Death In Captivity by Michael Gilbert Page B

out of my bed a minute before a quarter-past eight.’
    ‘I think they were a bit late, that morning,’ agreed Commander Oxey. ‘I’d just finished my daily dozen – as often as not they open the door when I’m in the middle of them.’
    ‘I’m always asleep anyway,’ said Colonel Shore. ‘So I can’t help you.’
    ‘Well, say they arrived at twenty-to-nine. It was the little boy – Paoli – who was taking roll-call. He looked in my room, said “Good morning” or something like that – he had a carib with him, I think, but the carib didn’t come in. Then – by God, you’re absolutely right – they didn’t go into Coutoules’ room at all . I didn’t consciously notice it at the time, but I’m sure you’re right. They just turned about and marched off down the passage.’
    ‘Coutoules had the room next door, didn’t he,’ said Goyles, ‘that’s the last one in the passage?’
    ‘That’s right. We two were always the last two to be inspected.’
    ‘It’s funny either way,’ said Colonel Shore. ‘If your recollection’s right, it’s odd enough that they didn’t look in his room on that one particular morning – ’
    ‘They might have skipped it because they were late –’
    ‘Well, they might. On the other hand if Baird is wrong – it’s some days ago, and he might have been thinking of some different morning – well, it’s funnier still. If they deliberately refrained from looking into Coutoules’ room that one morning, then either they did the thing themselves, or they were in the know about it being done. It’s quite a thought, isn’t it? Suppose Coutoules was an informer, but his bosses were finished with him. He wouldn’t be much use to them after he’d been spotted. And suppose there was another reason for them not persevering with Coutoules – because they’d got a second, unsuspected informer in the camp. So what happens? A party of prisoners decides that it’s time Coutoules was liquidated for his treachery. The second informer tells the Italians. The Italians say, “Splendid. Suits us. So far as we’re concerned he’s safer dead,” So they just sit back and let it happen. The only detail they forgot was that they weren’t supposed to know about it at roll-call next morning. It was quite an easy thing to forget. None of us remembered it until a minute ago.’
    ‘Yes,’ said Baird. ‘Yes. But do you see what it means? It means that the Italians must know all about the Hut C tunnel.’
    The three men looked at the New Zealander. It was Goyles who spoke first.
    ‘Not necessarily, sir. If Colonel Shore is right, they might have known that Coutoules was going to be killed that night, but they might not have known where he was going to be put.’
    ‘Take it a step further,’ said Commander Oxey. ‘They might even have known that he was going to be put into a tunnel, without their informer knowing which tunnel, or exactly where the tunnel was, or how it worked.’
    ‘That does explain one thing,’ said Baird. ‘I always thought they were being unnaturally smart about the way they tackled the Hut A tunnel. It wasn’t like them at all. All that photographing and finger-printing. But if they knew Coutoules was going to be murdered and planted in some tunnel or other for them to find, it makes much better sense. They’d have had the whole procedure worked out in advance.’
    ‘Duns Scotus and the Medieval Schoolmen,’ observed Colonel Shore unexpectedly, ‘used to devote many hours to arguing the question of how many angels could balance on the point of a needle. As they were unable to decide either on the size of the needle or on the amount of parking space required by an angel, no very exact conclusion was ever arrived at.’
    ‘Moral appreciated,’ said Baird. ‘If you’re willing to take this thing on, Goyles, the first thing you’ll have to do is to ferret about and find out who saw Coutoules last that evening. Anything else that might be helpful,