Free The Light of Day by Eric Ambler Page A

distributing foreign magazines and periodicals. Its real business was the production of pornography for the Spanish and English-speaking markets. And that became your real business.'
    ‘That is absolutely untrue.'
    ‘The information was supplied through Interpol in ‘fifty-four by Scotland Yard. It was given in response to an inquiry by the New York polke. Scotland Yard must have known about you for a long time.'
    I knew it would do no good for me to become angry. 'I have edited and sometimes written for a number of magazines of a literary nature over the years,' I said quietly. 'Sometimes they may have been a little daring in their approach and have been banned by various censoring authorities. But I would remind you that books like Ulysses and Lady Chatterley's Lover, which were once described by those same authorities as pornographic or obscene, are now accepted as literary works of art and published quite openly.'
    He looked at his papers again. 'In January 'fifty-five you were arrested in London. In your possession were samples of the various obscene and pornographic periodicals which you had been attempting to sell in bulk. Among them was a book called Gents Only and a monthly magazine called Enchantment. All were produced by your Egyptian company. You were charged under the British law governing such publications, and also with smuggling them. At your trial you said nothing about their being literary works of art. You pleaded guilty and were sentenced to twelve months imprisonment.'
    ‘That was a travesty of justice.'
    ‘ Then why did you plead guilty?'
    ‘Because my lawyer advised me to.' In fact, the C.I.D. or had tricked me into it. He had as good as promised that if I pleaded guilty I would get off with a fine.
    He stared at me thoughtfully for a moment then shut the file. ‘You must be a very stupid man; Simpson. You say to me, "I am telling you the truth," and yet when I try to test that statement all I hear from you is whining and protestation. I am not interested in how you explain away the past, or in any illusions about yourself that you may wish to preserve. If you cannot even tell the truth when there is nothing to be gained by lying, then I can believe nothing you tell me. You were caught by the British, smuggling pornography and trying to peddle it Why not admit it? Then, when you tell me that you did not know that you were smuggling arms and ammunition this afternoon, I might at least think, "This man is a petty criminal, but it is remotely possible that for once he is being truthful." As it is, I can only assume that you are lying and that I must get the truth from you in some other way.'
    I admit that 'some other way' gave me a jolt. After all, five minutes earlier he had been pouring me a glass of raki. He meant to put the fear of God into me, of course, and make me panic. Unfortunately, and only because I was tired, upset and suffering from indigestion, he succeeded.
    'I am telling you the truth, sir.' I could hear my own voice cracking and quavering but could do nothing to control it. 'I swear to God I am telling you the truth. My only wish is to tell you all I can, to bring everything out of the darkness into the light of day.'
    He stared at me curiously; and then, as I realized what I had said, I felt myself reddening. It was awful. I had used those absurd words Harper had made me write in that confession about the cheques.
    A sour smile touched his lips for an instant. 'Ah yes,' he said. 'I was forgetting that you have been a journalist. We will try once more then. Just remember that I do not want speeches in mitigation, only plain statements.'
    'Of course.' I was too confused to think straight now.
    ‘Why did you go to London in 'fifty-five? You must have known that Scotland Yard knew all about you.'                    :
    'How could I know? I hadn't been in England for years.'
    ‘Where were you during the war?'
    'In Cairo doing war work." 'What work?'
    'I was an