Jackson looked puzzled. ‘Lots of boys get bullied at public school.’
Natalia interrupted quietly, ‘One who could not fit. Poor boy.’
Jackson continued, ‘Frank Muncaster’s brother is also a scientist, a physicist. He became a US citizen and for the last ten years he’s held a senior position at a top California university. He does work connected with the American weapons programmes. I don’t know what, but something important.’ Jackson paused to let that sink in, then added, ‘Back in October, old Mrs Muncaster died, and brother Edgar came over for the funeral. Mrs Muncaster’s house is being sold, we know that. Edgar may have wanted the money. He’s recently divorced, in need of money for the – what do they call it there – alimony, and it seems he’s developed a serious drinking habit.’
‘Has this information come from America?’ David asked. ‘Are they involved?’
‘Contacts in their secret services are,’ Natalia answered. ‘Though we also have information from certain sources here.’
Jackson stood up, slowly began pacing the threadbare carpet. Through the wall came an ecstatic laugh from the prostitute’s latest customer. David wondered what it was like for Natalia, alone here at night, listening to that. Jackson made a moue of distaste, then said, ‘The Resistance has links with the Americans. Not that they like us, most of them, though we may find them more sympathetic under Adlai Stevenson. But they don’t like Nazi Europe, either, and we’re a useful channel. Sometimes we help them get people over to the States – like a couple of Jewish scientists they wanted recently.’ He took a deep breath. ‘A fortnight ago somebody very senior in their Secret Services contacted us. Apparently Edgar Muncaster was brought back to America last month with a broken arm. He had something to confess to them.’
‘Confess?’
‘Yes. While in England he’d visited his brother Frank in Birmingham. There was a heated argument.’
David shook his head. ‘I can’t imagine Frank getting into an argument with anyone.’
‘Perhaps he was afraid of what he might do if he ever lost control,’ Natalia said sadly.
Jackson shot her an irritated glance. ‘We don’t know what the argument was about,’ he continued, ‘and the Americans won’t say. Nor will Frank Muncaster. But the Americans think Edgar may have spilled some beans connected with their weapons research. Whatever it was, it was enough to send Frank Muncaster into such a state that he ended up putting his brother through a first-floor window.’
The idea of Frank attacking anyone still seemed extraordinary to David. All his life he had held himself under rigid control. What could have made Frank snap? And what was he getting into?
‘An accident we think, the window was rotten, but Edgar was lucky to get away with a broken arm. Frank, meanwhile, started smashing up his own flat and raving about the end of the world. The upshot was that he was taken away to a mental hospital outside Birmingham, which is where he is now.’ Jackson shook his head, as though such behaviour were beyond him.
Natalia said quietly, ‘The Americans consider it important that no-one here gets hold of information about Edgar’s work. Not in our government, nor the Germans. We believe Frank hasn’t talked, yet.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘We have a man in the mental hospital, on the staff.’
‘Good God.’
Jackson smiled. ‘Like all these places it’s very large, over a thousand patients. This man is one of our many sleepers, quietly doing a normal job until, one day, he can be used. A male nurse, an attendant as they call them. A good man, experienced.’
‘He is looking after Frank,’ Natalia added. ‘Taking care of him.’
‘What happened to Edgar?’
Jackson said, ‘So far as we know, he is now locked up somewhere very safe in the States.’
‘Then they’ll know if he told Frank anything.’
‘Yes,’ Jackson agreed. ‘They will. They’re not telling us, but the obvious implication is that he did.’
‘My God. It could be about the Bomb.’
‘Or rocketry, or biological warfare,’ Natalia said. ‘The Americans call themselves the last guardians of democracy, but some of the things they have been working on are – terrible.’
‘The Americans want Frank Muncaster,’ Jackson said baldly. ‘Our man has managed, to a limited degree, to gain his confidence. Muncaster has of course never seen the inside of a place like that before and apparently he’s terrified of what they might do to him.’
‘What sort of thing?’
‘Electric shock treatment, or worse.’
David shook his head.
Natalia said, ‘We may be able to get him out.’
Jackson sat down again, looking at her. ‘Possibly. But we have to be careful just now, not draw attention to him. Of course if he does tell them whatever secrets Edgar may have blurted out they may just dismiss it all as lunatic ravings, but if he then disappears it might put a different complexion on things.’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘The doctor in charge of the hospital, Wilson, fortunately isn’t the brightest spark in the medical profession but he seems to have taken some interest in Frank. He’s also related to a senior civil servant under Church, the junior health minister.’
David looked up. ‘Isn’t Church the one who’s pushing through the bill to sterilize the unfit?’
‘Yes, he’s an old eugenicist. Introduced a bill back in 1930. But not a great pro-German, apparently, a believer in the independence of British institutions.’ Jackson gave a hollow laugh. ‘Still doesn’t realize that battle is long lost. Now, our man says Muncaster is very withdrawn. Wilson hasn’t been able to get him to talk. He needs a friend to take an interest in him.’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘And it seems, from his conversations with our nurse, that the only person he might trust is you.’
David felt a weight descending on him. ‘Doesn’t he have friends in Birmingham?’
‘He seems to have been very isolated. I don’t think his department considered him much of an asset. And the Americans want his brother Edgar kept out of it.’
‘I always thought Frank might go off the rails in the end,’ David said quietly. ‘But not like this. And weapons research . . .’ He looked at Jackson. ‘Does our government know anything about what happened?’
Jackson looked at him. ‘Do you think Muncaster would be sitting peacefully in a mental hospital if they did?’
David ran a hand through his short curls. ‘Jesus.’
Natalia leaned forward. ‘Will you help him now? Go up there, see him, re-establish yourself as a friend.’
David looked between them. ‘Then what? What happens to him?’ His eyes fixed on Jackson’s. ‘Surely the Americans will want him dead.’
Jackson shook his head. ‘No. Actually they say they want him alive, so they can question him. And this operation is under our control.’ He smiled wryly. ‘And if we wanted him dead, he’d be dead already. Our man is a nurse, with access to drugs.’
David leaned back in his chair. Even if Frank was safe – for now – Jackson’s words still chilled him.
Natalia looked at him. ‘We will not let him be killed. Not unless there is an immediate risk of the Germans getting him. And if they get him, then—’
David finished the sentence. ‘He’d be better off dead.’
‘Our man at the hospital has been trying to persuade Muncaster to contact you,’ Jackson said. ‘If we give him the word, tomorrow night you will get a telephone call from Frank, asking for help to get him out of the hospital. Then we want you and Natalia – and I think Geoff Drax, too, if he was a friend – to drive up and visit him. On Sunday. That’s visiting day. Get his confidence, give us some assessment of the state he’s in. You’d give false names to people who let you in, and pretend to have known Frank at school. Our man is making sure the hospital authorities don’t know you’re coming. You’ll be given false ID cards, you may be asked to show those at the asylum gates.’