‘I don’t believe you. You’re a civilian, they wouldn’t involve you in something like that.’
The Scot smiled wryly. ‘Miles, if you saw the file on me that’s probably lying in Sir Evelyn Grey’s safe, you would realise very quickly that your assumption is way off the mark. You’ve been listening to the Quo for the last week, for Rudy Sewell’s enlightenment rather than yours. . I’m sure you’ve noticed that the music’s stopped, by the way. . but are you familiar with Dire Straits? To misquote their finest hour, this is a private investigation, not a public inquiry.’
Suddenly the big detective’s eyes were as hard as flint, and as cold as liquid oxygen. ‘We’re going to do this the traditional way, like we did when you were arrested in Edinburgh, with you, me and Neil McIlhenney. This time DI Shannon’s the good cop instead of Neil, but I’m still the bad cop, the very bad cop, as always. I’m going to shut up now, and let my colleague ask the questions. I don’t want to have to open my mouth for the rest of this interview, otherwise I’ll get annoyed. In case you thought I was an easy touch the last time, I was pretty tired then, plus I’d just killed a couple of people: associates of yours, in fact.’
Shannon sat motionless beside him, her face set. While they were waiting downstairs for Hassett to be made ready for them, Skinner had briefed her fully on what had happened at St Andrews. . or almost fully.
‘Mr Hassett,’ she began, ‘when you were under interrogation in Edinburgh you gave an account of your involvement in the incident at St Salvator’s Hall. You said that the plotters were Rudolph Sewell, of the Security Service, popularly known as MI5, a military intelligence officer, now dead, an MI6 agent, Petrit Bassam Kastrati, also known as Peter Bassam, now also deceased, and yourself. You admitted that your purpose was to change the line of succession to the throne by removing a member of the Royal Family. Do you agree with that summary?’
‘Yes,’ Hassett replied cautiously.
‘What can you tell us about Peter Bassam?’
‘That information is restricted to members of my department.’
Shannon smiled. ‘Mr Hassett, you don’t have a department any more. What we’re looking for here is co-operation: nothing you tell us is going to become public. Please: you are in no position to prevaricate.’
‘There is very little to tell,’ Hassett snapped. ‘Bassam was an asset of ours in the former Yugoslavia, and in Albania. When he ran out of time there we got him a German passport and brought him to Scotland.’
‘Who was his handler?’
‘Rudy Sewell ran him, in his time with the Secret Intelligence Service, before he was deactivated. He had been “put to sleep”, as it were, in the restaurant in Edinburgh, against the possibility that he might have been needed again.’
‘That’s not what Piers Frame told us.’
The man blinked. ‘What do you mean?’
‘This afternoon, while we were on our way here, Mr Frame instituted a search within MI6. . forgive me if my use of the popular name offends you. . for the files relating to his department’s relationship with Mr Bassam. The strange thing was, he couldn’t find any.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘I’m saying that Bassam was never an asset, as you put it, of the Secret Intelligence Service. They don’t know anything about him.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ Hassett declared. ‘You’re trying to trick me: I’m not saying anything more.’ He folded his arms across his chest and stared down at them.
‘Look at me.’ Skinner’s voice was not much above a whisper yet it was as if an invisible hand had grasped the other man’s chin and forced his head upwards until his eyes were captured by the detective’s pitiless gaze. ‘You’re a traitor, Miles. Do you know what would have happened to you two hundred and fifty years ago? Do you know what the sentence was? This was it: “You shall be hanged by the neck and being alive cut down, your privy members shall be cut off and your bowels taken out and burned before you, your head severed from your body and your body divided into four quarters to be disposed of at the King’s pleasure.” It’s said to have been devised by Edward Longshanks to discourage his enemies in Scotland and Wales, and it was so effective, and popular with the mob, that it was used for five hundred years. As cruel and unusual punishments go, it was out there on its own. It makes the practices of other cultures, which we’re always very quick to condemn as barbaric, seem gentle by comparison. We may not do all that any more, but we still feel the same about traitors. You’re a fatal accident waiting to happen, pal, and you know it, however much you might try to kid yourself. If you look down the dark tunnel that’s the rest of your life, you will see a chink of light; be in no doubt, it is indeed an oncoming train. If you want to retain any hope of a happier outcome, you will tell us everything you know and you will do it now.’
‘Are you saying that if I co-operate, I might. .’
‘I’m making no promises, but arrangements could be made. You’ve heard of the witness protection programme, haven’t you? People like you live most of your lives under aliases, so it would be a natural environment for you.’
‘Can I have time to think about it?’
‘No. Inspector, carry on.’
‘Thank you, sir.’ Shannon looked across the table, silent until she was certain that she had Hassett’s attention. ‘Let’s go back to Bassam,’ she said, when she was ready. ‘We’ve established that he wasn’t one of yours, so whose was he?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Where did he come from?’
‘Sewell produced him: he gave me his name and address and told me to go up to Edinburgh to recruit him.’
‘So this was after the plot was under way?’
‘Yes.’
‘How did it all begin?’
‘With Sewell. He ran the Emerging Threats section within Five, and so our interests overlapped frequently. He asked me to meet him one day last June, not at Thames House or Vauxhall Cross, but on a houseboat.’
‘A houseboat?’
‘Yes: it’s a converted barge, permanently moored in Chelsea.’
‘Who owns it?’
‘I’ve no idea of that either: at the time I assumed that the Security Service did. Maybe they do.’
‘We’ll check that. Did he tell you what he wanted to talk about?’
‘He said that something was afoot. . his exact words. . and it had been suggested to him that I was a suitable person with whom to discuss it.’
‘So you met Sewell there?’
‘Yes.’
‘What happened at the meeting?’
‘Rudy went straight to the heart of it. He told me that his department had identified a most serious emerging threat to the nation, and to its security, one that if not countered would lead to the end of a thousand years of stable government. I was suitably shocked, and asked him what it was. He told me that it was the future direction of the Royal Family, a generation or two down the line. He told me that there was serious concern within circles of influence that, with the demise of the Conservative Party as an effective political force and with the absence of any meaningful parliamentary opposition, we have become a one-party state. He said that the collective view was that in such circumstances there is more need than ever for a strong Monarchy as a counterbalance to the folly of government, if the British way of life is to be preserved.’
‘By “the British way of life”, he meant what, precisely?’
‘He was referring to traditional British values, and the need to stop their further dilution.’
‘Do you mean racial dilution?’
‘There was concern about the flow of immigration, and about the inability, and indeed the unwillingness, of government to do anything about it, but I wouldn’t say that the worry was primarily racial.’
‘Did you share that concern when it was put to you?’
‘Rudy asked me that, straight out. I told him that I did, and that many of my circle did.’ He became animated, taking the inspector by surprise. ‘You can’t deny it,’ he exclaimed. ‘England is disappearing before our eyes.’