Chapters (38)
- Cover
- Also by Philip Kerr
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
“In Petrograd I got to know the Russians pretty well myself,” said Maugham. “Of course, I still made mistakes. Once I even killed the wrong man. But most of the time I knew what I was doing. I’m not sure that the people who run things these days do. People like Sinclair and Reilly. The Russians make excellent spies. Much better than us because they lie so well. And of course they lie to themselves most skillfully of all. Which is the key to all effective lying. You have to convince yourself, first of all. The English are hopeless liars by comparison. We’re too honest about ourselves. Too self-effacing. Lying shocks us. That’s why the English were so horrified by Burgess and Maclean. Because they were such unusually good liars. Like me—and you, I suspect. I think perhaps you are the best liar of us all, Walter. But then, maybe you’ve had to be.”
“Over the last twenty years I’ve found truth to be a very overrated virtue when it comes to staying alive.”
“Isn’t it? Well, I’ve spent my whole life lying for a living so I’m bound to agree with you. What are their plans now? Sinclair and Reilly?”
“I think they’re going back to their hotel,” I said. “To make more telephone calls to London in private. To set a rather urgent witch hunt into motion. After which, if you don’t mind, I’ll go home, too. I’ll be back the day after tomorrow to take care of the handover of the money. Until then, you know where I am if you need me.”
Maugham nodded. “Thank you for everything, my f-friend.”
“Once that’s done I’m just going to hunker down at the hotel. Safely behind my hotel desk, answering stupid questions for clueless tourists. It’s what I’m best at.”
Maugham smiled his inscrutable smile. “You don’t fool me for a minute, Walter. You’re just like me. A survivor. The only difference is that you’re not as old. Not yet. But, of course, if you live long enough, you will be.”
“Now, that’s the hard part, isn’t it? Nobody wants to get old, but then nobody wants to be dead, either.” I shrugged. “To be honest, I never thought I’d make it this far.”
—