Seeing the sudden frown the word triggered, he went on, his tone more emollient. “Look, Joe, I’m not insensitive. It’s clear to me there’s some kind of connection between you and William. A very uneasy connection. If—”

“It’s all right, Kingstone. I can work with him. In fact I much prefer to have him where I can see him. I just wanted you to be aware of what he’s capable of doing.”

“How did he know you were down here, Joe? Did he have this address?”

“No. No one had. The Maybach party were invited to come and introduce themselves from the moment they picked up my bag from Alfred. But they had to get as far as my Chelsea flat to do that. I keep my phone number quiet for reasons you can imagine and when I’m away, my calls get put through to Alfred.”

“So who’s got your Chelsea number, apart from your family?”

Joe was thinking hard. “The Commissioner and James Bacchus. Armiger may have had it from way back when we were working on a fast-moving case down here in Surrey in twenty-six. Would he have kept it over seven years and an ocean?”

Kingstone nodded. “He’s a man who likes to keep records. Like his boss, Hoover. It’s said that J.E.H. has a file on anyone who catches his interest and they’re stored away against future need. Anyone else?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact. In a rush of gratitude and carried away by admiration for a clever and gallant old dame, I pencilled it on the back of one of my Scotland Yard cards and handed it to Hermione Herbert. The Dowser in Chief who saved the dancer’s body from the mud. The card disappeared into the depths of her handbag. The steel clasp clicked and there I’ve no doubt it remains. Safer than the Bank of England. She’ll hardly have been broadcasting the information—she’s so discreet she hardly trusts me, I think!”

“That all?”

“Yes. Armiger knew about the Harley Street place. He could have been keeping a watch on it and just followed the Maybach on the off chance, nicking a Riley from round the corner to do it. Or, he could have lurked near my flat in Chelsea and picked them up there. That’s what I would have done.” He gave a thin smile. “And, after all, I trained the bugger!”

“Either way it shows he’s still at his post,” said Kingstone. “As I said. He’s stayed with me whether you like it or not. Right. He’s still in position—shall we assume that?”

“Wait a minute,” Joe said thoughtfully, still gnawing at the bone. “Why has he stayed with you? Would he deliberately countermand one of their orders? So emphatically as to assassinate their own agent and imperil their hired guns? Men who might well talk if they were taken prisoner? Dangerous procedure, wouldn’t you say?”

Kingstone’s frown deepened. “I’ll say! I agree—a piece of behaviour that takes some accounting for.” He gave Joe a challenging smile. “I see you’re not willing to entertain the notion that the man may simply have acted out of a sense of loyalty to me. Ok, I’m his boss, but I had thought more than that—his companion in arms, his friend. You don’t need to have known someone forever, Joe, to know that you’d protect them with your own life. Why—any villain threatening you or Brutus would have me to reckon with and I’ve known you both for all of two minutes. Is that too sentimental for you?” He finished awkwardly, clearing his throat.

Joe laughed to dissipate the man’s unease. “Sentimental? You’re talking to a man who was reared on the stories of Dumas and Walter Scott! We’re a nation of people who die regularly throwing themselves into rivers to save their spaniels and chasing armed thieves out of jewellers’ shops. But I’m thinking it’s all a lot simpler than unravelling the twisted rope of Armiger’s character. It’s all down to us. We really messed up their plans by rushing off down here.”

“They wouldn’t take kindly to that!”

“They gave Natalia her orders and she obliged with the tools she had to hand. They may not even have consulted Armiger. With no instruction to the contrary, he was simply doing the job he’d been given—watching your back. As far as the Nine Men are concerned, Armiger is still their man. Not in thrall to you. I know you find it hard to do but look at it from their point of view for a moment. He’s upper echelon now, let’s not forget. No longer executive level. Of particular value, or influence, you say. But, by doing his bodyguarding so effectively, he’s fouled up their scheme.”

“They don’t know it was Armiger who pulled the trigger. Even the Surrey police don’t know who did. They’ll assume it was you, Joe. Or even me. They’ll have put Natalia’s death down on our account. William’s slate is still clean! We can use him.”

His eagerness was greeted by a long silence but Kingstone battled on, undimmed. “There, that’s one side accounted for: The Three Men. Are you ready to consider the opposition?”

“Let me show you some ugly mugs and see if they suggest anything,” Joe said. “I’ll get my briefcase. Here we are. Let’s start at the top. With the men you claim are untouchable by the Met’s sticky fingers. Don’t be too sure about that! Bacchus, you see, managed to get these to my desk for me yesterday afternoon. You’ll recognise them.”

He took seven photographs from a file and fanned them out on a footstool.

“Well! What do you know!” Kingstone chortled. “We thought Hoover was on the ball but I guess Special Branch’s filing system takes—what did Lydia say?—the biscuit. You’ve got ’em all! Got names to go with the faces?”

“We could do with a little help with that,” Joe admitted.

Kingstone shuffled through them, whistling with surprise. “These are good shots. Studio quality mostly. How did you get them?”

“Oh, Bacchus knows a bit about files too,” Joe said modestly. “He knows who he wants to cover and he has relations—some friendly, some not so friendly—with newspaper editors who in turn have favours done for them by society photographers and suchlike … Yes, Cornelius—you too! Showing your better side, you’ll be pleased to hear.”

“Here, let me lay these out,” Kingstone offered. “In order of villainy, reading from left to right. Know who this handsome fellow is?”

“Yes. Who doesn’t? That’s P. L. Crispin. Head of a New York bank with branches all over the world, not least in London.”

“Apart from some eastern potentates, possibly, who get themselves weighed in diamonds, he’s the world’s richest man. And the most ruthless. But a respectable family man—he leads a blameless personal life as far as anyone can determine. Though it would still be interesting to read what Hoover has on him. Bases: New York, London, Zurich.

“Second, we have the world’s greatest industrialist. American. Renfrew D. Cornwallis. Fingers in every manufacturing pie you can think of, from war ships to paperclips. At present negotiating a sale of armament to the new Germany.

“Third, I see you have your own English counterpart for Cornwallis, though a lesser counterpart. A Birmingham-based purveyor of pop guns to whoever has the cash.”

“Yes. He’s said to be doing well in the Japanese market. Theodore Pecksniff—you should be ashamed of yourself! Bacchus has got your number! And the address of the eye-catching girl who sings with the band at Ciro’s.” Joe tapped the broad, self-satisfied face angrily with a forefinger and moved on. “Fourth is a US lawyer with international connections. Claims to be a friend of J. Edgar. Can that be right?” he asked.

“If you aren’t able to make that claim, you’re dead or in jail. He’s the guy who introduced me to Armiger. Adolphus Crewe. He’s useful to the group. If you want to circumvent the Law, you have to know its boundaries and the quick ways through them. And it helps to be in tight with the lawmakers.”

“Five.” Joe frowned. “Now this one I can unmask. Benjamin Buchanan. British navy man. Younger son of an English aristocratic family. American mother and retains strong trans-Atlantic connections. Bacchus had trouble identifying him out of uniform. Born wearing epaulettes, we all thought. Never seen without a gold-trimmed peaked cap. We got this one of him in civvies from his old nanny. Retired some years ago and is rarely seen about town. He still thinks like a naval officer of the last century, that is—in terms of world domination. He has scary things to say about the Japanese and the German designs on what he regards as his waters, which is to say any salty stretch between Scapa Flow and the Antarctic. He has plans to deal with them.”