Heirs And Descendants Collection

14. Topiary-2

“Harry, I need you. Come down immediately, this is no time to sleep.”

There on the table that I had left no more than fifteen minutes ago, was a hollowed-out rectangle plate on which sat an unedifying sandwich of stale-looking, curled edged, brown bread, with something white and green poking through.

“I had forgotten your creature comforts, H. Don"t look so miserable…it won"t harm you. It"s goat"s cheese and gherkins. That was all that was in the fridge, I"m afraid. Promise I"ll buy some provisions tomorrow.” Not even I was that hungry, but I was curious.

“Was there nothing else he said…did he mention Peter, for example?”

I was too tired to argue with her and insist on my need of sleep, hoping for pity, which I knew I would not find, and so I reluctantly retook my position in the, still-warm, chair.

“In a way, yes. He asked who initiated the first contact and who authorised that dead message I left in the church pew. He said it was old school, used by an old friend many moons ago and left to die. When I told him that it was "C" he said that he had never heard of Trimble but laughed it off, saying sometime he would write his memoirs.”

“Look, Harry. I know I"m right.” She picked up from where she had left off previously as I, successfully, managed to ignore the culinary delight, but not the glass of Scotch that sat beside it. “In the sixties we decoded a message sent from Soviet intelligence proving beyond doubt that an agent that we believed was not Russian House, was. It was thought to have been a mistake on their part, someone slipped up on the coding but supposing it was deliberate, and Korovin made it happen?”

was“That"s a big assumption. Why should he, and how did he make it happen?” I asked.

“The why is the easiest to explain. He was overawed by his images of the free world, an English Lord as his father, and a wealthy one. I won"t have it that Maudlin never let on to his lover that he was a peer. He might have used a false name on the birth certificate, but he would have flaunted his status in her seduction, would not have been able to hold himself back. Do you agree?”

why“Yes, seems a reasonable deduction, Judith. Go on.”

“I was going to add that it worked for you the first time with Katherine, seems a shame she gave you the heave-ho the second time around, but I will not be tempted.”

I allowed her to believe that she had me there, as I hid behind our interpretation of the fifth amendment, and added - "no comment" to the debate.

“Right. So there he is, in squalor and chaos, faced with a dying mother. Restrictions on communications are relaxed at the end of the war. Let"s say Andrea is still a looker. There"s no reason why not she"s only 36 in 1946, and one of your lot would have had a discerning eye when it came to women. So, after a while in freezing cold Russia, she wants the warmth of a man. She goes out and gets herself a lover with influence over what can and can"t be sent out of Mother Russia. That"s when young Romario reaches out to Lord M.

Maudlin sends his thoroughbred stallion to the rescue, carrying more money, and this time it gets through, influential postman and all that. Not beyond the realms of possibility, is it?” It was my time for interrupting, as she raised her glass towards me, expecting a reply.

“That money he sent in 1936 never was received in Russia, then. What makes you say that?”

“The agent I was referring to in that decoded message was Kim Philby, of Cambridge notoriety. He got his grubby hands on it. Syphoned it away for a rainy day but never got it before we cottoned on to him. In the Treasury vaults by now, I should think, paying for more wasted lives and buying prestige for this country in some deprived worthless spot on the globe. Anyway, back to my rantings. Romario can"t manage alone, so enlists Tanya"s help in the caring thing for Mummy. Or, maybe she"s his sweetheart? I don"t think that, though otherwise, why let her go? No! The first one"s right, I bet. Whatever. He tells her that, in return, he will help her escape to the benevolent Maudlin. How am I doing…still with me, H?” No recognition in my direction this time, and I had no chance of replying, as she continued in her appraisal.

“He tells his bosses that he"s planted Tanya under our radar. With that, and the money that Maudlin keeps giving him, he buys his way up the tree. As to how he alters that code…I"m not sure, but he knew about the system. That"s obvious. He gave Tanya and Maudlin a pad to work from, christened Tanya, Mother, in honour of his departed one, then plied his comrades with worthless information purportedly from her. If she was really working for them, then that means so was Maudlin, and I don"t believe that there was any person more English in England.

Mother,Maudlin, having dabbed his finger in the elixir of espionage in Ireland, I would think that you"ve heard all that story, thinks he would like to taste the ambrosia again, so runs the now renamed Romario himself using Tanya as his cover. Eventually, Paulo drops the spy tag and resorts to what he knows best. That"s lying on a different stage, one where every player seeks power and self-gratification, that of politics. That"s what that badge represented; a member of the old Politburo. It was his way of telling us that was where he was from. I don"t believe that any of those three were parts of a Russian doll…no way, do I. I"ll tell you that story I was going to now, so sit back and listen, Harry, and see if you can make sense of it.”