Seated at a corner table, well away from any of the crowd already creating a babble of voices mingled with the clink of glasses, they were able to talk unheard.
'This is good,' she said as she consumed her starter, a mix of sliced melon, oranges and bananas, generously flavoured with brandy. 'My favourite tipple, brandy,' she told him.
'What is worrying you?' he had asked again.
'The Parrot. She asked me out to lunch today, took me to a very posh restaurant. I saw the bill later. Sky high.'
'I thought you were enemies. That's what you said last time we talked.'
'I know, Pete. I thought so too. Now she's all over me. I can't do anything wrong at work. During lunch she said one of the Cabal was after her. Wouldn't say which one. She's not prepared to play ball with him – so she's worried they'll manoeuvre her out of her job.'
'They?'
'The Cabal. They support each other. They're planning something aggressive against Tweed's outfit. Thought you ought to know.'
'But how do you know this? They're in a separate room.'
'I know.' She fluttered her eyes at him. 'You'll think I'm wicked. The hinges between our large room and the Cabal's HQ have been oiled, but the door doesn't shut properly if someone isn't careful. When the Parrot is away I creep over, open it just a bit more and listen to what they're saying.'
'Dangerous.'
'I'm very careful. I have a file tucked under my arm. There is a filing cabinet close to that door in our room.'
'Going back to what you said earlier,' Pete said, pausing while the waiter served their main course, 'you referred to some aggressive action planned against Tweed. Any details?'
'Only that Noel, who was away, planned it. Benton said he hoped Noel wouldn't go mad. Then I sidled back to my desk. Just in time. One of them closed the door.'
'Noel was away. Where?'
'No idea
They chatted about other things until they'd finished the meal. When they left the restaurant, Nield walked her to the entrance to her flat. She took out her keys, opened the door, tucked her arm in his. She turned to face him, her eyebrows raised, invited him in for a quiet drink.
'I'd love to,' he lied, 'but before I came over I was dealing with another problem and they will want to hear about it back at Park Crescent. Certain phone calls have to be made this evening. Maybe another time?'
She made a moue as he kissed her on both cheeks. Not best pleased. She said good night, walked in and closed the door in his face.
22
'So,' Nield concluded his narrative, 'I escaped without being compromised. Coral looked furious.'
'I don't believe one word of what that woman says,' decided Paula. 'Why is she twisting and turning the situation in that building?'
'It's possible that she's acting on instructions from one of the Cabal,' Tweed mused. 'But I doubt it.'
'Which one?' Paula asked.
'I have no idea. I rather doubt my theory. Can't think of what she's up to.'
'Maybe she's barmy,' Nield suggested. 'It was someone out of their mind who committed that horrible Viola murder.'
'She's too small to have done it,' Nield said.
'It's like a mosaic,' Tweed ruminated. 'Every piece fits in somewhere. But we're missing the main picture.'
'Oh Lord!' Newman burst out. 'I'm missing one expensive present. I've left the scarf for Roma on the rack on the Eurostar.'
'No you haven't,' Paula told him. She opened her holdall on the floor beside her, produced the wrapped scarf, handed it to Newman. 'I always check nothing's been left when I leave a plane or a train.'
'I can't thank you enough,' Newman responded, the relief showing in his face. 'I do feel better now.'
'Romance for Roma,' Paula chaffed him.
'And while you two are blathering,' Tweed said grimly, 'I'm wondering what Marler and Harry are up to.'
Wearing masks over their faces, Marler and Harry were showing infinite patience as they waited. Harry was leaning against the wall on one side of the metal door guarding the entrance to Special Branch HQ. Marler had adopted the same position on the other side.
They had positioned themselves so they were invisible to the slow swivel of the security cameras on the wall above them. Every now and again Harry stretched his legs up and down to fight off cramp. Marler remained still as a statue. He checked his watch. They'd kept up their vigil for over an hour. Patience was a virtue.
The side street was so dark, so ill-lit, that anyone passing down Whitehall who glanced their way would not see their faces, let alone their masks. Marler raised a hand holding one of the grenades. He had heard something. Harry pulled a face. He didn't believe Marler had heard a thing.
The steel door rose slowly without warning, sliding up and over into its slot. Marler risked peering inside. The slow escalator was on the move. Nelson was standing still, letting the escalator do the work.
A few steps behind him Benton, clad in a shaggy coat, was studying a report. Behind him Noel was standing quite still. So Noel was back from France. Which meant Radek was in town.
As the step Nelson stood on neared the bottom Marler nodded to Harry. They acted as one. Marler's first tear-gas grenade landed on Nelson's step, burst, sending up a great cloud of the gas. At the same moment Harry had thrown another higher up, a perfect throw, hitting Benton's tread. Another great cloud of gas erupted.
Nelson was choking, his eyes hurting as he wobbled, not sure what to do next. Marler lobbed his second grenade high up, actually hitting Noel on the knee, where it burst.
All three men were choking, coughing, wobbling all over the place. The Parrot appeared at the top, stared in disbelief, caught a whiff of the gas, ran back into the office to call an ambulance. Marler and Harry, masks off, were gone.
Tweed was talking to Nield when Marler and Harry returned to the office. He thought Harry looked pleased with himself while Marler's expression was his normal blank.
'Pete,' Tweed continued, 'what game do you think Coral Flenton is playing?'
'No idea. Except she is playing some game. I'd sooner not go near her again.'
'Then I'll go tomorrow,' Paula piped up. 'I got on well with her and we agreed to meet again soon. Because I'm a woman she'll find it harder to manipulate me.'
'Good idea,' agreed Tweed. 'Now Marler, Harry, what have you been up to?'
Marler, in a few words, explained what they had done at the Cabal's HQ. 'Teach them to send a fake TV van to try and photograph this place.'
'Think I'll have a bit of fun,' Tweed said. 'Monica, can you get their number? I'll take over immediately.'
'May I speak to Miss Partridge?' Tweed asked when he took over the line. 'That is Miss Partridge speaking? Good. Tweed here. I gather Benton Macomber wanted me to contact him.'
'They're ill,' she blurted out. 'In hospital.'
'Nothing serious, I hope? Expected back maybe tomorrow? I know there have been a lot of cases of food poisoning.'
'Yes, there have,' she said, having recovered her wits.
'Well, give them all my regards and wishes for a speedy recovery. Don't eat in any strange restaurants.'
'I cook my own meals at home,' she responded sharply.
'I don't think I know where you live.'
'Hammersmith. In a big flat I bought ages ago.' A pause. 'Maybe you'd come over and see me for supper one day. My address is…'
Tweed scribbled down her address, phone number, mobile number.
'I shall look forward to that,' he told her. 'Maybe we could meet soon.'
'Soon as you like,' she replied in a seductive tone he didn't know she was capable of. 'Thanks for calling. See you…'
'You must be smitten,' Paula joked.
'I'd like to smite her. But she's a piece of the mosaic we are assembling. Away from the Cabal she may let her guard down.'