The List of Adrian Messenger Page #2

on the part of this fellow.

LeBorg, a Frenchman, by the way.

Raoul LeBorg.

I don't know a better man to I.D.

the smell of cordite.

There you are.

Exactly.

-Do you know him?

-The name struck a cord.

l looked up some old files.

During the war,

your friend blew up 31 bridges,...

11 power stations,

two marshaling yards...

and five ammo dumps.

A thorn, it would seem, in

the side of the German Occupation.

Yes, Seymour, what is it?

We searched the Clerical Lists.

Not an Atlee on any of them.

We didn't think there would be.

But Mr. Atlee was prepared to

invest 173 pounds just to place a bag...

on that plane.

Any word of unusual amount of

insurance on any of the passengers?

Not so far, sir.

-It wasn't done for insurance.

-There had to be a motive.

Definitely.

Take a look at this list, will you?

What's it supposed to be? A

cross section of Humus Brittanicus?

-Where did it come from?

-Adrian Messenger gave it to me.

Messenger? There was

a Messenger on that passenger list.

Same chap.

l was to find out if those names

were still living at those addresses.

So far, Ive learned that six of

the ten aren't.

The reason being,

they aren't living at all.

You'll find

the dates of death in this column.

The causes of death in that one.

All accidental and covering

a period of roughly five years.

The last one, Dr. Devitt

killed in a lift accident...

-four months ago.

-l think not.

l think

the last one was 12 hours ago.

Its my feeling that Messenger's

name belongs on that list too.

Check those other names, will you?

What connection would Messenger

have with a farmer, a veterinarian,...

a draper's assistant,

a car salesman?

l haven't the foggiest.

The fact remains that...

Six deaths by accident out of

any 10 names can't be by chance.

But it was in 6 years, and in an

area that includes most of the UK.

lf you really think that all

these deaths were tied together,...

it would involve a mass murder plot

so preposterous it would defy belief.

Adrian's own word, ''preposterous''.

l think he thought no one

would believe him until he had...

more... what shall l say? Data.

Messenger was a writer, wasn't he?

Isn't it possible that he was

letting his imagination run wild?

He wasn't that kind of writer.

Let me go a step further.

Messenger's own death could be

listed in the accidental column.

That would be death rate of 7 of 11,

a little more than 63%

I'd like to know how much more you'd

want before you took this seriously.

-Yes, Pike, what is it?

-One quick result, sir.

Ian James Dalkeith,

27 Bolthwell Square, Edinburgh.

Remember reading about a railway

wreck in the Highlands two years ago?

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