‘You could have told Farraday after the meeting, surely? Unless you think he might be the traitor?’

‘Why, after all these years, would I tell Farraday about Sacrosanct and risk—’

‘Incriminating yourself?’ he inserted. Then he relaxed a little and smiled. It looked painted on. ‘I can see your point. I felt the same myself. But perhaps Farraday should be let into the secret now. It might look worse if he learns about it later and neither of us had mentioned it.’

I couldn’t read his tone, but I didn’t like the sound of that one bit.

‘How could he learn about it?’ I asked. ‘Seeing as you and I are the only two who know? Anyway, I’m not sure he would understand even if we did tell him.’

‘Oh, don’t underestimate Farraday,’ he said. ‘He’s sharper than he looks.’

Sharper indeed, I thought, remembering the way he had steamrollered Osborne at the meeting.

‘Tell him, then,’ I said. ‘I suppose it’s too late for all the repercussions you and Father were worried about, anyway.’ I ground out my cigarette on the floor and opened the bottle of Fanta by tilting the top against one of the arms of the chair. It tasted warm, flat and oddly metallic. ‘Perhaps you could also give him a thorough account of your operations in Gaggenau at the same time.’

His eyes were tiny marbles devoid of recognizable emotion. ‘I think,’ he said finally, ‘that you could now debrief me on the current situation.’

We left it at stalemate, and I did as he had asked. It didn’t take me long: one pyjama party, two dead Russians and a car chase.

‘What about the bodies?’ he said when I’d finished. ‘What did you do with them?’

I handed him the newspaper. He read through it quickly and then put it to one side.

‘Well, that’s sure to enrage the Russians - let’s see what they do. Have you looked into Grigorieva yet? Slavin claimed she recruited the double, so she would appear to be key to the whole thing.’

‘I haven’t had time to stake out the embassy yet, but I imagine they’ve trebled their guard now. What do you have in mind? Approaching her as a possible defector herself?’

He nodded. ‘Yes. Although if she was recruiting double agents twenty years ago, I imagine she’d be a fairly hard nut to crack. And I’d like to have at least some idea beforehand of why her death was staged.’

‘What about Chief - has he not turned up yet?’

He walked back to his position by the fireplace and shook his head.

‘That’s a pity,’ I said. ‘I’m starting to wonder if Farraday might have been right. This hit on Slavin makes me think he might be involved in this, after all.’