Free The Light of Day by Eric Ambler Page B

interpreter.'
    'Why did you go to London?'
    I cleared my throat and took a sip of raki.
    'Answer me!'
    'I was going to answer, sir.' There was nothing else for it. The British distributor of our publications suddenly ceased making payments and we could get no replies from him to our letters. I went to England to investigate and found his offices closed. I assumed that he had gone out of business and began to look for another distributor. The man I eventually discussed the possibility with turned out to be a Scotland Yard detective. We used to send our shipments to Liverpool in cotton bales. It seems that the customs had discovered this and informed the police. Our distributor had been arrested and sent to prison. The police had kept it out of the papers somehow. I just walked into a trap.'
    'Better, much better,' he said. He looked almost amused. 'Naturally, though, you felt bitter towards the British authorities.'
    I should have remembered something he had let drop earlier, but I was still confused. I tried to head him off.
    ‘I was bitter at the time, of course, sir. I did not think I had had a fair trial. But afterwards I realized that the police had their job to do—' I thought that would appeal to him —'and that they weren't responsible for making the laws. So I tried to be a model prisoner. I think I was. Anyway I received the maximum remission for good behaviour. I certainly couldn't complain of the treatment I had in Maidstone. In fact, the Governor shook hands with me when I left and wished me well.'
    'And then you returned to Egypt?'
    'As soon as my probationary period was up, yes. I went back to Cairo, sir.'
    ‘Where you proceeded to denounce a British business man; named Colby Evans to the Egyptian   authorities as a British secret agent.'
    It was like a slap in the face, but I managed to keep head this time. 'Not immediately, sir. That was later, during the Suez crisis.'
    ‘Why did you do it?'
    I didn't know what to say. How could I explain to a man like that that I had to pay back the caning they had given me? I said nothing.
    Was it because you needed to prove somehow to the Egyptian authorities that you were anti-British, or because you didn't like the man, or because you were sincerely anti-British?'
    It was all three, I suppose; I am not really sure. I answered almost without thinking.
    'My mother was Egyptian. My wife was killed by a British bomb in the attack they made on us. Why shouldn't I feel sincerely anti-British?'
    It was probably the best answer I had given so far, it sounded true, even though it wasn't quite.
    'Did you really believe this man was an agent?'
    ‘Yes, sir.'
    'And then you applied for Egyptian citizenship.’

‘Yes, sir.'
    ‘You stayed in Egypt until "fifty-eight. Was that when they finally decided that Evans had not been a British agent after all and released him?'
    ‘He was convicted at his trial. His release was an act of clemency.'
    'But the Egyptians did start to investigate you at that time.' It was a statement.
    'I suppose so.'
    'I see.' He refilled my glass. 'I think we are beginning to understand one another, Simpson. You now realize that it is neither my business nor my inclination to make moral judgements. I, on the other hand, am beginning to see how your mind works in the areas we are discussing—what holds the pieces together. So now let us go back to your story about Mr Harper and Fräulein Lipp.' He glanced again at the file. ‘You see, for a man of your experience it is quite incredible. You suspect that Harper may be using you for some illegal purpose which will be highly profitable to him, yet you do as he asks for a mere hundred dollars.'
    It was the return journey I was thinking of, sir. I thought that when he realized that I had guessed what he was up to, he would have to pay me to take the risk.'
    He sat back, smiling. 'But you had accepted the hundred dollars before that possibility had occurred to you. You would not have searched the car outside