Mr. Rodgers said he’d received a call from Wendy Dunn, and she had told him that she’d passed on the contact numbers of two other employees.
“She was very helpful, and we also really appreciate you giving us some time today,” Langton said pleasantly.
“Do you want to look over the warehouse?”
“That would be good, yes, thank you. I believe Mr. Smiley is here, isn’t he?”
“He’s not, actually; he had a big delivery yesterday to Glasgow, so he’s got the day off today. Do you want me to get him in?”
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
At that moment, the elderly secretary tapped and asked if Langton and his assistant would like a cup of coffee. They refused, with Anna less than happy at being referred to in such a way.
While Langton was talking to Mr. Rodgers, it gave Anna the opportunity to have a good look around the small office. It didn’t appear that busy, and the phone had not rung once while they had been there. As the two men set off on a tour of the workshops, Anna asked them to wait.
“I’d be grateful if you didn’t call Mr. Smiley and inform him that we are here,” she said politely. “It’s an informal meeting, Mr. Rodgers, and we’d like to keep it that way, okay?”
“Yes, of course.”
“And we’d also like the details of Mr. Smiley’s deliveries to Glasgow yesterday.”
“Yes, of course,” the flustered man repeated.
“Thank you.”
The warehouse had two sections. One was for the cutting of the wooden blinds, which were stacked in rows of shelves in order of size. There was a separate area with coils of the cord used for threading them through. Three men were working on the long table with circular saws of various sizes.
The paint spraying took place in the second section, where one man was working in overalls with a face mask. He was spraying and laminating wood, and there were many slats left to dry.
“This is it,” Mr. Rodgers said.
“Does Smiley work in the warehouse when he’s not making deliveries?”
“No, he’s transport. He works alongside Rita in the office when he’s not delivering. We have to have the exact measurements, and he also handles all that — sometimes goes out to measure a property before they submit the orders. We’re very small, even smaller than we were, but we’re managing to keep our heads above water. He’s a trusted employee, you know,” Rodgers went on. “A hard worker and respected by everyone in the company.”
Anna and Langton left Swell Blinds shortly afterward, as there seemed little more useful information to be gleaned. Langton had collected a mass of leaflets and was checking out the prices. “Expensive,” he observed.
“Thinking of ordering some, are you?”
Langton laughed and stuffed the leaflets into the glove compartment. “Wouldn’t be my decision,” he said.
Anna said nothing. She found it rather a sexist remark, implying that he left any home decor responsibilities to his wife. He never talked about her or his children, preferring to keep his personal life private. In fact, Anna wasn’t even sure if he had remarried. She knew he had a stepdaughter called Kitty and a baby son, but it had been such a long time since he had mentioned the boy that she couldn’t recall his name. It was strange, because although they had been virtually closeted together for almost two days, she felt more distant from him than ever. It was further confirmation to Anna that whatever had gone on between them was no longer an issue, and more and more, she was starting to see him in a different light. It wasn’t that she didn’t like or respect him; it was the age gap — something she had never considered. Beside Ken, he had appeared so much older, which he was, and she realized how little, apart from work, they had in common.
“Your son is called Tommy, isn’t he?” she remembered.
Langton grunted in agreement but seemed disinclined to discuss it further. She tried again. “You must have little time to spare for the family.”
“Time enough. Is this SatNav thing working?” He messed the screen.
“Yes, should be there in two minutes. It’s 12 Buxton Avenue.”
Smiley’s house was only a few miles from the warehouse. The area was not that upmarket, with a lot of big council estates. They then branched off to a middle-class enclave of small semi-detached properties that looked almost identical but were better maintained.
Langton and Anna walked up the neat drive, noticing that the small square of grass looked freshly mow.
“We keep it very low-key,” Langton murmured as he rang the doorbell. Smiley answered and looked taken aback to see them both.
“Just need to straighten out a few things, Mr. Smiley, as we were in the area. You mind if we come in?”
“No, come on through.”
They followed him down a small narrow hallway, and he ushered them into his sitting room.
“Is your wife here?”
“She’s in the kitchen.”
Smiley gestured for them both to sit in the well-furnished room. The sofa was still covered in plastic.
“Sorry about that. It’s to keep the kids’ dirty feet off of it,” he explained, and tried to remove it, but Langton said not to bother. He settled himself in an easy chair while Anna perched on the arm of the sofa. Langton asked a few questions about the deliveries, and then he opened his notebook.
“Tell me, John, do you ever use that back lane behind the truckers’ stop at the London Gateway?”
“No, didn’t even know there was one.”
“I’d like to go over a few things about the two occasions we have your van on CCTV. Basically, if you can recall anything unusual, whether you noticed any of the trucks as being regulars... that kind of thing.”
“I gave all the details that I could remember at the station. I only stopped off for such a short time, you see, and never really paid much attention to any of the other vehicles,” Smiley repeated.
Langton took out Margaret Potts’s photograph. “You were shown this before, John, but I just want you to take another look, to make sure... Ever see this woman, John?”
Smiley took the photograph and again said he did not recall ever seeing her, unless she was up by the back lane they had described. If she was, he wouldn’t have taken much notice of her.
Too much information, Anna thought.
“Now, these two girls... The coincidence is they are both Polish, and I believe your wife is also Polish?”
“She is, yes, but I’ve never seen those two girls before. Like I said when I was at the station, if they were hitching a ride, I wouldn’t have stopped. I’ve never given anyone thumbing a ride the time of day.”
Anna watched John Smiley closely. Yet again he did not appear to be in any way distressed by their questions. He was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans with brown suede boots. He was, she thought, as she had before, quite a good-looking, fit man. The combover was offputting, but he was attractive in a macho way. He was also very clean, as was clear from the condition of his nails and his hands. The room had a similar feel to Ken Hudson’s parents’ but was not as cozy. For a man with two children, there were no toys or children’s belongings anywhere.
“I’d like to meet your wife,” Langton said.
For the first time, Smiley was ill at ease. “I’ve not mentioned anything about this to her,” he said. “I don’t want her getting upset. You know, with your coming here, it looks suspicious, and even though I’ve got no worries, I don’t want her to think I’ve done anything wrong.”
“It’s just routine, and we’ll make sure she’s not worried. You’ve been very helpful, and I really appreciate your time.”