All Honourable Men by Gavin Lyall Read Free Book Online Page A

him, sir. One theoryis that it might have been an introduction that he could show at the door of one of the ministries in Whitehall. And he left it there or destroyed it after his visit.”
    The Home Office added this all up. “Then he could have visited a ministry last night, when you’d lost him in the fog?”
    Sir Basil nodded and put on a slight smile. “There is, in fact, other evidence that he did.”
    Everybody looked at him, puzzled. Then Ranklin said: “Money. I bet he had a lot of money on him.”
    â€œOver £200 in gold and bank notes. How big a secret does that suggest to you gentlemen?”
    â€œThen,” the Home Office said, “surely all you have to do is ask around the ministries to find out which—”
    â€œWe have already asked the most likely – and they say they will, reluctantly, check. Whether anyone will admit they spent tax-payers’ money on such people . . . Would you?”
    There was a silence. Then Ranklin asked: “Are you letting the newspapers know any of this?”
    â€œWe haven’t done so, not yet.”
    Feigning hesitancy about telling Sir Basil how to run the Yard, Ranklin said: “Publishing the fact that he’d sold us a secret might nullify that secret’s value.”
    The Commander nodded firmly. “Quite right. If – as a nation – we’ve gained something from his visit, let’s for God’s sake keep it, whatever it is.” He looked around, collecting agreement. “But does this mean he was killed for revenge?”
    â€œNot necessarily,” Kell said. “It could still have been prevention – if he was killed by a foreign power. They needn’t know he’d already passed the secret on.”
    There was another silence – a rather uneasy one on Sir Basil’s part, Ranklin thought. Perhaps he was torn between wishing it
were
a foreign power – what could he be expected to do against that? – and fearing public outrage that foreigners could do such things in London.
    Rather too casually, Kell asked the Commander: “Will you know eventually who it was?”
    â€œOh yes. In a few weeks or months it’ll seep out on thegrapevine. No proof, of course, but we’ll
know
.” But they were just showing off in front of the young Home Office. Gratifyingly, he gazed at them with horrified awe.
    A slight wind had worked up around tea-time, thinning the fog. And although the wind had gone and there were now millions of coal fires adding their mite to the air, you could now see for ten or fifteen yards. The Commander paused on the steps of the club, perhaps calculating whether it was bad enough to excuse not going home. He could, rumour had it, always find somewhere to spend the night.
    â€œAny private theories about Brock?” he grunted.
    Ranklin, who had spent half the day trying to have a theory, shook his head. “None, sir.”
    â€œWell, as I say, it’ll come out in the end.”
    â€œI could do with it being a bit sooner. The
Standard
quoted the waiter as hearing me called ‘Captain’ and quite a good description of me.”
    â€œWe don’t have to be
invisible
in this business.”
    â€œI’m thinking of Gunther’s own firm. They’ll be reading every last comma for hints as to what happened, they might recognise me and then think I was leading Gunther into a trap.”
    â€œAren’t you being overly imaginative?”
    â€œThey’re competent,” Ranklin said, “and they’re widespread. That’s why we have dealings with them.”
    â€œWhat d’you want to do about it, then?”
    But Ranklin, rashly, hadn’t thought that far. “Er. . . nothing dramatic, I suppose . . . But if we do come across any answer, I’d like approval to pass it on to Gunther’s partners.”
    â€œYou aren’t developing a sense of
justice
, are you?” The Commander