In her right hand Mrs Lloyd was holding a small automatic pistol of indeterminate vintage. She was pointing it at Peregrine’s chest which at close range was a very large target even for a very small gun.

  Chapter Fourteen

  ‘You were right about the Embassy. Hardly anybody there.’ Treasure was sitting at the Astoria manager’s desk. Grinyev, who had just entered, was standing in front of it. The banker drained his coffee cup. ‘It’s been a useful morning, though.’ He looked at the time: it was just after eleven.

  ‘And the exchange connected you to all the numbers you wanted? Here and in London?’

  ‘With remarkable speed. Can’t imagine why people complain about the service.’ Treasure grinned.

  ‘I arranged a certain priority. And other things,’ Grinyev replied somewhat woodenly.

  ‘Like the coffee. Will you have some? There’s plenty in the pot. My wife will be insanely jealous. We never get enough here at breakfast.’

  Grinyev refused the coffee, but sat down. ‘Who did you speak to at the Embassy?’

  ‘Eventually an Assistant Counsellor. A woman. Sounded intelligent. Seemed to be coping single handed. She rang me back a moment ago. It was early, of course.’

  ‘Someone from our Foreign Ministry has also spoken to her. Everything appropriate is being arranged.’

  ‘So she said. Our Foreign Office will handle the search for Frenk’s relatives through the Home Office. That actually means the police in Coventry I should think. They’ll be sending someone to his address there for a start, but I shouldn’t think they’ll be ahead of the chap I’ve sent. My secretary’s contacting the travel agency which isn’t open yet. Oh, and the Embassy is already in touch with your people about a post-mortem with a British doctor present, I mean, if our Government want that before the body’s flown home.’

  ‘They’ll decide that after the weekend. Meantime the body is being properly protected.’ The colonel nodded as though he knew that part already.

  ‘Seems it’s the standard international option in cases like this one. Understandable.’

  ‘Not peculiar to British nationals who meet their deaths in the USSR,’ Grinyev pronounced solemnly.

  ‘Cause of death is pretty obvious, of course. It’s the name of the murderer Frenk’s people will want to know.’

  ‘Which we all want to know, Mr Treasure.’ The colonel gave his nervous half-smile. ‘You’ve been shut in here for a long time. Would you care for a walk around the square? It’s quite warm and fine today.’

  ‘Good idea.’ Treasure pushed back the chair and got up. ‘It’ll also enable the hotel manager to re-possess his office.’

  Grinyev shook his head. ‘This room is yours for as long as you need it. I shall tell the telephonist to hold any calls until we return. You are expecting some soon?’

  ‘Possibly from my secretary. The more important one, from one of my executives, we’ve booked at noon Leningrad time or six this evening, depending on how soon he’s gathered the information I’ve asked for. That should mostly cover the questions you …’

  Grinyev had put a finger to his lips and picked up the telephone. He issued some instructions in Russian, then afterwards he asked: ‘Your wife and the others have gone to the museum?’

  ‘There didn’t seem any point in not doing so. Candy Royce volunteered to stay but I told her not to. You know, it really is quite difficult to decide on the right thing to do. In the circumstances. My wife, and Miss Royce for that matter, they both feel it’s probably disrespectful to go on enjoying a holiday, when one of our number’s been murdered.’

  The two men had emerged from the hotel lobby and into the street before Grinyev replied. He moved quite quickly with short steps, directing Treasure across the road and then between some parked tourist coaches until they were on the road-bound island with the cathedral in the centre. ‘But it’s the British tradition to carry on, I think. Like they were playing cricket in Kent before manning the little boats for Dunkirk. In nineteen-forty.’

  The banker scratched his nose. ‘I suppose so. It’s just that one wonders what Frenk’s people may be expecting us to do. Or not to do. D’you follow? Probably not. You possibly think I’m barmy.’

  ‘If it eases your conscience, I could lock you all up on suspicion.’

  ‘No, please don’t do that. You’ve made me feel much better already. And you’re right. It’s like a spring day in England. And that’s a very powerful building. The golden dome’s magnificent in the sunlight. Must be about the same height as St Paul’s in London.’ He stopped to consider the cathedral structure. ‘We were admiring the four porticos yesterday. There’s a great deal to be said for using the Greek cross principle in church design. Makes for a wonderfully balanced effect.’

  ‘We’ll walk round the outside if you choose. The place suffered a lot in the nine-hundred-day siege, but it’s been well restored. Inside it’s more beautiful.’

  ‘A beautiful museum with an enduring air of sanctity. We were there for a bit yesterday too.’

  ‘Is it then so different from London? For the people who rubber-neck around St Paul’s it’s a museum, surely? Aren’t they also nonbelievers like here?’

  ‘I shouldn’t be drawn on that, but I will. Formal worship goes on all the time at St Paul’s while a good deal of informal worship seemed to be going on in there yesterday. Judging by the expressions of many visitors. I think most were Russian.’

  ‘Elderly peasants over-awed.’

  ‘Well I said a silent prayer.’

  ‘For the conversion of Russia? I hope you did it standing up not kneeling. It’s an offence to obstruct other citizens when you practise religion.’ The colonel smiled, then his expression changed as he continued: ‘So the executive you mentioned. The one who’s telephoning at noon. He’s trained in fact-finding?’

  ‘Yes. Not as a criminal investigator, but to dig for information certainly. It’s his normal job to ferret out critical knowledge of private companies who come to us for loan capital. He’s very good at it, too.’ Treasure went on as though he were justifying something to himself. ‘Curious chap. He’s never been much use at anything else.’

  ‘But you picked him for this morning?’

  ‘Couldn’t think of anyone better at short notice. He was well placed geographically too. He’s totally trustworthy and a big chap who can look after himself. Of course he won’t have all that much time before the official teams get to work.’

  ‘But he knows about the missing painting. They don’t.’

  ‘You’re still sure the two events are connected?’

  The colonel shrugged. ‘I still have the hunch.’

  ‘And that tourists are involved? Incidentally, we had a new guide allocated to us this morning. Met her at breakfast. A younger girl. I hope nothing’s happened to Valya Sinitseva.’

  Grinyev hesitated. ‘Ah, she’s indisposed. But only temporarily. She’ll be back probably for lunch. I expect she’s tired.’

  ‘We were all up pretty late.’

  The colonel solemnly regarded the sculpture high up in the pediment of the eastern portico of the cathedral. It depicted an episode in the life of the obscure St Isaac and involved a great many semi-recumbent people. ‘Mrs Sinitseva and I were up even later. I had to question her,’ he commented almost absently.

  ‘Third-degree stuff?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Were you hard on her?’

  ‘Quite hard.’ Grinyev gave a pained expression. ‘It was necessary. To get at the truth. In her own interests.’ This seemed to be his standard justification for unpleasantness. ‘It’s not an aspect of investigative work I enjoy. Questioning women. Harshly.’

  ‘You could delegate it?’

  ‘Taking the easy way out? It’s also difficult to explain to one’s subordinates the extent … the limit to the firmness required.’

  ‘Sounds as if Valya’s in trouble. Or was. You haven’t arrested her? Temporarily?’ Grinyev scowled. ‘Soviet citizens who indulge too evidently in blat are open to suspicion of more serious misdemeanour.’

  ‘What’s blat?’

  ‘I’m sorry. It means unfairly to use the influences at your disposal to get what you need. Valya Sinitseva belongs to Intourist. Her husband is well placed in the academic world. They can apply a great deal of influence for their own ends.’

  ‘Through what in England we’d call the old boy network? Or is it something more sinister? I mean how does blat work?’

  ‘It works so that by doing favours you get favours repaid by others. Thanks to your position. So you may have better clothes. Get a car without waiting. A little dacha for the weekends. Theatre tickets when you want. Superior vacation arrangements. Foods out of season. Such things can be organised through reciprocal favouring.’

  Treasure pouted. ‘So blat makes for easier living but doesn’t need to involve corruption or bribery? I can see Valya and her husband might be in positions to give and receive favours …’

  ‘The dividing line is very slim, Mr Treasure,’ the colonel had interrupted quite hotly. ‘Over-indulgence in comfortable living by people of limited income but good position. It invites investigation. Also it invites the proposition they may be getting greedy. And greed leads from blat to straight corruption.’

  ‘And that’s what you feel may have happened with Valya and her husband?’

  ‘I didn’t say so.’ The other folded his arms in front of him as he walked. ‘One must always be vigilant. Of oneself as well as others, of course. For instance, the manager of a refrigerator factory may be especially grateful that the professor gives extra tuition to his son.’

  ‘So he provides the professor with a cheap refrigerator?’

  ‘Also ahead of the queue. Precisely, Mr Treasure. But what if the professor later asks for several refrigerators? One as a favour for the dress shop manager who is providing his wife with first choice of fashionable clothes. One for the mechanic who is mending his car on Sunday morning with parts removed from the factory stores. Another for the civil servant who can hurry the allocation of building materials for the extension to the professor’s dacha.’ Grinyev shrugged. ‘Then it can mean the professor is forced to give away not only tuition, but also high marks in the examination to the factory manager’s son. And the sons of others who can provide reciprocal favours. It has happened. And worse.’

  ‘Valya’s husband is an assistant professor.’

  ‘I used a professor only to illustrate.’

  ‘And presumably Valya can offer quite as many favours as her husband? Through her job?’

  ‘Through Intourist. Many commercial favours. And more. Because of her sex. She is quite attractive. Haven’t you noticed?’ The colonel scowled, indicating he had certainly noticed. ‘It seems her husband also is attractive. To women.’

  ‘You mean they have affairs?’

  ‘From time to time. He is having one at the moment with a dull woman in the Foreign Ministry. Possibly with his wife’s knowledge.’

  ‘The woman’s lack of attraction suggesting she is providing er … blat to compensate?’

  Grinyev smiled. ‘Also possible. In addition it’s suggested Valya’s been giving sexual favours to influential men tourists, perhaps for hard currency or for helping her with a project. She especially asked to be allocated to your Baroque Circle group this week. If the Sinitsevis have been involved in the theft of the painting, and the stabbing of Frenk, one can see a sinister thread of logic in what they’ve both been doing.’

  ‘You mentioned help over a project.’

  ‘They’re … pulling strings to be posted to a cruise ship this summer. As lecturers. Together. It’s a cruise ship that calls at Western ports.’

  ‘You think they could be planning to er … leave Russia?’

  ‘The people involved in the theft would have large sums of money waiting for them abroad. So large it would be impossible to bring to Russia or to use here without raising heavy suspicion.’

  ‘They both speak fluent English and both could presumably find satisfactory work abroad.’ Treasure sniffed. ‘But you have no evidence against them except circumstantial stuff? Valya asking to look after our group, which you can only surmise is tied in with the theft.’

  ‘And Valya being at the opera last night when Frenk was murdered.’

  ‘Understandable since there was a spare ticket left over for the group.’

  ‘Except there wasn’t, Mr Treasure. An extra ticket was obtained through blat. Also Valya Sinitseva doesn’t much care for opera. Not as much as her husband, although she claims the opposite. She most likely got the ticket for him, but he couldn’t go because he was meeting his lady friend. So Mrs Sinitseva goes herself. I am now close to believing she did so out of pique. It was important to find out whether there was a different reason. Why she didn’t sell the ticket to someone else. Why it might have been necessary for her or her husband to have been there in person. I had to delve for this. The process was distasteful. You would like to sit to admire the view?’ Abruptly the speaker had changed the subject, while pointing at an empty park bench.

  They were now abreast of the northern end of the cathedral in a part of the precinct that was nearly empty of people.

  ‘So you haven’t arrested her?’ Treasure sat.

  ‘As you say, because there is no firm evidence.’ The KGB man gave the banker a sidelong glance before he also sat and continued. ‘And while it is possible to hold people on suspicion in this country, as it is in yours, sometimes it’s better to allow them rope.’

  Treasure frowned. ‘Why are you telling me all this, Colonel?’

  ‘Because I trust you, and because we have our agreement. Has Mrs Sinitseva made advances of any kind to you?’

  ‘Good lord no. Not that there’s been much opportunity for sexual dalliance. I don’t believe we’ve ever been alone together. D’you think she’s been at it with the other chaps?’

  Grinyev was studying his shoes. ‘In your case I wouldn’t have expected sexual advances, Mr Treasure. She wouldn’t have been so stupid. Has she once mentioned money to you? How money is handled in Britain perhaps? How it is transferred between countries? You’re a banker.’

  ‘No, money hasn’t cropped up at all. But what do you mean “in my case”? Are you trying to give me an inferiority complex?’

  ‘It was meant as a compliment to your intelligence. She has certainly made an opportunity to be alone with the bachelor Mr Tate. And according to his passport, Mr Tate is in Cairo quite frequently. Stolen pictures are often disposed of there.’

  ‘Hm. He has an excellent reason for being in Cairo. And I don’t think there’s any future in Tate as a criminal. In any context. And I don’t believe he’s crazy, about women either. Nigel Dirving’s the ladies’ man. Also Jeremy Wander when his wife’s not looking. Neither fits as a thief or a murderer.’ He invented the last comment to protect the two men, and without stopping to consider whether he wholly believed it.

  ‘Why does Miss Amelia Harwick visit men’s rooms in the early morning?’ Grinyev enquired quietly.

  ‘Because she’s lost I should think. Whose room?’

  ‘Frenk’s.’

  ‘You mean Dirving’s? They shared. When was this? After Frenk’s death?’

  Grinyev paused. ‘At seven o’clock this morning.’

  ‘She was probably on her way to the bath. She shares a room with her employer, Mrs Vauxley, who apparently occupies their bathroom for hours on end and doesn’t let Miss Harwick in. My wife got that from Candy Royce. There’s a communal bathroom down the corridor. And a loo next door. Miss Harwick uses that. That’d be the reason for her being in the corridor.’

  ‘Her excuse for being there. She went into Mr Dirving’s room and stayed half an hour. She did not go to the communal bathroom.’

  ‘Well bully for Amelia.’

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘Nothing. It’s just … Well, never mind.’

  ‘In consequence Mr Dirving’s room was searched again later this morning. Also Miss Harwick’s.’

  ‘That won’t please Mrs Vauxley.’

  ‘There’s no reason she should know. They found nothing.’ The colonel sighed. ‘Canon Emdon also uses the communal facilities.’

  ‘His lavatory doesn’t work.’

  ‘So he told one of my officers after breakfast. He was very frightened.’

  ‘I’m not surprised. Being interviewed by one of your officers could be a very frightening experience for someone who leads a sheltered sort of life. Why was he questioned?’

  ‘Routine. He’s in the corridor too often. We asked why.’

  ‘I should have thought that was obvious. He’s getting on. But you didn’t question Miss Harwick. Is the subject of lavatory visits too delicate for your officers to discuss with ladies?’

  ‘I am interested to know how much pressure has to be applied to the frightened Canon Emdon before he demands to see his consul.’

  Treasure traced a finger across his forehead. ‘There’s an American Consul in Leningrad? I didn’t know that.’

  ‘Canon Emdon does. But he has no inclination to call on his services. Strange.’ Grinyev’s gaze had strayed to the sculpture enclosed in the northern pediment. It was a scene of Christ’s Resurrection by Lemaire. ‘Just as well, perhaps. I’m afraid the American Consul’s away. For Easter.’

  Chapter Fifteen

  ‘I’ve had to complain about my ba … throom again,’ Canon Emdon said loudly as he and Treasure handed their room keys to the floor concierge in exchange for their hotel cards.

  It was after lunch and the party was due to assemble in the main lobby of the hotel ready to board the coach for Pushkin. The canon’s pointed remark had been intended more for the blonde concierge than for the banker. It also explained why the cleric had come hurrying back along the corridor from a region beyond his own room—chin sunk into neck like a threatened tortoise, his expression alternating between dismay and mystification. He was well wrapped up, despite the mildness of the day, and carrying the small black handbag he sometimes took with him on excursions.

 

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