Two women in dark suits were waiting for her beyond immigration. ‘Mrs Henderson, would you mind coming with us?’ said one.

‘We’re from the Security Service,’ the other chipped in, as if that much was not obvious.

‘Good for you.’

‘We have the Metropolitan Police on standby to intervene if you do not cooperate.’ They nodded at two uniformed officers watching them warily from twenty yards away.

‘Ian Granger,’ she muttered, ‘you are one sorry son of a bitch.’

23

THEY TOOK KATE to an interview room, its grey lino floor and beige walls matched by the pallid expressions of the women who faced her from the other side of the table. They introduced themselves. ‘I am Jane Williams,’ the older, dark-haired one said.

‘And I am Emma Young,’ her younger blonde companion added.

The door opened and Suzy Spencer walked in. She took a chair from the back of the room and sat just behind the two women from the Security Service, as if to distance herself or indicate that she was in charge of these proceedings, or possibly both. She crossed one long, slim leg over the other and eyed Kate without expression or comment.

Jane Williams took a thick file from her briefcase and opened it on the table in front of her. She had chunky forearms and big hands, which looked as if they were capable of packing a punch. Emma Young fidgeted beside her and kept tucking her blonde curls behind her ears. She was pretty in an angular kind of way, with cadaverous cheeks and piercing blue eyes. ‘What were you doing in Prague, Mrs Henderson?’ Williams asked.

‘I don’t believe I’m obliged to answer your questions.’

Williams rewarded her with a thin smile. ‘We’re aware that you know your rights, Mrs Henderson. But we’re investigating the possibility that there is a foreign agent at the heart of SIS, codename Dante.’

‘I don’t work for SIS.’

‘Indeed. And you’re quite at liberty to refuse to assist us. But I should warn you that, if you do not cooperate, we will be forced to ask the Metropolitan Police to place you under arrest and the rest of this interview will be carried out under caution.’

‘Under arrest for what?’

‘Espionage.’

Kate leant forward, trying to conceal her disquiet. Could this really have been Grove’s doing? And why undermine her investigation in this way, unless the real purpose was, as Kate had once feared, to fit her up as a convenient scapegoat? ‘Well, this is funny,’ she said, ‘because I’ve been tasked by the prime minister himself to carry out an investigation into the very same Agent Dante. So who does your authority stem from?’

Williams didn’t flinch. ‘We’re confident of our mandate, Mrs Henderson.’

‘I asked who your authority stems from.’

‘The law. As I said, we’re quite happy to call for the police and conduct this interview under caution, if that is what you would prefer.’

Kate glanced at Suzy, who was staring at the floor. She had to admit that the blithe confidence the two women opposite her exuded was unsettling. Could it really be that the prime minister or Grove had authorized two investigations? And, if the intention had been to fit her up from the start, why go to the trouble of forcing her to conduct her own inquiry? It made no sense. ‘What were you doing in Prague?’ Jane Williams repeated.