There was a silence. Then Harvey said mildly: 'Wrong, wasn't he?'

'Only just, chum, only just. And at least he tried: he picked an Englishman who made a reputation back in the war – and an alcoholic gunman. To guard a man worth ten million quid. And we weren't even bright enough to see that.'

Maganhard put on a stiff frown. He hated the idea that anybody working for him might have been second-rate; he could swallow Merlin – first-class and merely crooked – a lot easier.

He said: 'I think you are being rather fanciful, Mr Cane. As Mr Lo veil says, Monsieur Merlin was wrong. We were right, and we were successful.'

I nodded. 'Oh yes, we won the war. Andyou were right… I thought for a time that made me right, too. But it doesn't. I should never have taken this job. The way I do things – the way Caneton does them – too many people get killed. I don't know what else I could have done… but maybe that's the trouble. Maybe somebody else could have thought of something. You find him. Hire him.'

The girl was looking at me curiously. 'I thought you didn't care about what happened to those men down there.'

'I don't, not much. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think it matters who kills hired killers, or when, or even how. I was thinking of Harvey.' Out of the corner of my eye I saw his head jerk round. I kept looking at Miss Jarman – hard. 'Harvey's no killer; don't ever think you have to cure him of that. The real killers are the ones who can do it without taking a drink. After or before.'

'I hate to spoil a good speech,' Harvey said slowly, 'but nobody seems to have noticed I ain't dead yet.'

I gave him a quick look, then stood up, finished my drink, and said to nobody in particular: 'I'm going to run the Rolls down the hill and dump it, then catch a train from Vaduz. They won't be checking on who's goingout yet.' I looked at the girl. 'Get him away from here before the cops come.'

Harvey asked me: 'Paris?'

'France, anyway. I've got to find a doctor who won't talk.'

He finished his whisky with a gulp. 'Guess I'll come, too. The work'll be piling up.'

Miss Jarman turned slowly to face him, her face stiff and unbelieving.'What work?'

He seemed surprised. 'My work.'

Inside, I felt as cold and empty as a forgotten church. I said dully: That was what I meant.'

THIRTY-FOUR

After a moment! said: 'He's the top gunman in Europe, now Bernard and Alain are dead. Even if it never gets out that he killed them, he's the number one man. The best jobs, the top rates.'

The girl didn't seem to have heard me. She said to Harvey: 'But… but Merlin chose you because of your -your drinking problem. Heexpected you to get killed! '

He shrugged. 'So like I say – he was wrong.'

I said: 'He doesn't have a drink problem. Not now.'

She whipped round at me.

I said: 'His problem was he didn't think he could mix guns and booze. That's why he went dry at the beginning of this job. It's why he tried to keep us out of it tonight – he knew he'd drunk too much. He'd faced up to it, then: he was honest enough to say he'd screwed up his job by his drinking.'

My voice sounded empty and monotonous, like the hollow thumping of a big gong. But I had to go on beating it. 'Then he got into the fight – and he killed the best gunman in Europe. A man rated above him. Now – Where's his problem? He's proved he can mix pistols and whisky. He won't live two months.'

Her eyes got narrow. 'But you dragged him into that fight – and youknew this could happen?'

I shook my head helplessly. 'I tried not to. That's why I tried to kill Alain myself. I thought I could do it – the element of surprise, creeping up the trenches… being Caneton.' I smiled a little stiffly. 'Caneton used to be pretty good at that sort of thing. But maybe Merlin was right.'

She said quietly: 'About both of you.'

Harvey lifted himself on to his feet. He was perfectly steady; several of Flez's whiskies on top of the flask of brandy hadn't touched his balance. But you need a lot more than balance, and a lot less whisky, to be Europe's best gunman.

He said: 'So let's get to Paris.'

I nodded and turned for the door. The girl said clearly and bitterly: 'Thank you, Monsieur Caneton.'

And perhaps she was right. Perhaps I was still Caneton. And perhaps- I looked at her, then at Harvey; at the haunted, lined face that was, in an odd way, so innocent because it showed its guilt so clearly.

I said: 'How're the shakes?'

He stretched his right hand towards me, fingers spread.

They were as steady as carved stone. He smiled down at them.

I said: 'Pretty good,' and then swung the Mauser over and down. I heard – and felt – the fingers crack.

In the shocked silence his dragging breath was like a scream. He arched forward, hugging his hand against his stomach, his face clenched and white. Then he toppled back and crashed into a chair.

The girl was at his side, cradling his head, stroking his hair, murmuring to him.

Maganhard said coldly: 'I hardly think that was-'

'I saved his life,' I said. 'For another month. It'll take three months for his hand to heal well enough to use a gun again.'

Miss Jarman looked at me, her eyes hard and bright. 'You didn't need to dothat.'

'It was cheap, simple, a bit nasty,' I said dully. 'What Caneton would have done. If I'd been somebody else maybe I'd've thought of something better. But I'm not.'

Harvey half opened his eyes and whispered hoarsely: 'You'd better hide good, Cane. Real good. Because I'll spend a long time looking.'

I nodded. 'I'll be at Clos Pinel – or they'll know where.'

'He'll kill you,' the girl said.

'Perhaps. It could be up to you. It could even be something for him to stay sober for.'

I walked out and nobody tried to stop me It was still snowing gently. Halfway down the mountain I remembered that I'd never collected the balance of my pay -four thousand francs. I kept on going, but looked at my watch. It was a minute after midnight. Ahead of me, the mountain road was a dark tunnel without any end.