‘Won’t you tell me what it was, please?’
‘I can’t,’ I said. ‘There’s nothing to tell you.’
‘But surely—’
‘I tell you there’s nothing. I saw him once, that’s all. It was in his office and there was an interpreter with us the whole time. All he did was to give me a message for Maxwell which I delivered.’
‘And you didn’t see him again?’
‘No.’ I hesitated and then added, ‘The night porter at the hotel where I was staying told me your father visited me late one night. If he did, he didn’t wake me. He left no message, nothing. I’ve searched my baggage, even my clothes. I can only imagine the porter made it up in order to blackmail me into giving him some kronen to keep his mouth shut.’
‘I don’t understand,’ she said, looking at me hard. ‘Maxwell is convinced you’re mixed up in this—’
‘Damn Maxwell!’ I said, rising suddenly to my feet. ‘He knows nothing about it. He wasn’t there.’
‘But this business of Sismondi telephoning you about some blueprints you were to deliver to him?’
‘I think it was a try-on.’