Майкл Ридпат - Launch Code

By ‘everyone’ he had meant Brooke, who had taken some persuading to leave the hotel and her husband in Hunstanton and drive over to Thurstead in their hired car. But Alice had eventually coaxed her.

‘I thought there were four of you?’ the admiral said to Alice.

‘Maya’s not here,’ Alice replied. ‘She had to go back to work. She’s a flight attendant.’

‘She’s in New York,’ Megan said. ‘But you’ve got the rest of us.’

Toby fetched drinks: white wine for Megan, tomato juice for Brooke and Alice and a half pint of bitter for him. When he returned to the table, the admiral was conducting a stilted conversation with Alice about how pretty Norfolk was. But as soon as Toby set the drinks down, the admiral got down to business.

‘Thanks for coming, and for not telling your father.’ Alice had told Bill they were driving to Hunstanton to see Brooke and Justin. Not a bad little lie since it plausibly explained why Bill was left out of it. There was even a chance that Bill had believed it.

‘I shouldn’t be here,’ the admiral went on. ‘I’m speaking to you informally, as a private citizen. And mostly as your father’s friend.’

‘OK,’ said Alice.

‘You know I was the executive officer on the Alexander Hamilton’s last patrol, and you may know that after that I spent many years in naval intelligence, which is how I have contacts with the British security services. I may have retired, but I still take very seriously my obligation to keep what happened on that last patrol secret.’

‘We understand,’ said Alice, slipping into her natural role as speaker for the sisters.

‘I believe all of you know what that was. Your mother told you before she died, and then Sam Bowen confirmed it, right?’

‘That’s right,’ said Alice. The others around the table all nodded.

‘OK. That should never have gotten out, but it’s too late now, and at least it makes it easier for you to understand what’s going on.’

‘Which is what, exactly?’ Toby asked.

‘Is the name Pat Greenwald familiar to you?’

Toby glanced at Alice before replying. ‘Yes.’

The admiral raised his eyebrows. Megan nodded. Alice stared at Toby.

And Brooke shook her head. ‘Who’s she?’

‘Bill told us a little bit about her,’ said Toby to the admiral. ‘All of us but Brooke.’

‘OK. And how much do you know about her?’

Toby turned to Alice with his eyebrows raised. He had promised not to pass on her suspicions to the admiral, but this was just confirming what the admiral already knew.

She gave Toby a tiny nod.

‘We know she was a peace activist,’ Toby replied. ‘We know the FBI thought she was a KGB agent. And we know Bill and Lars spoke to her. About the near-launch.’

‘OK.’ The admiral leaned forward, pulling his thick dark eyebrows together. ‘What I am going to say now is off the record. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I kind of feel I owe it to you. And to Bill.’

He sipped his Coke. ‘What Bill did on the submarine was very brave. At the time, I was all for locking him up and launching the missiles, as was the captain. Fortunately, we were unable to do that, which is why we are all alive today. You guys wouldn’t even have been born.

‘I owe Bill everything. We all do. You should be proud of your father.’

‘We are,’ said Alice, flatly.

‘The problem is...’ The admiral hesitated, looking around the table. He took the plunge. ‘The problem is that I am pretty sure that your father killed Sam Bowen. And I think he may well have shot Lars da Silva as well.’

Alice and Megan said nothing. Brooke recoiled and checked her sisters’ reaction, waiting for a protest that never came. ‘That’s crazy,’ she said at last.

‘I’m sorry. I don’t think it is.’

‘Alice, tell him that’s crazy.’

Alice sighed. ‘I think he’s right, Brooke. I think Dad did kill Sam Bowen.’

‘No!’ Brooke exclaimed.

‘I’m not so sure,’ said Megan.

‘We were discussing it this afternoon when you called,’ said Toby. ‘But why do you think he did it?’

‘Because he gave secrets to the Russians thirty-five years ago. And because Sam Bowen was on the brink of discovering it.’

‘You knew he spoke to the Russians all along?’ said Toby, remembering Bill’s description of his conversation with the XO, as he then was, at the fort in Groton.

‘I had a pretty good guess that he had. I chose to ignore it.’

‘Do the police know?’

‘No. And neither do MI5, or the FBI. Yet. Just me. And you.’

They sat in silence for a few moments, letting this thought sink in. ‘OK,’ said Toby. ‘Are you going to tell them?’

‘That’s why I wanted to speak with you.’ The admiral’s dark eyes bored into each of them. ‘I don’t intend to tell them. And I suggest that you don’t either.’ He raised his eyebrows in a question.

‘OK,’ said Alice.

Megan nodded.

Brooke looked at her two sisters and then nodded also. ‘As long as someone tells me what the hell Dad has done.’

‘I will,’ said Alice.

‘Toby?’

Toby didn’t know what to do. He was being asked to join a conspiracy to protect a traitor and a murderer. But he was being asked by his wife and by a retired admiral. Was it really up to him to spoil everything?

What were the consequences? Bill would go to jail, probably for the rest of his life. That would be... unfortunate, after what he had done to keep the human race alive, but it was justice.

He would lose the Guth family. Somehow, the stress of the previous few days had made him feel closer to them. Toby needed to be part of a family, a proper family. Losing them would hurt.

And his wife would never speak to him again. That would more than hurt; that would be unbearable.

‘Don’t you think we should speak to Bill about it?’ said Toby.

‘We discussed this,’ said Alice. ‘You said we shouldn’t. And you were right.’

‘But maybe Admiral Robinson could?’

The admiral nodded. ‘I’ve been thinking that. I’ll try to persuade him to give himself up. Who knows? He may convince me that he didn’t kill the historian, but I think that’s unlikely. In the meantime, I want you to keep quiet about the near-launch and Pat Greenwald and any suspicions you may have that Bill killed anyone. That’s important if it is the police who are asking, or MI5, or even if it’s me in my official capacity. Will you agree to that?’

The three women nodded.

And so, in the end, did Toby.

It was dark by the time they drove back to Barnholt. Alice went in Brooke’s car to explain to her what she could about their father, and Toby drove Megan.

‘Having fun, Toby?’ Megan said, as they pulled out of the pub car park.

‘No.’

‘Me neither.’

Toby didn’t say anything.

‘I guess my father really is a murderer after all,’ Megan said.

Toby glanced at her. He could barely make out her face, but she seemed close to tears. And who could blame her?

‘I guess so.’

‘But I thought he was a good man. A great man.’

‘He was,’ said Toby. ‘He is. Whatever he has done can’t take away from what he did on that submarine thirty-five years ago.’

‘Can’t it? I get that he’s in trouble, but killing people is not the answer. And only yesterday he tried to shoot you!’

‘Yes.’ Toby shuddered. ‘Yes, he did.’

‘And now we are happily driving back to the house. With a murderer inside it. Do you think he’ll try and kill one of us?’

‘No,’ said Toby, trying to sound as confident as he could. ‘No. As long as we all keep quiet and don’t let on we suspect him.’