Comes the Dark Stranger by Jack Higgins

out.
    Shane stood in the shadow of the garden wall for two or three minutes, and then he went back up to the bungalow, walking on the grass verge. The woman had been lying, he was certain of that. Not only did Adam Crowther not want to speak to him, he wanted it to appear that he hadn’t left home all evening, and for that he had to have a reason.
    Shane crossed quickly to the flat-roofed brick garage which stood at one side of the bungalow. The door was unlocked, and he opened it quickly and went inside. He struck a match and held it above his head. Crowther’s car stood before him, a small dark saloon, and it was still wet from the rain.
    As the match extinguished itself Shane turned and went back outside. That settled it. It had been Crowther he had seen leaving the Garland Club.
    He went round the side of the house. The kitchen was in darkness, but the rear door opened to his touch and he passed inside. He stood listening intently, and faintly from somewhere at the front of the house he could hear voices. He went forward cautiously, and passed along a narrow corridor which emptied into the hall. Light showed beneath the crack at the bottom of a door on his left-hand side, and he went closer and listened.
    Crowther and his wife were arguing about something. She was pleading with him, her voice low and desperate. It was impossible to tell what they were saying, but suddenly Crowther said ‘No!’ very loudly. There was a sudden unexpected movement, and the door was flung open and Mrs Crowther appeared.
    As she saw Shane she raised a hand to her mouth and screamed. Shane pushed her gently back into the room, and moved after her, closing the door behind him.
    Adam Crowther was standing by the fire-place filling his pipe from an old leather pouch. He stared at Shane in astonishment, and then anger appeared on his face. He dropped the pipe on to a small coffee-table, and came forward, fists clenched. ‘I’ll give you about ten seconds to get out of here,’ he said.
    Shane leaned against the door and regarded him calmly. ‘Not until I’ve had some answers,’ he said. ‘Such as why your wife just lied to me.’
    Crowther paused a few feet away. ‘I didn’t want to speak to you again. I should have thought that would have been sufficiently obvious.’
    ‘Is that why you wouldn’t stop to talk to me when I saw you outside the Garland Club?’ Shane said.
    Crowther frowned. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
    Shane shook his head. ‘You’re lying, Crowther, just as you were lying this afternoon when you told me you and Steele weren’t friends. You visited him tonight at the Garland Club.’
    ‘You must be out of your head.’ Crowther laughed contemptuously. ‘I haven’t been out of the house all night.’
    ‘You visited Steele at the Garland Club,’ Shane said calmly. ‘Afterwards you went to my hotel and tried to frighten the life out of me. But you tried that on earlier today, didn’t you, Crowther? You followed me all over town dragging that blasted foot of yours, trying to make me think it was someone else.’
    There was a moment of stillness as he looked searchingly into the other man’s eyes, and then Crowther said quietly. ‘What are you afraid of, Shane? Who did you think was following you in the fog?’
    Cold sweat sprang in great beads to Shane’s face. ‘Colonel Li,’ he whispered hoarsely.
    Crowther shook his head. ‘But he died a long time ago, Shane. A very long time ago.’ He smiled gently. ‘You need a doctor, my friend.’
    A sudden cold terror moved inside Shane, and his hands started to tremble. ‘It was you,’ he said. ‘It has to be you.’
    Mrs Crowther moved forward quickly and laid a hand on his sleeve. There was something close to pity in her eyes as she gazed up at him and shook her head. ‘But my husband is telling the truth, Mr Shane,’ she said. ‘He hasn’t been out of this house all night.’
    For a moment Shane looked down into those candid grey