Murder At Zero Hour

  Chapter 16

  An Unexpected Visitor

  I awoke. It took a long time to finally open my eyes. I was greeted by darkness. I felt oddly out of place, dizzy, and even moving my hands took great energy. My body was floating, and any pain was just a muted throb. What had happened to me? It was difficult to think. I just wanted to fall back asleep. My attention was suddenly drawn by the sound of a soft footstep and then the sound of my door gently closing.

  “Who's there?” I whispered. My voice sounded weak and unsteady.

  The steps came closer and stopped at the foot of my bed.

  “Who's there?” I whispered again. I suppose I should have been feeling some kind of fear, but I was too dazed to really care. Was this just a nightmare?

  A flashlight flicked on. I was momentarily blinded by the sudden brightness. To my relief, the light quickly moved away. When I opened my eyes again, I saw Lyons standing there. He was looking down at me with pity.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “Now that is a good question,” he replied and sat down on the end of my bed. “A good question indeed. Well, my old friend, I’ve decided to come and visit you again.”

  “But why now?” I asked weakly. I was beginning to feel tired again and just wanted to drift away into unconsciousness.

  “Anytime is a good time when a friend is visiting. Tell me, how are you feeling, chap?”

  “I'm fine, but I sure would like to get some more sleep.”

  His flashlight played against the end of the bed. “I can see why. Those damned doctors did quite the number on you.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked as the bile began rising in my stomach. My forehead beaded wet with perspiration.

  “You mean you don't know? I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but they went and sawed off the end of your leg.”

  I suddenly felt awake and noticed an odd numbness at the end of my wounded leg. I really hadn't noticed it until now. I tried to wiggle my toes, but felt nothing. Sitting up made me dizzy, but I reached down and felt my legs. The left one was all there, but the right one suddenly stopped at the end of my knee. The only thing there felt like a thick bandage. I suddenly felt a shudder of sickness and turned my head to throw up on the floor.

  “Why? Why?” I moaned when I was finished vomiting.

  “Don't worry, Grant, this will just make my job all the easier.” He whipped out his Webley and pointed it at me. “From the very beginning, you've been too much trouble.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said. My mouth felt as if it was full of marbles.

  “I suggest you stay quiet and let me speak to you for a moment. You see, I was quite hoping you would be sleeping, so I could do my job without being disturbed. But now that you're awake, you might as well hear my side of the story before I kill you.”

  “Good god, Lyons, what are you talking about?” I asked. But I was beginning to get a glimmer of the truth. I had been a fool not to see this before.

  “Keep your voice down, Grant,” he said and waved the gun in front of my face. “I wouldn't want the night nurse to be woken up by your shouting.”

  I closed my mouth and listened.

  Setting down the flashlight on the table, Lyons got his silver cigarette case and took out two. He placed one in my mouth and lit it for me. Lighting his own cigarette, he blew a thin trail of smoke into the air. “You see, Grant, there is one thing you didn't know about me - I'm actually related to Smythe. Believe it or not, that bastard of an officer is really my uncle. He had no children of his own, and I’m legally considered his heir. When I was a child, I spent many of a summer day at his house and he treated me like his own son. Dear old uncle was never rich from the start, but he did have the property. Even with the pittance of the inheritance he received, he somehow managed to keep the house and land. All he needed was some money, and he could have been respectable enough.

  “I was already enlisted when the war broke out it. I had joined the army thinking it would be a safe place to earn a name for myself. Little did I know what a foolish mistake that was. The war was tough going. I saw men die by the hundreds and for what? I began to question the need of the whole mess. Something changed inside of me. I couldn't go and run away – quite the dishonorable thing to do in the eyes of my brother officers – and I had to consider my own future. No one wants to associate with a coward. But I thought that if I could make enough money, then I could go and buy my way out of the war. Corporal Childs has been with me since the beginning. I knew his father was German, and we got to talking.”

  “So you struck a deal with the enemy?” I asked with amazement.

  “Oh, not me - I wouldn't dare do such a thing myself. But I convinced my uncle to do it. He is in desperate straits financially, so I'm afraid it didn't take much to talk him into it.”

  “How did you convince Wodenhill?” I asked.

  “That little weasel was brought over easily with the promise of cash. He's the type who would sell his own mother for a farthing. Have you ever noticed that those kinds of men always end up away from the battles? Perhaps he is smarter than he looks.” He let out a low laugh at the thought.

  “Who killed Captain Meadowes then? Was it Childs?”

  “Childs?” he chuckled. “That good-for-nothing? No, I’m afraid it was me. You see, I was hoping to remove anyone who suspected Childs of pilfering from the stores. That fool corporal was supposed to have finished off Prentice out in No Man’s Land, but the good lieutenant got himself shot in the leg before Childs could do his part. While you were out rescuing that fool Prentice, I went hunting for Meadowes. He was standing at the parapet watching your heroics. I slipped behind him ever so quietly and shot the bastard in the back of my head with my Webley. He fell over like a sack of potatoes, I’ll tell you.”

  “You villain,” I said weakly.

  “You may call me that, but honestly, I tried to keep you alive as long as I could. You see, I took a shining to you. You’re a good chap to drink with, but you kept interfering with our business like Meadowes and Prentice did. I’m afraid we had to take care of you.”

  I thought of all the times I had confided with Lyons and how he had tried to keep me off the scent. It made sense now. I finally said, “And on that hill? Who shot at Owens and me while we were hunting?” It may seem like I was asking a lot of questions for a man facing certain death, but I was trying to buy whatever time I could.

  Lyons said, “Of course it was me. I brought along that incompetent Childs to help me hide your bodies away. But you lucked out, and I missed my shot. I don’t often miss, mind you. That damn corporal went running at the first chance he got, and you and your sergeant took off in pursuit. I hid in some bushes and was within ten feet of you when you went by. I was glad that you didn’t see me, or I would have had a deuce of a time with Owens. He was quite the hunter.

  “You escaped me again in Paris. I had hired some men to take care of you after we left that pub. But you ended up with that whore instead. And your luck held out yet again out in No Man’s Land. I thought you were a goner when I saw you fall into that shell hole. But I had to be sure, so I sent Corporal Reese out to see. But he wasn’t tough enough, and you came back instead.”

  “You couldn’t go yourself?” I asked. “Typical for a coward,” I added to egg him on. I felt as if I was running out of time, so I had nothing to lose now.

  He smiled wickedly and said, “Me? Of course not. That’s too dangerous for a man of my temperament. You’ve stirred up too much trouble for me. Major Radford has been sniffing around in Tremont to see if there is any truth to your story. Thanks to Prentice and that bitch nurse of yours, he got to Childs. It will only be a matter of time before he gives us up. But, my friend, it’s too late for you.

  “Please don’t,” I said hopelessly.

  “You know amputation is a tricky business, and there can be complications.??
? He quickly ripped the pillow from the back of my head and stuffed it on top of my face.

  I kicked and tried to scream, but my mouth was muffled by the thick pillow. My hands flailed against the side of his head, but he was too strong. I started to weaken as I fought for my breath. All I could think of was that this was a silly way to die. I had been surrounded by death for weeks, and now I was going to be murdered in a hospital bed.

  Just as the blackness began to overwhelm me, I heard a sudden loud crack. The pressure on my face suddenly lessened. I felt the weight of Lyons fall on to my chest and then roll off the bed with a crash. Pushing away the pillow, I opened my eyes. The overhead light suddenly flicked on. Standing at the light switch was Major Radford with a cosh in his hand.

  He beamed at me and said, “How are you feeling, Lieutenant?”

  Between gasps, I said, “As good as can be expected, sir.”

  “I’m sorry for that little scare, but I wanted to use you as bait. Lyons here told me more than I expected.”

  “What about Ellen and Prentice? Are they safe?”

  “Don’t worry, they are safe. I found them in Tremont, trying to track down Corporal Childs. I had two of my men follow them at a discreet distance. They saw Lyons meet up with your Ellen and luckily stopped any meddling he could have done. But he knew that Childs had been taken. What he didn’t know is that Childs broke quickly under questioning. The man has no spine, so he was eager to get out of the hangman’s noose. In the end, his story collaborated much of yours. We immediately arrested Colonel Smythe and Captain Wodenhill.”

  “What about Lyons?” I asked.

  “I’m afraid he got out of Tremont before we knew of his involvement.”

  “Then how did you know that Lyons was coming out to kill me?”

  “You should really get some more rest, but I’ll tell you anyways. I know most of your story from what you told Miss Pennington. You see, Lyons was your pal, or at least he made it look that way. But you needed help, and he never managed to come up with anything for you. Not one single good idea or lead. I was curious, so I dug into his background and found that he was related to the colonel. That was enough to make me suspicious of him. Once I found that your story was true, I knew that you were in grave danger once Lyons disappeared from Tremont. I rushed back here by car, relieved the guards of duty and began watching your room from across the hallway. He waited until the night came. Once he was in, I just listened at the door. What he had to say was quite remarkable.”

  I felt incredibly tired but asked, “What is going to happen to him?”

  “If there is any justice in the world he will be tried and executed. But we shall see how this plays out. I’m afraid the judges will still have a hard time putting the black cap on when it comes to a member of the aristocracy - even a poor one at that.”

  Nodding sleepily, I leaned back into my bed and let out a sigh of relief. I was going to live through this war after all.