‘You all right, miss? Aw, you’ve gone and broken your point! Here, borrow mine.’
Chapter Thirty-Four
The telephone was ringing on Joe’s desk as they entered his office. He hurried to answer.
‘Sir! Yes, sir. Just got back. All as we supposed. Message delivered just as we discussed. By the way — I was invited to attend the admiral’s funeral … I wondered if you … of course. Yes. Norfolk … Just inside a week … It will have to be … I’ve got this in hand, sir.’ He made polite retreating noises and put down the telephone.
‘Well, that was quite an afternoon, Wentworth. One way or another. Bit of a facer. Clears up questions I had, confirms some outrageous suspicions and presents us with a diplomatic minefield to tiptoe through.’ Joe pointed to the telephone. ‘My every move monitored, you see. Actions guided. Outcome decided by committee. Now, Wentworth, the words we have to exchange are to stay within these walls and between us. Do you understand?’
‘No, I don’t. All you want to know is who shot the admiral. Hopkirk will want to know. Bacchus has probably worked it out already.’
‘Your faith in Bacchus is beginning to make me uneasy, Wentworth. Leave the men to me to brief. They will hear what I want them to hear.’
The girl’s puzzlement was turning into truculence. ‘But what I found out in Mountfitchet’s lair throws light on the Russian aspect of this case. It shows us that it’s simply not there. It severs the connection. Hopkirk will-’
‘Listen. We had already eliminated the taxi girl.’ Joe steeled himself to deliver the disappointment. ‘Routine police work. Chappel called in a few favours on his old patch — excellent stuff — and we came up with Mrs Braithwaite. Not her real name. She keeps an annexe next to the Pinks Hotel with a useful rear entrance. High-class operation. Never one to give trouble. The calibre of the customers seems to render it immune to the prying eyes of the law. Indeed, some of their number are the prying eyes of the law. The lady was persuaded by someone more influential than Hopkirk to look in her books and verify the existence of Mr Mountfitchet’s visitor on the night in question. All is as you supposed, Wentworth. As, indeed, you have actually demonstrated by your intervention. You heard me tell the admiral’s family that she had been eliminated from our inquiries. You also heard me say the inquiry was concluded. No need for further investigation. I thought I’d made that clear.’
Joe was trying to be discouraging; he feared he was being bombastic and annoying.