Audley opened his door. ‘What I think is that I want to make a couple of phone-calls. Have you got any change?’
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State
‘No.’ Tom knew that his pocket was full of coins. ‘Don’t use the call-box. Go and phone from the pub. They’ll give you change.’
Audley stared at him. ‘Is that minder’s rules?’
‘Just a precaution, nothing more.’
‘Okay. Come in and have a drink. I need one.’
Tom shook his head. ‘I’ll mind the car. Just another precaution—
okay?’
He waited for two agonizingly long minutes after Audley had disappeared into the pub before going across to the call-box himself. Only two minutes was a risk, he knew. But more than that opened up a risk later on, depending on how quickly the old man managed to make his own calls. But both risks were now outweighed by a greater one, in any case.
He dialled and fed in plenty of money.
‘Consolidated Slide-Dimmers. Can I help you?’
‘This is Thomas Arkenshaw for Henry Jaggard. And I’m in a public call-box, and I’m in a hurry.’ He had to trust Garrod Harvey’s promise. ‘Put me through.’
‘Putting you through directly, Sir Thomas.’
The only trouble was that Jaggard might well expect him to be phoning from halfway to the West Country, thought Tom. But if Jaggard didn’t ask, then he wouldn’t say.
‘Hullo, Tom!’ Jaggard sounded almost genial. ‘All well?’
Tom changed his mind. ‘I’m in a call-box in Hampshire, just off the A34. And I’ve got maybe three minutes.’
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State
“What the hell—‘ Jaggard stopped ’Yes?‘
‘Do you know of a man named Cole? Basil Cole? He used to work for one of your predecessors.’
‘What’s—’ Jaggard stopped again. ‘Go on.’
‘Audley wanted to talk to him, about his old comrade. He said Cole was the expert now, not him. Only as of this morning Cole isn’t talking to anyone ever again.’
‘How?’
Well, at least Jaggard was getting the message. ‘He fell off a ladder and broke his neck. Apparently he was drunk at the time.’
‘So—?’ Jaggard evinced neither suprise nor regret. ‘Is that true?’
‘No one saw it happen. Audley doesn’t believe it. And neither do I.’
‘Why not? He was always a drinker.’ Jaggard pressed on. ‘Have you talked to the police? What do they say?’
‘Everyone thinks it was an accident.’ Easy was not going to do it, decided Tom. ‘Christ! We’ve already been shot at! What else do you want?’
‘Steady on, Tom! We’ll check on Cole—’
“The hell you will! Audley’s in a pub across the road from here doing just that, for a guess. If your people run into his people he’ll know I’ve blown the whistle on him.‘ Tom stared uneasily across the road towards the lights of the pub. ’I want back-up on Exmoor.
Because I can’t guarantee satisfaction on my own, not now.‘
There was a fractional pause. ‘Does Audley want help? Has he asked for it?’
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State The welcoming lights of the pub mocked him. Audley might just be asking for just that now. But somehow he doubted it, after the way the old man had dismissed his police escort—and, for that matter, after he’d been so outraged that anyone should dare to take a shot at him. ‘I don’t know what Audley wants. But I want backup, I’m telling you. Give me back Harvey, at the very least.’
‘No. Harvey was only marked to take you to Audley—and he’s busy now. But in any case… this is strictly a Research and Development matter now.’
‘Is it?’ Steady on Arkenshaw! Tom admonished himself. ‘Then what am I doing in the middle of it?’
Jaggard made a snuffling sound. Or maybe it was the line. ‘You’ve been seconded, Tom. Didn’t I tell you? Just temporarily, anyway—
Frobisher’s agreement. And Colonel Butler’s… So if Audley wants help, or you want back-up, the request must go to Butler through Audley. I’m sorry, but that’s the protocol. Is that clearly understood?’
Tom didn’t think it had been the line. ‘So I don’t have to report to you any more?’ Clearly understood. ‘Yes.’ Or maybe, on second thoughts, not so clearly understood! ‘Just order me who I have to protect: Audley or his old comrade—if it comes to the crunch, and they start throwing punches at each other? Just give me that order.’
‘Panin isn’t after him. He wants to talk to him.’ Jaggard’s tone softened. ‘Look—’
‘Someone’s after him.’ Then Tom came to a much greater fear.
‘And someone already knows too much about what we’re doing.’
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State The third pause turned him back towards the pub: he had to be on borrowed time now.
‘Who knew you were going to see Basil Cole?’
Jaggard was taking him seriously at last. But now he had only a useless answer. ‘No one. Or… no one except Audley.’
‘Right. Then Cole may actually have had an accident. Because drunks do have accidents But we’ll check up on that—and don’t worry, because we’ll check very circumspectly. Right?’ But again Jaggard didn’t wait for an answer. ‘And as for that bullet of Audley’s… don’t you worry about that.’
Oh, great! Tom opened his mouth to swear. But then he knew that he was too late.
‘Listen, Tom: Audley’s made a fair few enemies in his time. So we don’t think it came from the Other Side. There are lots of other candidates—’
It was a million years too late: Audley was outside the pub, peering into the car. And in another half-second he would be looking across the road.
‘Are you listening, Tom?’
He turned his back towards Audley. ‘I’m putting the phone down now—I’ll call you again when I get the chance.’ He cut the line, while still holding the receiver to his ear, and stared at the dialling instructions. Then he saw the spare coins he had piled up, which he had told Audley he hadn’t got. But then, that was a minor lie compared with the phone-call itself: he could always have said he’d reversed the charges—
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State Reversed the charges—!
As the memory came back to him he knew he hadn’t time for arguments. All he could remember, as he fed the coins into the box, was all those reversed charges he had made in his student youth.
The ringing note sounded in his ear. It was a long shot, but he hadn’t had any luck today, so he was in line for some now. And at least Audley hadn’t seen him put the phone down and then pick it up again.
The ringing sound stopped as the phone at the other end was lifted: now he had time only for two quick questions, and two quick answers, and then one quick tapestry of falsehoods which he must hope would be believed—
He opened the door of the phone-box and beckoned across the road. ‘David! Come over here!’ Audley looked up and down the darkened village street, in which the main illumination was from the pub itself. Which was fair enough, since he’d been warned off the phone-box once already.
‘Over here, David!’ Audley’s caution gave him time for a few more words. And then—‘Hold on—here he is now—’ The look of naked and unashamed suspicion on the old man’s face (which his face was well-battered to demonstrate) encouraged him to shout for both of them ‘—my mother would like a word with you, David—’
He thrust the receiver at Audley ‘—here she is now—’
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State He withdrew a few yards from the call-box, out of pretended tact, but actually because there was nothing he could do now. It all depended on her wits—
(‘Yes?’ She had addressed the phone peremptorily, as she always did, as though it was an inadequately-trained servant who had disturbed her rest.)