Andrew Williams - The Interrogator

‘Oh sorry, sir.’ A prison warder was standing at the door. ‘I thought you’d finished in here.’

The Director wanted to be briefed before breakfast and the Admiralty’s code and cipher people afterwards, headlines written for the First Sea Lord by mid-morning, the full report to be on his desk by 3 p.m. and then sent to Downing Street. Lindsay floated through the day, barely conscious of the compliments paid, the questions asked and the answers he gave. Objects and people began to soften at the edges, voices to reach him like the echo in a long tunnel. At five o’clock, Fleming took him by the elbow and led him from Room 39 to the doors of the Admiralty.

‘Home. The rest can wait until morning. Can you make it on your own?’

‘Yes, I’m capable of that but I was hoping to see Mary Henderson.’

Fleming frowned and looked away for a moment: ‘Perhaps tomorrow. Or ring her, why don’t you?’

Drunk with exhaustion, he collapsed on his bed fully clothed and slept a long and for once dreamless sleep until the early hours of the following morning. When he woke he lay on his back and stared at the ceiling, trying to bring the events of the previous day into focus. After a while the recollection of something small began to worry him. It was the slight frown on Fleming’s face when he spoke of Mary. It was surely of no importance in itself but it unlocked troubling thoughts. ‘A bad case of conscience, Doctor,’ he muttered to himself. The early-morning blues. Swinging his legs from the bed, he padded through to the kitchen in search of bread and something to put on it. A few stale crusts and a pot of his mother’s jam. He ate a little and drank some tea without milk, then took off his uniform and went back to bed. But he did not sleep again, turning restlessly until dawn. When the hour was civilised, he rang the house in Lord North Street but there was no reply.

For once he chose to breakfast in the Admiralty canteen, half in the hope of finding Mary there. But he did not see her and the food was as she described it — greasy and tasteless. Fleming had found a desk for him in a small office close to Room 39. It was little more than a cupboard with room for no more than the desk, two chairs, and a filing cabinet. No one was interested in his opinion of code security any more. And no one was interested in the opinion of the Code Security Section either. It was in the hands of the Staff and the cryptologists now. But there were some embarrassingly loose ends to tie up. Housekeeping. The Director wanted an account of the ‘shambles’ at Number One Camp and he had just begun to dictate excuses to a Wren when the door opened:

‘You’re not easy to find.’ Samuels stepped into the room. He sounded very unfriendly.

Lindsay asked the Wren to leave them alone for a few minutes. The moment the door closed behind her Samuels said: ‘You know, it was torture.’

‘What?’

‘Dietrich: the way you treated him, it was a kind of torture. The sort of thing the Nazis do.’

‘I wouldn’t have let it get out of hand.’

‘He was badly beaten.’

‘I’m sorry you’re feeling squeamish.’

Samuels shook his head ruefully: ‘I’ve heard about Lange. Was that necessary too?’

‘Yes.’

‘I don’t think you would have thought so a few months ago…’ but Samuels was interrupted by a knock at the door. It was a uniformed runner with a note from Fleming.

‘Perhaps we could talk later, Charlie?’

‘No, I don’t think that will be necessary,’ he replied coldly. ‘Oh, I almost forgot — congratulations.’

Then he turned his back on Lindsay and walked out.

The door to Room 39 was slightly ajar and the murmur of voices from inside suggested that Fleming had just left a meeting. He must have noticed Lindsay approaching along the corridor out of the corner of his eye because he turned from the window with a question:

‘The Director wants to know if there is any propaganda value to be had from Mohr. A radio broadcast.’

‘No. He won’t co-operate. I’m sure of it.’

And there was the same frown that had kept Lindsay awake half the night. Clearly Fleming was taken aback by the sharpness of his response: ‘You’re not expecting us to keep your promise?’

‘Yes.’

Yes, he knew he was, yes. When he had made it to Mohr he had not cared one way or the other. It was not that he had spent hours regretting it, he had not given the matter any further thought, but now suddenly it seemed important. If asked, he would be at a loss to explain why. But Fleming just looked at him sceptically, then turned to the door. ‘Wait across the corridor, Lindsay,’ he said, and he stepped inside, closing it behind him.

The Director stood at the conference table, arms folded, head bent like an inquisitive bird, and thirty of his most senior officers were gathered in a semicircle about him. The head of Code and Cipher, a stout reserve commander in his late fifties, was addressing the room on the changes that were being considered to security. The stony faces about him suggested that difficult questions had not been answered to the satisfaction of those at the table. It would be a month before new code books were printed and distributed, he explained hesitantly, and a month more before wireless operators in the Navy and Merchant Service were able to use them properly. ‘I’m afraid until then we will have to continue with the current code and cipher books.’

This information was met by awkward glances and some embarrassed shuffling of paper and feet.

‘The Prime Minister exploded when he was told.’ Admiral Godfrey glared about the table. ‘It’s a shambles. We’d better learn the lessons. All right. That’s all.’

The meeting was over. The Director spoke briefly to his Assistant then picked up his papers and walked back through the green baize covered door into his office. The heads of section began to drift out of the room and after a few minutes only two men were left at the conference table. Half rising from his chair, Winn leant across the table with his cigarettes: ‘Quite a coup, don’t you think?’

‘No thank you,’ and Checkland held up his hand to refuse.

‘Do you think Lindsay will be returning to you?’

Before Checkland was able to flannel an answer Fleming was ready to show them into the Director’s office.

‘It must be gratifying to know Dönitz thinks highly of your work, Winn.’ Admiral Godfrey lifted the report on the desk in front of him and turned to a section he had marked in pencil:

Kapitän Mohr said the staff at U-boat Headquarters were often impressed by the accuracy of the daily intelligence summaries on U-boat dispositions that were produced for the Royal Navy’s ships at sea by its Tracking Room…’

‘Infuriating, sir,’ said Winn who sounded anything but in complete control of his emotions. ‘As you say, sir, a shambles. We’re reading their signals and they’re reading ours.’

‘Not, I hope, for much longer. But God knows what Code Security was doing. And what sort of code is it that can be broken by the enemy after only a few months? It’s cost us very dearly in ships.’

The Director dropped the report back on the desk: ‘Lindsay’s done a fine job. The cryptologists have been to Brixton to see Mohr and they’ve got nothing else from him.’

‘They’ve probably got some scruples, sir,’ said Checkland tartly.

‘Then they should have left them at the prison gates.’ Godfrey turned to glare at him: ‘Yes, he’s been insubordinate and a little unscrupulous but he’s not training for the priesthood here. This intelligence may save thousands of lives.’

He sat back in his chair and looked to Fleming for agreement: ‘Lindsay has a nose for this business. Finally, we’ve got something first-class from a prisoner.’