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Chapters (45)
  1. The Man With No Face
  2. Also by
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. Contents
  8. INTRODUCTION
  9. CHAPTER ONE
  10. CHAPTER TWO
  11. CHAPTER THREE
  12. CHAPTER FOUR
  13. CHAPTER FIVE
  14. CHAPTER SIX
  15. CHAPTER SEVEN
  16. CHAPTER EIGHT
  17. CHAPTER NINE
  18. CHAPTER TEN
  19. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  20. CHAPTER TWELVE
  21. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  22. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  23. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  25. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  26. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  27. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

‘I don’t think that is strictly true,’ he said. His voice was cold and unforgiving. ‘The cover-up after the killings was just too fast. There had to have been political collusion between the British and Belgian governments. Diplomatic pressures brought to bear. Not to mention the SIS agent who shot at me in Flanders.’

The old man was silent for a very long time. ‘What I am going to tell you is for your information only,’ he said finally. ‘Not for the record.’

‘I’ll make no promises on that.’

‘Then you make it very difficult for me, Mr Bannerman.’

Bannerman shrugged. ‘I’ll write it as I see it.’ He paused. ‘Though if you can tell me something that will shine a light on the story then you’d better tell me.’

The former party chairman made his way back to his chair and sank his bony frame into a softness that seemed to envelop him. He relit his pipe and said, ‘Gryffe was being investigated by MI5 on government authority. The agency had not fully uncovered all of his activities at the time of his death, but they were on the brink of doing so. I knew nothing about this until afterwards, when the Prime Minister called me to London. It is not unusual for the party leader to ask my advice. We have been good friends for many years and he has often consulted me. Even after my retirement. He told me then, and asked me what he should do.’

He pulled several times on the stem of his pipe, and Bannerman saw the glow of tobacco in its bowl. Smoke rose to hang above him in a pall.

‘Of course, the PM had no knowledge of my involvement in the killing of Gryffe and Slater, and for my part I have told him nothing. How could I? He revealed to me that Gryffe was being investigated, and that they were pulling every diplomatic string available to have the shootings played down. He also told me they had a man in the field in Belgium who had discovered Gryffe’s involvement in the sale of arms. He was a man in a state of shock, Mr Bannerman. He saw quite clearly what all this would mean if it ever got out. Which is why he was worried about you. About your investigations. It was my suggestion that they try to scare you off.’ He blew a long jet of smoke into the still air. ‘Looking back, I suppose it was bad advice. It misfired rather badly, didn’t it?’

Bannerman remembered the nightmare of that flight in the dark across snow-covered fields, the chill of approaching death, the human mess in the crater left by the landmine.