Anne Perry - Betrayal at Lisson Grove

The remarkable thing was that their ideological differences were so intense it was extraordinary to see them together. The whole socialist movement was as passionate and idealistic as a new religion. There were the founders, who were viewed almost like apostles of the creed; dissenters were heretics. There were divisions and subdivisions, and the rivalries had all the fervour of evangelism. They even used these religious terms to speak of them.

Pitt let out his breath in a sigh. ‘I suppose you’re sure about Meister as well?’

Gower was motionless, still smiling in the sun, his chest barely rising and falling as he breathed. ‘Yes, sir, absolutely. I’ll bet that has something to do with what West was going to tell us. Those two together has to mean something pretty big.’

Pitt did not argue. The more he thought of it the more certain he was that it was indeed the storm Narraway had seen coming, and which was about to break over Europe if they did not prevent it.

‘We’ll watch them,’ Pitt said quietly, also trying to appear as if he were relaxed in the sun, enjoying a brief holiday. ‘See who else they contact.’

Gower smiled. ‘We’ll have to be careful. What do you think they’re planning?’

Pitt considered in silence, his eyes almost closed as he stared down at the painted wooden door of number seven. All kinds of ideas teemed through his head. A single assassination seemed less likely than a general strike, or even a series of bombings; otherwise a group would not need to gather. In the past, assassinations had been accomplished by a lone gunman, willing to sacrifice his own life. But now. . who was vulnerable? Whose death would really change anything permanently?

‘Strikes?’ Gower suggested, interrupting his thought. ‘Europe-wide it could bring an industry to its knees.’

‘Possibly,’ Pitt agreed. His mind went to the big industrial and shipbuilding cities of the north. Or the coalminers of Durham, Yorkshire and Wales. There had been strikes before; they were always broken, and the men and their families suffered.

‘Demonstrations?’ Gower went on. ‘Thousands of people all out at once, in the right places, could block transport, or stop some major event, like the Derby?’

Pitt imagined it: the anger, the frustration of the horseracing and fashionable crowd at such an impertinence. He found himself smiling, but it was with a sour amusement. He had never been part of the society that watched the ‘sport of kings’, but he had met many of them during his police career. He knew their passion, their weaknesses, their blindness to others, and at times their extraordinary courage. Forcible interruption of one of the great events of the year was not the way to persuade them of anything. Surely any serious revolutionary had long ago learned that.

But what was?

Gower moved, drawing his attention to the fact that he had not replied.

‘Meister’s style, maybe,’ he said aloud. ‘But not Linsky’s. Something far more violent. And more effective.’

Gower shivered very slightly. ‘I wish you hadn’t said that. It rather takes the edge off the idea of a week or two in the sun, eating French food and watching the ladies going about their shopping. Have you seen the young girl from number sixteen, with the red hair?’

‘To tell you the truth, it wasn’t her hair I noticed,’ Pitt admitted, grinning broadly.

Gower laughed outright. ‘Nor I,’ he said. ‘I rather like that apricot jam, don’t you? And the coffee! Thought I’d miss a decent cup of tea, but I haven’t yet.’ He was silent again for a few minutes, then he turned his head. ‘What do you really think they have planned in England, sir — beyond a show of power? What do they want in the long run?’

The ‘sir’ reminded Pitt of his seniority, and therefore responsibility. It gave him a sharp jolt. There were scores of possibilities, a few of them serious. There had been a considerable rise in political power of left-wing movements in Britain recently. They were very tame compared with the violence of their European counterparts, but that did not mean they would remain that way. James Keir Hardie had stood for Parliament in Scotland, and lost, but three years ago he had stood for a working-class district just outside London, and become the Independent Labour Party’s first elected member. Pitt had never met him, but Charlotte’s brother-in-law was a member of Parliament, and he had said Keir Hardie was a remarkably decent man, just possessed of a few political notions Jack did not agree with.

Gower was still staring at Pitt, waiting, his face puzzled and keen.

‘I think a concerted effort to bring about change would be more likely,’ Pitt said slowly, weighing the words as he spoke.

‘Change?’ Gower said quizzically. ‘Is that a euphemism for overthrowing the government?’

‘Yes, perhaps it is,’ Pitt agreed, realising how afraid he was as he said it. ‘An end to hereditary privilege, and the power that goes with it.’

‘Dynamiters?’ Gower’s voice was a whisper, the amusement completely vanished. ‘Another blowing up, like the Gunpowder Plot of the early 1600s?’

‘I can’t see that working,’ Pitt replied. ‘It would rally everyone against them.We don’t like to be pushed. They’ll need to be a lot cleverer than that.’

Gower swallowed hard. ‘What, then?’ he said quietly.

‘Something to destroy that power permanently. A change so fundamental it can’t be undone.’ As he said the words they frightened him. Something violent and alien waited ahead of them. Perhaps they were the only ones who could prevent it.

Gower let out his breath in a sigh. He looked pale. Pitt watched his face, obliquely, as if he were still more absorbed in enjoying the sun, thinking of swivelling round to watch the sailing boats in the harbour again. They would have to rely on each other totally. It was going to be a long, tedious job. They dare not miss anything. The slightest clue could matter. They would be cold at night, possibly hungry or uncomfortable. Always tired. Above all, they must not look suspicious. He was glad he liked Gower’s humour, his lightness of touch.There were many men in Special Branch he would have found it much harder to be with.

‘That’s Linsky now, coming out of the door!’ Gower stiffened, and then deliberately forced his body to relax, as if this sharp-nosed man with the sloping forehead and stringy hair were of no more interest than the baker, the postman, or another tourist.

Pitt straightened up, put his hands in his pockets quite casually, going down the steps to the square after him.

In the early evening of the day that Pitt and Gower had followed Wrexham to Southampton, Victor Narraway was sitting in his office at Lisson Grove. There was a knock on his door, and, as soon as he answered, one of his more junior men came in.

‘Yes?’ Narraway said with a touch of impatience. He was waiting for Pitt to report on the information from West, and he was late. Narraway had no wish to speak to Stoker now.

Stoker closed the door behind him and came to stand in front of Narraway’s desk. His lean face, with its high-bridged nose, was unusually serious. ‘Sir, there was a murder in a brickyard off Cable Road in Shadwell in the middle of the day-’

‘Are you sure I care about this, Stoker?’ Narraway interrupted.

‘Yes, sir,’ Stoker said without hesitation. ‘The victim had his throat cut, and the man who did it was caught almost in the act, knife still in his hand. He was chased by two men who seem to have followed him to Limehouse, according to the investigation by the local police. Then-’

Narraway interrupted him again impatiently. ‘Stoker, I’m waiting for information about a major attack of some sort by socialist revolutionaries, possibly another spate of dynamitings.’ Then suddenly he was chilled to the bone. ‘Stoker. .’