‘I’m not the only policeman you’ve spoken to.’

‘No, you’re not.’

‘Someone from Special Branch in London came to see me today.’

‘And he told you I’d been travelling around?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did he warn you against speaking to me?’

‘Not in so many words.’

Levy took off his glasses, began polishing them. ‘I told you, there are people who’d rather this was all relegated to history. This man, he came all the way from London just to tell you about me?’

‘He wanted to see Joseph Lintz.’

‘Ah.’

Levy was thoughtful. ‘Your interpretation, Inspector?’

‘I was hoping for yours.’

‘My utterly subjective interpretation?’

Rebus nodded. ‘He wants to be sure of Lintz. This man works for Special Branch, and as everyone knows Special Branch is the public arm of the secret services.’

‘He wanted to be confident I wasn’t going to get anything out of Lintz?’

Levy nodded, staring at the smoke from Rebus’s cigarette. This case was like that: one minute you could see it, the next you couldn’t. Like smoke.

‘I have a little book with me,’ Levy said, reaching into his pocket. ‘I’d like you to read it. It’s in English, translated from the Hebrew. It’s about the Rat Line.’

Rebus took the book. ‘Does it prove anything?’

‘That depends on your terms.’

‘Concrete proof.’

‘Concrete proof exists, Inspector.’

‘In this book?’

Levy shook his head. ‘Under lock and key in Whitehall, kept from scrutiny by the Hundred Year Rule.’

‘So there’s no way to prove anything.’

‘There’s one way ...’

‘What?’

‘If someone talks. If we can get just one of them to talk ...’

‘That’s what this is all about: wearing down their resistance? Looking for the weakest link?’

Levy smiled again. ‘We have learned patience, Inspector.’

He finished his drink. ‘I’m so grateful you called. This has been a much more satisfactory meeting.’

‘Will you send your bosses a progress report?’

Levy chose to ignore this. ‘We’ll talk again, when you’ve read the book.’

He stood up. ‘The Special Branch officer ... I’ve forgotten his name?’

‘I didn’t give it.’

Levy waited a moment, then said, ‘Ah, that explains it then. Is he still in Edinburgh?’

He watched Rebus shake his head. ‘Then he’s probably on his way to Carlisle, yes?’

Rebus sipped coffee, offered no comment.

‘My thanks again, Inspector,’ Levy said, undeterred.

‘Thanks for dropping by.’

Levy took a final look around. ‘Your office,’ he said, shaking his head.

8

The Rat Line was an ‘underground railway’, delivering Nazis - sometimes with the help of the Vatican - from their Soviet persecutors. The end of the Second World War meant the start of the Cold War. Intelligence was necessary, as were intelligent, ruthless individuals who could provide a certain level of expertise. It was said that Klaus Barbie, the ‘Butcher of Lyons’, had been offered a job with British Intelligence. It was rumoured that high-profile Nazis had been spirited away to America. It wasn’t until 1987 that the United Nations released its full list of fugitive Nazi and Japanese war criminals, forty thousand of them.