“No comment.”
“Mr. Dillane also provided us with details of you paying him seven hundred pounds for his van, which he had previously used when working as a security guard and dog handler. You failed to reregister this vehicle with a change of ownership and new address so you could use it to commit your crimes. These will be added charges brought against you, as we have details of the garage where this van was parked; it was rented out to you and nobody else. Do you admit to that?”
“No comment.”
Mike sighed and continued. “We have removed from this same garage in Manchester a security officer’s uniform, a cap, and a jacket.”
Anna passed over the photographs of the items, and Smiley merely glanced at them. He also paid scant attention when Mike showed him the cash and detailed the amount found.
“Do you have anything to say about these items?”
“No, I don’t.”
“We have also found numerous dog hairs inside this van that are being tested to see if they match dog hairs taken from a blue blanket that at some time was used for Mr. Dillane’s guard dog to lie on. We will come to the importance of this later.” Smiley simply nodded. His lawyer was scribbling notes as Mike talked. Anna had not said one word.
“We are aware that the victim, Miss Margaret Potts, came into a considerable amount of money over a period of two years. We believe that you paid her this money because she was blackmailing you. Do you have any comment to make about that?”
“No, I don’t.”
“We have had access to your bank accounts and find no withdrawals of money to pay Mr. Dillane for his van. Where did this money come from?”
“No comment.”
Mike was becoming frustrated. Smiley’s reactions were getting to him. They needed to elicit a proper response from him, so Anna tapped Mike’s knee beneath the table. He sat back, giving her the cue to begin talking. She kept her voice low and persuasive.
“Maggie Potts was a common slut, but you found her attractive, didn’t you? What did she do, John? Did she come on to you in Emerald Turk’s flat and you just couldn’t resist her? She may have been a tough nut, but she was still more attractive than your wife, wasn’t she? Sonja’s overweight, her looks have gone, and she was barely giving you enough pocket money. Why was that? Because she knew you couldn’t keep your dick in your trousers?”
Smiley’s lips tightened.
“Margaret was still sexy compared to Sonja, and she knew how to handle a man and give him pleasure. She went down on you, didn’t she? I bet Sonja hasn’t given you any pleasure for a long time. Like a beached whale, isn’t she?”
“You got no right to slag off my wife,” Smiley said with gritted teeth.
“But if she was to find out that you’d been screwing a whore and paying for it, she’d have done what, John? Cut off your pocket money — or cut off your balls? We know she didn’t have any idea how much cash you were earning on the side in your dodgy deals. You never thought she’d find out, but then Margaret got greedy, didn’t she?”
Smiley was beginning to fidget, constantly straightening his tie with the flat of his hand.
“She kept on hitting you for more cash, and you kept on letting her give you blow jobs when you met up with her at the service stations. You hated yourself, didn’t you, but you couldn’t keep your hands off her — isn’t that right?”
“No.”
“No what? No you couldn’t keep your hands off her, or no you didn’t screw her round the back of the service stations? And all the while she was asking for extra payments, threatening to tell your wife about the love affair. Was that what it was, John? You’d fallen for a hardened tart that Sonja would go apeshit about; she’d maybe smell her on you when you got home.”
“No.”
Anna knew that so far, the biggest response was when she had been rude about Sonja, just as Langton had suggested, so she went for that again.
“You get home after a long drive, and there is this overweight, ugly woman demanding to know where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing. You must have been itching to tell her to her big fat face.”
“You shut up talking about my wife.”
“But you carry around a picture of her, young and pretty. You didn’t know back then she’d been fucked by half the blokes in your regiment.”
“That is a disgusting lie.” He tried to stand.
“Sit down, Mr. Smiley,” Mike said sharply.
“It is not a lie. Sonja put it about, and then she got her claws into you, and you thought you had a catch — but she was no better than Margaret Potts, was she?”
“Sonja is my wife and the mother of my children.”
“So that was why she ate herself into the state she’s in. She’s obese, Mr. Smiley, she pants for breath just going up the stairs. Why don’t you carry that picture in your wallet instead of the fantasy that she’s still that girl you married? You must hate her.”
“No, I don’t.”
“How do you think she’s going to feel about all this? We will have to question her, and we will obviously bring up your relationship with Margaret Potts.”
“Sonja has nothing to do with any of this.”
“Any of this? You are accused of murder, Mr. Smiley! Of course we will have to question her — she could be involved. She must have known about your predilection for young girls, young Polish girls, maybe girls that reminded you of what Sonja used to look like. I doubt if she will understand about Margaret, but she will have to be told, and as you decline to assist us in any way, then we will have to try and get answers from her.”
“No. I don’t want Sonja brought into this. I’ve agreed to answer your questions and—”
He was interrupted by Mike leaning forward and saying, “You have not answered a single question, Mr. Smiley, to the contrary, and if this continues, you leave us no option but to bring in your wife.”
“I don’t want her brought here.”
“Really? Well, if you are not prepared to cooperate—”
“She is not to be involved.”
“I don’t think you will have any say in the matter.”
At this point Gregson leaned toward Smiley and held up his notebook in front of their faces. Anna could hear him telling Smiley that they were trying to goad him into answering their questions and, as they had discussed, he felt it wise that Smiley continue to remain calm and not allow himself to be antagonized.
Mike was clearly fighting to keep control of his own temper as he looked at Gregson and said scornfully, “You think that is what we’re doing? Mr. Gregson, your client may be charged with four murders. If you think I am being antagonistic toward Mr. Smiley, then I suggest you advise him to cooperate and to drop the ‘no comment’ routine.”
“I am here to advise my client, and being abusive toward his wife to get him to answer questions that implicate him is unacceptable,” began Gregson.
“Implicate?” Anna queried. “Mr. Gregson, we have a mass of evidence implicating your client, starting with the murder of Margaret Potts. Your client has lied to us, and we are able to prove that.”
“If you’ll excuse me, Detective Travis, I do not believe that you do have the evidence. You have no proof that my client was being blackmailed by Margaret Potts, and therefore you have no motive for murder.”
Anna stood up. Mike remained sitting as she reached over to gather up the photographs, snatching at them in a show of temper. “I will now arrange to have Mrs. Smiley brought here for questioning. Surely you don’t think for a second that she isn’t suspicious as to why her husband has been arrested?” She glared at John Smiley. “Whatever excuse you’ve made up is going to sound ridiculous when she must have seen the evidence removed from your house. The officers are still there, Mr. Smiley, still checking for further evidence. Don’t you think she’s going to realize that your arrest is not for some petty crime? Unless, of course, your wife was fully aware of your sexual antics with a prostitute and could be charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.”