Page 120 of Fire Must Burn

‘The roof of Grenville House itself? How could anyone throw a bottle into a window from the roof of the same building?’

‘Trust me, sir. Send Godfrey, then come meet me outside Danforth’s room at St George’s at two thirty.’

‘Why there? Do you think he has more information to give us?’

‘If I’m right, the guilty party will be coming there later,’ she said. ‘Bring your handcuffs.’

She hung up.

‘Lowle is coming to the hospital?’ asked Gwen.

‘The Brigadier ordered me last week to get Tony to add her to his visitor list,’ said Iris. ‘Tony agreed, but wanted to wait until Tuesday so he could get through his initial treatment.’

‘Which is today,’ said Gwen. ‘So she will be coming by after work.’

‘And we will be waiting for her,’ said Iris.

They had lunch, then took the Tube to Hyde Park Corner.

‘We’re early for Parham,’ said Gwen as they walked in.

‘That’s fine,’ said Iris. ‘I need to call the Brigadier and find out if I was right about that book. And I need to ask my new boyfriend Carlton something.’

Edwards was lounging near the telephone boxes when they came in. Iris went straight up to him.

‘Got a minute?’ she asked.

‘You could at least pretend to make this look casual,’ he said irritably. ‘Come on.’

The three of them moved further back into the room where they were somewhat concealed from view.

‘You know she’s part of this, right?’ said Iris, nodding at Gwen.

‘Yeah. So?’

‘The night Danforth was attacked you were following him, weren’t you?’

‘You don’t think I had anything to do with it, do you?’ asked Edwards, bristling.

‘I don’t,’ said Iris. ‘But did you maintain surveillance on Grenville House after he came home from his date?’

‘Yeah, I stayed across the street from the entrance,’ said Edwards. ‘I didn’t see the Molotov go off. I heard it, ran to the corner and saw the flames, so I went to call 999 like a good citizen.’

‘I assume you kept track of anyone going into the building after Danforth.’

‘Where are you going with this, Sparks?’

‘Did you see anyone carrying fishing gear?’

‘I did, come to think of it,’ he said. ‘Male, thirties, five ten, black hair.’

‘Would you recognise him if you saw him?’

‘That is my job,’ said Edwards huffily.

Iris smiled.

‘First drink will be on me,’ she said. ‘I need to call your boss and let him know his new girl is a bad girl. And she’s not going to have her second date with Danforth today.’