She Died Young by Elizabeth Wilson Read Free Book Online Page A

man ?’ McGovern couldn’t keep the astonishment out of his voice.
    ‘No, no, no. Nothing like that. A cloud of suspicion hung over Kim Philby, but those rumours have been dissipated, put to rest. Philby is in the clear. So now they are grasping at straws. They know there is a traitor somewhere and I got the impression they think this Professor Quinault may know – there are friendship networks, you know, Quinault knows everyone …’
    The Burgess and Maclean affair had been a disaster. The Americans would never trust the British secret services again. But there was still a double agent out there somewhere, so they were charging around in the dark in their desperate search for whoever he might be.
    ‘Quinault has ongoing contacts with Hungarians he knew in the war, I’m told. He may have information he’s keeping to himself, suspicions, perhaps. He’s being monitored. He’s been travelling up and down to London a lot recently. And there’ve been a lot of rather odd phone calls abroad.’
    So they’d been tapping the Professor’s telephone. ‘There’s no possibility I’ll be able to get any information out of him. That’s not a sensible way to go about it. I was told Quinault has never forgiven me for what happened in Berlin.’
    ‘What happened in Berlin … ah, yes.’ Moules paused. ‘They seem to think that for that very reason – well, it was put to me like this. Professor Quinault won’t expect you to be the one who’s poking about in his affairs.’
    ‘I don’t see it.’ McGovern shook his head.
    ‘They just want to know if he’s up to something. All this travelling he’s been doing lately. Not just going up and down to London. Travelling abroad as well.’
    ‘Is that suspicious? Surely not! His work must take him abroad.’
    ‘Hardly, McGovern. He’s a classical scholar, I’m given to understand, a specialist in ancient Rome.’
    ‘Might he not need to visit ancient sites?’
    Moules brushed that aside. ‘He’s not an archaeologist. In any case I gather he’s also been causing them problems, ringing them up and trying to stir up trouble about Hungarian infiltrators. I suspect they’re being over-sensitive. My impression is they see conspiracies everywhere, but as I said, I’m no expert. And with regard to the Professor it seems to be more just a question of giving him the once-over. Possibly your appearance is meant to act as a kind of mild warning.’
    ‘I see.’ McGovern let this sink in, with all its unpleasant implications. ‘I’m the last person he’d take any notice of.’
    ‘On the contrary, you will remind him of bungles in the past. That he supported a friend who turned out to be a criminal. Supported him up to the hilt, I’m told.’
    For someone who claimed to know nothing of the secret services, Moules appeared quite well-informed. ‘Just do your best, McGovern,’ said the Superintendent.
    ‘Sir.’ McGovern stood up.
    Moules put up his hand and said: ‘We haven’t finished our discussion about the newspaper man, Blackstone. My fault – we got sidetracked – the Hungarian business has driven everything else off the agenda, but we can’t lose sight of other objectives. Is Blackstone going to be a problem? Is he going to put a spanner in the works?’
    McGovern sat down again. In the discussion about the Hungarians and Quinault, he’d forgotten about the girl in the hotel and his promise to the journalist. ‘He can do a lot of damage if he wants to, but he can help us too. The reason he wanted to see me – that’s how I read it – was he thinks he’s onto something and he’s thinking we might help him.’
    McGovern paused. He wanted to put it in the most palatable way he could. ‘He mentioned an accidental death. A girl fell down a flight of stairs in a hotel. I felt he had some kind of personal stake in it. But whether that’s the case or no, he feels there’s more to it than meets the eye. The post-mortem was inconclusive. The coroner returned a