from his no doubt Calvinistic ancestors. He said, almost hostilely,
“There’s nothing to be gained by running down your brother
especially
as he can’t answer back.” I said softly, “You should study
the Bible, Mr Campbell.
There are a few stories in the Book that are very illuminating.
Read about Cain and Abel, or Esau and Jacob. There’s no hard and fast
rule that brothers should like one another -and lots of villains have
innocent kinfolk.” He was acid. “Well, I suppose you knew him best.
I never had any reason to doubt him while he was in my employ.”He
caught Clare’s eye and faltered just a little. “Must admit that
personally…..
Clare’s face was calm, showing only a polite interest, but her jawline
caught my notice.
I said, “We must discuss this. We’re faced with a problem put to us by
Mark and we can only solve it by understanding him and the way he
worked. Geordie can support some of what I may have to tell you.” I
had them all riveted now. “Let me tell you something that I’ll bet you
don’t know -Mark was kicked out of the I.G.Y for falsifying figures.
That was just before he joined your company.” “I didn’t know that and
I don’t think I believe it.” “It’s true,” I said. “Professor Jarvis,
my old boss at the Institute, told me about it – and Geordie heard him
too. I think he got hold of those nodules at the time, found out their
value, and decided to keep the knowledge to himself. Then he moved in
on you – and he was using you.” Campbell was affronted. ‘llsing
me!”
“You had the money he wanted for an expedition. He couldn’t show you
the nodules because you’d want to know where he got them. And that was
by stealing them from the people who paid his salary.” Campbell began
to look baffled. “He never showed me anything. He talked a good story
though.” “That’s right. He had a lot of theory and you nearly fell
for it. If you had, he’d have wasted his time and your money
fossicking round the Pacific for six months and then his “theory” would
have led him to a spectacular find. You see, he knew where those
nodules came from. Anyway you’d be in the chips and he’d be both rich
and vindicated – the great scientist.” Campbell nodded unwillingly.
I said, “But something went wrong. You had your run-ir with
Suarez-Navarro and found yourself strapped for read) funds. You
couldn’t finance his expedition, and so he left you flat because you
were of no further use to him. Isn’t that so?” There was silence
while
Campbell digested all that.
“All right, you’ve made your point – don’t drive it into the ground.
Assuming something like that is possible – what do you suggest we do
now?” “First, another point. You wondered how Suarez-Navarro came
into the nodule hunt. I think Mark may have tried the same ploy on
them.
In fact I think he and Norgaard were waiting in Tahiti for the ship
that’s being fitted out right now, and that ties everything in squarely
together.” “All right, let’s assume that too. We’re safer the more we
can see into the forest, I suppose.” Campbell was still shaken by what
I’d said about Mark. “What do we do next?” “Well, we could find out
where Mark’s I.G.Y ship dredged and drop ours in the same places.
But I don’t think it will be any of the sites they actually surveyed or
this would have come out already – Mark wasn’t the only one doing
assays.
No, I think it was a trial site, one they weren’t serious about, and
probably didn’t even make a record of, though we could check it out.”
We all sat in gloom for a while. The faint drift of music changed
tempo and a woman began to sing with the trio, and I turned to watch
her. Her voice was nice but she was no world-beater. Her body was
better than her voice and set off admirably by a revealing gown.
For a moment, lost in something not at all of our troubled world, I
relaxed and only caught the end of a sentence directed at me by Clare
Campbell.
‘. . . to ask you a question – if I’m not distracting you, Mike?” Her
voice was calm but when I turned back I saw an ironic sparkle in her
eyes.
“Sorry, yes?” I said “You say that Mark was kicked off the ship for
falsifying figures – but which figures? Not the high-cobalt nodule
assay because, as you said, that news hasn’t broken yet. So he must
have falsified other figures which caught him out.
What were they and why did he cook them -could they matter?” That was
something I hadn’t thought of, and it was a stopper. I said, “Mark was
always a fast boy with a red herring. He cheated once in his school
exams, and this is how he did it. He was called into the headmaster’s
office just before an exam and the master happened to be out of the
room. On the desk was a pile of question papers. Mark played it
cleverly – he didn’t take
one, he took six. Then he made a copy for himself and passed the six
papers to other boys anonymously.”
Campbell said, “I don’t get it.”
“It’s simple. He told me about it afterwards – he always knew I
wouldn’t tell tales. He reckoned that if the thing blew up in his face
he’d see to it that the six papers were all found in the possession of
other boys. He’d be in the clear. It wasn’t found out and he got away
with it. Now what if he’s done something like that here?” Campbell
looked frustrated. He was supposed to be a man with acumen, after
all.
“I may be dumb, but I still don’t get it.
“Look,” I said patiently. “Mark has located a deposit of high-cobalt
nodules and he’s busy suppressing the information. He knows that if
he’s found out he’s not only in disgrace but he’s lost a potential
fortune. So – knowing Mark – I’d guess that he’d toss out a few red
herrings. He’d falsify some more figures to confuse the issue, and
he’d probably revise all estimates upwards. It would add slightly to
the risk of discovery, but if it was found out, as it evidently was,
he’d be only another glory-hunting scientist, rather too optimistic and
looking for professional praise. No one would suspect that one set of
figures was wrong for another reason. They may not t ever have caught
it.” I laughed humourlessly. “I’ll bet that all Mark’s findings were
junked, anyway. None of his colleagues would trust his figures after
that.” “Why didn’t they tell the world about it – to protect people
like Pop?” asked Clare a little bitterly.
“I think they would feel that commercial folk like your dad can take
care of themselves,” I said. “They’re mostly too gentlemanly.”
Campbell was looking at me in wonder, Geordie in silent assent of my
assessment.
“Did Mark really have a mind like that?” Campbell said.
I saw that he was hurt; his pride in his judgement of men had been
badly undermined. But then, he’d been taken in by an expert. “He had
a mind that would make a corkscrew look like a straight edge. You
don’t have to take my word for it, either. Geordie can tell you some
tales.” Geordie nodded. “Aye, the boy was a twister. He caused the
family a lot of grief.” ‘ “All right. Supposing that Mark was as
Machiavellian as you make him out to be, it’seems we’re back where we
started – all we have to go on is the diary.” “And that’s going to be
a devil of a job, sorting out his scribbles. I can make a fair stab at
the science, but the rest is a teaser.” “We’ll discuss it over
dinner,” Campbell decided, to my secret relief.
We chewed over the diary and the dinner together. The dinner was
digestible which was more than any of us could say for the diary.
Clare asked if she could have it for bedside reading. “I like that
sort of thing,” she said. “Puzzles, jigsaws.” And I also thought that
she might have felt that her own knowledge of Mark’s odd mind might be
useful.
“You’re welcome,” I told her. “I want a break from it.”I was pleased
that as the evening wore on she seemed to lose some of her reserve and
her mouth began to lose its tight-locked caution. We were at the
coffee stage when a waiter came up to the table. “Are one of you
gentlemen Mr Trevelyan?” “I am.” “There’s a lady in the foyer asking
to see you.” I looked around blankly. “I don’t know anyone in
Panama.”
Campbell looked up at the waiter. “An old lady or a young lady?” “Oh,