Kane’s only report so far had been ominous: involved with an attack on a boy called Connor. Whether or not it pertained to the objective of his mission over there, it suggested an environment on the edge of control. She was wondering what to make of it when she saw her message light flashing. Lee Perryman’s West Coast accent filled her office when she pressed play, the journalist who’d dug into Moretti’s apparent suicide. He’d left a personal number, which he answered promptly this time.

“You’re looking into Jack Moretti?” he said.

“Yes. I realize this must be strange. My name’s Kathryn Taylor. I work in the British civil service. For complicated reasons, I’ve become quite interested in Jack Moretti, and it seems you’re one of the few people who’ve investigated what happened.”

“The civil service, right.” Perryman sounded good humored. He sounded like he saw through bullshit. “Who exactly am I speaking to? Are you police? Government?”

“More government than police,” she said, making her own attempt at a knowing humor.

“Okay, well, this is going back a bit.”

“I know.”

“What’s going on over there?”

“Moretti’s death may connect to something that’s happened more recently. That’s what drew my attention.”

“Really? Like what?”

“Like another death.”

“Can you tell me what’s happened?”

“Not at this stage. But I’m very happy to keep you in the loop if anything progresses. Obviously, this is just speculative for now.”

There was a moment as he inhaled noisily and she imagined a fresh notebook being opened.

“This other death—is it a government employee?”

“I can’t go into details.”

“No one ever has when it comes to Jack Moretti. I can dig out what I’ve got. But it’s questions for the most part. I was moved off the story before it even began to make sense. And it was made clear to me that that was for the best.”

“By who?”

“Well, my editor for one thing. Plus everyone I spoke to who might have known anything about it.”

“But you’ve still got your notes?”

“Notes, sure. I don’t know what use they’ll be to you.”

“I’ll take everything. Just in case.”

“Tell me again what made the British civil service interested?”

Taylor decided to give him some crumbs.

“A man took his life, a colleague of mine, in fact. It turns out he’d been looking into Moretti. So I’m just curious what drew his attention, and what he found. All I know so far is what’s available on open source, and that’s enough to tell me there’s a lot being suppressed.”

“And if I send through what I’ve got, you’ll keep in touch?”

“Of course.” She could hear pencil on paper. Taylor gave him her personal email address; she didn’t want this coming through MI6 systems.