Word of Honour

'Rokeby-Taylor,' he said without any preliminaries. 'Why would he want to ruin George's father?'

To give Craddock his due, he played an immaculate forward defence. 'That's where the personal becomes the political.'

Tallis nodded, hands behind his back. 'It was part of a larger plan.'

And when is anything not, these days? Aubrey thought.

A stream of people came up the stairs, chattering and oblivious to the discreet meeting that was being held in the entrance hall. Society's finest disappeared through the glass doors into the exhibition room, ready to explore the Frontier of the New, while sipping champagne and nibbling on carefully constructed canapés.

Tallis eyed these art lovers with suspicion, but went on. 'Rokeby-Taylor was trying to get at the Prime Minister through those close to him. At least, that's what the bank manager claimed during interrogation. It was all a plot to divert the Prime Minister, burden him with worries, to affect his judgement, his decision-making.'

George muttered a series of colourful oaths. Aubrey felt they were too mild.

This was the third plot that was directly aimed at people around Aubrey's father. First came the attempts on his mother's life, then her near abduction on the high seas, and now this. While it may have looked like sound strategy – distracting the Prime Minister made good, if distasteful, sense – Aubrey had a feeling that it was more personal than that. Added to that the fact that Dr Tremaine had once kidnapped his father and was on the verge of doing him physical harm before thwarted, Aubrey was starting to wonder if Dr Tremaine's interest in his father had a special edge.

'A very subtle plan,' Craddock said. 'Tell me, did Rokeby-Taylor strike either of you as a subtle man?'

'Quite the opposite.' Aubrey leaned against one of the half-pillars that decorated the walls.

'Since your report on Rokeby-Taylor's demise,' Tallis said, 'we've done considerable checking into the man's affairs. It seems that he had a manager who was the business mind, taking care of all financial matters while Rokeby-Taylor swanned around, making contacts and greasing up to people. Interestingly, this Mr Ingles studied business in Holmland.'

'And so I'd say he won't see the outside of one of His Majesty's prisons for some time,' Craddock said. 'We can continue our chats with him there.'

'And this plan to ruin George's family?' Aubrey asked.

'Who do you think could invent such a scheme, if Rokeby-Taylor was incapable of it?' Craddock asked.

'Dr Tremaine.'

'So it would appear,' Craddock said.

'One thing that still puzzles me,' Aubrey said.

'And what is that?' Craddock asked. Tallis eyed him suspiciously.

'Why are you two here?'

'In Greythorn?' Tallis said.

'At this exhibition.'

'A number of reasons,' Craddock said, after several significant glances were shared between the two men. 'We were invited, for one. We've both known Ophelia Hepworth for years.'

'Superb artist,' Tallis growled, 'not afraid to experiment with space and perspective.'

So unexpected was the artistic insight, for an instant Aubrey was sure that Tallis had vanished and an alien had taken his place.

Craddock went on. 'And Professor Mansfield is another reason. We're wondering why she left so suddenly for Aigyptos, so visiting Greythorn was a useful start.'

Aubrey drew on his years of amateur dramatics and constructed the best puzzled face of all time. 'Aigyptos?'

'We know she's been there before,' Tallis said, 'and is friends with the Sultan, so it's no real surprise. The haste was, though. Sudden leave of absence, mid-term?'

The silence that stretched out after this observation was not embarrassed, nor awkward. It was more like a challenge.

Aubrey was surprised when Craddock cracked first. 'I'm keen to get in to see the paintings,' he said. 'Rumours are that Ophelia has done something extraordinary with light.'He glanced at Aubrey. 'Did you hear that the Rashid Stone was stolen from the Museum?'

'Rashid Stone? Museum?' Aubrey said.

'Stolen?' George supplied, to round out the set.

'Well, if that display doesn't convince us that you know nothing about it, I don't know what would,' Craddock said dryly.

'The gang of thieves that was rounded up at the museum were quite forthcoming,' Tallis said. 'They claimed they'd been hired to steal the Rashid Stone, but had been prevented by magical defences. They couldn't tell us who contracted them either. A mysterious man, was all they could provide, and they were being most helpful by that time.' He studied Aubrey. 'Your information that Rokeby-Taylor was involved with this scheme tallies with this perfectly.'

'I had some of my best operatives search the workshop for magical residue,' Craddock said, 'but we'd waited too long and couldn't find a thing.'

Aubrey's heart restarted. 'Pity.'

'So we seem to have a mystery here, which shouldn't surprise us,' Craddock said, 'mysteries being the order of the day, lately.'

'Lovely,' George said, but his attention seemed to be on the people entering rather than fully on the conversation. 'But you haven't really answered Aubrey's question. Why are you both here? Why didn't you just abduct us if you wanted a chat?'

Again, Craddock and Tallis shared a look.

Tallis cleared his throat. 'Apparently one of Tremaine's plans was to sow discord between our two services. Futile, obviously, but it was felt that a united front may be the best thing to present for a few months. In public, most particularly.'

'You're on your best behaviour!' George said, delighted. 'You've been scolded and now you have to put your best foot forward!' Both men looked as if they'd sucked on a lemon apiece. 'That's a rather simple view,' Craddock said.

'But not incorrect,' George said.

Aubrey kept a straight face. He could only think of one person who could bring about such a rapprochement between the two men. He hoped his reports had been of assistance to his father in this matter.

'Some other news we thought you'd like to know,' Tallis said. 'Count Brandt and his people have all been arrested.'

'You've taken them into custody? What for?'

'Ah. You haven't heard?' Tallis said. 'We didn't arrest them.'

'At their request, Count Brandt and a number of his most influential people were conveyed to a remote part of the Holmland coast in a submersible, in order to arrive undetected,' Craddock said. 'The Rokeby-Taylor experimental submersible.'

'The Electra? How on earth did they organise that?'

'Rokeby-Taylor,' Tallis said. 'Before his demise and exposure, he still had influence. He had an audience with the King and apparently explained how brave and noble Brandt and his crowd were. With royal backing, Rokeby- Taylor was able to convince the navy that Brandt should have the blasted thing.'

'Their plan was to meet with the leaders of this Circle, the secret opposition group in Holmland,' Tallis said. 'Arriving undetected was vital, so they could spend time gathering their strength, meeting key people, planning and so on.'