‘Vladimir telephoned the Circus at lunch-time today, sir,’ Mostyn began, leaving some unclarity as to which ‘sir’ he was addressing. ‘I happened to be Oddbins duty officer and took the call.’
Strickland corrected him with unpleasant haste : ‘You mean yesterday. Be precise, can’t you?’
‘I’m sorry, sir. Yesterday,’ said Mostyn.
‘Well, get it right,’ Strickland warned.
To be Oddbins duty officer, Mostyn explained, meant little more than covering the lunch-hour gap and checking desks and wastebins at closing time. Oddbins personnel were too junior for night duty, so there was just this roster for lunch-times and evenings.
And Vladimir, he repeated, came through in the lunch-hour, using the lifeline.
‘Lifeline?’ Smiley repeated in bewilderment. ‘I don’t think I quite know what you mean.’
‘It’s the system we have for keeping in touch with dead agents, sir,’ said Mostyn, then put his fingers to his temple and muttered, ‘Oh, my Lord.’ He started again : ‘I mean agents who have run their course but are still on the welfare roll, sir,’ said Mostyn unhappily.
‘So he rang and you took the call,’ said Smiley kindly. ‘What time was that?’
‘One-fifteen exactly, sir. Oddbins is like a sort of Fleet Street news-room, you see. There are these twelve desks and there’s the section head’s hen-coop at the end, with a glass partition between us and him. The lifeline’s in a locked box and normally it’s the section head who keeps the key. But in the lunch-hour he gives it to the duty dog. I unlocked the box and heard this foreign voice saying “Hullo.” ‘
‘Get on with it, Mostyn,’ Strickland growled.
‘I said “Hullo” back, Mr Smiley. That’s all we do. We don’t give the number. He said, “This is Gregory calling for Max. I have something very urgent for him. Please get me Max immediately.” I asked him where he was calling from, which is routine, but he just said he had plenty of change. We have no brief to trace incoming calls and anyway it takes too long. There’s an electric card selector by the lifeline, it’s got all the worknames on it. I told him to hold on and typed out “Gregory”. That’s the next thing we do after asking where they’re calling from. Up it came on the selector. “Gregory equals Vladimir, ex-agent, ex-Soviet General, ex-leader of the Riga Group.” Then the file reference. I typed out “Max” and found you, sir.’ Smiley gave a small nod. ‘ “Max equals Smiley.” Then I typed out “Riga Group” and realized you were their last vicar, sir.’
‘Their vicar?’ said Lacon, as if he had detected heresy. ‘Smiley their last vicar, Mostyn? What on earth-‘
‘I thought you had heard all this, Oliver,’ Smiley said, to cut him off.
‘Only the essence,’ Lacon retorted. ‘In a crisis one deals only with essentials.’
In his pressed-down Scottish, without letting Mostyn from his sight, Strickland provided Lacon with the required explanation : ‘Organizations such as the Group had by tradition two case officers. The postman, who did the nuts and bolts for them, and the vicar who stood above the fight. Their father figure,’ he said, and nodded perfunctorily towards Smiley.
‘And who was carded as his most recent postman, Mostyn?’ Smiley asked, ignoring Strickland entirely.
‘Esterhase, sir. Workname Hector.’
‘And he didn’t ask for him?’ said Smiley to Mostyn, speaking straight past Strickland yet again.
‘I’m sorry, sir?’
‘Vladimir didn’t ask for Hector? His postman? He asked for me. Max. Only Max. You’re sure of that?’
‘He wanted you and nobody else, sir,’ said Mostyn earnestly.
‘Did you make notes?’
‘The lifeline is taped automatically, sir. It’s also linked to a speaking clock, so that we get the exact timing as well.’
‘Damn you, Mostyn, that’s a confidential matter,’ Strickland snapped. ‘Mr Smiley may be a distinguished ex-member, but he’s no longer family.’
‘So what did you do next, Mostyn?’ Smiley asked.
‘Standing instructions gave me very little latitude, sir,’ Mostyn replied, showing once again, like Smiley, a studied disregard for Strickland. ‘Both “Smiley” and “Esterhase” were wait-listed, which meant that they could be contacted only through the fifth floor. My section head was out to lunch and not due back till two-fifteen.’ He gave a light shrug. ‘I stalled. I told him to try again at two-thirty.’