Part 22 (2/2)
”Do you want to smoke, by the way?” said Paul, ever sensitive to people's needs. ”I'm afraid Belinda draws the line at f.a.gs but I can offer you a nifty little brown one if you're pushed.”
Brotherhood pulled out a packet of his foul cigarettes and lit one. ”Screw you too, Paul,” he said equably.
Paul had peaked early in life. Twenty years ago he had written promising plays for fringe theatres. He wrote them still. He was tall but rea.s.suringly unathletic. Twice, to Brotherhood's knowledge, he had applied to join the Firm. Each time he had been turned down flat, even without Brotherhood's intervention.”They came here because they were vetting Magnus for a top appointment, if you want to know,” Belinda said all in one breath. ”They were in a hurry because they wanted to promote him immediately so that he could get on with the job.”
”Nigel?” Brotherhood echoed with an incredulous laugh. ”Nigel and Lorimer plus two other men? Doing their own vetting at ten o'clock at night? You've got half the bra.s.s of secret Whitehall on your doorstep there, Bel. Not a vetting team of old crocks on half pay.”
”It's a senior appointment so he has to be vetted by senior people,” Belinda retorted, blus.h.i.+ng scarlet.
”Did Nigel tell you that?”
”Yes, he did!” said Belinda.
”Did you believe it?”
But Paul had decided it was time to show his mettle. ”Actually, f.u.c.k off will you, Jack?” he said. ”Get out of the house. Now. Darling, don't answer him. It's all too theatrical and stupid for words. Come on, Jack. Out. You're welcome for a drink any time, as long as you phone first. But not for this nonsense. Sorry. Out.”
He had opened the door and was flapping his big soft hand as if scooping water but neither' Brotherhood nor the sheepdog stirred.
”Magnus has jumped s.h.i.+p,” Brotherhood explained to Belinda, while Paul put on his I-can-be-violent glower. ”Nigel and Lorimer sold you a load of c.o.c.k. Magnus has bolted and gone into hiding while they cook up a case against him as the big traitor of the Western world. I'm his boss so I'm not quite as enthusiastic as they are. I think he's strayed but not lost and I'd like to get to him first and talk to him.” Addressing Paul, he didn't even bother to turn his head. He just lifted it far enough to make the difference. ”They've put a muzzle on your editor for the time being, same as everybody else, Paul. But if Nigel has his way, in a few days' time your colleagues will be plastering Belinda's previous marriage all over their nasty little columns and taking your picture every time you go to the launderette. So you'd better start thinking about how to get your act together. In the meantime, fetch us some more coffee and leave us in peace for an hour.”
Alone, Belinda was much stronger than when protected by her mate. Her face, though dazed, had relaxed. Her gaze had fixed itself steadfastly on a spot a few feet from her eyes, as if to suggest that although she might not see as far as others, her faith in what she saw burned twice as bright. They sat at a round table in the window bay and the Venetian blind sliced the Social Democratic Party into strips.
”His father's dead,” Brotherhood said.
”I know. I read. Nigel told me. He asked me how it might have affected Magnus. I suppose that was a trick.”
Brotherhood took a moment to answer this. ”Not entirely,” he said. ”No. Not a complete trick, Belinda. I think they're reasoning that it could have turned his head a little.”
”Magnus always wanted me to save him from Rick. I did my best. I tried to explain that to Nigel.”
”How save him, Belinda?”
”Hide him. Answer the phone for him. Say he was abroad when he wasn't. I sometimes think that's why Magnus joined the Firm. As a hiding place. Just as he married me because he was scared to risk it with Jemima.”
”Who's Jemima?” said Brotherhood, playing ignorant.
”She was a close friend of mine at school.” She scowled. ”Too close.” The scowl softened and became melancholy. ”Poor Rick. I only 'ever saw him once. That was at our wedding. He turned up uninvited in the middle of the reception. I never saw Magnus look happier. Otherwise he was just a voice on the telephone. He had a nice voice.”
”Magnus have any other hiding places in those days?”
”You mean women, don't you? You can say it if you want. I don't mind any more.”
”Just somewhere he might have hidden. That's all. Little cottage somewhere. An old buddy. Where would he go, Belinda? Who'd have him?”
Her hands, now that she had unlocked them, were elegant and expressive. ”He'd have gone anywhere. He was a new man every day. He'd come home one person, I'd try to match him. In the morning he'd be someone else. Do you think he did it, Jack?”
”Do you?”
”You always answer one question with another. I'd forgotten. Magnus had the same trick.” He waited. ”You could try Sef,” she said. ”Sef was always loyal.”
”Sef?”
”Kenneth Sefton Boyd. Jemima's brother. 'Sef s too rich for my blood,' Magnus used to say. That meant they were equals.”
”Could Magnus have gone to him?”
”If it was bad enough.”
”Could he have gone to Jemima?”
She shook her head.
”Why not?”
”I understand she's gone off men these days,” she said and blushed again. ”She's not predictable. She never was.”
”Ever heard of anyone called Wentworth?”
She shook her head, still thinking of something different. ”Since my time,” she said.
”Poppy?”
”My time ended with Mary. If there's a Poppy, that's Mary's bad luck.”
”When did you last hear from him, Belinda?”
”That's what Nigel asked me.”
”What did you say to Nigel?”
”I said there was no reason to hear from him after we divorced. We'd been married six years. There were no children. It was a mistake. Why relive it?”
”Was that the truth?”
”No. I lied.”
”What were you concealing?”
”He rang. Magnus did.”
”When?”
”Monday night. Paul was out, thank G.o.d.” She paused, listening for the sound of Paul's typewriter, which was tapping rea.s.suringly from upstairs. ”He sounded strange. I thought he was drunk. It was late.”
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