The Zig Zag Girl (23 page)

‘Come on,’ said Ruby. ‘She’s asleep. We should go.’

Max didn’t ask how Ruby knew that the snake was female. He took her hand and they climbed the stairs
together. PC Granger was still waiting outside. The rain was dripping from his helmet.

‘Is this the young lady?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ said Max. ‘Where are your reinforcements?’

PC Granger pointed towards the beach where torchlight was bobbing in the darkness like a will-o’-the-wisp.

‘Over here,’ he shouted.

‘I’ll leave you to it,’ said Max. ‘I need to get Ruby home.’

‘But you can’t just …’

‘Goodbye, PC Granger. It’s been a pleasure. Oh …’ Max looked back over his shoulder. ‘Tell your colleagues there’s a bloody great snake in the cellar.’

And he and Ruby walked away over the pebbles and wet grass. In the car Max turned on the heating and asked, ‘How the hell did you do that?’

Ruby smiled at him. ‘My mother was a snake-charmer.’

Max stared. Somewhere in the distant past he saw a rush basket and a woman with long black hair plaited with gold. He heard the song so recently sung by Ruby.

‘Her name was Emerald,’ said Ruby.

‘Emerald,’ repeated Max.

‘Do you mind,’ said Ruby, massaging her wrists where the rope had cut into them, ‘if I keep on calling you Max? I think Daddy’s a bit much all at once, don’t you?’

*

The heat was unbearable. Soon it would reach his face and then he too would be horribly burnt. But it wouldn’t matter too much because he’d be dead in a few minutes. Edgar shut his eyes. He heard Charis laugh. ‘Goodbye, Ed.’

Then many things seemed to happen at the same moment. The door burst open. A coat was thrown over the flames, covering Edgar’s head. He heard Charis say, in a voice composed half of anger, half of amusement. ‘You! What the hell are you doing here?’

‘Drop the knife, Charis.’

‘The hell I will. I’ll kill you too, you old fool.’

Edgar somehow shook himself free of the coat. Through the choking smoke he saw Charis with the knife raised, ready to strike. And he saw Diablo, dressed in an extremely dirty white suit, holding a gun.

‘Drop the knife.’

With a sound like a snarl, Charis launched herself at the old magician. The gun went off. Edgar just had time to see Charis’s shocked expression as she fell to the floor. Then he shut his eyes.

When he opened them again, Diablo was untying the ropes with hands that seemed remarkably steady.

‘It’s all right, dear boy. It’s all right.’

‘Is she …?’

‘Yes, she’s dead. It’s better that way.’

Diablo helped Edgar to his feet. Charis lay sprawled by the door. The Egyptian headdress lay next to her.

‘How did you know?’ asked Edgar. He was shocked to find himself leaning heavily on Diablo.

‘Remember I told you I thought I saw her in Brighton? Well, I saw her again. Knew she was up to no good. I’ve been following her.’

Edgar didn’t ask how a large man in a white suit could
tail someone without being noticed. He didn’t ask how Diablo had got to Hastings; he didn’t even ask where the old man had got the gun. All he said was, ‘She had a lovely face.’

‘God in his mercy lend her grace.’ Diablo finished the quotation.

‘I’m amazed the old boy was sober enough to shoot straight,’ said Max.

‘He was incredible,’ said Edgar. ‘Like the Lone Ranger. He even had the white suit.’

‘And he’d suspected Charis all along?’

‘Apparently he’d always had his doubts about her. Then, when he saw her in Brighton, he realised something was up. He tracked her down and trailed her for a while. He even guessed that she was dressing up as a man. Something about Burlington Bertie. I didn’t follow it all.’

‘Burlington Bertie was sung by a woman dressed as a man.’

‘There you are then.’

‘But why was Diablo asking questions about Ruby?’

‘It seems that he knew that Charis was watching her. He was worried about Ruby. Then, when Charis turned her attention to Hastings, he was worried about you.’

‘Well I’m very grateful,’ said Max. ‘But I must say that I thought my guardian angel would be prettier.’

Max and Edgar were on the Palace Pier. It was a beautiful September morning and the sky was a clear, pale blue. The pier was almost empty apart from a few fishermen at the very end. The holiday-makers were all back at work, the children back at school. Max and Edgar sat in deckchairs like pensioners on a day trip. A seagull watched them suspiciously from the roof of the penny arcade.

‘I came here with Ruby,’ said Max. ‘She wanted to eat fish and chips on the pier.’

‘I can’t believe she’s your daughter.’

‘Nor can I.’ Max stared out to sea where a sailing boat was tacking slowly across the horizon. ‘It’s a terrible thing, but I hardly remember Emerald. I was twenty, just starting out; she was a bit older. We were on the bill at Worthing. She had this incredible act with a python. It caused quite a stir that summer.’

‘I bet it did.’

‘That was the last I saw of her. I never even knew she was pregnant.’

‘But she told Ruby about you.’

‘Apparently that was only this summer. Ruby suddenly announced that she wanted to be a magician, so Emerald told her that it was in the blood, so to speak. Ruby had always thought that her stepfather was her father. He sounds a decent chap. Plasterer.’

‘Are you going to tell
your
father?’ Edgar was curious to know what Lord Massingham would think about a granddaughter who had been brought up by a snake-charmer and a plasterer. He remembered Ruby asking him, ‘Is it
true that his father is a lord?’ Had she been pondering her own aristocratic heritage?

Max grimaced. ‘I don’t know. But he’s always nagging me to get married and have children so …’

‘Ruby’s a granddaughter anyone would be proud of.’

‘My thoughts exactly.’

‘And who would have thought that snake-charming would come in so handy?’

‘Yes. Charis couldn’t have foreseen that, could she? Do you know where she got the snake, by the way?’

‘From the aquarium. Apparently she got round one of the attendants. Said she needed it for her stage act.’

‘She still had the old charm then?’ Max had winced when Edgar had told him about Charis’s face.

‘It didn’t really show,’ Edgar said now. ‘She was still beautiful.’

They were silent for a moment. Edgar thought about the fact that, if it hadn’t been for Diablo, the beautiful girl whom he had once loved would have murdered him. He remembered something he’d once read: if you save someone’s life, they belong to you. It was an uneasy thought, that he was now the property of an ageing magician called The Great Diablo.

‘Are you going to see Emerald?’ asked Edgar.

Max gave his one-sided smile. ‘I’m having tea with them tomorrow. They live in Hove. Ruby was telling the truth about that.’

‘Well, she didn’t exactly lie about any of it. She just didn’t tell you.’

‘No. She’s a true pro.’

Edgar thought that Max sounded rather sad. Maybe it made him feel old to have a twenty-year-old daughter. Maybe it was the thought of that summer in Worthing, so long ago, so easily forgotten. How many women had there been since then? He thinks he’s God’s gift, Charis had said. But Max was still on his own, moving from town to town, every Sunday a changeover day. For his own part he felt that his heart, once broken in two by Charis, was now smashed into a thousand pieces. But, in some ways, it was a curiously liberating thought. Nothing in the past was what it had seemed. Now he could get on with the future.

‘I keep thinking,’ said Max. ‘When I got the note saying that Ruby was in danger, I still went on stage. I should have gone to look for her right away, but my music started and I went out there and did my act all the same. Nearly blew it when I saw Charis in the audience, but I carried on. What does that say about me?’

‘That you’re a good magician?’

‘But a bloody awful human being.’

‘We’re all awful human beings. I was in love with a girl who murdered three people.’

‘God. Charis. I never liked her much, but I never thought that she was capable of that.’

‘I couldn’t believe it. Even when she was about to kill me, I couldn’t believe it.’

‘Even when I saw her in the audience, I didn’t work it out. When I got to the house, I kept asking Ruby, ‘Where
is he?’ I still thought it was a man. It’s depressing to think that Diablo was quicker than we were.’

‘He says it’s because he always thinks the worst of people and he’s usually right.’

‘Cheerful bugger.’

‘The funny thing is, he
is
a cheerful bugger. Considering everything.’

Diablo did seem to have recovered remarkably well from the events of that awful night. After the police had come and asked them a thousand questions, Edgar and Diablo had ended up back at Queenie’s lodging house. Max and Ruby were already there and the five of them (because Queenie wasn’t about to miss the excitement) sat up late into the night, talking and drinking Queenie’s sloe gin. Diablo was still there. He had struck up an immediate friendship with the landlady and said that he preferred Hastings to Brighton. ‘It’s more peaceful,’ he pronounced, without apparent irony. Edgar suspected that Max was now paying his rent.

‘When are you back at work?’ asked Max.

‘Tomorrow.’ Frank Hodges had given him a week off, but nothing, not even the apprehension of the Conjuror Killer, was worth longer than that. Besides, the case didn’t exactly have the neat ending that the high-ups wanted. There was no killer to bring to trial, just a rather confused account of a fight and a gun going off and a girl lying dead. Well, that was Edgar’s story and he was sticking to it. They had found Charis’s male clothes in her room, together with the incriminating typewriter and enough
deadly nightshade to wipe out an entire chorus line. There was even a false moustache. And there was also a photograph of a man and a woman standing on the banks of the Ness. The woman was laughing, her red hair blowing around her gorgeous face, the man looked young and stupid. Edgar had put the picture in his pocket.

‘Did you tell Bill?’ asked Max, leaning forward to light a cigarette.

‘Yes. He seemed stunned. He did say that he’d always been a bit scared of Charis. You know, I always thought that Jean was second best to Charis, but she was the one he really loved.’

‘Poor old Bill. Poor Jean.’

‘Yes.’ Edgar didn’t tell Max that Bill had said, ‘I always loved Jean but she had this thing for you. You didn’t know, did you? It was always Charis for you.’

Now he said, ‘Bill will be all right. They’re staying with his sister for a bit, but I’m sure he’ll marry again, find a mother for Barney.’

Rather to Edgar’s surprise, Bill had asked him to be Barney’s godfather, and he had accepted. Edgar was never going to have much in common with Bill, but the day when he had held the smelly child in his arms had formed a bond which couldn’t easily be broken.

‘Yes, Bill will be fine,’ said Max. ‘Women will always want to look after him.’

‘Bully for Bill,’ said Edgar. ‘They just want to avoid me.’

As he said this, he thought of the only woman since Charis who had made his heart beat faster. He thought of
the sudden fear when he thought she was in danger, the surging relief (despite everything else that had happened) when he knew she was safe. He looked at Max, who was engaged in lighting one cigarette from another. It would be hard telling Max that he wanted to go out with his daughter, but he’d have to do it some time.

They stood up and strolled back along the pier. The seagulls wheeled overhead and a woman called out for them to come and have their fortunes told.

‘That’s all I need,’ said Max, raising his hat politely.

‘You don’t want to be told what’s going to happen to you?’

‘I know what’s going to happen to me. On Sunday I’m going to London. I’ve got a nice stint at the Chiswick Empire.’

‘A Number One.’

‘That’s right. Things are looking up.’

Max’s voice was sardonic, but Edgar thought the spring was back in his step as they walked along the promenade towards the West Pier.

‘Fancy getting some lunch?’ said Edgar.

‘Sorry,’ said Max. ‘I’ve got another appointment. Business.’

They said goodbye by the fishing boats and Edgar watched as Max disappeared into the distance, a tall figure in a well-cut suit, a magician walking through the world of men.

*

On the way to Worthing, Max thought about Emerald and that summer in 1930. It had been hot, he remembered,
and they had swum in the sea one night. He remembered her body in the moonlight, but he couldn’t recall them exchanging a single word. They must have talked, he supposed, but about what? Their acts? The python? The creature’s name – it came back to him in a sudden flash of memory – was George. Did they talk about George or did they just make love on the beach, not thinking about anything very much? He suspected the latter. Why didn’t Emerald tell him that she was pregnant? Maybe she had thought (quite rightly, as it turned out) that a twenty-year-old magician was hardly a suitable father for an infant. Even so, he wished he had known. It would have been something to think about during those long war years, something to live for. Thank God he had never tried to make a pass at Ruby. But, remembering the sensation of her hand in his, he realised that his feeling for Ruby had always been of a very different kind. He remembered his panic when he thought she might be in danger. So this is what it felt like to be a parent.

He parked on the seafront and walked through the suburban streets. The Major was waiting for him at the gate. Max didn’t expect to be invited in, and he was right. They walked to the now familiar rustic seat with its distant view of the sea.

‘How is your wife?’ asked Max.

‘Not too good,’ replied the Major. ‘It’s only weeks now, they tell me.’

‘I’m sorry.’

The Major shrugged, looking away. ‘We’ve all got to go sometime.’

Max watched him for a minute and then he said, ‘You bastard. You double-dealing bastard.’

The Major didn’t seem surprised at being addressed in this way. In fact, he smiled slightly.

‘So you’ve worked it out, have you?’

‘The Magic Men never really existed, did they? A special unit to trick the enemy using stage magic. It was all a front, wasn’t it? A trap to catch a spy.’

‘Well, of course,’ said the Major, unperturbed. ‘You didn’t really think we’d employ a lot of stage types to do important war work, did you?’

‘So you knew all along that it was Charis.’

‘We were pretty sure. Cartwright had been on her trail from way back. The idea was that we’d put her in charge of a special unit. We’d tell her it was all about illusion and stagecraft and what have you and she’d feed Jerry all this rubbish about dummy soldiers and invisible tanks. It would keep her away from the Operations Room and stop her from giving away any real secrets. In time, we thought she’d slip up and give herself away.’

‘And you didn’t think to take all of us into your confidence?’

‘Be reasonable, man. The whole point was that you’d all believe in what you were doing. That was why it was so important to have you on board. There were all these stories about what you’d done in Egypt. Charis would
have known about all that. You gave the whole thing some credibility.’

Max thought that it was the first time that this particular charge had been laid against him. ‘What about Edgar?’ he said.

‘Oh, he was vital too. Decent chap, good war record. He was the perfect choice to front the whole show. Charis obviously bought the whole thing. That’s why she seduced him, just in case she’d need him later.’

‘Edgar was in love with her.’

‘Yes.’ The Major was silent for a moment, frowning down at the velvety grass. ‘I felt bad about that. He’s a good chap, Stephens, but, oh my Lord, such an innocent.’

‘It’s not the worst thing to be.’

‘No,’ said the Major, ‘there’s a strength in innocence, but there’s also a strength in being devious. That’s why you and I have always understood each other.’

Max didn’t think there was any point in denying this. ‘When you ordered Charis onto the boat,’ he said, ‘did you mean her to die?’

‘I thought it was a distinct possibility,’ said the Major calmly. ‘Of course she outsmarted us there. I saw the German plane hovering over the wreckage, but I didn’t think that there was any chance that she would get out alive.’

‘Did Tony find out?’ asked Max. ‘Is that why he came to see you that time?’

‘He suspected something,’ said the Major. ‘Remember he was there when the boat burnt. He saw the plane too.’

Max had turned away after a while, unable to look. He remembered the Major telling him, quite kindly, to go back to the Caledonian. But Tony had stayed watching almost until nightfall.

‘I think he brooded about it over the years. Then, when he was down on his luck, he thought he’d try a spot of blackmail.’

‘What did you say to him?’

‘Oh I bluffed it out,’ said the Major. ‘He hadn’t any proof after all.’

So Tony had always suspected that Charis wasn’t really dead. That explained his taunting, that night in the restaurant.
You know I still can’t believe that she’s dead
. It also explained why he had recognised her in the chorus line. Because he had, in some sense, been looking for her.