The Durham Deception by Philip Gooden Read Free Book Online Page A

why. A strange affair. Come and have a word with me when you’re finished if you like.’
    Tom went along the passage to Mackenzie’s chamber. He knocked and this time waited to be told to enter. As usual, it was hard to make out much of the interior because of the pipe smoke. Mackenzie waved away a cloud or two and, his teeth gripping the pipe stem, gestured at Tom to sit down on the other side of his desk. With his tonsure of white hair and wide, benevolent face, Mackenzie looked like a monk or a universal uncle. But he was quick and canny.
    â€˜How are you, Thomas? Married life suiting you, ha?’
    Odd how often that question came up. Tom used his wife’s answer: ‘It suits us well.’
    â€˜Good, good. Time will tell, you know. It usually does.’
    Having dispersed a few more parcels of smoke, David Mackenzie got down to business. At least Tom assumed it was business despite the oddness of his next question.
    â€˜Know any magicians?’
    â€˜ Magicians ? No, I don’t know any magicians, sir. I’ve seen Dr Pepper’s Ghost and the Corsican Trapdoor in the theatre.’
    â€˜The Trapdoor was Boucicault’s idea,’ said Mackenzie, showing an unexpected familiarity with stage magic. ‘So you have never seen Major Sebastian Marmont?’
    â€˜Nor heard of him, I’m afraid.’
    â€˜He has a touring show during which he displays some magic feats he learned in the orient.’
    â€˜What they call “the mysterious east”,’ said Tom.
    â€˜In the Major’s case his learning is as genuine as his rank. He is not like Stodare who was never in the army but still styled himself a Colonel. No, Marmont is the real thing. He served in India for many years. There was always something of the showman in him and when he quit the army he became a magician.’
    â€˜It sounds as though you know him, Mr Mackenzie,’ said Tom, more and more surprised at Mackenzie’s knowledge of the world of magic.
    â€˜Like his father before him, Major Marmont is one of the clients of Scott, Lye & Mackenzie. I’ve met Marmont on quite a few occasions. A most entertaining fellow, full of tales. You will enjoy your encounter with him.’
    Well, it would make a change from dealing with codicils, probates and leaseholds. Tom waited for David Mackenzie to tell him more. But the lawyer seemed curiously uncomfortable. He fiddled with his pipe so that, when it was going again, he was almost obscured behind a cloud of smoke. Perhaps, Tom thought, he’s about to perform a vanishing trick himself. Eventually, when Mackenzie spoke, his tone was somewhere between the apologetic and the persuasive.
    â€˜Tom, I don’t know why I should turn to you when the firm has an odd task to undertake. And this is odder than most, like something out of Wilkie Collins. But perhaps I am looking to you because of the way you conducted that business in Salisbury last year. Perhaps it is because I trust your shrewdness and judgement. You showed those qualities most of all by choosing Helen Scott for your wife . . .’
    He paused and Tom wondered what alarming or delicate errand was in prospect.
    â€˜I would like you to visit Major Marmont and take an affidavit from him. He possesses an unusual item; an ornamental or ceremonial dagger which has, he says, a curious value. The handle is carved with figures. It was the gift of some prince or maharaja out east. But a rumour to the effect that he might have come by it, ah, illicitly is doing the rounds. Marmont wishes to make a statement under oath as to how he acquired the dagger. It should be an interesting story.’
    â€˜But it could be no more than that – just a story. Straight out of Wilkie Collins, as you say.’
    â€˜Sebastian Marmont is an honest fellow if I’m any judge. He is an officer and an English gentleman.’
    â€˜As well as being a magician,’ said Tom, still not quite