A Divided Spy (Thomas Kell Spy Thriller, Book 3) by Charles Cumming

Author:Charles Cumming [Cumming, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007467532
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2016-06-01T16:00:00+00:00

What does M want? What can we give him? Do we flatter, or squeeze?

Kell returned to the interrogation. Minasian was standing on the far side of the room. He had taken down two books. The first was a Penguin Classic of Isaac Babel’s Red Cavalry; the second, which Minasian was reading, had a pale yellow cover. It occurred to Kell that he was looking remarkably relaxed for a man who had just been told that his father-in-law had arranged for his lover’s murder.

‘Larkin?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ Minasian replied. ‘Whitsun Weddings.’

‘You know it?’

‘Of course I know it.’ Minasian provided a brief glimpse of the intellectual hauteur that had so exasperated Riedle. ‘Why would I not?’

Kell shrugged. He could not think how to answer such a question. The Russian turned a page and ran a finger down several lines of verse.

‘If you were to give this poem to a man from outer space, it would provide you with a perfect insight into the English character, English culture.’

‘I would agree with that.’

Kell could hear a police siren outside and wondered how much time was left to them. The Russian continued to read the poem. He did not quote from it aloud nor attempt to expand on his thesis. Indeed, Minasian seemed utterly satisfied by the act of reading, relaxed and self-possessed. He looked like a customer in a bookshop browsing the shelves on a lazy afternoon. Kell felt that he could understand why Riedle had become so covetous of Minasian’s attention. There was a sealed-off aspect to his behaviour; he could give the impression of being entirely comfortable in his own skin. For someone as needy and as romantic as Bernhard Riedle, such poise might at times have felt like a calculated insult.

‘Shall we continue?’ Kell asked, setting Mowbray’s iPhone to record and placing it on the table.

‘Of course.’ Minasian closed the Larkin, replaced both books, and sat down.

‘I’d like to speak about the future.’

Minasian picked up his empty cup of coffee and looked down at the dregs. He took a spoon from the tray and began tapping the side of the mug, like the prelude to an after-dinner speech.

‘Of course,’ he said.

Kell tried to make himself comfortable, struck by the change in Minasian’s mood. ‘It will be obvious to you why we were interested in your relationship with Bernhard Riedle. You will have worked out some time ago why I have brought you to my apartment.’

‘That is the only part I do not understand.’ Minasian produced a wolfish smile. ‘You have shown me so much of yourself, Thomas. Your taste. Your style. The things you possess and the things you lack. I now understand a great deal more about you. Why would you take such a risk?’

‘I have nothing to hide,’ Kell replied, though he hated the idea of Minasian creeping around his personal effects. ‘I don’t see it as a risk.’

‘I heard that there were difficulties between you and MI6,’ Minasian continued. ‘I heard that after Istanbul you came into conflict with Amelia Levene.

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