Free Dutch Courage by Elizabeth Darrell

then compounded my crime by asking you people for help.’
    â€˜That was the right thing to do,’ Max said firmly. ‘We know how best to deal with problems like yours. If you had taken your husband into your confidence he’d have come to us much sooner.’
    â€˜You’re wrong. He was so angry because I’d brought you in instead of allowing him to deal with it his own way.’
    â€˜Is that what he was attempting to do tonight?’
    â€˜I don’t know. He came home early, ranting and raging over the interview with Mr Black. We kissed and made up before he returned to work. I prepared his favourite stew with dumplings, and things seemed to have settled down until he spotted a Redcap strolling about outside the house. He got angry again and intended to go out and move him on, but the phone rang and he took the call.’
    â€˜Who did he speak to?’
    â€˜He didn’t say. Just told me I’d be safe with the guard outside and left by the back door.’
    â€˜What time was that?’
    â€˜Nine fifteen, nine thirty. Somewhere around then.’ Her voice broke. ‘When I opened the door and saw the Duty Officer with another man, I thought you’d come to tell me Sam was dead.’
    â€˜You believed that to be a possibility?’ Max probed.
    She nodded. ‘As Sam left he said, “I’ll sort the bastard out once and for all.”’ Tears now ran down her cheeks. ‘I’m to blame for what happened to him tonight.’
    â€˜You mustn’t think that, Mrs Collier,’ said Ben Steele earnestly. ‘It was a hit and run accident.’
    â€˜But who did the hitting and running?’ she countered thickly. ‘If they kill him, my life will end.’
    Max got back to his room in the early hours. Far too late to call Livya, even to leave a message. There was not one from her, either. He lay in bed thinking about the Colliers. A golden couple who fell in love at first sight. Life should be a bed of roses for them, but they had known the tragedy of two miscarriages, and they were now caught up in some dark plot to destroy their idyll.
    He realized his bad mood over the spat with Livya had soured his professional judgement this morning. Tom had been right to prioritize the Collier case. Charles Clarkson might suffer slights and doubts on his moral probity, but young Sam Collier was in actual mortal danger.

Four
    M ax awoke at seven and called Livya’s number in London. He was invited to leave a message. The receiver went down with a bang. He knew she rose early because she liked to be fresh and impeccably dressed, whatever she was doing that day. He took a perverse delight in wrecking that perfection the minute they reached a bedroom. Frustrated, he called the number again.
    â€˜Please pick up, Livya. I tried several times last night to contact you. Come on, let’s talk.’
    Silence. He slammed the receiver down again and took a shower. It did nothing to ease his mood of mixed anger, frustration and concern. Why wasn’t she there? If she was, why refuse to speak to him? Surely such a small, unwise comment from him could not have put an end to something so good; a relationship she had pursued without guile from their first meeting here in Germany.
    Livya had come to participate in the Inter-Services Chess Championship just prior to Christmas, and mutual attraction had been instant. The three days they had just spent together had been warm and wonderful. A tiny flash of jealousy could not have put an end to that, could it?
    Dressing in a dark-grey suit, with a white shirt and a red and silver tie, Max then picked up his telephone again. On the point of punching in Livya’s number, he changed his mind and called Tom.
    â€˜Are you undergoing the usual morning chaos?’
    â€˜Well, there are assorted females in various stages of undress wandering around upstairs, but I’m in sole, peaceful possession of the