They sat down on either side of the desk. Behind Sutherland’s head hung a watercolor of mauve hills reflected in a Scottish loch.
“I should like it flown home.”
“You know that is an expensive business?”
“I should like him flown all the same.”
“For burial?”
“Of course.”
“It isn’t of course at all,” Sutherland countered with distaste. “If your ‘brother’ “—he said it in inverted commas now, but he would play the game to the end—”were to be cremated, the flight regulations would be totally different.”
“I see. I’m sorry.”
“There is a firm of undertakers in the town; Barford and Company. One of the partners is English, married to a Swedish girl. There is a substantial Swedish minority here. We do our best to support the British community. In the circumstances, I would prefer you to return to London as soon as you can. I suggest you empower me to use Barford.”
“All right.”
“As soon as he has taken over the body, I will provide him with your brother’s passport. He will have to obtain a medical certificate regarding the cause of death. I’ll put him in touch with Peersen.”
“Yes.”
“He will also require a death certificate issued by a legal registrar. It is cheaper if one attends to that side of things oneself. If money matters to your people.”
Avery said nothing.
“When he has found out a suitable flight he will look after the freight warrant and bill of lading. I understand these things are usually moved at night. The freight rate is cheaper and—”
“That’s all right.”
“I’m glad. Barford will make sure the coffin is airtight. It may be of metal or wood. He will also append his own certificate that the coffin contains nothing but the body—and the same body as that to which the passport and the death certificate refer. I mention this for when you take delivery in London. Barford will do all this very quickly. I shall see to that. He has some pull with the charter companies here. The sooner he—”
“I understand.”
“I’m not sure you do.” Sutherland raised his eyebrows as if Avery had been impertinent. “Peersen has been very reasonable. I don’t wish to test his patience. Barford will have a correspondent firm in London—it is London, isn’t it?”
“London, yes.”
“I imagine he will expect some payment in advance. I suggest you leave the money with me against a receipt. As regards your brother’s effects, I take it that whoever sent you wished you to recover these letters?” He pushed them across the table.
Avery muttered, “There was a film, an undeveloped film.” He put the letters in his pocket.
Deliberately Sutherland extracted a copy of the inventory which he had signed at the police station, spread it out before him and ran his finger down the left-hand column suspiciously, as if he were checking someone else’s figures.
“There is no film entered here. Was there a camera too?”
“No.”
“Ah.”
He saw Avery to the door. “You’d better tell whoever sent you that Malherbe’s passport was not valid. The Foreign Office sent out a circular about a group of numbers, twenty-odd. Your brother’s was one of them. There must have been a slip-up. I was about to report it when a Foreign Office teleprint arrived empowering you to take over Malherbe’s effects.” He gave a short laugh. He was very angry. “That was nonsense, of course. The Office would never have sent that on their own. They’ve no authority, not unless you’d Letters of Administration, and you couldn’t have got those in the middle of the night. Have you somewhere to stay? The Regina’s quite good, near the airport. Out of town, too. I assume you can find your own way. I gather you people get excellent subsistence.”
Avery made his way quickly down the drive, carrying in his memory the indelible image of Sutherland’s thin, bitter face set angrily against the Scottish hills. The wooden houses beside the road shone half white in the darkness like shadows around an operating table.
Somewhere not far from Charing Cross, in the basement of one of those surprising eighteenth-century houses between Villiers Street and the river, is a club with no name on the door. You reach it by descending a curving stone staircase. The railing, like the woodwork of the house in Blackfriars Road, is painted dark green and needs replacing.