Century Rain Part 58

spheres was s.h.i.+pped would be better than nothing."

"I don't remember."

"Was the function of the spheres ever discussed?" Floyd persisted.

"As I said, it was an artistic commission." Altfeld's voice had become tense, and his composure seemed ready to snap at any moment. "Kaspar Metals was engaged in many other metallurgical contracts during the same period. Provided the specifications were followed, there was no need for us to question the subsequent use to which the items would be put."

"But you must have been curious," Floyd said.

"No. I had no curiosity whatsoever."

"We think the spheres might be part of a weapon," Auger said. "At the very least, components of

something with a military application. The same thought must have occurred to you. Didn't that give you pause for thought?"

"The purpose of the objects was a matter for the export bureau, not me."

"Nice get-out," Floyd said.

Altfeld looked up at him. "If questions had been raised, export of the objects would have been blocked.

They were delivered, so the matter is closed."

"And that lets you off the hook, does it?" Floyd asked.

"My conscience is clear. If this troubles you, I apologise. May I be permitted to watch the penguins in peace now?"

"That contract was part of something evil," Auger said. "You can't wash your hands of it that easily."

"What I do with my hands," Altfeld said, "is entirely my business."

"Tell us what you know," Floyd insisted.

"What I know is that you should stop asking questions and leave this matter alone. Leave Berlin now

and return to wherever it is you came from." He regarded Auger. "I can't place your accent. I am

normally very good, even with English speakers."

"She's from Dakota," Floyd said, "but you don't need to worry about that. What you do need to worry about is telling me who has put the fear of G.o.d into you."

"Don't be ridiculous."

By now, they were the only people anywhere near the penguin enclosure. Floyd saw his moment,

knowing he'd regret his actions immediately, but also well aware that there was no other means of getting anything useful out of Altfeld. He lunged and grabbed Altfeld by the collar of his raincoat and shoved him hard against the railings with his back to the enclosure, knocking the wind out of him.

"Now listen sehr gut," Floyd said. "I'm not an impatient man. I'm not a man who normally does this kind of thing. Matter of fact, I'm usually an easy-going sort of fellow." Altfeld wriggled, trying ineffectually to escape Floyd's grasp. "But the problem is that a friend of mine is in a lot of trouble."

"I know nothing about any friend of yours," Altfeld wheezed.

"I never said you did. But this little contract of yours-the one you don't want to talk about-is connected to the trouble my friend is in. It's also connected to the murder of Miss Auger's sister. That makes two of us who'd like to get closer to the truth, and only one of you standing in our way."

"Let go of me," Altfeld said. "Then perhaps we can have a reasonable conversation."

"Don't hurt him, Wendell," Auger said.

Floyd looked around: no other spectators just yet. He kept the man pinned against the railings. "This is as reasonable as it gets. Now why don't you tell me about the people who wanted these spheres made?"

"I will tell you nothing except that you are better off having as little to do with them as possible."

"Ah," Floyd said. "Progress-of a sort." He rewarded Altfeld with a slight reduction of pressure, allowing him to stand fully on his feet again. "The question is-if they're so bad, why did you deal with them in the first place? Surely Kaspar Metals didn't need the work that badly?"

Altfeld looked around, doubtless hoping for a.s.sistance to wander by. "Work was always welcome. We were not in the business of turning contracts away."

"Not even contracts as technically demanding as this one?" Auger asked.

He glared at her, as if she should be ashamed to have an opinion on the matter. "There was nothing unusual about it at first. The contract appeared relatively simple, as these things go. We were happy to take it on. But as the work progressed, so did the demands for the quality of the finished product. The specification became tighter, the tolerances smaller. The copper-aluminium alloy was difficult to cast and machine. At first we didn't even have measuring instruments capable of calibrating the objects' shape to the necessary degree of accuracy. And then there was the whole business of the cryogenic suspension-"

"Cryogenic what?" Auger interjected, alarm bells ringing in her head.

"I've said too much."

Floyd took a renewed grip on Altfeld's raincoat and lifted him higher, until the back of his collar snagged on the spiked points of the iron railings. Floyd let him dangle. "You've only just whetted my appet.i.te."

Altfeld's breath caught in his throat. "Late in the contract, the client revealed that the spheres would have to withstand immersion in liquid helium, at a temperature only a whisker above absolute zero. This in turn created numerous difficulties. Now leave me alone!"

"It sounds as if you were being asked to do the impossible," Floyd said. "Why didn't you just back out of the contract, if the details kept changing?"

"We tried," Altfeld said. "And that is when I learned of our clients' capacity for ruthlessness. There was to be no backing out, they said."

"I take it you called their bluff."

"Yes. And then one of my senior managers-the man who had conducted the last round of negotiations with my clients-was found dead in his home."

"Murdered?" Floyd asked.

"He had been bludgeoned to death in his conservatory. Yet this had happened on a sunny afternoon, when his home was in full view of many witnesses. No one was seen to come and go. At least, no one who could possibly have committed the crime."

"Except maybe a child," Floyd said.

Altfeld nodded gravely, and suddenly all the fight drained out of him, as if he had just been told something he desperately wished not to be true. Floyd sensed the change in his mood, as if on some level Altfeld was glad to be able to talk to someone at last, no matter how fearful the consequences.

"During the final stages of the contract, when the spheres were being evaluated and s.h.i.+pped, I saw children all over the place. They followed me wherever I went. They were always around, visible just out of the corner of my eye. I haven't seen any since the factory burnt down. I hope I go to my grave still able to say that."

"They frightened you?" Auger asked.

"Once, I was close enough to one to look it in the face. It is an experience I hope never to repeat."

Auger leaned closer to him. "I can understand you being afraid of those children, Mister Altfeld. You were right to be afraid. They are very dangerous and they will kill to protect their interests. But we're not working with them. In fact, we're doing all in our power to stop them."

"Then you are even more foolish than I suspected. If you had any sense you would leave this matter well alone."

"We just need an address," Floyd said. "A lead. That's all we're asking for. Then you won't hear from us again."

"But I will hear from them."

"If you help us, then maybe we can stop them before they reach you," Auger said.

Altfeld let out a small, henlike clucking sound, as if this was the least convincing rea.s.surance he'd ever

heard.

"At least tell us where the production took place," Floyd said.

"I will tell you nothing. If you have found your way to me, I am sure you are capable of continuing your

investigation without my a.s.sistance."

Floyd found some strength he didn't know he had and hauled Altfeld even higher, lifting his collar free of the railing. He moved his grip down the b.u.t.tons of his raincoat until he had the man by the waist and

then levered him higher, until his head and upper body were leaning back over the railings and the sheer drop into the enclosure.

Altfeld let out a gasp of fright as his centre of gravity began to s.h.i.+ft backwards.

"Tell me," Floyd hissed, "tell me or I'll push you over."

Auger tried to pull Floyd away from Altfeld, but Floyd had had enough of lies and evasions. He didn't

care how scared this man was; how innocent a part he had played in some larger conspiracy. All he cared about was Custine and whatever it was that had made Auger wake up screaming.

"Give me an address, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Give me an address or I'll feed you to the birds."

Altfeld wheezed, as if suffering some kind of seizure. Between ragged breaths he gasped out, "Fifteen...

building fifteen."

Floyd lowered him to the ground, leaving him sagging against the railings.

"That's a good start."

By the time they returned to the hotel, it was too late to consider driving out to the industrial district where Kaspar Metals had been located. "We'll take a cab out there first thing tomorrow," Floyd said. "Even if we don't find anyone around to talk to, there might be something left behind after the fire that we can use."

"Altfeld was keeping something back," Auger said. "What, I don't know, but he wasn't telling us the whole story."

"Do you think he knew anything about Silver Rain?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he didn't. Like I said, there simply isn't the manufacturing base available here to put it together. The metal spheres are part of something different."

"But probably related," Floyd said. "Maybe we should pay Altfeld another visit, see if we can squeeze something else out of him."

"We should leave him alone," Auger said. "He just seemed like a scared old man."

"They always do."

"Perhaps there's nothing else of use he could have told us," she said, hoping to steer Floyd away from the idea of tormenting Altfeld further.

"Maybe there isn't, but someone has to know more. Altfeld might have handled the contracts, but whoever was doing the actual machining-the factory-floor work-must have had a better idea of what those spheres were for, if they were ever going to calibrate them correctly."

"I don't know about that."

"We'll go to the site of the factory first thing tomorrow and see what we can find out. If that opens up new lines of enquiry, we'll follow them. You said there was enough money to keep us in this hotel for a while?"

"Yes," she said, "but we can't stay here for ever. Or at least I can't. I need to be back in Paris by Tuesday. That means catching the overnight train tomorrow evening."

"Why the hurry? We only arrived here this morning." "I just need to be back in Paris. Can we leave it at that?"