Kim gave him the story, with more or less complete honesty except that he presented Lord Flitby’s last pull of the trigger as emergency rather than execution. It took a while. Will filled in the parts about himself. DS asked a very few pertinent questions and otherwise stayed silent, making one or two notes, watching Kim’s face.

“A few questions,” he said at the end. “In no particular order: do you know why Anton came up here to attack you?”

“I assume that Knowle was concerned we’d work out what was going on. He did like his distractions.”

“Chingford told him you were here. Did he seem surprised when he learned you’d been shot at?”

“You think Chingford wanted us killed?” Will asked.

DS opened his well-kept hands. “You tell me. How much does he dislike you, Secretan?”

Kim didn’t answer. DS went on, “He was certainly involved in Knowle’s plans. The telephone line was cut where it enters the house and I cannot see how that was Anton’s doing. Lord Chingford will need to explain himself.”

“Is someone going to make him?” Kim asked.

“We’ll come back to that. Next question.” His voice hardened. “Why did you not bring Fairfax’s information to me as soon as you found it?”

“Because I wanted to use it as a bargaining chip,” Kim said, meeting his eyes. “I was hoping to exchange it for Chingford’s continued existence—a manslaughter charge, say. That was the appointment I made with you but didn’t show up to.”

“Fairfax knew everything,” DS said. “He had names of the entire Zodiac and many of their collaborators encoded in his ledger. Merton’s department has cracked it, and the remnants are being rounded up even now. If we’d had his papers earlier, we might have identified Knowle before he was able to make a run for it.”

Kim’s face twitched. “Before he had Quiller killed?”

DS rocked a hand. “Perhaps, though he knowingly gave a ruthless murderer a false alibi. That tends not to make for a good life insurance prospect. The point is, you should have handed it over at once and you know it. Instead you decided to use it to save your worthless brother.”

Kim’s face was rigid. “Yes, sir.”

“You really are a weasel,” DS said. “And you then gave it to Merton because—?”

“They’d framed Will.”

“Which was, naturally, your primary concern.” The Bureau chief sighed heavily. “Secretan, Secretan. I realise I told you to find something to live for, but there are limits.”

“Sir.”

“And what about your brother now? Having gone to these lengths for him—”

“I never did any of it for him,” Kim said. “And my current stance is, to hell with Chingford. If he hangs, we deserve the consequences.”

“Wouldn’t the consequences be you inheriting this rather magnificent pile?”

“Not any more. I don’t want it; I never did.”