They spent the following night at the Pig & Strumpet in Instow, about halfway between Barnstaple and Bideford, just across the bay from Appledore.
At breakfast, each had a poached egg—the landlady had rustled up a third, which Anna had sliced fairly between them, the knife hovering over the yolk until she was sure it really was fair—two slices of toast—mercifully free from rationing—and a pitifully thin newspaper—newsprint still being rationed—Anna had the Manchester Guardian, Troy The Times, although the headlines were identical:
“Atomic Scientist Arrested as Spy”
“Have you ever heard of this Szabo bloke?” Anna asked.
“No. And I’m glad to be out of London when something like this breaks. Or I’d have Rod bending my ear, telling me it’s a national disaster, how the Americans will never trust us again . . . and so on.”
“But they won’t, will they? This chap worked on the bombs that were dropped on Japan, then he seems to have been made deputy head of whatever it is they do out at Harwell, and all the time he was working for the Russians and has given them all the know-how to make their own bomb. Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in us.”
Troy had abandoned the headlines for the inner pages.
“He wasn’t English; he was Czech or something.”
“Hungarian, and it says here we took him on in 1941 and gave him citizenship a couple of years later.”
Troy did not wish to have this conversation with Anna any more than he wished to have it with Rod. Angus would have been a better choice, or even Onions—“Spooks? Fuckem.” But then the waitress appeared at his side, saying, “Inspector Troy? Telephone call for you. Scotland Yard.”
Anna looked at him, daggers drawn.
“I can’t not give the Yard my itinerary, can I? It’s probably nothing. And certainly nothing to do with this twaddle.”
It was Jack.
“I’m sorry to have to do this to you, Freddie, but there’s been a death. I think you should come back.”
“Can’t you handle it?”
“I can, of course I can. But I think you’ll want to. Freddie, it’s Viktor Rosen. He was found shot through the heart in his flat about forty minutes ago.”