Brian Freemantle: Madrigal for Charlie Muffin

‘ Are you sure?’

‘ Not until it’s happened.’

‘ I’ll be here at the embassy.’

‘ I’ll call you as soon as it’s confirmed as genuine.’

The break appeared the same as before, but this time there was no dialling tone because the call was incoming.

‘ I’m glad I caught you.’

‘ Yes, ambassador?’

‘ The man who called me about the meeting in Harry’s Bar… he’s been on again. He says the hand-over time has been changed to eight o’clock.’

‘ I can’t contact the insurance man: I don’t know where he is. All he said was something about Milan and an autostrada.’

‘ I’d like you to go there.’

‘ Yes,’ said Walsingham’s voice.

‘Mrs Walsingham,’ said Wilson. ‘What did you do after I challenged you about the Communist party membership?’

She looked up from her handkerchief. ‘Recorded all the telephone conversations, of course. I told you, Henry graduated at electronic eavesdropping. He was very good.’ She started to cry again.

It was a celebration and so there had been champagne – French because of Berenkov’s preference. Valentina was already slightly drunk, giggling too eagerly at things that weren’t really funny. Kalenin and Berenkov were tipsy too, laughing with her.

Berenkov raised his glass, spilling some wine as he did so and going through an exaggerated performance of mopping it up with his napkin before continuing. ‘A toast,’ he declared. ‘To General Valery Ivanovich Kalenin, a member of the Politburo of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.’

‘Not yet,’ said Kalenin.

‘Not long to wait,’ said Berenkov. ‘Only until tomorrow.’

‘Yes,’ agreed Kalenin, suddenly sobered by the realization. ‘Only until tomorrow.’

It was quiet in the basement after the removal of Charlie Muffin and Walsingham’s wife. Billington sat in the concentrated pool of light, all the bombast and protest gone.

‘How long?’ demanded Wilson. The director was aware of how close they had come to making a mistake and the anger he felt towards himself was discernible in his voice.

Billington didn’t respond immediately, remaining with his head lolled forward against his chest.

‘I said, how long!’

The ambassador stirred and looked about him, like someone awakening from a deep sleep. He blinked at Wilson. ‘So very long,’ he said distantly.

‘I want to know precisely.’

‘Years,’ said Billington. He made an effort, straightening in his chair. ‘I didn’t want to,’ he said, his voice stronger. ‘Not ideological… nothing like that.’

‘Why then?’

‘Difficult now to remember what he even looked like, clearly. I’ve tried, really tried! Isn’t that ridiculous?’

‘Who?’ prompted Wilson. He was controlled now, cajoling, knowing that it would come out at Billington’s pace, with only the need to prompt occasionally.

‘Didn’t you ever have a special friend, when you were at school? Get drawn to a particular person?’

‘No.’ The story was sadly familiar.

‘It wasn’t serious… I mean, I didn’t continue it. Not like that at all: it’s just something that happens. Part of growing up.’

Wilson made a note to check if the other man had succumbed to similar pressure.

‘How long after you left university?’ said Naire-Hamilton.

‘Several years,’ said Billington. ‘I was Third Secretary in Washington. I’d passed everything by then: knew it was all going to be wonder-ful. Everything was going to be wonderful. Engaged to Norah: the wedding was already planned… royalty came, you know…’

‘What happened in Washington?’ said Wilson.

‘He was a polite man. Good English. At first I thought he was an American from the State Department. Approached me at a reception and began talking about Oxford. Said he’d been there. Rang me afterwards and suggested lunch, and so we met. And then he showed me a picture…’ He looked up at the intelligence chief, his eyes flooded. ‘I didn’t know it had been taken. There’d been a Finals party, with a lot to drink. We were saying goodbye to each other; isn’t that ironic! That was when it ended. The last time.’

‘What did he say, this man in Washington?’ said Naire-Hamilton.

‘He talked of my career and the marriage. Said how quickly it would all be over, if there were any exposure. Didn’t ask for much; he could have got it from a reference book, in the library, if he’d waited for the annual list. Just the details of the trade figures. Not even classified.’

‘You gave them to him?’

Billington nodded. ‘The next time it was for something a little more important, some papers on a warplane the Americans were thinking of buying from us. And then details of the aircraft itself, because it had just been shown at Farnborough and was new, some of the equipment still secret.’

‘Didn’t you protest?’

‘Of course,’ said Billington. ‘And then they showed me more pictures. Not of Oxford this time. In Washington, with me meeting the man who’d first approached me, exchanging the first package. He’d gone back to Moscow by then. A known Russian agent, they said: how would that look, with the other photograph?’

‘So you went on handing over things that were more and more important?’ said Wilson.

‘But I had to, don’t you see! If I hadn’t I’d have been disgraced

… the family would have been disgraced. We’ve got one of the finest names in the diplomatic service!’

With a sense of rising disgust, Wilson wondered how long it had taken Billington to lobotomize himself against the guilt. ‘What about the assassinations?’ he said.

‘I didn’t want that,’ said Billington urgently. ‘I warned them of the danger…’ He hesitated at the sudden stiffness in the director’s face. Haltingly he added, ‘I was told it was a policy decision: that I had to do it.’

‘How many did you identify?’ Wilson had to guard against the possibility that the Russians had suspended the killings, when they realized Rome had been uncovered, intending to resume them later.

‘Three,’ said Billington. ‘New Delhi, Ankara and Bangkok.’

The recollections came abruptly, frigid pictures of calm-faced men with their chests torn apart. ‘What about the robbery?’ Wilson said.

‘Had to do somuch,’ said Billington petulantly. ‘Not just the alarms and the combinations. Had to threaten with-drawal of the policy from Willoughby, unless the check was made. By then they’d discovered what the man Muffin did for him: claimed his involvement would create added con-fusion. They were very excited when it worked. Said the coincidence of his being in America at the same time as Walsingham made it perfect.’

‘Who told them about Walsingham?’

‘I didn’t want to,’ said Billington defensively. ‘They knew about the business in Australia: insisted it was ideal when I found it wasn’t on his record.’

‘Haven’t we heard enough?’ said Naire-Hamilton, as disgusted as the director. ‘Others can take over.’

Before Wilson could reply, the ambassador continued, ‘You will help me, won’t you? Now that you know I didn’t have any choice. I’ll resign, of course. But I don’t want a scandal. There’s the family to think of. Norah, too.’

‘I know just how I’m going to treat you,’ promised Wilson. ‘It will be brilliant if it works,’ said the Permanent Under Secretary.

‘I’m going to make it work,’ said Wilson vehemently. ‘It isn’t possible to recover the situation but I want to undo as much of the damage as I can.’

‘I’m sorry I tried to hurry things,’ said Naire-Hamilton.

‘We got it right in the end, thank God.’