Free The Only Problem by Muriel Spark Page A

alibi
for the other; it’s not unknown …’
    ‘My
papers are in order,’ Harvey said now, for no reason that was apparent, even to
himself.
    The
inspector was very polite. ‘You maintain your wife financially, of course.’
    ‘I’ve
given her no money since I left her. But if I had, that wouldn’t signify that I
was financing a terrorist organisation.’
    ‘Then
you know that your wife is an active member of the FLE, and consequently have
refused to supply money.
    ‘I
never knew of the existence of the FLE until now. I don’t at all know that my
wife is a member of the group.
    ‘And
you give your wife no money,’ the policeman said.
    ‘No
money.
    ‘You
knew that she was arrested in Trieste.’
    ‘I didn’t
know until the other day. Nobody told me.
    ‘Nobody
told you,’ stated the inspector.
    ‘That’s
right. Nobody told me. I’m studious, you see. I have arranged for people not to
bother me, and they don’t; rather to excess. I think someone should have told
me. Not that it would have made any difference.’
    ‘Your
wife knows where you live?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘You
have written to her?’
    ‘No. I
left her two years ago. Eventually she found out where I lived.’
    ‘How
did she find out?’
    ‘I
suppose she got it out of someone. She’s an intelligent woman. I doubt very
much she’s mixed up with a terrorist group.
    ‘You
must have had some reason to abandon her. Why are you so eager to protect her?’
    ‘Look,
I just want to be fair, to answer your questions.’
    ‘We
know she’s an activist in the FLE.’
    ‘Well,
what exactly have they done?’
    ‘Armed
robbery and insurrection in various places. Of recent weeks they’ve been
operating in the Vosges. Where are their headquarters?’
    ‘Not in
my house. And if my wife is involved in these incidents —which I don’t admit
she is — isn’t it possible she has been kidnapped and forced to join this FLE?
It’s happened before. The Hearst case in the United States …
    ‘Do you
have reason to believe she has been kidnapped?’
    ‘I don’t
know. I have no idea. Has anyone been killed, injured, by this group?’
    ‘Injured?
But they are armed. They’ve collected a good deal of money, wounded twelve, damaged
many millions of francs’ worth of property. They are dangerous. Three men and a
girl. The girl is your wife. Who are the others?’
    ‘How
should I know? I’ve never heard of the —’Nobody told you.
    ‘Correct.’
    ‘It’s
time for lunch,’ said the inspector, looking at his watch; and, as he got up,
he said, ‘Can you explain why Nathan Fox disappeared from the château last
night?’
    ‘Nathan
Fox. Disappeared?’
    ‘Nobody
told you.
    ‘No. I
left my cottage at nine this morning.’
    ‘Where
is Nathan Fox?’ said the inspector, still standing.
    ‘I have
no idea. He’s free to come and go … I don’t really know.’
    ‘Well,
think it over.’ The inspector left the room.
     
     
    Harvey’s cottage was in
darkness when he drove back at four in the morning. He was tempted to go in and
see what had happened to his papers, his work; had they been careful or had they
turned everything upside down? Later, he found everything more or less intact
with hardly a sign of a search; he had suspected that at least half the time he
was kept for questioning had been for the purpose of giving the police leisure
to continue their search at the cottage and the château; much good it had done
them.
    He didn’t
stop at the cottage that early morning, but drove up to the château. A police
car was parked at a bend in the drive. Harvey tooted twice, softly and quickly,
as he passed it. Friendly gesture. The light was on in the porch. He let
himself in. Ruth came out of the living room in her dressing gown; she had been
sleeping on a sofa, waiting for him. ‘They brought us back at half-past six,’
she said. She came to hug him, to kiss him. ‘Are you all right?’ they both said
at the same time. Clara was sleeping in her