“The shooting of Vice-Admiral Simon Garr.”

“Oh, yes. He had drifted from my consciousness.”

“Well, if Roger was the assassin, why?”

“I believe,” Stone said, “having trained with him a bit at Station Two, that Roger had some skills with pistols and knives that might qualify him for such work.”

“Yes, but why Simon? He had been retired for two years and, rumor had it, was exhibiting signs of dementia. Why on earth would the Russians want him dead? And, it follows, why Roger to do the job? Lots of people are good with a pistol, and the range was only a few feet?”

“Did Roger have a connection to Garr?” Stone asked.

“They were at the Naval College together, Simon a year ahead of Roger.”

“It might be good to read both their dossiers from that time and see if there’s something else to consider.”

“Well,” Felicity said, “it couldn’t hurt.” She picked up her iPhone and tapped in a message. “There. People will be awake soon, and we’ll hear back.”

Stone sat up, picked up the room phone, and ordered breakfast, then he lay back. “It occurs to me that we would know none of this new information about Roger, or about his newfound friendship with the Russians, if you had not had him followed after you gave him the boot.”

“Probably not,” Felicity said.

“Do you have everyone followed who resigns or is fired?”

“Not usually,” she replied, “unless the leave-taking is by an employee who is sufficiently disgruntled to wish us ill.”

“And Roger was disgruntled, wasn’t he?”

“Look at it from his point of view,” she said. “First, he was transferred to Station Two, and the Scottish Highlands, in winter, is not a posting most officers of rank would think attractive.”

“One reason for disgruntlement.”

“Then, somehow or other, he’s sent to MI-6, to a posting that he is unqualified for, and he’s promoted to brigadier.”

“Would the rank come with the posting?”

“Probably. If one is a colonel and receives a promotion, then the rank would follow, or retirement. It’s the same in your services, I believe.”

“Roger has a history of blackmailing gay superiors to get better assignments, does he not?”

“Yes.”

“Who, in this case, would have been his target?”

“The foreign minister, it would seem. He’s kept a boyfriend on staff for decades, and the deputy director job was within his gift, though normally he would discuss it with me first.”

“And he didn’t this time?”

“He did not.”

“How long did Roger serve in the post?”

“He claimed it for a couple of weeks, but I don’t think he served for a minute. The only task I gave him was to go to the States, to visit your lot and have a chat with them. I had intended to keep him traveling for a year or so, then find an excuse to sack him.”