Fiction
Gustaw Herling
THE EYE OF PROVIDENCE
In response
to
a summons, I reported to the Questura onJan–
uary 7th, 1971 , punctually at noon.
"Commissar for Special Affairs Palermitano - Antonio Palermitano -
my pleasure. Please have a seat, I'll have coffee brought at once. You look
rather concerned. There's no reason for it, believe me. As a political emigre,
you are, of course, under discreet surveillance. But there are no charges
against you, we have noticed nothing suspicious in your behavior. Except
perhaps for your close relations with Malcolm Melton . And it is in connection
with that aflair that you were asked to come here."
"Is there a Malcolm Melton aHair?"
'There is, there is, and it became more serious last night at midnight–
the moment Melton ceased to exist. At midnight he got into a car parked in
front of his house in London , he turned on the engine, and ceased to exist.
Judging by the wires from Scotland Yard, there won't be much to scrape up
for his coffin. The way we describe it in police language is total disintegration
of vehicle and driver resulting fi-om the detonation of a high-power explosive
charge. Or nearly total; a special commission decides on the pe rcentage of
disintegration. You look horrified. And with good reason, more than good
reason , after all you lost someone nea r to you, a close acquaintance, maybe
even a good friend. Our English colleagues are asking us for as detailed a
report as possible on the years Melton spent in Naples. A good many years,
isn't that so? He had a beautiful villa on the Posillipo hill, {elt totally at home
here, and rarely and reluctantly did he ever go to London. After all, what did
he have to go for ? The Melton family was dying out, Malcolm was Sir
Harold 's only child. We'll come back to all this , but let's get a few details
straight first. You are at the head of a hastily prepared list of people Malcolm
was regularly in touch with. Whether it was purely social or not should be–
come clear in the course of our conversation. Conversation, I want
to
stress
