Night Train to Jamalpur(75)
I took him into the living room, closing the door firmly on Lydia. He was not a man for chit-chat, and I was in no mood for it. Inviting him to take a seat, I said, ‘What progress has Hughes made at Jamalpur?’
‘None whatsoever.’
‘No dacoits have been identified?’
‘They have not,’ Khan said, taking from his suit-coat pocket a little leather notebook. He made a heading in it.
‘Have you come up to Darjeeling just to see me?’ I enquired.
No reply.
‘You haven’t come for the views, I take it.’
‘The views are occluded today, as you will have seen for yourself.’
‘I suppose it would bother me somewhat if I thought you’d come three hundred miles just to see me.’
‘I have other business here as well. Half of Calcutta is here, as you know.’
‘Including Major Fisher. Will you be interviewing him again?’
No reply.
‘I don’t know the whereabouts of Canon Peter Selwyn,’ I said. ‘I haven’t seen him up here. Will you be interviewing him?’
‘Detective Inspector Stringer,’ said Khan, ‘the fingerprint results have been returned from the bureau. Your prints were found all over John Young’s compartment, and all over his warrant badge.’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I told you they would be.’
‘You were in there talking with him.’
‘Yes.’
‘Talking and drinking whisky.’
‘You see,’ I said. ‘You know it all.’
Khan did not like that, but he was the same rank as me, and I would not kowtow to him.
‘When we talked,’ I continued, ‘he passed his pocket book over to show me some pictures of his family. I took an interest in his warrant badge, which was set into the pocket book in the usual way – held by leather tabs.’
‘The money was taken from that pocket book.’
‘I did not rob the man.’
‘Of course not, and ten years ago the matter would have ended with your denial.’
‘Because I work for the imperial power.’
‘We both work for the imperial power, which is why we must not appear to be in collusion. Remind me why you were touching his warrant badge.’
‘I was curious about it.’
A pause while Ajit brought in the tea.
‘Let me assist you,’ said Khan, when Ajit had departed. ‘It is an aesthetic matter for you. You consider these tokens beautiful.’
‘I suppose so.’
‘But you have one yourself. You can study your own.’
‘Mine is temporary. It’s made of pasteboard. You see, I am what some people call a “railwayac”.’
‘A what?’
‘A railway maniac – shortened to railwayac. I have an annual subscription to the Railway Magazine. I am a member of the Railway Club.’
‘That is in London.’
‘The headquarters of the Club, yes. But it’s famous all over the world.’
‘I have never heard of it.’ He eyed me for a while. ‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘have you ever stood on platforms with the intention not of catching a train, but of writing down the number on the side of the engine?’
‘As a boy, yes.’
‘When I was in London, I saw individuals doing that at King’s Cross station – grown men as well as boys. I never thought I would meet such a person.’
Silence in the room. He had not touched his tea.
‘I have not seen it done in India,’ he said, ‘this number-taking.’
‘Well, you never know what’s happening on Indian railway platforms. They’re generally teeming. There are people living on the platforms.’
‘Living and dying, Detective Inspector Stringer,’ Khan said.
He had used my police rank to remind me of its equivalence with his own; to remind me this was a war between the two of us. I had previously done the same with him. How much did he care about John Young? If I read the man right, Khan was a nationalist who saw the Anglo-Indians as the lackeys of the British. Therefore he did not care for John Young. But it would suit a man like Khan very nicely if I could be proved to have shot John Young. The Anglos were one of the mainstays of British rule, and certainly of the railways. The killing of a high-ranking Anglo-Indian by a British policeman would go some way to wrecking that alliance.
‘It’s too easy for non-travellers to get on to Indian railway platforms, and railway lands generally,’ I said. ‘It is very much the sort of thing I’d like to see reformed.’
‘Is it now?’
After a further interval of silence, I asked, ‘Has there been another snake attack?’
‘I don’t believe so. Possibly. That is not my investigation.’ He hesitated. ‘Tell me,’ he enquired at length, ‘would your railway interest extend to . . .’