse? That was hard.”

“I’m not going to argue the point.”

“Well, toward the end of it all, we’d heard about the Revolution. In Russia? You couldn’t keep something like that a secret forever. Believe me, they tried. But word about something like that always gets out. There’s always someone who steps up and says that maybe we should have our own revolution. People were sick, and dying with the flu—the Spanish Flu they call it now. Back then, it was just the flu. If you got it, you died the same day. And we were all dying. Someone said we should kill all the officers and desert. Mutiny. You know what that means, don’t you?”

Sonia nodded.

“Someone always steps up,” he said. “Always.”

“And just as quickly, gets shot,” Sonia added.

“Yeah well, the British Army doesn’t take mutiny lightly, does it? Every blighter knows that. The ringleaders were rounded up, court-martialled, and then shot, almost on the same day. But Tommies like me? We don’t say much. We sit back and we listen, and when we get back home and see how nothing’s changed, we listen to the recruiters. We become card carrying members of the Party, the same’s we do with our Unions. But the Party? They never trust us. You have to earn their trust.”

“And you haven’t?” Nigel smiled.

“I give them a place to stay when they need it. I get them an automobile, or a horse and fuckin’ buggy if that’s all there is. I feed them, and then I send them on their way home when the time comes. A man has to have a line he won’t cross. I have mine, and they know it.”

“And what’s that?” Sonia asked.

“If I tell you that, Miss, you’ll know what it is as well.”