Troy called Clark first. Took the risk of mentioning Curran’s name on a Scotland Yard line.
‘You couldn’t try and find out a bit more, could you? Sit in the canteen and pick up a bit of Special Branch gossip. Curran must be known to some of them. Dammit, the name’s familiar to me – I just can’t place it. I’ve heard it somewhere . . .’
He found himself with a stronger mental image.
‘. . . I’ve seen it somewhere.’
Clark sighed. ‘It won’t work, sir. Not this time. We’re persona non grata with the Branch. All of us, you, me, Mr Wildeve, virtually anyone who’s ever served in the Murder Squad.’
‘They’ve sent you to Coventry?’
‘Worse. I couldn’t come up with a metaphor strong enough. It’s like the mid-fifties all over again, sir. Only worse. You’ll remember, sir, the reputation you had when you got me down from Birmingham in 1956. Not to put too fine a point on it, sir, you were known as trouble. The last few years have been good. You put a lot behind you. It was unfortunate that the line of duty occasionally put you in the line of fire – but you came through. Even with the Ryan affair there wasn’t a man jack in the Yard didn’t think you deserved to run CID . You’d earned it. Everybody said so. Right now it’s as though the good years never happened. Right now, as far as the Branch is concerned, you might just as well have put the noose around Percy Blood’s neck yourself. Half of ’em think you went down to Camberwell to shoot him anyway. They’re not going to give us the time of day. So there’s no point in me asking.’
‘And Mary? What about Mary? What are these instant moralists saying about murdering coppers on the streets of London?’
‘Nothing, sir. She wasn’t one of theirs. Honestly, sir, I don’t know who to ask. Even some of the ordinary coppers are saying you’re as mad as Percy.’
This struck home.
‘That’s what Quint said to me.’
‘I wouldn’t take it personally, if I were you. He’s not exactly Sigmund Freud, is he?’
‘I’m not. It was what he said about Blood that concerned me.’
‘I don’t follow.’
‘Gossip is one thing. “So and so is crazy.” Doesn’t mean much at the best of times. But Quint was blazing with anger. I’ve never subscribed to the idea that what people say in anger is something you dismiss as an aberration. More often than not it’s the lifting of the inhibitions. It says what they really think. Quint really thought Blood was nuts. And I don’t mean just because of that medical report you pinched. I think he thought Blood was nuts as long ago as last year when Percy came close to getting disciplined over that CND business. And I think he transferred him from the Branch to Vice because he needed the doggedness, the sheer tenacity of a good nutter.’
‘You’re edging a bit nearer conspiracy, aren’t you, sir?’
‘My speciality,’ said Troy. ‘But if Quint didn’t want me looking for conspiracies, he should never have told me.’