There was something about the way the door closed that vaguely alarmed Denison. He stood up and walked to the door and found it locked. Frowning, he turned away and looked about the room. There was the settee on which he had been lying, a table, two armchairs and a bookcase against the wall. He went over to the bookcase to inspect it and tripped over a wire which threatened to topple a telephone from a small table. He rescued the telephone and then stood looking down at it.
Iredale walked along the corridor and into a room at the end. Carey glanced up at him expectantly, breaking off his conversation with McCready. Harding, the psychiatrist, sat in an armchair, his long legs outstretched and his fingertips pressed together. There was also another man whom Iredale did not know. Carey saw Iredale looking at him, and said, Ian Armstrong of my staff. Well? He could not suppress his eagerness.
Iredale put down his case. Hes not Meyrick. He paused. Not unless Meyrick has had plastic surgery recently.
Carey blew out his breath in a long gasp. Are you sure?
Of course Im sure, said Iredale, a little testily.
Thats it, then. Carey looked across at Harding. Its your turn, Dr Harding. Try to get out of him as much as you can.
Harding nodded and uncoiled himself from the chair. He walked out of the room without speaking. As the door closed Carey said, You understand that, to the best of our knowledge, this alteration was made in the space of a week not more. He took a thin, cardboard file from the table. Weve just received a lengthy cable from London about Denison and a photo came over the wire. He took the photograph and handed it to Iredale. Thats Denison as he was quite recently. It hardly seems possible.
Iredale studied the photograph. Very interesting, he commented.
Could this thing be done in a week? Carey persisted.
Iredale put down the photograph. As far as I could ascertain there was only one lesion, he said precisely. That was at the outside corner of the left eyelid. A very small cut which was possibly held together by one stitch while it healed. It would certainly heal in a week although there might have been a residual soreness. I detected a minute inflammation.
McCready said in disbelief, You mean that was the only cut that was made?
Yes, said Iredale. The purpose was to draw down the left eyelid. Have you got that photograph of Meyrick?
Here, said Carey.
Iredale put down his forefinger. There you see? The eyelid was drawn down due to the skin contraction caused by this scar. He paused and said sniffily, A bit of a butchers job, if you ask me. That should never have happened.
It was a war wound when Meyrick was a boy, said Carey. He tapped the photograph of Meyrick. But how the devil did they reproduce this scar on Denison without cutting?
That was very cleverly done, said Iredale with sudden enthusiasm. As expert a job of tattooing as Ive ever seen, as also was the birthmark on the right jaw. He leaned back in his chair. In my field, of course, I come across a lot of tattooing but I specialize in removal rather than application. He leaned forward again and traced a line on the photograph. The hairline was adjusted by depilation; nothing as crude as mere shaving and leaving the hair to grow out. Im afraid Mr Denison has lost his hair permanently.
Thats all very well, said McCready, coming forward. He leaned over the table, comparing the two photographs. But just look at these two men. Denison is thin in the face, and hed look thinner without the beard. Meyrick is fat-jowled. And look at the differences in the noses.
That was done by liquid silicone injection, said Iredale. Some of my more light-minded colleagues aid film stars in their mammary development by the same means. His tone was distasteful. I palpated his cheeks and felt it. It was quite unmistakable.
Ill be damned! said Carey.
You say that Denison lost a week of objective time? asked Iredale.
He said hed lost a week out of his life if thats what you mean.
Then I can hazard a guess as to how it was done, said Iredale. He was drugged, of course, and kept unconscious for the whole week. I noticed a dressing on his left arm. I didnt investigate it, but that was where the intravenous drip feed was inserted to keep him alive.
He paused, and Carey said in a fascinated voice, Go on!
The cut would be made at the corner of the eye, giving it a full week to heal. Any competent surgeon could do that in five minutes. Then I suppose theyd do the tattooing. Normally thered be a residual soreness from that, but it would certainly clear up in a week. Everything else could be done at leisure.
He picked up the two photographs. You see, the underlying bone structure of these two men, as far as the heads go, is remarkably similar. I rather think that if you had a photograph of Meyrick taken fifteen to twenty years ago he would look not unlike Denison or, rather, as Denison used to look. I take it that Meyrick has been used to expensive living?
Hes rich enough, said Carey.
It shows on his face, said Iredale, and tossed down the photographs. Denison, however, looks a shade undernourished.
Interesting you should say that, said Carey, opening the folder. From what we have here it seems that Denison, if not an alcoholic, was on the verge. Hed just lost his job fired for incompetence on June 24.
Iredale nodded. Symptomatic. Alcoholics reject food they get their calories from the booze. He stood up. Thats all I can do tonight, gentlemen. I should like to see Denison tomorrow with a view to restoring him to his former appearance, which wont be easy that silicone polymer will be the devil to get out. Is there any more?
Nothing, Mr Iredale, said Carey.
Then if youll excuse me, Ill go to bed. Its been a long day.
You know where your room is, said Carey, and Iredale nodded and left the room.
Carey and McCready looked at each other in silence for some time, and then Carey stirred and said over his shoulder, What did you make of all that, Ian?
Im damned if I know, said Armstrong.
Carey grunted. Im damned, too. Ive been involved in some bizarre episodes in this game, but this takes the prize for looniness. Now well have to see what Harding comes up with, and I suspect hes going to be a long time. I think somebody had better make coffee. Its going to be a long night.
Carey was right because more than two hours elapsed before Harding returned. His face was troubled, and he said abruptly, I dont think Denison should be left alone.
Ian! said Carey.
Armstrong got up, and Harding said, If he wants to talk let him. Join in but steer clear of specifics. Stick to generalities. Understand?
Armstrong nodded and went out. Harding sat down and Carey studied him. Finally Carey said, You look as though you could do with a drink, Doctor. Whisky?
Harding nodded. Thanks. He rubbed his. forehead. Denison is in a bad way.
Carey poured two ounces of whisky into a glass. How?
Hes been tampered with, said Harding flatly.
Carey handed him the glass. His mind?
Harding sank half the whisky and choked a little. He held out the glass. Ill have water in the other half. Yes. Someone has been bloody ruthless about it. He has a week missing, and whatever was done to him was done in that week.
Carey frowned. Iredale suggested hed been unconscious all that week.
Its not incompatible, said Harding. He was probably kept in a mentally depressed state by drugs during the whole week.
Are you talking about brain-washing? asked McCready sceptically.
In a manner of speaking. Harding accepted his refilled glass. Whoever did this to Denison had a problem. The ideal would have been to get Denison into such a condition that he thought he was Meyrick but that couldnt be done. Harding paused for consideration. At least, not in a week.
You mean the possibility of such a thing is there? asked Carey incredulously.
Oh, yes, said Harding calmly. It could be done. But this crowd didnt have the time for that, so they had to go about it another way. As I see it, their problem was to put Denison in the hotel as Meyrick and to make sure he didnt fly off the handle. They didnt want him to take the next plane to London, for instance. So they treated him. From Hardings mouth the emphasis was an obscenity.
How? said Carey.
Do you know anything about hypnosis?
McCready snorted and Harding, staring at him with suddenly flinty eyes, said coldly, No, it is not witchcraft, Mr McCready. Denison was kept in a drug-induced hypnogogic state for a long time, and in that period his psyche was deliberately broken down. He made a suddenly disarming gesture. I suspect Denison was already neurotically inclined and no doubt there were many ready-made tools to hand irrational fears, half-healed traumas and so on to aid in the process.
What do you mean by neurotically inclined? asked Carey.
Its hard to say, but I suspect that he was already a disturbed man before this was done to him.
Off his head? interjected McCready.
Harding gave him a look of dislike. No more than yourself, Mr McCready, he said tartly. But I think something had happened which threw him off balance.
Something did happen, said Carey. He lost his job. He took a thin sheaf of papers from the file. I didnt have time to discuss this with you before, but this is what we have on Denison. Therell be more coming but this is what weve got now.
Harding studied the typed sheets, reading slowly and carefully. He said, I wish Id seen this before I went in to Denison; it would have saved a lot of trouble.
He was a film director for a small specialist outfit making documentary and advertising films, said Carey. Apparently he went off the rails and cost the firm a packet of money. They thought his drinking had got out of hand, so they fired him.
Harding shook his head. That wasnt what threw him off balance. The drinking must have been a symptom, not a cause. He turned back a page. I see that his wife died three years ago. She must have been quite young. Have you any idea how she died?
Not yet, said Carey. But I can find out.
It would be advisable. I wonder if it was about that time he started to drink heavily.