“So I thought,” said Nightingale. “Even if he’s nothing worse, I think he was prepared to slice the Princess. As she was a half deranged recluse he may have valued them even lower for her than he’d dare do for us. But I don’t know—she wasn’t that mad. Anyway, he and his partners must have been fairly rubbing their hands in anticipation of the profits.”

“Of course,” said Beddoes, “as far as Majendie knows, Ivan Karukhin is the legitimate heir, and there’d be nothing to stop him selling if the lot was recovered. So he doesn’t want to risk admitting the real value even now.”

“Still hoping to pull off the deal, yes. He did his best to lead me to expect a low price last night—after he’d discovered which way the wind was blowing. What he’d first described as a considerable purchase suffered a metamorphosis, ended as a considerable risk.”

Nightingale backed the car into a space between two others, pulled his flask out of the pocket and unscrewed the top. “Tell me,” he began, leaning over the side of the car to pour in safety, “—just a minute, do you find it too cold? I didn’t put up the hood, it’s such a lovely day. There’s a rug in the boot, if you’d like it.”

“No thank you,” said Beddoes patiently. “One minor mishap hasn’t undermined my health. Well, they didn’t get much more about Ivan from St. Pancreas—”

“You’ll say that when you’re giving evidence one day, you know.”

“Dull but inoffensive, it seems. Went there straight from school at fourteen, recommended by old headmaster. How anyone could recommend Ivan I don’t know. However, they took him as office boy. Lucky to get that, in those times, in view of his qualifications, or lack. Couldn’t be used for portering, not strong enough. He was often off sick as it was. Sometimes they sent him home when his asthma got too bad. Never a sign of drunkenness at work, so if he soaked regularly as much as I saw him do last night he must have been able to sleep it off something stunning. Station people could hardly find a thing to say about him, apparently. They sound tolerant, but I think they’d really almost forgotten him. He did very minor clerical work, no set groove, just here and there as needed. No complaints of the way he did it. I don’t suppose they’ll miss him. Odd though, he was all over the place on the twenty-second, and quite talkative.”

“Not at all odd. He overacted, that’s all. Have they found his old school?”