Terminal

Thirty-Two

Nancy took trouble over her battle gear for the Medical Congress reception. Coming out of the bathroom, swearing at having to wear a dinner jacket, Newman stopped and stared. She was clad in a long, form-fitting dress of red taffeta. Round her slim neck glittered a pearl choker.

`Well, will I do?' she enquired. 'I'm out to kill the competition…'

`You'll slay them. You look terrific. And isn't that the outfit you were wearing that first night we met in London – when by chance I was also at Bewick's?'

'By chance?' She was amused. 'Half London knew you took your latest fling to that place. It's seven – shouldn't we be getting downstairs? I am completely ready and rarin' to go.

`Give me a minute to fix this bloody tie. You're nervous, aren't you? I can tell.'

`So are a lot of doctors before a tricky case – if they're not they're probably no good. But I can tell you one thing, Bob. When I walk into that reception I'll go cold as ice. I don't care how much clout Grange carries – he's going to hear from me…'

`Pioneer stock,' Newman joked as he finished fixing the tie. `There's still some of it left in Arizona. I'm ready. Are you?'

She thumped his arm and they made their way to the bank of lifts. The celebration was being held in the large reception room between the lobby and the terrace restaurant. The floor was covered with priceless carpets, including one huge Persian hunting carpet. A large buffet table had been furnished with champagne glasses and a selection of food. There were a lot of people there already. Newman held Nancy back by the arm.

`Let's just see who is here and where they are. Tonight could be very decisive…'

Blanche Signer was talking to Beck. She wore an emerald green dress with a mandarin collar which showed off her superb figure to full advantage. Her small feet were sheathed in gold shoes.

`Your next conquest?' Nancy enquired.

`I was wondering what Beck is doing here…'

In a chair offside with his back to the wall sat Lee Foley, holding his glass as his cold eyes studied each person in the room. Tweed, looking uncomfortable in his dinner jacket, sat near Foley, watching the room with no particular expression.

`I think that must be Grange over there, holding court,' Nancy whispered.

At the back of the room, surrounded by half-a-dozen men, a tall, very heavily-built man wearing tinted glasses was talking while others listened. His left hand was close to his side, the fingers stretched downwards while his right hand held a glass. There was a gap in the crowd and Newman had a good view of him. A large head, his complexion pale, his lips appeared hardly to move as he spoke. The feature about him which intrigued Newman was his sheer immobility.

`Is that Professor Grange over there in the corner?' Nancy asked a passing waiter with a tray of glasses.

`Yes, it is, madame. May I offer you champagne?'

They both took a glass for appearance's sake. Newman sipped at his champagne, listening to the babble of voices, the clink of glasses. Another large man brushed past him without apology and made his way, very erect and confident, over to join Grange's group. Victor Signer had arrived.

`I can't see Kobler,' Newman whispered. 'That worries me…'

`Someone has to mind the store back at the Clinic, I suppose…'

`You're probably right. Let's circulate – horrible word. When are you going to challenge Grange..

`Bob!' She grabbed his arm. 'Wait! Look at that…'

Newman was looking at the weird incident. Grange had just greeted Signer when a waiter tipped a full glass of champagne off his tray. The liquid spilt down the lower half of Grange's dinner jacket and the upper half of his trousers. The waiter, obviously appalled, took the napkin folded over his sleeve, ran to the buffet, dipped it in a jug of water, returned to Grange and began to sponge the damp material.

The uncanny aspect of the incident was that as the waiter sponged and dabbed at the damp cloth Grange remained totally motionless, his left arm still close to his side, his large figure more Buddha-like than ever as he listened to Signer, ignoring the waiter as though nothing had happened. It was abnormal, unnatural. Newman stared incredulously as Nancy spoke in a low, tense tone.

`My God! No sane man has that amount of self-control. I think he's unbalanced – and I've had psychiatric training…'

It was the first doubt raised in Newman's mind as to Professor Grange's sanity.