Spy hook: a novel (35 page)

“I see what you mean, sir,” I said.

“I love my vegetable garden, Simpson. There’s nothing finer than to eat the crop you’ve planted with your own hands. I’m sure you know that.”

“Yes, I do, sir.”

“Our world is like an onion, Simpson,” he said with heavy significance, his voice growing hoarser by the minute. “The Department I mean, of course. I told the PM that once, when she was complaining about our unorthodox methods. Each layer of the onion fits closely upon its neighbour but each layer is separate and independent: terra incognita. Follow me, Simpson?”

“Yes, Sir Henry.”

Thus reassured he said, “Omne ignotum pro magnifico: are you familiar with that splendid notion, Simpson?” Characteristically unwilling to take a chance, he explained it in a soft aside. “Anything little known is assumed to be wonderful. The watchword of the service, Simpson ... at least the watchword of the appropriations wallahs, eh?” He laughed. “Yes, sir,” I said. “Tacitus, wasn’t it?”

His eyes flickered behind the spectacle lenses; a glass-eyed old teddy suddenly come to life. He cleared his throat. “Awww! Yes. Read Tacitus have you? Remember any more of it, Simpson?”

“O,mnium consensu capax imperh nisi imperasset,’I quoted and, after giving him a moment to digest it, I took a leaf out of his book and told him what it meant. “Everyone thought him capable of exercising authority until he tried it.” The watery eyes gave me a steady stare. “Haw! A palpable hit! I take your point, young man. You’re wondering if I am capable of exercising my authority. Is that it?”

“No, Sir Henry, of course I’m not.”

He scratched his nose. “Exercising it forcefully enough to explore the substance of your fears and concerns.” He turned his head and coughed in a quiet gentlemanly way. “No, sir.” I got to my feet to take leave of him. He looked up at me. “Have no fear, my boy. I’ll act on your information. I’ll root through every aspect of this matter until no shadow of a doubt remains.”

“Thank you, sir.” He heaved himself up to offer his hand in farewell and his spectacles fell off. He caught them in mid-fall. I suppose it happened to him a lot.

Once outside in Piccadilly I looked at my watch. I had more than enough time to pick up my case from the office, take the car to Ebury Street and pick up Werner, who’d been in London shopping and was booked on the same plane back to BerlinTegel . So I walked towards Fortnum’s and the prospect of a cup of coffee. I wanted just a moment to myself. I needed time to think.

There were dark clouds racing over the tree tops of Green Park and the drizzle of rain had now become spasmodic heavy showers and gusting winds. Tourists trudged through the downpour with grim determination. On the park side of the street the artists who displayed their paintings there had covered them with sheets of plastic and gone to find shelter behind the colonnade of the Ritz Hotel. As I passed Green Park tube station a woman’s umbrella was blown inside out, and a man’s wide-brimmed felt hat went flying away into the traffic. The hat bounced, a car swerved to avoid it but a bus rolled over it and a man selling newspapers laughed grimly. There was a rumble of thunder. It was cold and wet; it was a thoroughly miserable day; it was London in winter.

For some there is a perverse satisfaction to walking in the rain: it provides a privacy that a stroll in good weather doe’s not. Passers-by bowed their heads, and butted into the downpour oblivious of anything but their own discomfort. I recalled my conversation with the Director-General and wondered if I had handled it right. There was something curious about the old man’s demeanour. Not that he wasn’t concerned: I’d never seen him more disturbed. Not that he wasn’t prepared to listen: he weighed my every word. But something ...

I turned into Fortnum’s entrance and went through the food store to the tea shop at the back. It was crowded with ladies with blue hair and crocodile handbags, the sort of ladies who have little white dogs waiting for them at home. Perhaps I’d chosen a bad time. I sat at the counter and had a cup of coffee and a Danish pastry. It was delicious. I sat there thinking for some time. When I finished that coffee I ordered another. It was then that I realized what I’d found odd about my conversation with the Director-General. No matter how outrageous my story and my theories might have sounded to him, he had shown no indignation, no anger; not even surprise.

I must have lost track of time, for I suddenly looked at my watch and realized that my schedule was tight. But I hurried and by the time I got to Ebury Street I was only a few minutes late. Werner - with that dedicated punctuality that is inherently German - was waiting for me on the pavement, briefcase packed, bills paid, black Burberry raincoat buttoned and umbrella up. At his feet there was a large carton marked “chinaware very fragile”. “Sorry, Werner,” I said in apology for my late arrival. “Everything took a bit longer than expected.”

“Plenty of time,’ said Werner. The driver opened the door for him and then heaved the carton of chinaware into the boot. It looked damned heavy. Werner made no comment about this huge and cumbersome item of baggage. He reached over to put his umbrella in the front seat alongside the driver and then tookoff his trilby hat to make sure his ticket was inside it. Werner kept tickets and things in his hatband. He was the only person I know who did that.

The car dropped us at Victoria Station so that we could catch one of the direct trains for Gatwick Airport. A porter took the carton of chinaware on a barrow, with Werner fussing around to make sure it didn’t get knocked. The train was almost empty. We had no difficulty finding a place to ourselves. Werner was weanng a new suit - a lightweight grey mohair - and looking rather more rakish than the sober fellow I’d known so well. But he hung his umbrella so it would drain on to the floor, carefully folded his raincoat and placed his hat and his briefcase on the rack. No matter how rakish he looked Werner had been housetrained by the indomitable Zena. “Plates and cups and so on,” said Werner, touching the carton delicately with the toe of his polished shoe.

“Yes,” I said. I could think of nothing to add. Once the train started its journey he said, “In Berlin I suppose you’ll be going to see Koby?

“Lange Koby? Maybe.” Koby lived in a squalid apartment near Potsdamer Platz and held court for foreign journalists and writers who were writing about “the real Berlin”. I didn’t enjoy my visits there.

“If this Dodo worked for him, Lange might be able to tell you something.”

I didn’t tell Werner that I’d seen Prettyman or grappled with Dodo; I hadn’t told anyone. “Perhaps. But that was all a long time ago, Werner. Dodo was just a nasty little spear-carrier. I don’t see how Lange can know anything about Bret and the money and all the things that really matter.” “Lange usually knows all the scandal,” said Werner without admiration.

I leaned forward to him and said, “I told the old man everything I know ... damn nearly everything’ I amended it. “From now onwards it’s the D-G’s problem, Werner. His problem, not my problem.”

Werner looked at me and nodded as if thinking about it.

“Does that mean you’re going to drop the Bret business?”

“I might,” I admitted.

“Let it go, Bernard. It’s eating you up.”

“If only I knew what part Fiona played in that fiddle.”

“Fiona?”

“She had her hands on that money, Werner. I remember seeing the bank papers - statements - in the drawer where she kept her household accounts and money for Mrs. Dias our cleaning woman.”

“Before Fiona defected, you mean?”

“Yes, years ago. I was looking for the car keys ... Schneider, von Schild und Weber ... I knew that damned name was familiar, and last night I remembered why.” “Why would Fiona have the Berlin Bank accounts?” “At the time I thought it was some stuff from the office ... forgeries even. There were a lot of zeros on those sheets, Werner. Millions and millions of Deutsche Marks. Now I realize it was real and the money was hers. Or at least, in her keeping.”

“Fiona’s money? A secret account?”

“Banks send the statements to the account holder, Werner.

There is no getting away from that.”

“It’s too late now,” said Werner. “She’s gone.”

“I told the old man everything I know,” I said again as if to remind myself of what I’d done. “From now onwards it’s his problem,-Werner. His problem, not my problem.” “You said that already,” said Werner.

“I left Ingrid out of it. There was no point in telling him all that rigmarole about her mother and Dodo.” “Nor the stuff about your father,” said Werner. “That’s right,” I said. “Do you think I should have told him that?”

“Either the Department authorized what Bret has been doing with the money, or Bret and Fiona have been stealing it,” said Werner with his usual devastating simplicity. “Didn’t the old man give any indication of knowing?”

“Perhaps he’s the greatest actor in the world, but it seemed like he was hearing it all for the first time.” “They say he’s meshugga.”

“No sign of that today.”

“You did the right thing, Bernie. I’m sure of it. Now forget it and stop brooding.”

I looked at his big package. “So what did you buy in London that I couldn’t be trusted with?”

He smiled. “We felt we couldn’t use you like a courier service.”

“I’m in Berlin every week the way things are now. I’ll bring whatever you need.”

“Ingrid wants the hotel to look more homely. She likes all these English fabrics and English china; little floral patterns. She says the hotel is too inhospitable-looking, too institutional.”

It’s a Berlin hotel; it looks German.”

“Times change, Bernie.”

“I thought Lisl told you her sister was childless,’ I said. “What did she say when Ingrid arrived?”

He nodded, and then said, Lisl knew about Ingrid but Ingrid is illegitimate. She has no legal claim on the hotel.” “Are you in love with Ingrid?”

“Me? In love with Ingrid?”

“Don’t stall, Werner. We know each other too well.”

“Yes, I’m in love with Ingrid,” said Werner somewhat apprehensively.

“Does Zena know?” I asked.

“Zena will be all right,” said Werner confidentially. “I’ll give her a lot of money and she’ll be satisfied.”

I said nothing. It was true, of course. It was a bleak comment on Zena and her marriage but there was no arguing with it. “Zena’s in Munich. I keep hoping she’ll meet someone . .

Werner looked at me and smiled. “Yes, me and Ingrid ...

We’re happy together. Of course it will all take time . .

“That’s wonderful, Werner.”

“You never liked Zena, I know.”

“Ingrid is a very attractive woman, Werner.”

“You do like her?”

“Yes, I do.”

“She’s never been married. She might find it difficult to adjust to married life at her age.”

“You’re both young, Werner. What the hell ...

“That’s what Ingrid says,” said Werner.

“Gatwick Airport” said the voice of the train conductor over the speakers; the train was slowing.

“Thanks Bernie,” he said. “You’ve helped me.”

“Any time, Werner.”

The plane took off on time. It was a small private company, Dan-Air, and the stewardesses smile and they give you real coffee. Once above the clouds the sun shone brightly. Despite the emptiness of the train the plane was filled. I asked Werner about his progress with Lisl’s hotel and I unleashed a long and enthusiastic account of his hopes and hard work. And Werner wasn’t too selfish to include Ingrid Winter’s contribution. On the contrary, his praise and admiration for her were very apparent. At times he seemed to be giving her too much credit but I listened patiently and made the right noises at appropriate times. Werner was in love and people who are in love are good company only for their beloved.

I looked at the landscape passing below. Germany: there was no mistaking it. The people of Europe may grow more and more alike in their choice of cars, their clothes, their TV programmes and their junk food, but our landscapes reveal our true nature. There is no rural West Germany. The German landscape is ordered, angular and built-upon, so that cows must share their Lebensraum with apartment blocks, and forest trees measure the factory chimneys. Towns are allotted foliage under which to hide their ugly shopping plazas but huntsmen must stalk their prey between the parked cars and swimming pools of an unending suburbia.

But once across the East-West frontier the landscape is lonely and tranquil. The Democratic Republic enjoys an agricultural landscape not yet sullied by shiny cars and new houses. Here the farms are old and picturesque. Big breeds of horses have stubbornly resisted the tractors and men and women still do the hard work.

It was a lovely evening when we landed in Berlin, this glittering little capitalist island, with its tall concrete office blocks and sparkling streets, set in a vast green ocean of grassy communism. The sun was low and orange-coloured. Tall cumulus dominated the eastern skies, while to the west the grey storm clouds were smudged and streaked across the sky as if some angry god had been trying to erase them. I came down the steps from the plane carrying Werner’s briefcase while he staggered under the weight of the chinaware. Ahead of us the other passengers straggled on their way to customs and immigration.