I was still happy with what I had told Irena. Part of the reason for doing it was that the Soviet leadership would know the US had nearly launched nuclear missiles at them accidentally. That had been the XO’s rationale, and I thought he was right. But no more. They would not get anything more from me.
I supposed I had laid myself open to blackmail. But I didn’t think it would be in the Russians’ interest to expose me and what I had done. They wanted me a willing cooperator. And they had nearly persuaded me.
Of course, it wasn’t just me, it was Donna. They could try to claim she was a spy as well. I would have to tell her about the evening.
I was willing to risk exposure to draw a line. The best way to extricate myself from this little mess was firmness and courage. I could do it.
And I suspected Donna could too.
Forty-Nine
‘Hey, Bill! How are you doin’, man?’
I turned to see the familiar figure of Lars fighting his way through the crowd to the bar where I had nabbed a seat for him. We were in an Irish pub in the East Village, and I hadn’t seen Lars since he had left Groton for Wisconsin three months before.
‘Good, Lars, good. Can I get you a Rolling Rock?’
‘You want me to drink that Pennsylvanian shit?’
‘It’s good beer. You know that. I’ve seen you drink enough of it.’
Lars perched himself on the bar stool. ‘Hey. We’re in an Irish bar. Get me a Guinness.’
So I got him a Guinness. ‘What’s the beer like in Brazil?’ I asked him.
‘Nothing special. They have this stuff they call “beach beer”. Tastes like piss, it’s very weak, but you can drink a lot of it, especially when it’s hot. Which it is. A lot.’
Lars was on his way to Brazil. He had decided to travel via New York, so he could see me. And I had been looking forward to seeing him.
‘What are you going to do when you get there?’
‘I’ll crash with my grandparents in Rio to start with. Then I’m going to get a job on the water. Sailing if I can. I should’ve done that in the first place rather than join the Navy. It’s got to be possible: there’s a lot of water around Rio.’
‘Do you speak much Portuguese?’
‘A bit. I’ll learn. It’ll be fun.’
‘What’s cheers in Portuguese?’
‘Damned if I know. Wait. Felicidades?’
‘Felicity Tarts!’ I raised my glass and drank my beer. Deeply.
It was good to see Lars. It was really good to see Lars. Although I was enjoying living in New York, and I loved living with Donna, I missed male friendship. I missed Lars. I missed living cheek-by-jowl with a hundred and forty men in the Hamilton. How sad was that? Pretty sad.
One day I would get to the point where I had gotten the Navy out of my system, where I had my own friends, male and female, and my own career that had nothing to do with blowing the world to smithereens. I was looking forward to that point, but I wasn’t there yet.
We drank a lot of beer. We talked about our folks. Lars’s father had been quietly pleased that he was going to Brazil, his mother less so. I told him about Donna and our plans to go to graduate school. We were on our six or seventh beer, when the rush of words paused for a moment.
‘We did the right thing, didn’t we?’ said Lars in a low voice.
I nodded. ‘Yeah. We did the right thing.’
Lars looked me in the eye and raised his glass. ‘To Craig.’
I smiled. Lars understood. Understood that although I had killed Craig, he had been my friend. He was still my friend. ‘To Craig.’
‘You know, a weird thing happened last week,’ Lars said. ‘Back in Wisconsin. A woman showed up at our house asking for me. She came from New York. Said she knew Donna. And you.’
‘Pat Greenwald?’ I blurted in surprise.
‘So you do know her?’
‘Yeah. Kind of. Donna knows her really. They’re involved in the peace movement together. She came all the way to Wisconsin to see you? What did she want?’
But actually I could guess what she wanted.
‘She wanted me to talk about the near-launch. I remember you asking me back at the base whether you should tell the peace movement about that. I guess you decided you should.’
I hesitated. Looked around the bar, which had emptied a little, but there was no one listening. ‘Donna told her about it. Then I spoke with her.’
‘Did you tell her much?’ Lars asked.
I felt uncomfortable. ‘A bit. What about you?’
Lars sipped his beer. ‘A bit. Did you speak with the Russians? You asked me whether you should speak with the Russian peaceniks?’
‘And you said you didn’t know.’
‘I did.’
I sighed. ‘Yeah, I did. Spoke to a physicist. In Paris. I didn’t give her any real secrets.’ I glanced at Lars, to see how he took this information.
He breathed in. We were both quite drunk at this point, and struggling to focus on something we knew was really important.
‘You know,’ he said. ‘When some other dumb boomer launches a couple of birds by mistake at somewhere in Russia and the Russians decide not to blow up the world, we’ll know you did the right thing.’
‘That’s why I wanted out of the Navy, Lars. I don’t want to have to think about this shit anymore.’
‘That’s for sure,’ said Lars, raising his glass. ‘Here’s to freedom. And Copacabana Beach.’
I got a phone call a month later in Donna’s apartment. I had the night off from the bar, and we had just finished a lasagne she had cooked.
‘It’s for you.’ She passed me the phone.
‘Hello?’
‘Bill, it’s Glenn Robinson.’
‘Oh, hello, XO,’ I said. It seemed weird to call him by his first name.
‘I’ve got some bad news.’
Something had happened to Lars, I thought right away. Although if it had, I wasn’t sure how the XO would have found out about it.
‘Yes?’ I said neutrally.
‘Commander Driscoll died suddenly two days ago.’
‘The captain? That’s terrible! What happened?’
‘He took his own life,’ said Robinson. ‘Blew his brains out.’
‘Oh my God.’ The news sank into my consciousness slowly. ‘That’s awful.’ He had a wife, or an ex-wife. And children. ‘Does anyone know why?’
‘There’s an investigation, of course,’ said Robinson. ‘And they haven’t come up with anything yet. He didn’t leave a note. It may have been his marriage. Or . . .’
‘The near-launch,’ I said.
‘He didn’t take it well,’ said the XO. ‘He found it difficult to accept what he had done. Ordering a nuclear launch. What both of us had done.’ The XO’s voice was flat. ‘I’ve found it difficult too, to tell you the truth.’
‘But it wasn’t his fault!’ I protested. ‘Or yours. He listened to Lars’s objections. He did things by the book.’
‘Da Silva didn’t do things by the book,’ said Robinson. ‘And neither did you. Which is why we are all alive today.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘He was a good man. I respected him. I admired him.’
‘He was,’ said Robinson. ‘I only served with him on that one patrol, but I could feel how much the crew respected him. It’s such a shame.’
We were silent on the phone together. Sharing regrets at the loss of a life.
‘Well, thanks for telling me, XO.’
‘Do you know how to get in contact with da Silva?’ Robinson said. ‘I’d like to call him.’
‘Yeah. Wait a second, he gave me his grandparents’ number in Brazil.’ I found it in my address book and read it out to Robinson.
‘XO? One thing before you go. Has a woman called Pat Greenwald been in touch?’
‘Pat Greenwald? Who is she?’
‘Oh, no one. A friend of Donna’s,’ I said.
‘I hope this doesn’t have anything to do with what we discu
ssed at the fort?’ Robinson said.
‘Oh, no. No, not at all. Thanks, XO.’
I put down the phone.
I felt Donna come up behind me and wrap her arms around my chest.
Fifty
Sunday 1 December 2019, Norfolk
Toby listened as his father-in-law subtly changed his story. Again.
Megan was right, he hadn’t outright lied to them before. But he had withheld information. Important information.
With each iteration something new had been revealed: Bill killing Craig to stop the missiles being launched, and now talking to the Russians about the near-launch. How much of this could Toby believe now? He had no idea.
It was likely what Bill was telling them was the truth. But what was he missing out?
If Lars were still alive, there would have been someone else to check Bill’s story with. Admiral Robinson would be able to confirm some of it. But not the really important stuff. And having a frank conversation with Admiral Robinson would be difficult.
‘So, it wasn’t Commander Driscoll who gave secrets to the Russians?’ Toby asked.
‘No,’ said Bill. ‘Donna just made that up on the spot. To deflect the FBI’s attention from me.’
‘But you only told them about the near-launch? Nothing else?’
‘Correct.’
‘So someone else told the Russians more? Gave them the real secrets about the submarine command and the missiles that the FBI mentioned?’
‘I guess so,’ said Bill.
‘Well, who was that?’ Toby asked.
Bill shrugged.
‘Could it have been Lars?’ Megan said. ‘He told you he spoke to Pat Greenwald.’
‘Yes. But he didn’t say he gave her real secrets.’
‘He wouldn’t, would he?’ said Megan. ‘But that’s really why he came to England. To see what Sam Bowen had to say.’
Toby remembered Lars telling him as much on the beach.
‘That’s right,’ said Bill. ‘He asked me all about our conversation with Sam.’
‘Including what Sam had to say about Pat Greenwald?’
Bill nodded.
‘So maybe it was Lars,’ Megan said.
Bill looked uncomfortable. ‘Lars was more than a friend to me. He and I shared something extraordinary. I’m not going to call him a traitor unless I am absolutely sure. And I’m not; I’m not at all.’
‘Even though he’s dead now?’
Bill bit his lower lip. ‘Yes. Even though he is dead now,’ he said sombrely.
‘I don’t know,’ said Toby. ‘Brooke was pretty firm that Lars never left the Cottage. They even heard him go to the bathroom about midnight.’
‘OK,’ said Megan. ‘What about Justin? Maybe he left the Cottage and killed Sam? To stop Sam writing about how his father wanted to blow up the world.’
‘So you are saying Brooke’s lying about Justin being there with her that evening?’ said Alice.
‘No. Yeah. I don’t know,’ said Megan.
‘Brooke wouldn’t lie,’ said Alice.
Actually, Toby wasn’t sure about that. He would lie for Alice.
‘Whatever,’ said Megan, stepping back from her accusation. ‘But, Dad. You have to tell the police all this. Otherwise they’ll lock Alice up again!’
Bill swallowed, and looked at his eldest daughter. He appeared to be on the edge of tears. ‘I can’t,’ he said to her. ‘You must understand that.’
Alice’s face hardened. She got to her feet and left the kitchen table. A moment later they heard the front door bang. They could see her through the kitchen window leaning on the flint garden wall next to the pear tree, staring out over the marsh.
Toby joined her. He put his arm around her and squeezed.
Time to dispel one of the many Guth secrets. ‘You know why your father doesn’t want to tell the police all this?’ he said.
Alice didn’t answer.
‘Because he thinks you killed Sam Bowen.’
‘He told you that, did he?’ Alice said, turning towards him. There were tears in her eyes, but also contempt.
‘Yes,’ said Toby. ‘I don’t believe him, obviously.’
Alice turned away from him towards the marsh, brooding under a low grey sky. A couple with a dog strode in single file along the top of the dyke down towards the dunes, which were slumbering under their thin, worn blanket of grey-green grass. To the west, an early brushstroke of pink was already tickling the underside of the clouds.
Toby tried to put his arm around her again, but she shook him off. ‘You don’t believe I think you killed him, do you?’ he repeated.
No answer.
The door to the house opened behind them and Megan appeared in the front garden, clutching her phone. ‘Nothing from Maya yet, but I got an answer from Vicky,’ she said to Toby. ‘She doesn’t want to talk to me about Craig. If she talks to anyone it has to be Justin – according to her, he’s the only one who still cares about her brother. I guess that’s not surprising. And, anyway, it looks like Craig’s death isn’t that important after all.’
Alice spun round. ‘Will you just butt out, Megan? This has nothing to do with you! It’s got to do with me and Dad. Can’t you just leave us to it?’
‘I’m only trying to help,’ said Megan.
‘But you’re not!’ said Alice. ‘You’re only making things worse.’
Megan glanced at Toby. ‘Go back inside, Megan,’ he said.
‘No,’ said Megan. ‘Anything that has to do with my dad and my sister – and with my mother, for that matter – has to do with me. It’s my family. Our family. That’s important.’
Alice turned back towards the marsh and snorted. ‘It’s ridiculous to hear you say that.’
But Megan wasn’t giving up. ‘Alice? Why didn’t you do more to get yourself off the hook with the police?’
Alice didn’t reply.
‘Toby and me are doing what we can, which isn’t much. But we’re trying. But you and Dad. You do nothing. You don’t give them anything. Mom told you a lot about all this stuff, didn’t she? Well, why didn’t you tell the police? Why didn’t Dad?’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ said Toby.
Alice turned to face her husband and her sister. Her cheeks were wet with tears.
‘Isn’t it obvious? You’re so damned clever, Megan, can’t you see it? Can’t you, Toby?’
‘No,’ said Toby.
Alice sobbed.
‘I didn’t tell you because Dad killed Sam Bowen.’
Fifty-One
‘What?’ said Megan.
Toby was shocked. Someone must have killed the historian, and he had supposed there was a chance it could have been Bill, but he was surprised the thought had occurred to Alice. And if it had occurred to her, that she hadn’t dismissed it immediately.
But if she did believe her father was a murderer, it would explain a lot of her own behaviour.
‘How can you be sure?’ Toby asked.
Alice sniffed and wiped the tears from her cheeks. ‘You are right, Megan. Mom did tell me more than you and the others. She thought I should know, so that if necessary I could help Dad after she was gone.’
‘Know what?’
‘That Dad had killed Craig on the submarine. That she had introduced Dad to a peace activist who had put him in touch with Russian contacts in the peace movement. That he had told the Russians about the near-launch. That subsequently it had turned out that they were KGB.’
‘Dad just admitted all that himself,’ said Megan. ‘That doesn’t mean he killed Sam Bowen.’
‘No, but it does mean he had a reason to. That’s why I went to see Sam Thanksgiving evening. Toby said Sam had mentioned Pat Greenwald in passing, so I skirted around the subject with Sam at dinner.’ Toby remembered Alice’s earnest conversation with Sam at the table. ‘It was clear he suspected something, but I realized I needed to find out exactly what. So on the way back from the grocery store – in Hunstanton, not King’s Lynn – I drop
ped into the King Willie to talk to him. We had a drink in the bar, but it was closing time, so we went up to his room. I told him I had missed his conversation with my father because I was cooking the turkey, but that in the past my mother had told me things that might be helpful. I discovered he knew quite a lot about Pat Greenwald, and that he was planning to fly to New York this week to speak to her son. Apparently the son remembered seeing his mother with a naval officer when he was a kid.’
‘Wow,’ said Megan.
Alice sighed. ‘Then, after I came back here and put the groceries away, I went to see Dad in his study. I told him what Sam had said. And that night, Sam was killed.’
‘Bill never said you spoke to him,’ said Toby.
‘He told the police,’ said Alice. ‘He just didn’t tell them what we spoke about. And neither did I.’
‘So he was lying to us?’
‘He wasn’t telling you the whole truth,’ said Alice.
What a surprise, thought Toby. Bill would probably claim he was trying to protect Alice by keeping quiet.
‘And then you think Dad killed Sam?’ Megan said.
‘That was my first thought,’ said Alice. ‘As soon as I left Dad in his study, he went over to the pub and knocked on Sam’s door.’ Alice hesitated. ‘And then he stabbed him. To stop him from telling everyone how Dad and Mom had been spying for the Russians. I tried to tell myself it couldn’t possibly be true—’
‘Quite right,’ Megan interrupted.
‘But it must be. I’m sorry, Megan, it must be.’
‘So that’s why you kept so quiet with the police? To stop them from suspecting him?’
Alice nodded.
‘But what about you?’ Toby protested. ‘Are you willing to go to jail for him?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe. But I don’t think it will come to that. If in reality I haven’t killed anyone, it will be difficult for the police to prove I have. My solicitor seems to agree that’s the best strategy.’
Toby knew Alice would do anything for her father. But even if she thought he had murdered someone? Two people?
‘Did you tell your lawyer you thought your father had murdered Sam?’
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