'That's it. It came up again just now and this time it clicked. I've just been talking to Harrington, and he tells me there's a group of seven linked programs. I made an educated guess at the period they covered and I got it right first time. They started when Penny first began her graduate work in genetics. I think Ashton educated himself in genetics alongside his daughter. This morning Penny said he'd made suggestions which surprised Lumsden when they worked in the laboratory. Now, Penny works with Lumsden, one of the top men in the field. Everything he knew and learned she could pass on to Ashton. She read the relevant journals-and so did Ashton; she attended seminars and visited other laboratories-and passed everything back to Ashton.
She could have been doing it quite unconsciously, glad to have someone near to her with whom she could discuss her work. He was right in the middle of some of the most exciting developments in science this century, and I'm not discounting atomic physics. What's more likely than that a man like Ashton should think and theorize about genetics?'
'You've made your point,' said Ogilvie. 'But what to do about it?'
'Penny must be brought in, of course.' He shook his head. 'Not immediately. I can't make that decision off the cuff. The problem lies in the very fact that she is Ashton's daughter. She's intelligent enough to ask why her father should have considered it necessary to hide what he's doing, and that, as the Americans say, opens up a can of worms, including his early history and how and why he died. I doubt if the Minister would relish an angry young woman laying siege to his office or, much worse, talking to newspaper reporters. I'll have to ask him for a decision on this one.' I said, 'You can't possibly suppress a thing like this.' 'Who is talking about suppressing it?' he said irritably. 'I'm merely saying we'll have to use tact in handling it. You'd better leave it with me. You haven't said anything to her about it, have you?' 'No.' 'Good. You've done well on this, Malcolm.
You'll get the credit for it when the time comes.' I wasn't looking for credit, and I had an uneasy feeling that Ogilvie wasn't being quite straight with me. It was the first time I had ever felt that about him, and I didn't like it. I saw Penny the following afternoon, by arrangement, at University College. As I walked down the corridor towards her office the door of Lumsden's office opened and Cregar came out so that I had to sidestep smartly to avoid barging into him. He looked at me in astonishment and demanded, "What are you doing here?'
Apart from the fact that it wasn't any of his business, I still felt sore enough at the roasting he had given me at the committee meeting to be inclined to give him a sharp answer. Instead I said, mildly enough, 'Just visiting.' 'That's no answer.' 'Perhaps that's because I neither liked the question nor the way it was put.' He boggled a bit then said, 'You're aware the Ashton case is closed?' 'Yes.' 'Then I'll have to ask you again-what are you doing here?' I said deliberately, 'The moon will turn into green cheese the day I have to ask your permission to visit my fiancee.' 'Oh!' he said inadequately. 'I'd forgotten.' I really think it had slipped his memory. Something in his eyes changed; belligerence gave way to speculation. 'Sorry about that.
Yes, you're going to marry Dr. Ashton, aren't you?' At that moment I didn't know whether I was or not, but I wouldn't give Cregar that satisfaction. 'Yes, I am.' 'When is the wedding to be?' 'Soon, I hope.' 'Ah, yes.' He lowered his voice. 'A word to the wise. You are aware, of course, that it would be most undesirable if Miss Ashton should ever know what happened in Sweden.' 'Under the circumstances I'm the last person likely to tell her,' I said bitterly. 'Yes. A sad and strange business-very strange. I hope you'll accept my apology for my rather abrupt manner just now. And I hope you'll accept my good wishes for your future married life.' 'Of course-and thank you.' 'And now you must excuse me.' He turned and went back into Lumsden's office. As I walked up the corridor I speculated on Cregar's immediate assumption that my presence in University College was linked to the Ashton case. Granted that he had genuinely forgotten I was to marry Penny, then what possible link could there be? I escorted Penny to Fortnum's where she restocked her depleted larder. Most of the order was to be sent, but we took enough so that she could prepare a simple dinner for two. That evening, in the flat, as we started on the soup she said, 'I'm going to Scotland tomorrow.' 'With Lumsden?' 'He's busy and can't come. The extra time I spent in America has thrown our schedule out a bit.' 'When will you be back?' 'I don't think I'll be away as much as a week. Why?' 'There's a new play starting at the Haymarket next Tuesday which I thought you might like to see. Alec Guinness. Shall I book seats?' She thought for a moment. 'I'll be back by then. Yes, I'd like that I haven't been in a theatre for God knows how long.' 'Still having trouble in Scotland?' 'It's not really trouble. Just a difference of opinion.' After dinner she made coffee, and said, 'I know you don't like brandy. There's a bottle of scotch in the cabinet.' I smiled. 'That's thoughtful of you.' 'But I'll have a brandy.' I poured the drinks and took them over to the coffee table.
She brought in the coffee, and then we sat together on the settee. She poured two black coffees, and said quietly, 'When would you like us to get married, Malcolm?' That was the night the new carpet became badly coffee-stained, and it was the night we went to bed together for the first time. It had been quite long enough.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE The rest of the week went slowly. Penny went to Scotland and I booked a couple of seats at the Haymarket Theatre. I also made enquiries into exactly how one gets married; it hadn't come up before. I felt pretty good. Ogilvie was uncommunicative. He wasn't around the office much during the next few days and, even when he was, he didn't want to see me. He asked how I was getting on with the investigation of Benson and made no comment when I said I was stuck.
Twice thereafter he refused to see me when I requested an audience.
That worried me a little. I checked with Harrington to find how he was doing and to see if any genetics experts had been brought in-not by hiking outright but by tactful skating around the edges. No new boffins were on the job and certainly no biologists of any kind. That worried me, too, and I wondered why Ogilvie was dragging his heels.
Harrington's temper was becoming worse. 'Do you know what I've found?' he asked rhetorically. 'This joker is using Hamiltonian quaternions!'
He made it sound like a heinous offence of the worst kind. 'Is that bad?' He stared at me and echoed, 'Bad! No one, I repeat-no one-has used Hamiltonian quaternions since 1915 when tensor analysis was invented. It's like using a pick and shovel when you have a bulldozer available.' I shrugged. 'If he used these Hamilton's whatsits he'd have a sound reason.' Harrington stared at a printout of the computer program with an angry and baffled expression. 'Then I wish I knew what the hell it is.' He went back to work. And so did I, but my trouble was that I didn't know what to do. Benson was a dead issue-there seemed to be no possible way of getting a line on him. Ogilvie seemed to have lost interest, and since I didn't want to twiddle my thumbs in Kerr's section, I spent a lot of time in my flat catching up on my reading and waiting for Tuesday. At the weekend I rang Penny hoping she'd be back but got no answer. I spent a stale weekend and on the Monday morning I rang Lumsden and asked if he'd heard from her. 'I spoke to her on Thursday,' he said. 'She hoped to be back in London for the weekend.' 'She wasn't?' 'Well, perhaps she'll be back today.