‘Yes, we talked. He seemed extremely agitated. He asked me to take a walk outside with him, whereupon he told me that he was on a vitally important job - extremely hush-hush. He didn’t divulge any more details, but said that the entire operation had been compromised by a Russian nurse who was working in the Red Cross hospital in Lübeck.’

‘He wanted your help?’

‘Yes,’ he said after a few moments. ‘He asked if I could take some men round to the hospital under cover of darkness, detain the nurse, and have her transported to the War Office’s interrogation centre over in Bad Nenndorf.’

‘That’s quite a favour to ask,’ I said. ‘Did you oblige?’

Chief carefully placed his glass on the nearest side table. ‘Well, I tried. He provided me with a dossier containing her photograph and particulars - her name was Maleva - and I assembled a small team immediately. We took a jeep round to her quarters that same night. Unfortunately, when we arrived we discovered that she was already dead.’

I paused for a moment to take this in.

‘Suicide?’

He shook his head. ‘Shot through the chest. Quite messy. Of course, I got my men out of there as fast as I could. British officers kidnapping a Russian nurse would have been bad enough, but if we’d been caught with murder on our hands there would have been all manner of problems.’ He looked down at his drink a little mournfully. ‘And that was that. I never saw Larry again. I’ve often wondered whether I was the last person to see him.’

‘I’m glad you told me,’ I said. ‘And it sounds like this operation he was on may be the key to his disappearance. But I don’t quite see how it relates to the situation in Nigeria.’

‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Didn’t I mention? The nurse Slavin’s claiming recruited the double - it’s this same damned Maleva woman!’

I stared at him uncomprehendingly. ‘But how can that be?’ I asked. ‘I mean, if she was shot in the chest . . .’

‘I know,’ he said. ‘And it had me stumped for a bit. But SOE had a section for camouflage and make-up techniques - perhaps the Russians had similar expertise.’

‘Perhaps,’ I said. ‘But what about her pulse? Presumably she wasn’t just lying there with her eyes closed, holding her breath.’